The current trend among game developers is to use software-based physics engines to enable objects and characters to interact in a real-world manner and provide some of the industry's most stunning effects. However, without dedicated physics hardware game developers are unable to fully unleash the power of physics on today's platforms.

By performing advanced physics simulations in real time, the PPU can respond to gamer actions as well as environments contributing to pervasive interactive reality. By introducing dramatic amounts of physics, games can now react uniquely to each input, adding a tremendous variety of game play. Physics will offer a host of advanced features including universal collision detection, rigid-body dynamics, soft-body dynamics, fluid dynamics, smart particle systems, clothing simulation, soft-body deformation with tearing, and brittle fracturing for destruction of objects in gaming environments.

To give game developers a head start in designing hardware-accelerated games, AGEIA has made available a software development kit, the NovodeX Physics SDK. NovodeX is already in wide use by game developers, many of whom expect to have hardware-accelerated titles by Christmas of 2005. NovodeX is also the only multithreaded physics SDK on the market today, which allows game developers to prepare for tomorrow's multiprocessor PCs and multiprocessor game platforms.