Capcom and Havok have announced that the two companies will be expanding their partnership, with Capcom making the middleware its physics engine of choice for its triple-A titles. The company has already used Havok physics in games like Dead Rising and Resident Evil 5, and says this will continue with upcoming titles like Lost Planet 2 and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.
Jun Takeuchi of Capcom says they've chosen Havok because its software is "the fastest and most scalable physics engine available," and goes on to sing the praises of Havok’s support and documentation. I don't think many people can argue with that. Havok is good stuff, and it's nice to see Capcom embracing the engine in such a way. This can only mean more quality for everyone in the long run.
Check out a press release after the jump, in which the two companies share a milkshake. Awww.
San Francisco, CA (September 1, 2009) – Havok today announced that it continues to expand its business into the Japanese game development community as it signed a significant deal with Capcom Co., Ltd, a leading video game developer and publisher. With this agreement, Capcom has made Havok Physics its development tool of choice. Capcom has licensed Havok Physics for its highly anticipated titles Lost Planet 2 and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. Capcom’s three recently released worldwide blockbusters Lost Planet, Dead Rising, and Resident Evil 5 were also developed using the physics solution.
“Havok is very excited to continue working with Capcom’s talented development team to help with its upcoming games. The fact that a powerhouse such as Capcom chose Havok for these new titles demonstrates Havok's clear leadership position as the premier technology solutions provider to developers around the world,” said David O’Meara, Managing Director of Havok. “We're proud to be a part of Capcom’s development strategy. Havok Physics was easily integrated into Capcom’s existing game development pipeline and we believe these triple-A projects will showcase the unparalleled flexibility and robustness of Havok Physics.”
“We chose to work with Havok because its software is the fastest and most scalable physics engine available. Havok’s support and documentation sets the gold standard in the industry,” said Jun Takeuchi, General Manager of Research and Development Strategic Planning Department, Consumer Games Research and Development Division of Capcom Co., Ltd. “After a comparison with other companies’ products, we valued the superiority of Havok and adopted its software.”
Havok Physics is the leading real-time collision detection and physical simulation solution on the market today. Havok Physics is in more than 200 games comprising over 400 platform skus, and it will be included in over 65 titles slated for release this year.
O’Meara adds, “Havok’s Tokyo-based office will ensure a successful relationship by providing Capcom with not only our state-of-the-art physics solution, but with experienced and personalized language and cultural technical support and customer service.”
Contest:
3:00 PM on 09.02.2009 | 
Awwww
i can. i've never seen any physics engine come close to what hardware accelerated physx is capable of. havok is FINE, but it's disingenuous to say it's the best.
heeeee
However, for a company like Capcom, advanced physics isn't really something I'd expect from their titles. As such, them employing havok is a good thing, because it's a consistant and reliable middleware.
Havok is just a physics simulator, not a games engine.
UT3 uses its own physics, I'm fairly sure.
Oh, and Havok is developed by.. uh, Havok. Imaginative, heh.
@Jon B
Euphoria is a an animation engine that is based on physics. Meaning it uses dynamics to adjust the animation based on physics. Look at Stars Wars: TFU which uses DMM, Euphoria, and Havok in one package.
@GameratheGreat
Havok was started an independent company started for physics middleware. They are now a part of Intel. Epic uses Physx which is owned by Nvidia for the Unreal Engine 3.
@Linfosoma
You may prefer Havok to Physx on consoles because consoles happen to run a fairly limited version of Physx, while Havok is mainly optimized for console use. In fact the PS3 can run full level Physx (because of it's code loving SPUs), while the Xbox has to use gimped Physx. Still, if you want to see some truly realistic versions of friction and ragdolls, then pop in an Nvidia card and play a Physx PC game like Batman or Mirrors Edge. I do agree though, that Havok is a better choice for multiplatform console titles.
Hope this helps.
@MrSatan
Thanks for the info!
I dunno how anybody got "best physics engine ever, period" out of that sentence. raeidng cmorphenison?
if i'm not mistaken, that's the end of a sentence which also includes the phrase "fastest and most scalable physics engine available".
i don't think anyone is saying it's the "best physics engine ever period".
Cheers for the clarification.