Pulling Away from the Pack - Test Drive: Unlimited uses Havok to Drive Innovation
San Francisco, CA, September 5, 2006 – Developed using Havok’s renowned physics engine, Atari’s Test Drive: Unlimited screeches into the stores today on Xbox360.
Created by Eden Games and set to become this season’s biggest driving game, this M.O.O.R. (Massively Open Online Racing) game promises an un-missable experience for anyone interested in piloting unattainable luxury rides through a truly massive online world. Boasting huge online content, racers can challenge others to join them in the virtual Hawaiian paradise of this persistent online racing world.
Havok, the premier provider of interactive software and services to digital creators in the games and movie industries, provided the team at Eden Games with physics technology that allowed the development team to get up and running really quickly and get straight to the innovation. Says David Nadal, Studio Manager at Eden Games: “We found Havok’s physics SDK gave us the flexibility that we needed to produce the type of massive, persistent and reactive landscape that we wanted for Test Drive: Unlimited. With Havok we got a mature and flexible technology base that allowed us to create something that hasn’t been seen before in this type of game. We needed a smooth, fast-playing landscape and to do this we had to be able to get at parts of the code that other more “closed box” solutions couldn’t offer us. It very much accelerated our ability to get to the creative part of the development cycle”
Havok is best known for powering some of the world’s most compelling games with eye-popping physics that both add to the game-play and enhance the effects that help to give gamers a truly immersive experience. Less well-known, but just as important to developers, is Havok’s expertise in the “behind the scenes physics” – where Havok’s lightning fast calculations ensure that the game moves fast and efficiently in a memory optimized way.
For Havok, Eden Games’ ability to take an innovative approach to how physics was used in the game was impressive. David O’Meara, Havok’s CEO comments: “Eden took Havok’s landscape solution and extended it in a unique and highly innovative way. They managed to translate huge amounts of topographic and landmark data into an accurate depiction of more than 1,000 miles of Oahu's roads, coastlines, mountains and rugged natural terrain, without using up loads of memory. They also took our vehicle framework and extended it - integrating it with their own technology to produce, fast, sleek, true to life vehicles with highly optimised collision detection. It’s great to see talented developers like Eden Games take our technology and use it to help them to realise a unique, creative vision.”
Concludes Eden Games’ Nadal, “Using Havok’s technology meant that we didn’t have to worry about finding an efficient way to do all the complex physics calculations ourselves that are required to create a huge, vibrant, real time and persistent virtual world such as the one we’ve created for Testdrive: Unlimited. By using Havok, we could bypass a lot of the heavy physics math and concentrate our teams more on the creative content.”
For more information, contact:
Lorna Carney
+353 1 472 4300 +353 87 287 2741
About Havok
Havok is the premier provider of interactive software and services for digital media creators in the games and movie industries. With world leading expertise in physics, animation and tools, Havok’s business is to turn our customers’ creative aspirations into technical realities. Havok’s modular suite of tools gives power to the creator, making sure that our clients can reach new standards of realism and interactivity, while mitigating the overall cost and risks associated with creating today’s leading video games and movies.
Havok works in partnership with the world’s best known game developers - including Sony, THQ, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft and Activision. Havok’s cross-platform, professionally supported technology is available for the PlayStation®2, PlayStation®3, PSP™, Xbox™, Xbox360™, Wii™(in production), GameCube™, and the PC. Havok’s combination of superior technology and dedication to delivering for our customers every time has led to our technology being used in more than 150 of the world’s best known game titles, including Halo 2, Half Life 2, Oblivion: Eternal Scrolls IV, Age of Empires III and Cars.
Havok products have been used to drive special effects in movies such as Poseidon, The Matrix, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Havok provides the dynamics driving 3ds max from Autodesk Media and Entertainment.
Havok was founded in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland and has offices in San Francisco, San Antonio, Stockholm, Calcutta, Munich, and Tokyo. For more information, try www.havok.com
About Eden Games
One of the leading European studios, Eden Games has achieved international recognition through the creation of games including V-Rally 1, 2 and 3, Need For Speed: Porsche, Kya: Dark Lineage and Titeuf.
Since 1998, Eden Games has focused on bringing high quality, innovative and creative games. Eden Games has recently undertaken the next-gen challenge with two major franchises: Test Drive Unlimited, the first Massive Open On-line Racing experience, offering the ultimate lifestyle and world’s most luxurious cars on more than 1000 miles of Oahu Island roads in Hawaii, and Alone in the Dark, set in Central Park, NY, where through accessible TV series-like episodes, high action-oriented gameplay in an open, immersive, fully-interactive environment, the game brings a new fresh new vision of the survival experience.
Based in Lyon, France, Eden Games is a wholly owned subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA. For more information, please visit www.edengames.com
