AGEIA @ Game Developers Conference

San Jose, California
March 22, 2006

The past 24 hours here in San Jose have been hectic to say the least. In that time, I have met with representatives from Ageia about their upcoming PhysX card. For those of you that have been living under a rock, the introduction of dedicated physics chips/cards into the gaming community has the potential to change the entire status quo in this industry.

The premise is easy for anyone to grasp really. The dedicated PPU (Physics Processing Unit) has been designed to take the physics processing load off of the all ready strapped CPU and allow the CPU to handle AI and let the graphics card get its render on.

Ageia likes to compare the current state of the gaming industry to the state of the industry we had back in the 90s. 3D cards were just coming onto the scene and those cards then had a profound impact on the direction of the industry.

Today I had the honor of sitting down with Ageia brass and going through a few demos as well as a long presentation of the specs of the cards. While most of this was typical marketing, there was a lot of information that I think you all will be interested in.

In this meeting, I was able to speak with Curtis Davis and Andy Hess who are the President/COO and Director Content Acquisition respectively. They explained what exactly this card can do and then proceeded to show me, in demos, what this card will allow you, the gamers, to do. I saw interactive demos where hundreds of objects, all acted as they should when thrown into other objects. Just seeing hundreds of objects on a screen, moving around and bouncing off of other items was awesome.

Ageia has Asus and BFG on board to deliver the cards to you and I in retail stores in the coming quarter. Also, Ageia-based cards will ship with PCs from Alienware and Falcon Northwest. You can now purchase these high end gaming PCs, equipped with the Ageia PPU online at Alienwares website.

All in all, I am excited about the possibilities of introducing PPUs onto the computer scene. I feel that the potential is with out a doubt there, and with the long line of game developers on board with Ageia, the skys the limit for this company and ultimately, end users like you and me.

Check back soon for more information on the developments of Ageia as well as the daily on goings of the GDC.

Edit: You can check out the next page for the press release from AGEIA today.

-Greg King