The PS3 had PhysX nearly three years ago - so why is Nvidia making it sound like a new development?
Nvidia spinners must be getting really desperate for people to pay attention to Physx, their insecurity is directly correlated to the level of news rehashing. This time, they are claiming Physx on the PS3, which they have already had for three years.
If you read the release, they are proudly proclaiming to have Physx on the PS3, an amazing achievement, right? I mean distributed from the Sony developer network directly, and they are an approved middleware provider now. Great, right?
Well, what they don't tell you is that they have had this for three years now, two years and 360 days if you want to be pedantic, but close enough. Ageia, whom they bought to get Physx, was approved on the PS3 as free middleware in 2006. Conveniently, the Ageia press archives have gone poof, but you can read the rehashes here and here and here, along with about a dozen more if you know how to use Google.
That brings up the question of why they feel the need to beat this drum? It is literally the same old news, three years later. Nothing is new here. Well, there is one thing new, Nvidia completely forgets to mention that the last time it announced this new technology, it had the 360 and Wii on board.
This time, those two are gone, but it is three years later, and the 'technology' needs some headlines. I guess the real news here would be the deprecation of the API on the other two platforms, the PS3 is a distant third place in the market, so, umm... forward to victory!
Seriously though, there is no reason to 'announce' this 'new' 'technology' because it was announced years ago, isn't new, and barely qualifies as technology any more. You can even get open source implementations now. Other than those paid to implement it, Physx has absolutely no market traction, so it is time to shout louder.
That leaves the usual suspects, stock options, distraction from another piece of bad news, or someone wants to look important. Whatever the reason, it is nothing more than blatant press manipulation.
Quite sad really.
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Issue: 107 | December, 2009