Press Release: Blizzard Entertainment Licenses Havok Physics Technology

This should be very very interesting. I have always been a fan of Blizzard* because of the awesome game titles they brought to the PC Gamers. I can still remember sleepless nights playing Warcraft I, and gets even excited with Warcrat II, learned how to use Battle.Net with Starcraft and slashing monsters in the Diablo series. I never liked their console game though, and I am just mildly amused with WoW, not that WoW is bad, but it's just that, Starcraft has more appeal to me.

I also love the Diablo series, but not the Diablo II Expansion storyline, but I might say that while story is great, the replayability is not that addictive. I guess it all boils down to "been there, done that" kind of thing for me. "Diablo I" blew me away, storyline and twist was great and I loved their animation (which, at that time, is already more than decent). The gameplay of Starcraft and the strategies it offered because of diversity of "race", is just so addictive. I was even compelled to join Battle.Net games, unfortunately, I suck.

Now, I still play Warcraft III, but mostly DOTA. I never played any other game aside from this, I guess I am just too old :(. Anyway, expand to check out the latest Press Release and join me in drooling and awaiting for the next big Blizzard* project.

Blizzard to use Havok 4.0 for both PC and Mac platforms

San Francisco, September 14, 2006 – Havok, the premier provider of interactive software and services to digital creators in the game and film industries, announces today that Blizzard Entertainment® has licensed Havok 4.0, the market-leading game-play physics and animation solution.

“Havok 4.0 will add power and flexibility to our development process,” said Mike Morhaime, president and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re looking forward to utilizing this technology with our upcoming games.”

Released in July this year, Havok 4.0 is a modular suite of artist tools and run-time technology that enhances Havok’s industry-leading game-play physics and animation products (Havok Physics™ and Havok Animation™). It also introduced two new products - Havok Behavior™ and Havok FX™.

With Havok 4.0, game developers can select from a modular suite of technologies and tools spanning game-play physics, character animation, behaviors and special effects, optimized for the widest range of platforms, including Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI) much-anticipated “PLAYSTATION®3” computer entertainment system, Microsoft’s 64bit Windows operating system, and now Apple Mac.

Jeff Yates, Havok’s Vice President, Product Management comments, “The Mac is an important piece of technology and because of the cross-platform nature of Havok’s technology, the port to Mac was easy to do. Furthermore, Blizzard Entertainment’s commitment to OS X and to the Mac community is a good indication of the growth potential of the Mac as a games platform. Blizzard has always put out great games on the Mac, and we look forward to Havok becoming a part of that tradition.”

Source:Blizzard Entertainment Licenses Havok Physics Technology