Evolution of Physics in Video Games
Evolution of Physics in Video Games
Abstract
Graphics and sound have evolved dramatically in video games over the last decade and are
at a point where it is getting increasingly hard to improve upon. Physics have been a part of
video games since their birth, but have until recently not played a key role. Developers
have therefore turned to realistic physics simulations in order to further increase the
realism in their games and subsequently the importance and uses of physics in video games
has boomed in the last few years. Some games have even incorporated the use of physics
into the gameplay with an interesting new dimension of puzzles to solve. However,
improved realism comes with the burden of increased computational complexity that needs
to find itself a new place away from the main CPU in order to continue the evolution of
realism.
1. Introduction
Modern video games have near-photorealistic graphics, cinematic-quality surround-sound
and AI that beats world-champions at their own games. There are few areas left to
seriously improve upon aside from the gameplay of course. A game can have stunning
graphics and amazing sound, but when the game world just doesn‟t behave in a way that
makes sense to you, the immersion is broken.
This is why realistic physics models in video games are important. They transfer real-world
behavior that we all know into the game world. Boxes that splinter into a thousand pieces
after an explosion, metallic items that create sparks when they collide and walls that you
can blow a hole through but look normal otherwise. These behaviors, made possible in
todays games thanks to advanced physics models, make a big difference when it comes to
immersion.
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
Scott Miller of 3D Realms summed up the importance of physics well: “Physics allows for
environments and gameplay situations that aren‟t scripted” [1]. This is why game players
and developers alike are making a huge push for the use of realistic physics in video games.
But all of this added realism comes with the burden of increased load on the main CPU, a
device that is not very well designed for real-time physics calculations. Intel, Nvidia and
Ageia have all realized this problem and are out to make money from it by hoping to relieve
the main CPU of physics calculations, each with their own unique solution [2] [3] [4].
This report will analyze the current trends of physics use in video games, their main
applications, key companies and physics engines. It will also discuss the problem of physics‟
computational complexity, and the solutions that we are likely to see in the near future.
1 Half Life 2's gravity gun used to throw a grinding-wheel into enemies [7]
This has changed greatly in the last few of years, somewhat symbolized with the release of
Half-Life 2 in 2004, which brought extremely realistic physics simulations to the average
video game player. Half Life 2 did more than just show off physics with flying boxes; it
actually incorporated physics into the gameplay with the Gravity Gun that let the player
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
pick up and throw objects into enemies [1]. Many of the in-game puzzles also require the
use of physics to solve, for example the seesaw that can be turned into a ramp by placing
boxes on one end. A level editor was also included with the game for free. It gave the user
the ability to experiment and play with the physics engine at will which in turn spawned an
entire new community around making weird physical simulations with the game engine [7].
One such community is www.garrysmod.org.
This was the beginning of a new era in video gaming. Most of today‟s big name first person
shooter games have realistic physics simulation as one of their key selling points. A few
examples include Crysis, Unreal Tournament 3, Quake Wars, Call of Duty 4, Star Wars:
Force Unleashed and many more. It is quickly becoming an expected part of games, rather
than something new and exciting.
Havok is the market leading game physics engine. Over 150 titles have been released using
it, including Half Life 2, Halo 3 and Second Life [8], as well being used to generate special
effects in films [1]. It has broad platform support and aside from the PC, has been used on
the XboX 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintento Wii game consoles amongst others [9].
PhysX is another popular game physics engine with over 140 titles released or in the
making, most notably Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War [2] [10]. PhysX has similar
platform compatibility as Havok but has the unique support for hardware accelerated
physics computations using the PhysX PCI add-on card for PC‟s [11]. In order to make use
of the PhysX add-on card the game has to use the PhysX engine for its physics calculations.
The cost of licensing these engines for commercial use is not available to the public, but
both of them offer a free downlodable version for non-commercial uses. Both of these
engines have support for most of the techniques wanted by developers today, but what sets
them apart is the potential hardware support, as detailed in chapter 4.
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
Ragdoll physics are a type of procedural animations on creature skeletons that is often used
as a replacement for traditional static death animations. Ragdoll physics could realistically
animate a person falling down a flight of stairs, or someone getting shot with a shotgun in
the torso. For real-time simulations such as video games, a lot of tricks are used to reduce
the complexity, such as Halo 2‟s pre-recording a death animation and constraining the
output of the animation to what a physical system would allow [13].
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
same guard and watchtower scenario mentioned above. These examples assume rigid-body
physics, which in physics are defined by their elements, or “outlines”. [14] [15]
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
In addition to the fields of physics still left unexplored in the video game domain, for
example fluid dynamics and aerodynamics, the increment in accuracy will keep rising. As
will the number and complexity of physics techniques included in games. One example is
the game Mercenaries II, scheduled for release in the next year. It promises to allow the
player to pour petrol on the ground and watch it flow realistically through the environment,
before the player can set it on fire and watch the environment burn.
With all of these powerful physics engines, the developers have unimaginable amount of
options to use, but they are severely constrained by the power of computers. As is, the
physics are computed by the main CPU, the same CPU that is handling graphic and sound
orchestration (even though both are hardware accelerated), artificial intelligence, game
logic, input devices and many other things.
Before a short intro, the report will describe three possible solutions the problem.
3D graphics created a whole new dimension of gameplay. Gone were the days of movement
being constricted to two dimensions, or faked to make the user believe he was moving in 3
dimensions. Super Mario 64 (for the Nintendo 64 console) is a good example of the
evolution. It was the first game in the Mario series to use true 3D graphics and established
a whole new archetype for the “platform games” genre. It sold in over eleven million copies
and is the seventh best-selling video game in the USA [20] [21].
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
The improved visuals and computational complexity became an additional burden to the
computers, to the point where the power of the main CPU was simply exhausted, and
graphics handling was offloaded to special 3D graphics accelerators, like the 3dfx Voodoo,
released in 1996 [22]. Gradually, games started supporting hardware 3D graphics
acceleration and not before long was a 3D graphics accelerator required to run all new
games that used 3D graphics [23].
Physics in video are in a similar state today. All new game engines tout advanced physics
models as one of their key selling points and the burden created by the use of physics
simulations on the CPU is reaching the point where something fundamental has to change
for the evolution to continue [1].
4.2 Participants
Ageia is the creator of the PhysX add-on card, which to this day is still the only available
standalone physics processing unit (PPU) solution. It also licenses out the PhysX physics
engine, which must be used in games in order to take advantage of the PhysX card [11].
Nvidia, the biggest desktop graphic card manufacturer in the world [24], recently bought
Ageia. Nvidia plans to map the PhysX SDK onto their graphics card processor architecture,
promising hardware accelerated physics simulations for PhysX titles using the GeForce 8
series cards with just a driver update. [2]
Intel entered the physics business in 2007 with their acquisition of Havok. Intel‟s intentions
with the acquisition are to make sure that the CPU, Intel‟s primary product, serves a
purpose in physics calculations. Intel made those intentions quite clear with the
cancellation of the Havok FX project that originally promised to offload physics calculations
to graphic card processors [4] [25].
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
It is good because the hardware would be completely void of any other workload
whatsoever, able to focus completely on the physics calculations. The processor would be
designed specifically with physics calculations in mind, making it more efficient and
streamlined than general purpose CPU‟s [26].
Nvidia bought Ageia because it was a competition and because it owned the PhysX engine,
not because it was interested in the PhysX card. We will most likely not see another PPU
card in the near future, because of the drawbacks listed above. The market is simply too
hard to penetrate.
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
Tests have shown that a GPU can perform certain tasks over 100 times faster than a CPU
[28].
Physics calculations are by nature massively parallel [29] and could perform amazingly
well on a GPU because of its high number of processors, but there is one big drawback; in
modern video games the GPU already tends to be pushed to the limit as we are already
using the GPU for graphics. Physics calculations would cut into our graphics processing
power unless the current graphics card designs were modified to include a special PPU.
With Nvidia‟s purchase of Ageia, it is clear that they plan on making the GPU the future
home of physics calculations. Further proof of that can be seen by their most recent
commitment; making PhysX an open standard for everyone to use, even their fierce
competitor, AMD/ATI [30].
This leaves a lot of unused computing power, and the average consumer asks themselves
why it isn‟t being used for physics, since physics simulations are apparently challenging
enough to warrant a special add-on card (PhysX). However, with Intel‟s previously
mentioned acquisition of Havok [4], it is clear that they want the future place for physics to
be their multi-core CPU‟s.
Havok has already taken a big step towards making use of additional cores, with its
HydraCore technology, which aims to distribute the workload of the Havok physics engine
between as many cores as you have in your system, even if it is just one [33].
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
Microsoft is supposedly developing DirectPhysics, software that could stabilize the entire
field when released and make it possible for smaller game development studios to
incorporate modern use of physics without paying for the use of a market leading physics
engine. No announcements have been made so far, aside a few online job postings looking
for people to work in the DirectPhysics team [34], but it is something to look out for. [35]
Anand at AnandTech benchmarked the PhysX card in its latest flagship title, Unreal
Tournament 3 (UT3). UT3 offers support for hardware accelerated physics with a PhysX
card, but is also designed not to need one.
Since UT3‟s hardware PhysX support is optional, the game‟s stock levels take a very
conservative stance to the use of physics, ensuring that the average gamer can easily play
the game. Ageia however made two special UT3 maps that make a heavy use of physics,
designed especially for the PhysX hardware. Shown below are Anand‟s benchmark results
from these 2 special maps.
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
As show in the benchmarks, it is evident that the use of a PPU is beneficial. However, the
performance gains of having PhysX hardware in the UT3 stock levels were marginal, from 0
to 8% [36].
While the PhysX card clearly delivers a performance boost when it is challenged, it does not
do so in a definitive way unless it has tailor made levels, hardly making it worth the
purchase for the average gamer until games are released that make a better use of it.
Advanced physics models, even if they were computationally free, can cause problems
which could hinder the immediate adoption of such techniques. For example, imagine that
without a PPU we could only handle 100.000 particles at once, but with a dedicated PPU
we could handle 100 million. That leaves us with the gigantic problem of actually rendering
the 100 million particles with our graphics card!
So far the heavy users of video game physics have mainly been first person shooters. But
with the increasingly simple integration of physics, thanks to pre-made physics engines
such as Havok and PhysX, we will soon see other game genres follow in the footsteps of first
person shooters. Role playing games and puzzle games are two genres that would be very
interesting to see incorporate modern use of physics.
Developers will still need stay cautious towards their implementations because the physics
field is changing extremely rapidly and will likely see major changes in the next two years
with the dawn of hardware accelerated physics being brought to the masses. In what form
the hardware acceleration will be, I won‟t say, but it‟s coming, sooner than many might
think.
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7. References
1. The joy of physics. The Economist. 2006.
2. Nvidia. NVIDIA to Acquire AGEIA Technologies. [Online] Feb 4, 2008. [Cited: March 25,
2008.] http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1202161567170.html.
3. USA Today. Physics may take video games to next level. [Online] June 20, 2006. [Cited:
March 24, 2008.] http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-06-20-physics-gaming_x.htm.
4. Intel. Press Release. Intel To Acquire Havok. [Online] Sept 15, 2007. [Cited: March 24,
2008.] http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20070914corp.htm.
8. Havok. Titles that use Havok Products. [Online] [Cited: March 28, 2008.]
http://www.havok.com/content/blogcategory/29/73/.
14. Havok. Product Page. Havok Destruction. [Online] [Cited: March 27, 2008.]
http://www.havok.com/content/view/585/97/.
17. GameSpot. GDC '08: Epic's beefy Unreal tech demo. [Online] Feb 20, 2008. [Cited:
March 27, 2008.] http://www.gamespot.com/news/6186439.html.
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Evolution of Physics in Video Games
20. IGN. The Evolution of Graphics in Video Games . [Online] July 25, 2006. [Cited: March
27, 2008.] http://blogs.ign.com/metroidlink1030/2006/07/25/26023/.
21. Wikipedia. Super Mario 64. [Online] [Cited: March 27, 2008.]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_64.
24. Xbit Labs. Nvidia Continues to Gain Graphics Market Share. [Online] Oct 29, 2007.
[Cited: March 25, 2008.] http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20071029062106.html.
25. —. GPU Physics Dead for Now. [Online] Nov 19, 2007. [Cited: March 25, 2008.]
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20071119065621_GPU_Physics_Dead_fo
r_Now_Says_AMD_s_Developer_Relations_Chief.html.
26. Wikipedia. Physics processing unit. [Online] [Cited: March 24, 2008.]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_processing_unit.
27. AnandTech. NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS 512 & GeForce 8800 GT 256MB. [Online] Dec
11, 2007. [Cited: March 25, 2008.] http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3175.
28. Farber, Rob. Scientific Computing. GPGPUs: Neat Idea or Disruptive Technology?
[Online] [Cited: March 25, 2008.]
http://www.scimag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=030&ACCT=3000000100&ISSUE=0801
&RELTYPE=PR&ORIGRELTYPE=HPCC&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=C.
29. Ageia. Advanced Gaming Physics. Mountain View, California : s.n., 2006.
30. CustomPC. Nvidia offers PhysX support to AMD / ATI. [Online] March 10, 2008. [Cited:
March 25, 2008.] http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/602205/nvidia-offers-physx-support-to-
amd--ati.html.
31. TG Daily. Intel aims for 32 cores by 2010. [Online] July 10, 2006. [Cited: March 24,
2008.] http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/27460/135/.
32. DigitLife. IDF Spring 2003 Coverage. [Online] Feb 20, 2003. [Cited: March 27, 2008.]
http://www.digit-life.com/archive.shtml?2003/0220.
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33. Havok. Press Release. Havok Announces HydraCore. [Online] July 12, 2005. [Cited:
March 24, 2008.] http://www.havok.com/content/view/86/53/.
34. Microsoft. Careers - Job Details. [Online] Aug 8, 2005. [Cited: March 28, 2008.]
http://members.microsoft.com/careers/search/details.aspx?JobID=6b94ac4f-0627-4851-8e6a-
633186d96261.
35. Xbit Labs. Microsoft Works on Direct Physics Engine for GPUs. [Online] June 20, 2006.
[Cited: March 28, 2008.]
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20060620235215.html.
36. AnandTech. PhysX‟s Big Break? Unreal Tournament 3 PhysX Performance. [Online]
Dec 14, 2007. [Cited: March 28, 2008.]
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3171&p=4.
37. BFG Tech. Products. PhysX Card. [Online] [Cited: March 24, 2008.]
http://bfgtech.com/bfgrphysx128p.aspx.
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