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Mirror's Edge PC delay down to PhysX
Author: Harry ButlerPublished: 20th November 2008
With PhysX accleration, kicking this guy in the face will be more realistic than ever.
Well it seems this time at least there’s no conspiracy, and just a lot more work to do as Nvidia and EA have confirmed the delayed release date, now sometime in January 2009, is due to the significant implementation of Nvidia’s PhysX technology into the game.
As you can see from the new trailer, the level of physics effect integration is impressive, with realistically ripping fabrics, wind effects, flowing water and all sorts of other physics goodness making the graphics look much better than on the consoles.
While the core gameplay itself won’t be affected in any way, as the game still has to be playable on non-PhysX enabled hardware after all, those with an Nvidia 8-series GPU or higher will be able to leverage the PhysX support implemented by Nvidia into the Forceware drivers a few months back to take advantage of the much improved visuals.
Of course the let down is that those with ATI graphics will miss out, as PhysX acceleration on the GPU is still very much an Nvidia exclusive property despite rumours of third party developers porting the API to ATI hardware persisting, although nothing concrete has yet materialised.
Quite frankly, why not just release it now so everyone can play it and then offer a patch for Nvidia folk later? Remember Far Cry 1.3 adding HDR for Nvidia GeForce 6 hardware, or Company of Heroes adding DirectX 10 support? The two month delay will likely mean anyone who will have wanted to play it, will have already done so on a console, especially if they own ATI hardware because it won't make a blind bit of difference for them. As much as we love funky visuals, cool eye candy and real physics, we love playing games more.
Are you happy enough in the knowledge that the wait for Mirror's Edge PC might be worth it, or are you an ATI user and frustrated you're not invited to the PhysX party, plus made to wait for the game? Let us know in the forums!
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Comments (33)
Couldn't agree more. There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to delay the entire game for months for what is essentially a patch for a select bunch of hardware!
Still, this is tempting me towards a GTX 280 rather than a 4870X2 when I upgrade my PC at the end of the month...
Personally I like to face people/aliens/monsters and shoot them in the head/tentacle/other parts or blow them or the whole place up with big guns and other devices of mass destruction. I would feel completely helpless without any kind of weapon available in M.E.
:D
HURRY UP EA/DICE!! on second note, take your time and a lot of it, i'd hate to see a good game get rushed out and ruined with bad gimmicky physics.
I'd suggest you vary your gaming pleasures or you'll get game boredom syndrom. There's more to gaming than just point/shoot/reload/point shoot reload. Most FPS games do exactly the same thing but with different environments, but just because you're in a forest in one game and a city in another, you're essentially doing the same thing, point/shoot/reload/point shoot reload. I enjoy a good FPS game if it has something new to offer, L4D offers me that atm but i like to vary my gaming from fps to pop cap games and everything in between.
With food you need a balanced diet, the same can be said with games, if you don't alter your balance of games then you're missing out and you know what happens if you eat crap all the time.
One month is fine :)
whoops!
I'd suggest more cheesecake in your diet.
Y'know its kinda funny in a way. Usually EA just release games no where near complete THEN patch them. However, now they've got a new feature to add they're gonna delay until it finished. EA, I dont know...
It's a parkour style game. Check the first impression article on it: http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2008/11/12/mirror-s-edge/1
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The only games where you really should require patches are those with a good mulitplayer, as this game is focused on the singleplayer side of thisngs i would prefer it to come out swinging away with all it's features rather than buy something now that you know isn't finished
I really dont like proprietary software. Surely it would make more sense to support everyone. I appreciate that a large user base has a 8xxx, 9xxx or 2xx card but theres still a larger number of users that have a CPU :p
Makes even more sense to go Havok with the 4800s being so popular. What if ATI pull a 8xxx series popularity and nVidia users are in the minority. We all lose support :(
Mirrors edge is on UT3 engine so I'd imagine the physx software they'd be using wouldn't be much advanced than whast already out there.
Time will tell though I guess, there was an GPU PPU comparison online
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/physx_performance_update/
PPU still seems handy but i guess it all depends on how taxing Mirror edge is on GPU as to wether its worth using at all.
There are A LOT of good games out there this season. Move on!
You know how EA handles everything...SSSSLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWWWLLLLYYYYY and you can add more characters to that if nVidia is slowing does the process too
I played the demo on the PS3 and definitively the PC physx-enhanced version looks way better! Let them get it right before the release. For me is better if they deliver a polished product than just waiting for a patch for you to play the game ALL OVER AGAIN.... Completely ruining the immersion and the excitement of the first run!
Take Far Cry 2 for example. I have the game still in the box and I won't play it until Ubisoft fix the crippled FoV on widescreens displays. Playing the game like that would've ruin my whole experience (like it happened with Bioshock the first time). Now I have to either wait for the official patch or use the FoV hack that's out there
wait Intel bought havok and stated that it was free to use with distributors and competitors a like, I didnt read anything about them charging unless that was really recent, I could swear it was PhysX that was charged for in order to use, I mean really since when did nVidia ever do anything for anyone free of charge lol.
Devs should focus on Havok more anyways as its in my opinion a better platform.
Why not just hand animate few variants of breaking cloth and run them as static animations? Most of the time this would immerse enough. Now I would like to see some real applications, like a whole forest wave in the wind down to the smallest patch of grass. Or large water simulations, hatches releasing water from roof etc. Rain even. Give me something ... more concrete!