Bioware integrating PhysX into new engine

In a move that could see some real traction being gained for add-in physics boards, A-grade game developer Bioware has agreed to use AGEIA's PhysX technology in its next-generation gaming engine.

Bioware has previously been responsible for some of the best games ever to hit the PC, including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the Neverwinter Nights series. And who could forget Baldur's Gate?

The Eclipse Engine is the next iteration of the engine seen in Neverwinter Nights 2, and will first been seen in Dragon Age, an upcoming fantasy RPG which doesn't yet have a release date. Bioware has described Dragon Age as the spiritual sucessor to the Baldur's Gate series.

“There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel when you have a world-class, easy-to-implement physics solution such as AGEIA’s PhysX technology. AGEIA PhysX will deliver mind-blowing physics action for games using BioWare’s next-generation game engine," said Ray Muzyka, CEO of BioWare.

So, another top-line developer gets on board the physics train. It seems we are in for a showdown - physics on PhysX a la Bioware, physics on the GPU a la NVIDIA and ATI, or physics on the CPU, a la Valve.

Which approach will come out top? We have yet to find out, but do give us your thoughts on in-game physics over in the Discussion Forum.