Irish video-game and movie software maker Havok has received a prestigious award for its physics engine from games industry bible Game Developer.
Havok won the Game Developer Front Line Award from the US magazine for its Havok Physics product.
Winning the award is a significant accolade for the company, which was bought by Intel two years ago for US$100m.
Havok Physics was chosen as the winning entry in the ‘Middleware’ of the Front Line Awards category by a panel of professional games developers from the industry’s top studios.
Entries are nominated by members of the games development community and readers of Game Developer magazine, and are judged on a number of criteria, including ease of implementation and integration, value and contribution to delivering innovative gameplay.
In its review of Havok Physics on Game Developer’s Gamasutra website, Sega Studios’ Jeremy Gordon and Michael Boccieri wrote: “What sets Havok apart is the layers of developer support that the company has integrated into all aspects of its product and services. Havok understands what it means to be a middleware company, and what it means for middleware to bring real value to a game’s development cycle.”
Havok works in partnership with the world’s best-known game developers including Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft and Pandemic Studios, and the company’s technology is available across all platforms, including Playstation 3, Playstation 2, PSP, Xbox 360, Nintendo WII and the PC.
Many of the world’s best-selling games use the Havok physics engine, including StarWars: The Force Unleashed, Spore, Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed and Guitar Hero III.
Havok won an Emmy award from the US National Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences Award at a glittering ceremony in Las Vegas last year.
“At Havok, we are proud of our deep understanding of our clients’ ambitions, and our products are developed with customer satisfaction in mind,” said Havok chief executive David O’Meara.
“We offer the highest levels of developer support and our physics engines have gained industry-wide praise for easy code integration, innovation and ease of implementation. The Front Line Awards are of particular significance as it is our existing and potential customers sitting on the judging panel, once more acknowledging Havok’s unparalleled record of customer satisfaction.
“There is no other Irish company receiving such high levels of praise from industry leaders, and Havok is again putting Ireland on the map as a world-class, successful Irish technology company,” O’Meara said.
By John Kennedy
Pictured: Assasin’s Creed, just one of the many best-selling games to feature Havok’s physics engine
