Halo 3 arrives with immersive Havok PhysicsTM environments
Halo 3, the most eagerly anticipated first-person shooter of the decade, developed by Bungie Studios, hit the shelves this week with the assistance of Havok, the premier provider of interactive software and services to digital creators in the games and movie industries. Halo 3 is released exclusively for Xbox 360.
Halo 3 is the final game in the Halo trilogy, which started with “Halo: Combat Evolved”. The game picks up where "Halo 2" left off, answering the questions for the millions of fans left wondering since November 2004. The Master Chief is returning to Earth to finish the fight to save humankind from destruction at the hands of the alien coalition known as the Covenant. The game offers single, co-operative and on-line multiplayer modes.
To create the immersive game environments, Bungie once again chose Havok Physics™. Havok’s continuous physics technology is used to drive the behavior of a wide variety of objects in the game. Bodies fly through the air using ragdoll physics, vehicles explode showering debris onto their surroundings, and new additions such as the portable gravity lift and the “mancannon” propel players through the world. Havok is also used for special effects, including plants swaying in a jungle and flood tentacles hanging from a ceiling. The scalability and solid performance possible with Havok Physics™ ensures that the player has a fully immersive experience in any situation.
"Havok's flexibility and ease of use have made it one of our cornerstone development tools and almost a recognizable "character" within the Halo 3 engine. Its elegance and scalability mean that it adds features and value to our engine, and yet integrates seamlessly without impacting performance." said Eamon McKenzie, Physics Engineer, Bungie Studios
“We are very proud to have been involved with the development of the global phenomenon that is Halo 3.This final chapter in the Halo trilogy is a fantastic first person shooter game with a great array of characters and weapons.” said David O’Meara, Managing Director of Havok. “The use of cutting edge physics by the talented development team at Bungie in creating the reactive environments in Halo 3 adds to the tension and excitement for the player, ensuring the cult status of this historic game.”