City Of Heroes: E3 - Physics

AGEIA made a presense at E3 showing off their physics chip and the games that supported it. Come Issue Seven, City of Villains and City of Heroes will support physics acceleration via the Novadex API and the PhysX chip (available currently in some pre-build systems and Soon(tm) as a standalone card). So the first thing I looked for was City of Heroes and spotted an AGEIA technician showed off a Mayhem mission with a Brute running amok in Paragon City.

One Thunder Strike later off the roof a car and I was watched as Whirlwind picked everything from the bumper to the wheels to the door, carrying the debris along with him in the field of air. After turning off Whirlwind, the remains of the car continued to persist. For fans of Propel, the objects now persist for a little bit after they hit - ever see a pool table bounce down the streets of Paragon right next to a Freedom Corp hero?

It was a very cool first impression of the enhancements that the new physics will bring to the game. How much it will add to the game itself, it was hard to say from the short time I had with the Mayhem physics. It certainly opens the door for greater changes and variety in missions much like the addition of prisons and mission specific art/levels have done before. More from E3 at Warcry.com.