In 2002, five innovative technologists and entrepreneurs shared the vision of a uniquely diverse company teaming together, to add new levels of realism to computer simulated physics processes. They brought their skills and knowledge from around the world - from America, Germany, Egypt, India and America - and named their company based on their countries of origin: AGEIA Technologies, Inc.

AGEIA is dedicated to delivering dynamic interactive realism to the ever demanding complexity of next generation games. Its first consumer product, called AGEIA PhysX, is the world's first dedicated physics engine and physics processor to bridge the gap between static virtual worlds and responsive unscripted physical reality. AGEIA PhysX allows developers to use active physics-based environments for a truly realistic entertainment experience.

- What is Physics?

Physics is all about how objects in your game move and react. It's not just how things look, but how they behave. In many of today's games, objects just don't seem to act the way you'd want or expect. Most of the action is limited to pre-scripted or canned animations.

Even the most powerful weapons leave little more than a charred smudge on the thinnest of walls; and every opponent you take out falls in a strangely familiar way. Serious gamers are left with a fine game, but one with a missing sense of realism to make the experience truly immersive. Until now, only limited software physics has been integrated in games. That means physics computation has been handled by the general purpose CPU which is already burdened with the ever increasing demands of today's advanced games including game logic and AI.

Meanwhile, the highly specialized graphics processor is fully engaged with handling the rendering requirements of cinematic visuals at interactive framerates. As a result, physics in games has been limited to a few objects in a scene, one-off "effects" or visual trickery that just mimics real physics. Now, the AGEIA PhysX Processor promises to deliver computing horsepower necessary to enable true, advanced physics in games.

- What is Ageia PhysX?

Delivering physics in games is no easy task. It's an extremely computing-intensive environment based on a unique set of physics algorithms that require tremendous amounts of mathematical and logical calculations supported by massive memory bandwidth. Simply put, it requires the AGEIA PhysX processor: a specialized accelerator dedicated solely to delivering rich immersive physical gaming environments with features such as:

• Explosions that cause dust and collateral debris
• Characters with complex, jointed geometries for more life-like motion and interaction
• Spectacular new weapons with incredible effects
• Cloth that drapes and tears the way you would expect it to
• Dense smoke & fog that billow around objects in motion

According to Ageia, the only way to get real physics with the scale, sophistication, fidelity and level of interactivity that dramatically alters your entertainment experience is with the AGEIA PhysX processor, which was developed from day one to accelerate the highly specialized physically based simulations.

- Which games are supported?

Ageia has a long list of "future"games that will support a PhysX card. AGEIA PhysX users can find the following titles available now:

• Bet on Soldier: Blood Of Sahara
• Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport (Patch)
• CellFactor: Combat Training
• City of Villains (Patch)
• Dark Physics
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter