Oh dear, this one is going to leave a big mess. According to Extremetech.com, 
a company named Ageia who is working on next-gen hardware and software based physics engines for use in gaming worlds has recently stated that only the PS3 and PC’s with the Ageia’s PhysX hardware will be able to use all the engines features. Ageia’s physics acceleration engine will handle everything from “physical object interactions to fluid-based particle effects like water and smoke”. If we are to believe these recent news reports the Xbox 360 doesn’t have the horse power to do any of the fluid/smoke/particle-related physics in real-time.

However, the Xbox camp is now fighting back and are posting screenshots of emails from Ageia stating that they have been miss quoted in the Extremetech.com article. But wait, it doesn’t end there, because PlayStation fans are now claiming that the emails are fake and made by Xbox fans. I am already regretting reporting on this story… 


Update: Ageia Withdraws Comparison Statements

"AGEIA would like to go on record that we do not have data to support performance comparisons for the PS3 or Xbox360 that would impact any of our physics features," Keane said in an email, which was also sent to other news organizations. "Specifically, statements that the Xbox360 cannot run fluid simulations are not correct. In addition, conclusions about relative performance should not have been stated or implied in our presentations."

AGEIA physX Technologies
Gaming will never be the same with AGEIA physX Processor. Bridging the gap between beautiful static worlds and responsive physical reality, AGEIA physX technologies enable unlimited creative possibilities for game developers. The result will re-ignite the enthusiasm of gamer and game creators alike, and propel the game industry into unexplored new markets. Experience the world of pervasive interactive reality with physX technologies.

AGEIA physX Processor
AGEIA physX Processor is the world's first physics processor, an entirely new category of technology that promises to transform gaming. By offloading software physics processing from the CPU and GPU, AGEIA’s physX Processor completes the triangle of game function, graphics and interactive real-time environments from physics computing, balancing the load of these processing tasks and enabling incredible realism in tomorrow's games.

AGEIA physX Processor Architecture has been designed to enable radical acceleration of:

• Rigid body dynamics
• Universal collision detection
• Finite element analysis
• Soft body dynamics
• Fluid dynamics
• Hair simulation
• Clothing simulation

AGEIA physX SDK
The AGEIA physX SDK is a stable, high-performance solution for game developers to enable physics-based gameplay and effects in PC and game console titles. A powerful API for the AGEIA physX Processor, the AGEIA physX SDK enables game developers to inject both software-only and hardware-accelerated features into their games. The AGEIA physX SDK is also the first and only asynchronous (multithreaded) physics API capable of unleashing the power of multiprocessor gaming systems.

Key features:

• Stable, high-performance solver
• First and only multiprocessing physics API
• PC and console support
• Works alongside and is compatible with other game engines
• Supports vehicles, rag dolls, and character controllers
• Integrates with any renderer
• Full complement of code samples and tutorials
• World-class developer support and custom solutions

You can also visit http://www.ageia.com for more information about PhysX