Friday, March 11, 2005

Specialized Processor for PC (Game) Physics

Startup Ageia announced a chip dedicated to improving virtual world physics. The immediate use will be in game consoles and PCs to more rapidly compute real-world Newtonian issues for hard and soft bodies, clothing, and particles. Such dedicated chips will do a job that is now handled in software on the main microprocessor. If Ageia gets to market by Christmas like they promise, they have a "first-mover" opportunity to get built into next-generation games and gaming consoles, not to mention graphics boards, PCs and notebooks.

Ageia's work leads us another step closer to photo-realistic virtual worlds running on mainstream PCs (including game consoles).

Interestingly, I had dinner last night with a venture capitalist who makes a convincing case that specialized hardware chips -- and I bet he would agree what Ageia is doing fits the description to a T -- are a growth opportunity for early stage investors.

The microprocessor giants, Intel and AMD, will argue that the rapid deployment of multiple CPU cores starting this spring will obviate the need for dedicated physics processors -- or sound processors for that matter -- in the battle to control silicon and computing functions. I'll weigh in on the side of the VC: there is a role, albeit yet to be proven in the market, for specialized processors.

Peter S. Kastner

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