Mais um negócio que irá agitar o mercado de grandes empresas com produtos destinados a games, foi anunciado ontem que a Intel está comprando a Havok, empresa líder do mercado quando o assunto é física em games, tendo suas tecnologias dentro de alguns dos mais famosos do mercado, entre eles Half-Life2, BioShock, Oblivion, Lost Planet e por ai vai.

   Com essa jogada fica ainda mais claro que a Intel pode vir a lançar em breve algum produto que controle física e gráficos, produto de alto nível para poder competir com Nvidia e AMD, no caso a AMD já deixou claro que sua estratégia será desenvolver um produto integrando PPU e GPU, e agora parece que sua principal rival entrará na mesma linha, resta saber quando isso acontece visto que seria muito interessante ver como funcionaria a Intel no segmento de gráficos de alto nível e não somente com chips integrados como funciona hoje.

   Abaixo temos o release em inglês.

   SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 14, 2007 – Intel Corporation today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Havok Inc., the leading provider of interactive software and services used by digital media creators in the game and movie industries. Havok will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel.

   The acquisition will enable developers in the digital animation and game communities to take advantage of Intel's innovation and technology leadership in the creation of digital media.

   "Havok is a proven leader in physics technology for gaming and digital content, and will become a key element of Intel's visual computing and graphics efforts," said Renee J. James, vice president and general manager of Intel's Software and Solutions Group. "Havok will operate its business as usual, which will allow them to continue developing products that are offered across all platforms in the industry."

   Havok's modular suite of software development tools is used by game and digital animation creators to build realistic video games for all types of hardware and digitally animated movies. The company's combination of superior technology and dedication to customers has led to its technology being used in more than 150 of the world's best-known game titles, including "BioShock," "Stranglehold," "Halo 2," "Half Life 2," "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion," "Crackdown," "Lost Planet: Extreme Condition," "MotorStorm" and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." In addition, Havok products have been used to create special effects in movies such as "Poseidon," "The Matrix," "Troy," "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

   "This is a great fit for Havok products, customers and employees," said Havok CEO David O'Meara. "Intel's scale of technology investment and customer reach enable Havok with opportunities to grow more quickly into new market segments with new products than we could have done organically. We believe the winning combination is Havok's technology and customer know-how with Intel's scale. I am excited to be part of this next phase of Havok's growth."

   Havok was founded in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland, and has offices in San Francisco, San Antonio, Stockholm, Calcutta, Munich and Tokyo. The company will be a wholly owned Intel subsidiary and continue to operate as an independent business working with its customers in developing digital media content. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.