January 21^st, 2004 (12:00am) - Havok 2 has been adopted as the dynamics engine of choice by Sammy Studios Inc. After a lengthy technical evaluation and review, Sammy Studios became the latest publisher to sign up with the industry leading physics middleware developer. Their upcoming title Darkwatch: Curse of the West will be Sammy Studios’ first release implementing Havok 2 physics.

"Havok provides us with a state-of-the-art physics engine, enabling us the freedom to focus on gameplay. Gaming Physics is an absolute prerequisite for our upcoming titles” said Dave Wagner, CTO, Sammy Studios. “The team at Havok is really listening to our requirements and needs, and they’re delivering not only a great out-of-the-box product, but an architecture we can build on for the future. Great support, quick integration and seeing results made Havok the obvious choice for our next generation infrastructure."

"When I saw the Havok 2 preview my immediate reaction was that these guys are taking physics in the right direction” commented Clinton Keith, Lead Programmer, Engine and Tools Group. “We started our evaluation just after it went gold at GDC ’03, during which our team was able to get the initial integration up and running within a day. All of my expectations were exceeded, particularly by their exceptional Developer Relations team. We’re looking forward to leveraging Havok’s technology and support for the type of high-caliber, immersive games that we’re developing internally here."

“Sammy Studios are developing challenging and groundbreaking titles and we are very proud to be part of that effort” commented Steven Collins, CTO, Havok. “Havok physics allows great developers to deliver even higher levels of interactive gameplay; it really blows us away to see what can be done when our technology gets into the hands of those guys.”

Havok’s innovative technology is gaining industry wide traction as developers find it to be a mature and stable dynamics solution with strong support. The gaming press has also recognized Havok with recent awards including the just announced 2003 Game Developer Magazine Frontline Award for Best Game Component, and Computer Graphics World Magazine’s 2003 Innovation Award. Havok has received two consecutive Frontline Awards, its first in 2002.

Recent titles that shipped containing Havok 2 game dynamics include Max Payne 2, Deus Ex Invisible War, URU, and Crash Nitro Cart.