Tools of the trade

One relatively unknown fact about Wii U, aside from the official information and broad range of speculative rumours, is that Havok and Nintendo have an agreement for the 'middleware' provider to make its game engine technology available to developers on the system. Havok's development tools and technology are prominent in many games on HD systems, as well as appearing in Wii titles such as Disney Epic Mickey, and is responsible for delivering realistic physics and animations.

Dave Gargan, Havok VP of Engineering, has been talking about the agreement with Nintendo, but has also joined the group of those that believe Wii U has plenty to offer in terms of gaming experiences and potential.

The platform has its own unique features, and has its own challenges as well. When we come across any new particular platform, we optimize specifically for some of the advantages that those platforms offer over other platforms, and Wii U has specific advantages that no other platform has, and we optimize directly for those, right down at the level of accessing the hardware.

I think we'll see things done on the Wii U that we won't see on another platforms… I think people will be genuinely excited with the range of titles they're going to see come out.

A theme is emerging that Wii U offers something new and different from competitors, even if the raw power is only a reasonably small step-up from PS3 and Xbox 360. We only have one week to wait to see the system in action.

[source nintendoworldreport.com]