Cry Havok! And let slip the dogs of war…

According to www.phrases.org.uk The military order Havoc! was a signal given to the English military forces in the Middle Ages to direct the soldiery (in Shakespeare’s parlance ‘the dogs of war’) to pillage and chaos.

Spell havoc with a ‘K’ and you have an altogether different beast. Havok is a name many of you will recognise as a middleware provider to the world’s top game designers – its expertise can be found in titles such as Half-Life 2 and the recently release Bioshock. Havok is especially famous for its physics engine – the part of a game that adds realistic movement to objects and characters and their interatcion with the game environment.

Intel has just bought into this idea – so much so that Intel has bought Havok outright. At first glance you may ask what Intel may need with such a hot gaming property – but Intel actually has a huge group of elite programmers and tools called the Software and Solutions Group (SSG) that Havok will now have access to (as well as Intel’s hardware and technology goodies). In turn, this 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 will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel and operate as an independent business- so it will be business as usual for them and their customers.

The Podtech guys recently interviews Havok – check out the video: