PC gamers are in a bit of a state of flux at the moment when it comes to physics; NVIDIA has the aptly named PhysX, Intel the Havok engine. While it's been planned to have any game using either engine work with any card, NVIDIA has recently pulled its support, allowing the disparity to continue.

Nevertheless, AMD has jumped in with a mission to cure what ails you, developing an open source GPU physics solution that will work with either brand of card out there. Dubbed "Bullet Physics", this one is already used in console games (most recently Trials HD) and mobile titles; with AMD's help, it will be brought to the PC with a new engine.

Written in OpenCL, Bullet Physics will make things easier for programmers, in turn meaning better results for gamers. Pixelux Entertainment is the creator of the API, and will also be working with AMD to bring the solution to DirectCompute, DirectX 11's GPU offloading standard.

“Proprietary physics solutions divide consumers and ISVs, while stifling true innovation," says AMD’s CTO of Graphics Eric Demers. "Our competitors even develop code that they themselves admit will not work on hardware other than theirs. By working with Pixelux and others to enable open support of physics on OpenCL and DirectX 11 capable devices we are taking the exact opposite approach.”

“Pixelux wants ensure that our technology can take advantage of the computing resources that any particular hardware platform offers without locking in our users to any single platform,” said Mitchell Bunnell, CEO of Pixelux. “By working with AMD to run our software in OpenCL we stay true to that goal.”

In short, there's a lot to look forward to this upcoming generation. Smile!