As developers learn more and more about the Sony PlayStation 3's hardware, speculations on what possibilities lie ahead are constantly being raised. This time, Red Faction: Guerrilla's  (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC) producer was placed on the hot seat and was asked whether he thinks the PS3 can outdo the Xbox 360 graphically. Find out what he had to say after the jump.

After blasting wave after wave of 8-bit space aliens on your screen, it's time to take a look at what's it like on the other side. Taito has recently unveiled several screenshots of its upcoming Wii title which resurfaces the 30 year old Space Invaders franchise with Space Invaders Get Even. Take a look at the screenshots, as well as some of the details of the game in the full article.

Quite a number of announcements were made by Sony in this year's Game Developers Conference. While most are probably talking about the fact that there are 2.8 million PSN gamers, developers have been going crazy at the new PhyreEngine from Sony Computer Entertainment. For more on this, be sure to check out the full article.

During the Game Developers Conference 08 in San Francisco, the company Havok has released version 5.5 of its renowned game engine of the same name. The announcement was done by no less than Managing Director David O'Meara.

There have been many changes to the engine that promise to make gameplay experience more immersive. Know all about these changes after the jump!

In able to successfully render the realm of Lucas Arts' upcoming Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game, three different physics engines were used. In a video we have for you, the developers talk about how Havok, Euphoria, and DMM take part in making the world of the Star Wars unlike any other game under the franchise.

Eden Games haven't said much about its upcoming Alone in the Dark: Near Death Investigation (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC), but German magazine PC Games was able to visit the developer's studio and learn more. Check out what they found out at the full article.

Over the past year, more than US$ 1 billion have been pumped into 35 virtual worlds companies by venture capital, technology and media firms. This information comes from Virtual World Management, a leading media company that tracks the virtual worlds industry.

The biggest chunk of the US$1 billion came from Disney's acquisition of Club Penguin, an online game from New Horizon Interactive where kids take control of cartoon penguin avatars to waddle around, play minigames and chat with their friends. This acquisition cost Disney US$ 700 million.

Intel's US$ 110-million acquisition of 3D virtual worlds graphics technology company Havok made up the second-biggest part of the figure. A total of US$ 196.8 million came from investments in 33 different companies. Investors included Intel, Redpoint ventures, Disney, CBS and Time Warner.

Aside from the PlayStation 3 gaming community, it looks like another group's very happy with the way Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword is turning out. Middleware company Havok is apparently all praises for the title, which used the company's physics Software Development Kit (SDK), and animation system. Given the way Havok CEO David O’Meara phrased his company's official remark, it looks like they're happy about the same stuff we're enjoying for the game:

Heavenly Sword is a fantastic game on a number of fronts. An emotionally rendering storyline, a beautiful heroine, a wide range of villains, epic scale destruction, in a beautiful environment, with the realism of Hollywood visuals offers the player an incredible gaming experience, especially on PlayStation 3.

In light of O’Meara's statement, Ninja Theory itself appears to approve of the devkit they used to create Heavenly Sword. As Mike Ball, Ninja Theory's CTO, had to say:

Havok Complete allowed us to enhance game-play in Heavenly Sword by enabling us to create characters that responded to a complex physical world, with a rich set of physical interactions. The characters respond in a convincing way to physical forces they experience, such as getting back up in a realistic manner when they have fallen down or negotiating obstacles they encounter.

In case you missed it, Heavenly Sword for the PlayStation 3's has been out since September 12. The UK's also picking up the game as part of a PS3 60GB starter pack, although we'll be going off-topic if we detail that bit of info. Keep in touch in case we hear of any updates for the game.

It's another day and that simply means another update for video game Super Smash Bros. Brawl courtesy of the good guys over at Smash Bros. DOJO.

After talking about piranha boss fights and Havok Physics engine utilization, let us focus for now on one of the many items available for players: Superspicy Curry. Like its name suggests, this particular dish is super hot and should not be eaten under normal circumstances.

But of course, you can use it to your advantage when your in-game character is up against Sonic, Diddy Kong, Yoshi, and others. Here's how the dish can help you during battles:

It's so spicy, flames shoot out of your mouth! Is this funny? Is it a joke? You just keep spitting out flames. This is different from the flames of a Fire Flower, because you continue spewing these flames as you perform attacks. You can do combos one would normally never think of. I’m not sure if it's painful or fun.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is expected to arrive in North American shores on December 3.

   

 

Here's a bit of a surprising news update regarding the highly-anticipated beat-em-up from Nintendo that features characters from various franchises, Super Smash Bros. Brawl - and it's about the game allegedly using Havok for a physics engine. This news comes from the title being sighted in the Havok company website's list of games utilizing its products.

So what does this have to do with the game itself, you ask? Well, for one, Super Smash Bros. Brawl using Havok as a physics engine means that we're pretty much going to see some intense interaction with not only inanimate objects in the game, but also characters. Examples of this happening are ragdoll effects, or the ability to play around with 3D rendered bodies and see them fall and drop in unscripted, random poses.

While this could also be construed as a visual bonus, it could also mean that the game's mechanics (projectile trajectories, jumping or falling) could be drastically different from what we've been used to in the previous iterations of Super Smash Bros., as it deals with things bouncing and falling around realistically.

But before we jump to any conclusions, it's worth noting that the list doesn't immediately specify which Havok product is being used in which title - and the company itself has other products other than its Physics engine. Another thing that should keep us from worrying is that the other games listed along with Super Smash Bros. Brawl are very high-quality ones, so we know it's in good hands. So let's not fret, and place our hopes on Nintendo making it as good a game as it can be.