The Duke Gets Physical

Any mention of Duke Nukem Forever, these days, will have most gamers rushing to their calender, just to check if it really is April 1st.
This time however, the Duke is legitimately back in the news, even though a release date is still an unrealistic target.

Meqon, an up and comer in the physics middleware industry, announced they have been selected by 3D Realms as the physics engine provider for their long awaited game Duke Nukem Forever.

Meqon has been focusing on creating the most easy to use and flexible physics engine in existence. George Broussard, CEO of 3D Realms backs them up - We evaluated several physics SDK's and Meqon was really fast, had the cleanest interface and integrated into our game very quickly.

The physics engine does not only handle basic rigid body simulation, but extends into character and vehicle enhanced physics as well. Mr Broussard comments, With its advanced feature set, we feel confident that Meqon's next generation physics engine can help us create the next generation of action games.

Strangely enough DNF already had selected a physics engine, the aptly named, Mathengine. Unfortunately for the troubled title, the engine that 3D Realms wanted was bought by Criterion Software, the creators of Renderware. EAs involvement however, has caused most developers not associated with the giant publisher, to reconsider using Renderware.

This change of physics engine however, may prove the one lucky break in an otherwise troubled development process for DNF. Meqon seem to know what they are doing and if their demo is anything to go by, Duke Nukem Forever stands to gain from the partnership. If you wish to make ypour own mind up, you can download a short Meqon Physics Demo by following the download tab above.