Futuremark Corporation, the leading provider of system performance-analysis software and services for PCs and handheld devices, and AGEIA(tm) Technologies, Inc., pioneers of hardware-accelerated physics for games, announced today that Mountain View, California based AGEIA has joined the 3DMark Benchmark Development Program. Futuremark has created the 3DMark Benchmark Development Program (BDP) to build partnerships with leading PC and gaming industry stakeholders that have an interest in the development unbiased benchmark software that accurately measures the performance of next generation technology and hardware. Futuremark provides all its BDP Members with specifications and pre-production versions of its benchmarks and, in turn, evaluates the feedback provided by those members.


"Futuremark is pleased to welcome AGEIA to the 3DMark BDP. AGEIA brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in hardware acceleration of real-time physics to the BDP, and their advances in the marketplace offer great promise to the PC gaming environment" said Oliver Baltuch, Futuremark's VP of Sales and Marketing, North America. "AGEIA is fully committed to the development of fair and objective benchmarks and understands that as a result; consumers will get better performing hardware and software, and a more exciting gaming experience."


AGEIA develops hardware solutions that accelerate processor intensive advanced physics, enabling dynamic interaction in extremely complex immersive 3D games. Their flagship processor, the AGEIA PhysX, is the world's first dedicated hardware accelerator for advanced physics. AGEIA currently lists over sixty content partners that plan to support physics hardware acceleration in the next generation gaming platforms.