Nintendo licenses Autodesk and Havok for Wii U developers

Prepares for current generation through middleware licenses.

Nintendo has secured global licensing agreements with both Havok and Autodesk, whose middleware forms the cornerstone of this current generation of gaming. You might not recognise those names as easily as you do, for example, Unreal Engine 3, but they’re just as instrumental and as prevalent among contemporary games gracing the HD platforms. For example, Havok powers Skyrim’s notorious physics engine and its animation solutions are used from Uncharted to Rockstar’s L.A. Noire.

Autodesk’s middleware includes Scaleform, a UI solution, Kynapse to streamline AI production and HumanIK, a procedural animation system to help characters place their feet on stairs or the sidewalk, instead of just having on foot hovering 20cm off the ground. These tools were used in the production of games such as Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, which would coincide interestingly with the release of Assassin’s Creed 3 in November on the Wii U. Although this latest title is powered by a new engine, I wouldn’t be surprised to see these middleware solutions carry over.

Nintendo’s efforts to reach out to the third parties and really get back onboard with the HD generations seem to be getting more concrete with every passing day. E3 is going to be interesting this year. Especially if Mario himself adopts some “one foot on the side walk the other not” technology.

Source: Shacknews