Mirror's Edge PC delay down to PhysX

When it was first announced that Mirror’s Edge, the innovative and very well received free running first person platformer from DICE, would be significantly delayed on PC but not on Xbox 360 or PS3 there was whole heap of outcry and more than a few tin foil hats were produced with talk of the delay being related to anti-piracy measures.

Well it seems this time at least there’s no conspiracy, and just a lot more work to do as Nvidia and EA have confirmed the delayed release date, now sometime in January 2009, is due to the significant implementation of Nvidia’s PhysX technology into the game.

As you can see from the new trailer, the level of physics effect integration is impressive, with realistically ripping fabrics, wind effects, flowing water and all sorts of other physics goodness making the graphics look much better than on the consoles.

While the core gameplay itself won’t be affected in any way, as the game still has to be playable on non-PhysX enabled hardware after all, those with an Nvidia 8-series GPU or higher will be able to leverage the PhysX support implemented by Nvidia into the Forceware drivers a few months back to take advantage of the much improved visuals.

Of course the let down is that those with ATI graphics will miss out, as PhysX acceleration on the GPU is still very much an Nvidia exclusive property despite rumours of third party developers porting the API to ATI hardware persisting, although nothing concrete has yet materialised.

Quite frankly, why not just release it now so everyone can play it and then offer a patch for Nvidia folk later? Remember Far Cry 1.3 adding HDR for Nvidia GeForce 6 hardware, or Company of Heroes adding DirectX 10 support? The two month delay will likely mean anyone who will have wanted to play it, will have already done so on a console, especially if they own ATI hardware because it won't make a blind bit of difference for them. As much as we love funky visuals, cool eye candy and real physics, we love playing games more.

Are you happy enough in the knowledge that the wait for Mirror's Edge PC might be worth it, or are you an ATI user and frustrated you're not invited to the PhysX party, plus made to wait for the game? Let us know in the forums!

Roy Taylor on game physics, AI & piracy

Nvidia PhysX pack due shortly

Nvidia releases PhysX for 8, 9 and GTX 2xx series