Intel, who purchased the rights to a game graphics engine a few years ago and then dumped it in 2010, is getting back into the game graphics engine business again.
This week Intel"s Havok division announced it has acquired Trinigy, the owners and developers of the Vision Game Engine. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Vision Game Engine has been licensed for use by a number of console and PC game developers and publishers. Ubisoft used the engine for its recent strategy game The Settlers 7 and Firefly Studios is using the technology to help create the upcoming RTS game Stronghold 3. Robot Entertainment is also using the engine for its debut game Orcs Must Die.
The deal is expected to be completed by sometime later in August. When that happens the engine will get a new name; the Havok Vision Engine. Havok is best known for developing software for game developers to create realistic in-game physics and animations.
In 2008 Intel acquired game developer Offset Software, which was creating an advanced 3D game graphics engine that would be used for its own fantasy themed first person shooter. The Offset Software team continued to develop the game and the engine as part of Intel. However in 2010 Intel confirmed that it had ceased development of the game and engine and was moving onto other projects. The Project Offset engine, however, was licensed to Red 5 Studios before Intel acquired it and will still be used in the developer"s upcoming free-to-play sci-fi shooter Firefall.