I imagine this is two things for Microsoft: An investment to bolster DirectX and a cloud investment. Microsoft has shown that it wants to push physics calculations into the cloud. They have a pretty incredible demo displaying it, and it will be used for Crackdown. I can only suspect that they will want other dev shops to start utilizing this as it can bolster Azure.
> Microsoft has shown that it wants to push physics calculations into the cloud.
Ugh. Yet another excuse for publishers to retain the ability to shut off single-player games some single-digit-number of years after release. :(
Don't get me wrong, I've wanted new and better physics ever since Max Payne 2. Except for some niche games whose names I have forgotten ( :( ), we haven't really gotten good physics yet.
