Linden Lab, the creators of the popular virtual world Second Life, has announced the acquisition of graphics technology from Windward Mark Interactive, a graphics technology firm founded in 2003 by five Harvard University students looking for “a better way to create real-time worlds.” The new studio is searching for new developers to add as well.
As part of the acquisition, Linden Lab adds that it will acquire the developer’s atmospheric rendering technology WindLight, and Nimble, a realistic 3D cloud simulator, as well as associated intellectual property and interests. The company further notes that once the acquisition is complete, it plans to make available Windward Mark’s graphics technology through open source channels, and integrate it into the Second Life Viewer software, bringing added visual fidelity to the popular MMO.
Windward Mark’s WindLight technology uses patent-pending algorithms that imitate the ways in which light is affected by real-world atmospheric factors like dust and moisture, enabling the nuances of sunlight, clouds, water and weather to be accurately simulated in real-time. Windward Mark Interactive’s other real-time visualization product, Nimble, uses advanced physics models to realistically simulate clouds.
MMOabc mentions the official Linden lab statement says that Alliance: The Silent War, an online game developed by Windward Mark Interactive, will not be included in the acquisition. Instead, the PC game (possibly on Xbox 360 & PS3) will continue to be developed “as a separate entity.â€
See what Alliance’s graphics look like in this teaser: