D.M.M.

Another demonstration begins — for a technology called Digital Molecular Matter (D.M.M.), developed by a Switzerland-based company called Pixelux Entertainment.

The Game Has Changed Frank DiGiacomo 2008

The company has incorporated Euphoria and D.M.M. technologies into an ambitious video game called Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which is scheduled to be released this summer.

The Game Has Changed Frank DiGiacomo 2008

Once The Force Unleashed hits stores, it will be only a matter of time before other game developers and publishers license or come up with their own versions of Euphoria and D.M.M. —

The Game Has Changed Frank DiGiacomo 2008

D.M.M. makes it possible to assign the molecular properties of virtually any substance to any virtual object.

The Game Has Changed Frank DiGiacomo 2008

And in game-play situations where all three technologies are involved — for example, if the Apprentice picks up a Euphoria-enabled stormtrooper who manages to latch onto a Havok-programmed metal cargo box before he’s lifted into the air and hurled through a D.M.M. plate-glass window — “that’s where it gets exponentially more complicated,” Blackman says.

The Game Has Changed Frank DiGiacomo 2008

Given the steep learning curve, Jim Ward is careful to downplay expectations about The Force Unleashed, but Hirschmann expects that the company’s growing understanding of Euphoria and D.M.M. will enable LucasArts to do even better work in subsequent games, such as the future Indiana Jones title.

The Game Has Changed Frank DiGiacomo 2008

But the challenges only multiplied when the LucasArts engineers, sometimes with technical support from NaturalMotion and Pixelux, got down to the business of teaching Euphoria and D.M.M. how to interface with each other as well as a third program, Havok Physics, that’s been a staple of LucasArts games for years.

The Game Has Changed Frank DiGiacomo 2008