Company wins Emmy for being top of its game

AN IRISH company involved in gaming technology and film making has landed a top US award for its international work.

Havok, whose headquarters are in the Digital Hub, Dublin, won the Emmy award at a glittering ceremony in Las Vegas on Monday night.

The software group won the accolade for their work on making games more realistic than ever, by pioneering techniques.

The Irish company’s technology has been used before to drive special effects in movies such as the Matrix, Troy as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

However, its work last year on best-selling games saw it scoop up the prestigious US National Television Academy award.

Games which used its engineered technology included Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed and Guitar Hero III.

Havok began as a project in Trinity College Dublin in 1998 but in just nine years it has become one of the world’s leading developers of technology in the entertainment industry.

Business has grown so much that Havok now has offices in San Francisco, San Antonio, Calcutta, Munich and Tokyo.

Accepting the award at the event in Las Vegas, David O’Meara, managing director at Havok, said:

“I am proud to accept this award on behalf of the entire team at Havok whose ongoing creativity and dedication has made our physics the global market leader in such a short space of time.

“I also want to thank our customers for their trust and commitment in everyone at Havok. Our customers are an absolute inspiration to us. They make the greatest and most compelling games the world has ever seen and we are truly privileged to be a part of that.”

The Irish company says it uses a combination of next generation physics, animation and tools to help realism and interactivity in gaming technology.

It pioneered the ‘ragdoll’ physics seen in most modern games.

www.havok.com