Sony signs deals with middleware companies, buys third party PS3 development company

Sony's been ripping the pages out of the company check book lately with several announcements including deals with third parties and the acquisition of a Playstation game development company. Sony has signed a deal with Havok and Ageia to bring their advanced physics platforms to Playstation 3 developers as a bundle with the PS3 SDK. In a similar deal, the Unreal Engine 3 evaluation version will be shipped with the PS3 SDK. The company has also acquired the UK
based company; SN Systems. Over the last decade SN has produced tools to aid in the production of Playstation games.
These deals will help to strengthen the PS3's development credentials in the face of name-calling
criticism from Microsoft. The PS2 was widely regarded as a platform that was particularly hard to develop for,
especially in the early stages of the console. These middleware deals will go some way to levelling the playing field for next-gen development.