Unreal Engine 4 integrates Oculus Rift, Nvidia PhysX

Unreal Engine 4 now features built-in support for a variety of middleware technologies including Oculus VR's Oculus Rift headset and Nvidia's PhysX software, developer Epic Games announced today.

Both technologies are part of Unreal Engine 4's Integrated Partners Program, a suite of middleware tools directly integrated into the scalable next-generation engine. It follows similar initiatives for Unreal Engine 2 and Unreal Engine 3; Epic will still support the UE3 Integrated Partners Program for now.

"The new Integrated Partners Program helps Unreal Engine 4 developers maximize their time with the most advanced toolset we've ever developed," said Tim Sweeney, Epic Games' founder and technical director, in a press release today. "We have taken the time to integrate UE4 with the best middleware technologies so our licensees can stay focused on making great games."

Andrew Reisse, a founding member of Oculus VR who was killed at 33 in a police chase last week, led the development of Unreal Engine integration for the Oculus Rift, said the company in its memorial blog post for the engineer. Epic and Oculus VR added Rift support to Unreal Engine 3 earlier this year.

Other companies serving as the inaugural integrated partners for Unreal Engine 4 include NaturalMotion and its Euphoria engine — which appeared in the studio's 2010 football game, Backbreaker, and in Grand Theft Auto 4 — and RAD Game Tools' Bink Video file format for full-motion video. You can see the full list below.

• Audiokinetic - Wwise
• Autodesk - Autodesk Gameware
• Donya Labs - Simplygon
• Geomerics - Enlighten
• IDV - SpeedTree for Games
• Intel - Intel Threading Building Blocks (TBB)
• NaturalMotion - Morpheme and Euphoria
• Nvidia - PhysX and APEX
• Oculus VR - Oculus Rift
• RAD Game Tools - Bink Video and Telemetry Performance Visualizer
• RealD - RealD Developer Kit (RDK)
• Umbra Software - Umbra 3
• Xoreax - IncrediBuild-XGE