It took them too long to do something like this.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10198809-64.html

That is something that adds value to the PS3, something that Sony really needs in order to justify the price tag. Good for the PS3 owners, however, it's unlikely that any good game using the technology will come up before mid-2010.

There is no word however on how much the graphics of the games that choose to use PhysX will suffer, since some processing power of the GPU will be allocated to physics.

I would view this as another option a PS3 game developer has, not something they are forced to use.  There are plenty of middleware companies that offer physics solutions for the PS3.  I think it shows that Nvidia is still firmly supporting the PS3 and the Nvidia GPU.  They are probably trying to firm their footing for the PS4 GPU.

Physx is also available on the X360 in the same manner as on the PS3.

However, many game engines also use Physx so any platform is open to using the physics acceleration app.

as far i know playing a PC game w/nvidia card and physX enabled dont bring down the frame rate... so in ps3 it should happen the same! if GPU makes the physics processing it liberates CPU from that and can give CPU room to other tasks

How much use will this be to the PS3? AFAIK the Cell processor was designed to handle multiple tasks at the same time and physics would be a large part of that processing. The Cell should be able to handle all the physics calculations it needs to, no? Wouldn't utilizing the GPU for these calculations just unnecessarily tie it up with things the CPU could handle anyways?

Would anyone with a technical background please shine light on these questions. I'd love to learn what you think. :)

Guys, Physx has been available to PS3, X360 and Wii for a long time now via 3rd party game engines. It's also directly available to the PS3 and X360. The changes between directly available and in a game engine are minimal. Don't expect to suddenly see a huge jump in physics quality because it's already been used in all 3 consoles quite a lot.

You're correct; PhysX is also on the Wii as well:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_physx.html

EDIT:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1237287245570.html

NVIDIA Provides Physics Technology For PLAYSTATION®3

For further information, contact:

Bryan Del Rizzo
NVIDIA Corporation
(408) 486-2772
bdelrizzo@nvidia.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SANTA CLARA, CA—MARCH 17, 2009—NVIDIA Corporation today announced that it has signed a tools and middleware license agreement for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI). As a result, the binary version of the NVIDIA® PhysX® technology software development kit (SDK) is now available to registered PS3 developers for free download and use on the SCEI Developer Network.

The NVIDIA PhysX technology software development kit SDK consists of a full-featured API and robust physics engine, designed to give developers, animators, level designers, and artists unprecedented creative control over character and object physical interactions by allowing them to author and preview physics effects in real time. The continued adoption of NVIDIA PhysX technology by the world’s leading content developers is resulting in games that not only look as realistic as possible, but also provides gaming experiences where the world’s literally come to life: environments become highly interactive with effects such as persistent debris, including shattered glass and weapons ammunition, trees that bend in the wind, and water that flows with body and force.

“NVIDIA is proud to support PLAYSTATION 3 as an approved middleware provider,” said Tony Tamasi, senior vice president of content and technology at NVIDIA. “Games developed for the PLAYSTATION 3 using PhysX technology offer a more realistic and lifelike interaction between the games characters and other objects within the game. We look forward to the new games that will redefine reality for a new generation of gamers.”

The PhysX technology source code SDK for PS3 and all major gaming platforms are available for license directly from NVIDIA. For more information on licensing PhysX SDKs or NVIDIA PhysX technology, please visit: www.nvidia.com/physx.

Ah.. I thought this had to do with using the GPU for physics calculations like what's capable with Nvidia cards that are 8 series and up. This is just the SDK.

the real question is what about the people who already own a ps3 without this. will they not be able to play the games that utilize this?

This is a software solution only.  It doesn't matter if you own any model PS3...or X360 or Wii for that matter....because all 3 consoles and all models can utilize Physx.