GPU PhysX support in Mafia II, highly anticipated mobster crime drama from 2K Czech, is not a secret for certain time, and recently official press-release, along with three new screenhots, were revealed.

The integration of PhysX and NVIDIA APEX technology, including the APEX Clothing and Particle modules, enable the city and personalities of Empire Bay to truly come alive on Windows PC. The NVIDIA APEX Clothing module allows for more dynamic movement in clothing, making in-game characters even more realistic and reactive to environmental conditions.

With the implementation of NVIDIA APEX Particles, players are engulfed in lifelike explosions that are bigger and brighter, including weapon fragments, in-game debris and destructible environments that are amplified in both quantity and realism through the integration of APEX Particles. For example, a pistol fired into a glass pane will emit hundreds of glass shards; a shotgun blasted through a wooden landing will splinter the wood; and a Tommy Gun will chip into a brick or stone wall to methodically fracture and break it into pieces.

An addition to hardware accelerated PhysX content, PC version of Mafia II will feature 3D Vision support. Mafia II will be available in North America on August 24, 2010, and internationally on August 27, 2010.

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Dark Void page at nzone.com was updated with new screenshots, demonstrating GPU PhysX effects in action. Most impressive are new APEX turbulence based smoke and dynamic particles for Jetpack and Disentegrator Gun accordingly.

In addition, other weapons are augmented with more “standart” particles effects – impact debris from bullet hits, physically simulated sparks and chunks.

As always, we’ll prepare long and boring comparison PhysX video after game release Until then you can watch Dark Void PhysX trailer

Update: comparison PhysX video available

Update #2: PhysX patch and benchmark available

We’ve finally (better late than never) uploaded our PhysX comparison screenshots pack for Batman Arkham Asylum. Like screenshots for Darkest of Days title, these are triple-screens, covering differences between High, Normal and Off PhysX in-game settings.

While inequality between High and Off PhysX settings is obvious, High vs Normal difference is not so evident: comparing to High PhysX settings, there is less dynamic smoke and spider webs, ground fog is missing, some cloth banners are unavailable, only like 1/3 amount of leaves is present on Normal PhysX settings.

You can view all screens at Batman Arkham Asylum GPU PhysX info mini-site

or watch our PhysX comparison video

PCgames.de has revealed 5 new screenshots for Batman Arkham Asylum, showing difference between lowest and highest PhysX settings. Sample effects include smoke, ground fog, leaves and cloth.

You can view PhysX screenshots here

We’ve updated our Darkest of Days profile with PhysX comparison screenshots, but this time they differ a little from other comparison screens we make, as they cover all three PhysX settings types in Darkest of Days - PhysX High vs PhysX Medium vs PhysX Low.

Sample preview

You can see the rest of PhysX comparison screenshots at our Darkest of Days info mini-site