This webpage is an introduction to the wild world of videogame physics. Luckily there is only one section(Early Video Game Physics) where I do something totally pointless like to try calculate Mario Land gravity. The rest of the pages are dedicated to helping you, the esteemed reader, better understand the techniques games use to simulate physics. I want to get the following three big points across to you:

1) Physics are processor intensive. That's why videogames try to fudge things as much as possible, and why many of the so-called glitches you see are actually just the developers trying to make the game run on your slow computer and/or game console.

2) Realism doesn't always equal fun. Realistic videogame physics should be put into a videogame if they make it more fun. This game is a prime example.

3) Writing physics for videogames is TOUGH and requires a lot of hard work and a thorough understanding of higher mathematics. The Ragdoll Physics page provides a very brief description of the complications involved in just one small part of an overall game physics package.

Image created by me. Public domain Newton painting combined with screenshot I took while playing Valve Software's Half-Life 2 game.

Enjoy, and if you haven't payed much attention to videogames in the past few years, pick up a copy of Valve Software's Half-Life 2 and witness just how far things have come.