Ubisoft's HAWX Using Commercial Satellite Imagery

Ubisoft's upcoming multiplatform Tom Clancy's HAWX will integrate high-res images taken from GeoEye's commercial Earth-imaging IKONOS satellite, the two companies announced today. Ubisoft says the aerial dogfighting game's development team is working closely with GeoEye to incorporate satellite images for places like Rio De Janeiro, Cape Canaveral and the Middle East that appear among the game's 16 international locations. Ubisoft also says it's using data from the U.S. Geological Survey to create a topographical "underpinning" for the satellite images, hoping to enhance their realism. GeoEye says IKONOS was the first commercial earth-imaging satellite; its images are used for U.S. national security, mapping, air and marine transportation, environmental monitoring and insurance risk management. "High-resolution satellite imaging is moving from the black world of intelligence to the white world of commerce, and Tom Clancy's HAWX will bring that reality to gamers," says Mark Brender, corporate communications VP at GeoEye. "With video game graphics becoming more realistic, the use of high-quality photographic ground textures in HAWX