Regarding PhysX:
I think everyone agrees that GPU physics is coming with the next gen engines/consoles. UE4 and the Agni techdemo have shown that quite beautifully. Problem is: Until this tech becomes mainstream (i.e. consoles), no dev will code stuff like this only for the PC, because it just doesn't pay. So until we're there it's only 2 possibilities:
1. Everyone does nothing. We don't get nice effects
2. Someone adds advanced effects to games
I prefer 2. I don't care if it is AMD, Nvidia or Santa Clause, it IS a plus. PhysX neither accelerates nor slows down the adoption of GPU-based physics, so it has only one single positive effect: Effects vs. no effects. I don't get why people are so upset about that.