Electronics Inc. today announced that Sega Entertainment, Inc. and
NEC have approved a letter of intent with the goal of reaching a
definitive agreement to distribute arcade-quality games for the
personal computer. The new games will come from Sega's library of
software titles and will be designed for the Compaq Presario Series
8000 (details announced by Compaq on July 15, 1996) and other personal
computers using the PowerVR 3D graphics architecture.
"Sega develops some of the most popular titles in computer
entertainment," said Robin Seaver, director of strategic business
development - multimedia, NEC Electronics Inc. "Sega's adoption of the
PowerVR technology assures players will have some of the most exciting
game titles available featuring the ultimate 3D graphics experience in
systems equipped with the PowerVR architecture."
cording to Sega, all titles will be available in multiple languages,
including English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese.
"To get users e***d about PC-based games you need compelling content
and a graphics engine capable of running such a game," said Jon
Peddie, president Jon Peddie Associates, one of the leading analysts
covering the graphics market. "Sega certainly knows the game side, and
the PowerVR technology is an engine capable of running such games. We
see this, combined with the Compaq design win, as an important
endor***t for the PowerVR architecture."
"Sega's titles for the PowerVR architecture bring true arcade-quality
*** to the PC platform, and by virtue of PowerVR's cost/performance
benefits, we believe it is the first time that such titles can be
delivered with a system cost in line with mainstream console systems."
added Seaver.
4
The PowerVR Architecture
The PowerVR architecture allows content developers to create a single
game for a variety of system platforms, minimizing development cost
and speeding time-to-market. Developed jointly by NEC and VideoLogic,
it takes a revolutionary approach to 3D graphics systems design.
Typically, 3D controllers require three memory systems: Z-buffer,
texture and frame-buffer memory. NEC and VideoLogic have dramatically
reduced memory bandwidth requirements by replacing the Z-buffer memory
and associated bandwidth with on-chip hidden surface removal. This
means that bandwidth is not limited by the memory subsystems as with
competitive 3D solutions. The PowerVR architecture offers a
performance level of up to 1.2 million textured and shaded polygons
per second, based on 10 Giga operations per second processing speed
delivering 3D rendered scenes at 640 x 480 resolution at 30
frames-per-second (fps) and 16.7 million colors (true color) with
every pixel mip mapped, textured, fogged, lit and shaded. By keeping
the memory bandwidth requirements for the Z-buffering/hidden surface
removal and translucency functions on the chip means that bandwidth is
not limited by the memory subsystems as with competitive 3D solutions.
This becomes especially important as screen resolutions go beyond
5
640X480 and frame rates go beyond 30Hz.
Content Developers and Add-in Board Manufacturers Pick the PowerVR
Technology
In addition to Sega, a wide range of content developers and add-in
board manufacturers have announced and/or pledged their support for
he PowerVR architecture. On May 9, 1996, Compaq Computer Corporation
announced it had chosen the PowerVR technology as the 3-D technology
of choice for its fall line up of Presarios. Additionally, VideoLogic
introduced its OEM version of a 3-D accelerator card based on the
PowerVR technology in May. In Novemort
The PowerVR-based solutions from NEC and its partners support both
polygon and surface constructed 3D models and are fully compatible
with Microsoft Direct3D and Apple's RAVE software interfaces. In
addition the PowerVR technology has it's own 3D graphics library
called PowerVR SGL , a powerful, high-level API developed by
VideoLogic and NEC.
___
I just wet my pants.
--
It amazes me how quickly Sega and Friends drops Diamonds NiVda chipset
from the Edge3D.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Southend, Essex. UK
-----------------------------------------------------------------
: It amazes me how quickly Sega and Friends drops Diamonds NiVda chipset
: from the Edge3D.
I am a little, no make that highly concerned that the 3d wars and
resulting shake-out will be longer than we the consumer needs. It seems
that all of the major players/camps are taking sides and recruiting
allies. If this battle continues without a sure clear victor, the only
winner will be Bill Gates/Microsoft. We will find ourselves tied to
games disigned to only run in a Win95 environement. If you thought your
machine was not powerful enough to do GP2 justice, imagine what kind of
horse-power you'll need to run a demanding game like GP2, Falcon4.0
inside a Win95 environment! Once again it looks like the civilians are
the ones that are going to get hurt during wartime!
--
**************************** Michael E. Carver *************************
Upside out, or inside down...False alarm the only game in town.
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