-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 10, 7:01 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Creative Technology Ltd.
Invasion! Creative Launches Full-Scale Assault on 3D Gaming Accelerator Market Creative is Expected to Ship First Cards Based on the 3Dfx Voodoo2 Chipset Shipments of 3D Blaster Voodoo2 Begin February 20th Including Industry's First 12MB Gaming Card
MILPITAS, Calif., Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -_ Building on its recent successes in the graphics marketplace, Creative Technology Ltd. (Nasdaq: CREAF - news), the world's leading provider of multimedia products for the PC, today announced it will begin shipments of two eagerly anticipated 3D Blaster(TM) Voodoo2 gaming cards on February 20, 1998. Expected to be the first to market with a 3D accelerator gaming card based on the Voodoo2 Graphics chipset from 3Dfx Interactive, Creative is meeting the demands of PC gamers well ahead of industry expectations.
Creative's line-up of 3D Blaster Voodoo2 graphics accelerators consists of two models:
* A fully-equipped 12MB version _ the maximum configuration possible _ with an estimated street price of US$299.
* A powerful 8MB version with an estimated street price of US$229.
''PC gamers around the world have been clamoring for the 3D Blaster Voodoo2 since we first previewed it at COMDEX Fall, 1997,'' said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and chief executive officer of Creative Technology Ltd. ''We've been listening to their feedback and burning the midnight oil to get them the ultimate 3D game accelerator. The 12MB version of 3D Blaster Voodoo2 is in direct response to the tremendous number of users who requested this configuration. The gamers have spoken and Creative has delivered!''
Both models include very high speed, single cycle DRAM and deliver a phenomenal three million triangles per second as well as 90 million (180 million pixels in SLI configuration) dual-textured, bilinear-filtered, per- pixel MIP-mapped, alpha-blended, Z-buffered pixels per second. With this level of performance, 3D Blaster Voodoo2 is the most powerful 3D gaming solution to date in Creative's extensive line of high performance graphics cards.
Designed for PC gamers who have a passion for exceptional performance, the 3D Blaster Voodoo2 delivers more than three times the speed found in current graphics cards that use the current Voodoo Graphics(TM) chipset. 3D Blaster Voodoo2 is the first 3D accelerator card to successfully link two well-known brand names _ Blaster(R) and Voodoo _ together in one extremely powerful and exciting product. Full details of 3D Blaster Voodoo2 are available on Creative's award-winning Web site at soundblaster.com.
Creative Technology Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets a wide array of advanced multimedia solutions for the PC, entertainment, education, music and productivity tools markets. Creative's products are marketed through both the OEM and retail channels under a variety of trademarks, including the ''Blaster'' family name. Sound Blaster(R) has become the multimedia industry's de facto audio standard. Sound Blaster is an audio platform consisting of a sound card or chipset, software drivers and bundled software applications that enable PCs to produce high quality audio. Creative's corporate headquarters and primary manufacturing are based in Singapore, with sales, distribution and research and development being carried out through an extensive, global network of subsidiaries located in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
This announcement relates to products whose launch are in the United States of America. The product names, contents, prices and availability may differ elsewhere in the world according to local factors and requirements.
3Dfx Interactive, Voodoo Graphics; and Voodoo Rush; are trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive. Sound Blaster and Blaster are registered trademarks and 3D Blaster, Graphics Blaster and Exxtreme are trademarks of Creative Technology Ltd. All other products mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby recognized as such.
Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements:
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth herein (including information on future products, future marketing efforts, and future revenues, margins, expenses and earnings) are forward looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others: potential fluctuations in quarterly results due to the seasonality of Creative's business and the difficulty of projecting such fluctuations; reductions in the market value of products sold by Creative, including increases in supply or declines in demand or prices for CD-ROM or DVD drives, board and chip-level products, and software products; the short product cycles that characterize most of Creative's products; the increasing proliferation of sound functionality in new products from new competitors and at the application software, chip and operating system levels; Creative's reliance on sole sources for many of its chips and other key components; the timely development, ramp, delivery and market acceptance of new products, including Creative's next generation sound chips, and its graphics accelerator, video conferencing, CD-ROM and DVD drives, DVD encoder cards, communications and Internet-related products; the availability of operating capital on acceptable terms; the volatility of share prices for companies in Creative's industry and the effect of those prices or other events beyond Creative's control; and other risk factors described in Creative's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past twelve months.
SOURCE: Creative Technology Ltd. |