Interview on gamecenter:
gamecenter.com
Based on the rhetoric flying between Creative Labs and Diamond Multimedia, the battle for the hearts and minds of Voodoo 2 buyers is shaping up to be a bloody one.
Diamond announced the specifics of its 8MB Voodoo 2 card, the Monster 3D II, on February 2. On February 10, Creative Labs announced two models of its 3D Blaster Voodoo 2, one with 8MB of memory and one with 12MB of memory. That's when the fireworks began.
For Gamecenter's story about Creative's announcement, we called Diamond's vice president of marketing, Ken Wirt, to ask if Diamond had plans to offer a 12MB card to compete with Creative's. Wirt responded by saying he thought Creative's announcement of a 12MB card "shows they don't really understand the market [because] a 12MB card doesn't deliver any additional frame buffer memory."
Yesterday, Creative Labs marketing manager Jim Carlton called to explain his company's thinking behind the 3D Blaster Voodoo 2--and to toss a few barbs Diamond's way.
"The statement about us not understanding the market was surprising to me," says Carlton. "Our decision to produce a 12MB Voodoo card was based on feedback we've received from the market. We think there's a case for 12MB cards, but we think there's going to be demand for 8MB cards, too. That's why we're selling both." |
