S3's U.S. and European Roadshows Ignite Developer Support for
Savage3D's Texture Compression Technology
Business Wire - August 18, 1998 08:22
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 1998--
Microsoft Licensed Savage3D's Texture Compression Technology as the Standard in DirectX 6.0
Visiting more than 170 U.S. and European ISVs, S3(R) (NASDAQ:SIII) has garnered substantial developer support for
Savage3D(tm) and its texture compression technology, which was recently licensed by Microsoft(R) as a standard in
DirectX(R) APIs.
Working one-on-one with developers, S3 demonstrated how Savage3D and texture compression will enable them to deliver
an entirely new class of games filled with incredible, texture-rich 3D scenes. This is made possible by the remarkable speed of
Savage3D, its support for 32-bit color modes and its texture compression technology, which increases the amount of texture
storage by up to 6X.
"Everywhere we go, Savage3D is blowing developers away as they witness first hand how technologies such as texture
compression will enable them to develop texture-rich DirectX and OpenGL applications," said Scott Taylor, manager of S3's
U.S. ISV Relations Group.
"In the past, they were limited to a certain amount of textures, which in turn limited how creative and complex they could get
with their games. Savage3D and texture compression revolutionizes traditional game development by eliminating this constraint
and enabling a whole new level of 3D realism and game play."
"As the first chip to support Microsoft's new texture compression scheme in DirectX 6.0, S3's Savage3D has clearly taken a
lead in the market," said Dr. Jon Peddie of Jon Peddie Associates (Tiburon, Calif). "This feature will give S3 a six month lead
over competitors and, in this market, that can make a difference."
Microsoft -- Kevin Bachus, Product Manager for DirectX
"We chose to incorporate S3's technology into DirectX 6.0 because it delivered the best combination of image quality and
performance, both of which are critical to game developers," said Kevin Bachus, product manager for DirectX at Microsoft.
"Incorporating S3's algorithm into DirectX will empower developers to create more compelling and realistic environments for
their 3D games and simulations by using larger, higher resolution texture maps without compromising performance."
Eidos -- James Poole, Director of Development Operations
"S3's tagline is 'Just don't get hurt!' and let me tell you, gamers better watch out or they will get hurt with Savage3D's
unbelievable 3D performance," said James Poole, director of Development Operations at Eidos. "Game players that like great
visual quality and incredible performance are going to love Savage3D and its new texture compression technology. This
technology allows us to use larger textures, and more of them, to create amazing looking environments without taking a
performance hit. Savage3D and its texture compression technology is amazing!"
Interplay Productions -- David Coy, Executive Producer
"S3's Savage3D pleasantly surprised us. Its raw performance and visual quality are among the best we've seen," said David
Coy, executive producer of Interplay Productions. "We're currently working on a couple of titles that will take advantage of
Savage3D's texture compression technology because it allows us to use a lot of large, hi-resolution textures and create
incredible looking environments."
DID (Digital Image Design) -- Mike Burrows, Head of R&D
"S3's texture compression allows us to texture from AGP memory and from local video memory much faster than before," said
Mike Burrows, head of R&D at Digital Image Design (DID) -- creators of the world's greatest flight sims, including the
recently released F22 Total Air War. "Our title 'Wargasm' due for release in November '98 will be the first of many titles to use
S3TC to full effect."
Infogrames -- Patrice Pone, Advanced Technologies Manager
"Savage3D will become a standard in 3D acceleration. It is a 'high-end' solution available everywhere for everyone," said
Patrice Ponce, advanced technologies manager, Infogrames France. "S3TC is innovative and exciting, allowing us to use many
more textures with virtually no loss of quality or performance. It is yet another great step forward for a better gaming
experience from S3."
Argonaut -- Jez San, Managing Director
"With the superb quality of the 6X compressed textures and the virtual 20+ megabytes of VRAM, we are totally sold on S3's
texture compression," said Jez San, managing director of Argonaut Software Ltd. "Our winter titles including Alien
Resurrection, CROC2 and KANAAN will have visual quality surpassing games on cards not using Microsoft's DX6 texture
compression standard."
Terminal Reality -- Mark Randel, President
"S3's texture compression technology revolutionizes game development and gameplay. It's the first standard texture
compression technology that enables developers to use huge amounts of textures," said Mark Randel, president of Terminal
Reality. "With these added textures, we can deliver games that approach the 'photo-realistic' level and knock the socks off any
true gamer. S3 has delivered a deadly one-two punch with Savage3D and texture compression."
Gremlin Interactive -- Paul Trowe, OEM Sales Manager
"It's about time someone stepped up to the plate and developed a compelling texture compression scheme," said Paul Trowe,
OEM sales manager at Gremlin Interactive. "Our industry is always looking for the next best thing to stay on the 'bleeding edge'
of consumer graphics, and the S3 texture compression scheme looks like it will be the one."
Iguana -- Jason Falcus, Director of Product Development
"S3 has found an elegant solution in texture compression and the quality is superb. We tried samples of large textures through
S3TC and the compressed versions were indistinguishable from the uncompressed forms," said Jason Falcus, director of
Product Development at Iguana UK. "The key thing for us is quality. With S3TC, we can be more creative and improve the
image quality of our games."
Rebellion Software -- Chris Kingsley, Technical Director
"S3TC is a great solution to the never-ending problem of limited texture space. Rebellion plans to use it in all our products,"
said Chris Kingsley, technical director Rebellion Software. "In games like Aliens-vs-Predator, the huge levels need to look
different as you move through them or you're going to get lost. Texture compression lets us put a fresh surprise around every
corner."
Angel Studios -- Diego Angel, CEO and Founder
"Angel Studios has built its reputation as a premier 3D graphics house by consistently producing the highest quality artwork and
3D animations in the gaming and entertainment industries," said Diego Angel, CEO and founder of Angel Studios. "S3's
Savage3D allows us to create amazing 3D environments with its raw processing power and because of its texture compression
technology, which allows it to easily process large numbers of high-resolution textures better."
Savage3D Wins the Benchmarks
Earlier last week Mercury Research, an independent consulting firm based in Scottsdale, Ariz., conducted testing of all the top
3D boards in the industry. Based on testing results, Savage3D was awarded top honors for delivering the highest frames per
second on real world game applications.
Testing based on Incoming from Rage Software and Turok from Acclaim Entertainment showed that Savage3D delivers nearly
33 percent higher frame rates on Turok and nearly 22 percent higher frame rates on Incoming than its nearest competitor
3DFX Voodoo 2 and Voodoo Banshee.
Additional reviews of Savage3D from leading computer gaming publications can be found at the following locations on the
Web:
cyrellis.com
gamecenter.com
gamecenter.com
ogr.com
headline.gamespot.com
cyberway.com.sg
next-generation.com
anandtech.com
About the Savage3D Accelerator
Savage3D outperforms all shipping 3D accelerators in AGP performance, trilinear mip-mapping, texture compression and
DVD/video processing. In addition, Savage3D is the first 3D accelerator to include S3TC, which was selected by Microsoft as
the standard compression technique in DirectX 6.0.
By compressing data up to 1/6 the normally required space, S3TC enables Savage3D to deliver 4X AGP performance and
essentially doubles the chip's frame buffer size by allowing more textures to be stored.
Savage3D design wins have been announced by Hercules, Diamond Multimedia and STB Systems and boards are expected to
be available by end of summer. For more detailed information about Savage3D, and to access detailed white papers, photos,
screen shots, product sheets and press releases, log onto the S3 Web site at www.S3.com and click on the Savage3D logo
located on the front page.
About S3 Incorporated
S3 Incorporated, founded in 1989 with headquarters in Santa Clara, is a premier supplier of multimedia acceleration hardware
and its associated software. S3 is committed to applying its expertise in 2D graphics, 3D graphics, and video to create
innovative and affordable products for the home, desktop and mobile markets.
Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, such as statements relating to the
market acceptance of Savage3D, Savage3D's performance, and the availability of boards using Savage3D are
forward-looking statements that are subject to risk and uncertainties, including the impact of competitive products and pricing
and of alternative technological advances, the ability of the company's foundries to ramp Savage3D to sustained volume
production in a timely manner, market acceptance of the company's and its customers' new products, customers' product
marketing timelines, and other risks detailed from time to time in S3's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10K
for the year ended Dec. 31, 1997.
Note to Editors: S3 is a registered trademark of S3 Incorporated. The S3 corporate logo, Savage3D and S3TC are
trademarks of S3 Incorporated. Other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.
In the third to last WWW address listed in the tabulated section above, there is a "tilda" after "sg/" and before "kert." This
symbol may not appear properly on all systems.
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