<It has been asserted by others that TDFX had historically been the worst at this, that is announcing Voodo3 just when Voodo2 hit the shelves.>
Voodoo2 came out around 3/9/98 (see post #1890 at TMF), and "official" word of Voodoo3 came from TDFX on 11/16/98 (see TMF #12252).
However, perhaps you're thinking of Banshee? Banshee rumors started almost immediately following Voodoo2 launch (see 3/19/98 at TMF), but it's official announcement wasn't until 6/22/98 (#17781), and it didn't hit the shelves until 10/19/98 or so (#11176).
Voodoo3 got it's first blessing (as a real upcoming product) from TDFX on 11/16/98 (see TMF #12252), but strangely enough, I found rumors and links to information from the TMF site from 10/19/98 about Voodoo3, the very same day the first Banshee board was purchased by a TMF poster.
If anything, the delay in getting Banshee to market and the official announcement of the Voodoo3 just 1 month after launch probably cut into Banshee sales. The lack of official word about Banshee probably cut into the Voodoo2 sales because, as I reviewed the rumors, there were many that were really out there and the expectations were much higher.
However, buyers of video boards are used to rumors, and especially the hard core gamers will tend to buy now rather than wait 4-6 months for who-knows-what?
So, in short, I started this research to prove JAG was full of it, but on the contrary I concluded that he painted what's probably an accurate portrait but forgot to insert the Banshee product into the timeline.
Notice nowadays that we haven't heard a (useful) peep about Voodoo4 (or Rampage or ???) and how the Voodoo3-3500TV surprised a lot of people. I'd say that TDFX is doing much better now about controlling information.
JAG, your comments about the TDFX board sounding like pro wrestlers made me laugh. Of course they want to sound confident, and maybe (hopefully) they really are. Remember how nVidia boasted about how TDFX was running for it's life and had to hide behind litigation a few months ago. Guess it's contagious! |
