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Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ralph Bergmann who wrote (7537)	9/22/1998 12:44:00 PM
From: Scott Garee	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16960

To run them as-is you really need a PC (processor, memory, Windows, etc.), but you could definitely build a platform which could run Glide, provide a development environment and make it pretty easy to port existing Glide apps. You have to provide filesystem IO, since most games read and write files using Window's API. You could probably provide a subset of the Win95 API to facilitate the port. The only console I would ever consider would need these things: Fast CPU Plenty of memory Fast 3D CDROM Some kind of local storage Some kind of networking Now, try to make this cheaper than a PC. The only real remaining problem with PC's (besides price) is the suffocating user unfriendliness. PC's are just a complete pain the the a$$ for non-techies to use. When things are going OK they are tolerable, but the problems are just too frequent compared to consoles. Windows needs a gaming (or beginner's) mode or something that removes a lot of the rest of the user interface and replaces it with something very simple and easy to use that only runs what is loaded in the CDROM drive. Something that would allow my 3 year old to use it regularly without me having to intervene all the time. Now myself aside, it is clear that the console market is BIG. I would not be upset at all to see TDFX license some of their 3D technology to someone to build into a console. A console lasts for several years on the technology it came out with. This makes it VERY cheap. I think a modified V2 or Banshee core would make an excellent console engine. I would prefer they just license the technology and accept royalties in return and not get directly involved in development. (The way they were headed with SEGA.) This results in additional income without diverting corporate direction.

To: Ralph Bergmann who wrote (7537)	9/22/1998 12:52:00 PM
From: timbur	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

The Sega Dreamcast runs Windows CE, and used the PVRSG. I imagine most games will need some changes to make it work on this system, but I would imagine the changes would not be too difficult to make. One problem is that the Dreamcast's specs are to use only 16MB of RAM. Anyone know whether the Dreamcast will be able to run standard PC games? The first console to do so will have a huge consumer edge, provided it's stable. Tim

To: Ralph Bergmann who wrote (7537)	9/22/1998 2:56:00 PM
From: Patrick Grinsell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

Ralph said... Would it be possible to develop a gaming platform like the Sony playstation, which is based in the voodoo chipset and which could run the original cds produced for pc's (of course for a reasonable price)? Yes, they can. Given today's press release this is the second time in a week that Ballard is hinting in the direction of set top/console devices. A console device with all the content of a PC. ;-) Bye, Bye, Nintendo. If 3dfx would cooperate on such a thing than I think a share price of 100$ would be for sure. Make it $200 if they can somehow integrate internet access and put "internet" in the name of the product. Pat

To: Ralph Bergmann who wrote (7537)	9/22/1998 3:00:00 PM
From: Michael Linov	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16960

To be competitive, such a platform would have to cost around $150-300 (with $300 being a very questionable max). Because cost is a major factor, it would almost certainly require a major player to produce it (such as AMD, Motorola, IBM etc.). I don't think that such a product is impossible, but would require a full commitment to succeed. Perhaps an AMD/3dfx venture could be viable. Why not just run good old (buggy) Windows/9x? it's not impossible to include a 1GB hd with a console. Or, why not have an entirely Internet based gaming platform (no cdrom)?