NVIDIA'S AWARD-WINNING 3D TECHNOLOGY EMBRACED BY PREMIER GAME DEVELOPERS

RIVA 128 Enables Software Developers to Maximize

Direct 3D Features from Design to Release

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - February 23, 1998 - NVIDIA Corporation announced today that software developers, such as Acclaim, Activision, Psygnosis and Sega, are embracing the RIVA 128 processor to develop, test and bring to market their latest software titles. Leveraging the high-performance and functionality of NVIDIA's product line, leading 3D software developers are developing MicrosoftÒ Direct 3D software optimized for the RIVA family, including the new RIVA 128ZX processor (see separate release), which is software compatible with the RIVA 128.

"By enabling developers to create rich content with the confidence that a high percentage of end-users will realize the potential of their hard work, the RIVA 128 processor family has become the platform of choice for the development community," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA. "These developers recognize that, for the first time in this industry, NVIDIA's technology is starting to bridge the gap between the visual experience of the end-user and the creativity of the developer."

"We value the contribution that NVIDIA has made to maximize Direct 3D," said Shinobu Toyoda, Chairman and CEO of Sega Entertainment, Inc. "The API coupled with the RIVA 128 processor provides the performance and 3D experience that the mainstream consumer wants."

"The RIVA 128 processor gives us the high performance and features that are required for the development of our next generation 3D game titles," said Stuart Denman, vice president and technical director of Surreal Software, a Seattle 3D game developer. "Plus, cool features like 3D in a window and excellent 2D support are reasons why all our development systems have the RIVA 128 on board."

The full-featured RIVA 128 provides one source for multimedia processing when developers are designing models and artwork, developing scenes and levels, programming, testing and marketing a new title. In addition, the growing installed base of NVIDIA-enabled users presents a burgeoning market opportunity. As a result, many of the hottest game titles from winter `97/'98 have been optimized and designed with the RIVA 128 processor. Among the titles that have been optimized for the RIVA 128 processor are; Turok Dinosaur Hunter from Acclaim, I76 and Battlezone from Activision, O Zone from Pixel Multimedia, G-Police from Psygnosis and Redline Racer from Ubisoft. Other titles which were developed with the RIVA 128 processor include; Forsaken from Acclaim, Confirmed Kill from EIDOS, Hard Core 4X4 from Gremlin Interactive, Flight Simulator 98, Baseball 3D and Monster Truck Madness from Microsoft, Incoming from Rage, Tonic Trouble from Ubisoft, and Virtua Fighter 2 from Sega. (See compatibility list on page 4)

NVIDIA's Developer Program

NVIDIA's developer program is designed to provide software developers with the tools and support they need to create compelling software titles that truly take advantage of NVIDIA's hardware functionality. This program is being expanded to reach more developers in the entertainment market and to foster the adoption of 3D into new consumer and business applications. Within a few short months NVIDIA has shipped millions of RIVA 128 processors to consumers through its OEM and board manufacturer relationships and NVIDIA has been working closely with developers to assure their customers, using NVIDIA products, have a great visual experience.

"Our close relationships with our developer partners will provide a high-quality `out-of-box' experience for the end-user," said Kevin Schuh, manager of developer relations for NVIDIA. "We believe our hardware offers the best feature set and performance to enable developers to bring quality titles to a broad market of end-users. This functionality coupled with NVIDIA's focus on Direct3D provides the ideal platform for the developer community."

RIVA Family

Announced today, the RIVA 128ZX is the second in the family of highly integrated products targeting the performance segment of the PC graphics market. This new offering from NVIDIA leverages the company's graphics technology and massive gate counts to deliver intense realism and high frame-rate 3D setting a new bar for 3D performance.

The RIVA 128ZX 3D processor features an 8 MB frame buffer (8 or 16Mbit SGRAM) and a 250 MHz RAMDAC to support the storage of high-quality 3D textures, as well as the most extreme resolutions and color depths, up to 1600x1200x24bpp. If applications need to grow beyond the available local frame buffer memory, the processor supports 2X AGP, allowing for transfer of data from the system memory to the graphics subsystem. The RIVA 128ZX processor is Direct3D and OpenGL compliant. The RIVA family of processors offers a 128 bit pipeline to the frame buffer to support the computational throughput required for today's graphically intense applications. The RIVA 128 processor family is the 3D technology of choice for graphics accelerator board manufacturers Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc., Canopus and STB Systems, Inc., and major OEMs, including Dell Computer, Gateway 2000, Micron ElecTRonics and NEC. The RIVA 128 processor has enabled NVIDIA's OEMs to receive more than 40 of the indusTRy's most prestigious awards, including PC Magazine's Editor's Choice and PC Computing's Product of the Year.

NVIDIA Company Information

NVIDIA Corporation designs, develops, markets and sells high-performance 3D processors for personal computers. NVIDIA has been recognized as one of the hottest semiconductor companies in Upside Magazine's December 1997 article titled "Mr. Hot Chips '97" and was honored as The Most Respected Private Fabless Company by the Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) in November 1997. NVIDIA is a privately held company with venture financing. Corporate headquarters are in California: NVIDIA Corporation, 1226 Tiros Way, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. (408) 617-4000. http://www.NVIDIA.com.

Although all Direct3D software titles are compatible with the RIVA 128 processor, below is a sampling of some of the hot titles from Winter `97/'98 that NVIDIA has been working closely with to guarantee compatibility and a great end-user experience.

NVIDIA's RIVA 128 Winter `97/'98 Title Support Sample: