Sega of America Inc has licensed Sunnyvale, California-based nVidia Corp’s single-chip NV1 Multimedia Accelerator, saying it will enable personal computer users to run games from the company’s Saturn 32-bit video consoleon their computers. The Californian described its chip as providing comprehensive multimedia functions, including real-time three-dimensional graphics with photo-like quality, special visual effects and high-fidelity audio. Tom Kalinske, Sega president and chief executive, said This agreement is the latest step toward Sega’s goal of offering compelling video games for both dedicated game machine and the personal computer markets, as well as the arcade and theme park venues. In May, nVidia and SGS-Thomson Microelectronics NV started work together on nVidia’s NV1 and STG2000 multimedia processors (CI No 2,668). SGS licensed the NV1 technology and will market and sell the dynamic RAM version, STG2000, for low-end multimedia applications. SGS said it will ship the STG2000 chip on 1Mb boards using standard dynamic memory chips by Christmas, for $200, as a cheaper and more efficient alternative to the wavetable, graphics and audio boards home users currently use to run multimedia applications. nVidia is also targeting the home market and will sell the NV1 Video RAM version. The company began operations in January 1993 when it started developing the NV architecture used in the single chip multimedia accelerators. The company is financed by a combination of venture and corporate technology cash totalling $10m.
