Very close. Its from July 1997.Originally Posted by GigaDrive
Very close. Its from July 1997.
thanks for the correction Madhatter, i thought it was spring 1997 but it was summer. probably written up in May or early June though.
Anyone have this in a good scan so I can put up a pdf on it?
Bump. Anyone care if these are sticky or not?
Last edited by LeGIt; 11-12-2012 at 08:28 AM. Reason: Double Post Merge
I think it's a good topic...but information doesn't exactly show up that often.
Death to Bill and Ted!
http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/ftopic78521.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: (Editorial Contact) (Investor Relations)
Chris Kramer Laura Onopchenko
3Dfx Interactive, Inc. 3Dfx Interactive, Inc.
408/935-4322 408/935-4312
chrisk@3dfx.com onopchenko@3dfx.com
http://www.3dfx.com
3DFX INTERACTIVE ANNOUNCES THAT SEGA ENTERPRISES LTD. HAS TERMINATED THE CONTRACT FOR 3D GRAPHICS PROCESSOR
SAN JOSE, Calif -- July 22, 1997 -- 3Dfx Interactive has learned from Sega Enterprises LTD. today that Sega will not use the 3Dfx 3D graphics processing chipset for the next generation Sega home gaming console.
This announcement comes despite an existing contract for 3Dfx Interactive to develop the 3D graphics engine for Sega's next video game system.
``We are disappointed with this notification, and believe that it is without legal justification,'' said Greg Ballard, President and CEO, 3Dfx Interactive. ``However, it is important to remember that Sega is only a fraction of our business, representing less than 10 percent of our projected 1998 revenue. Our base business of selling 3D accelerator chips into the PC market remains strong and is even strengthening. We will release our earnings after the market closes on Thursday, July 24, and anticipate that they will be consistent with analysts' expectations. In addition, the rest of 1997 already looks to be very positive.''
3Dfx Interactive has been working under contract with Sega since March of this year to develop and license a proprietary chipset for use in the new Sega game console. Sega has an equity investment of nearly $2 million in 3Dfx Interactive, and has funded development of the chipset to date.
3Dfx Interactive believes that, under the terms of its contract with Sega, this decision by Sega requires the Company to explore its options, including legal recourse.
3Dfx Interactive, a publicly traded company (NASDAQ:TDFX ), develops high performance, cost-effective 3D media processors, software and related technology that are designed to enable a highly immersive, interactive and realistic 3D experience across the three primary interactive electronic entertainment platforms -- the personal computer, the home game console and the coin-operated arcade system -- as well as location-based entertainment ("LBE") systems. Current 3Dfx Interactive products include the Voodoo family of accelerator chipsets, Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo Rush.
Note to Editors: This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations. A wide variety of risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially. These include, but are not limited to, the growth rate of the interactive electronic entertainment industry and the related requirements for graphics systems, continued demand and market acceptance for the company's existing products, new product announcements or product introductions by the company's competitors and other competitive pressures, as well as 3Dfx Interactive's continued ability to develop and successfully market new products. Additional risks are described in the company's SEC report on Form S-1. This document is available upon request to the Company's Investor Relations Department and is posted on the SEC's home page on the World Wide Web.
3Dfx Interactive, Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo Rush are trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive.
###
Sega Withholds Black Belt Announcement
Sega has decided against showing its new hardware hand this early in the game.
April 5, 1997
While both Microsoft and Sega were expected to make announcements regarding their roles in a new system, Black Belt, Sega has decided to hold back its announcement. Both companies know that leaks have revealed much of what current plans are, but Sega and Microsoft will be waiting before officially admitting the existence of the top secret hardware. It seems that the majority of Saturn owners are not pleased at the prospect of new hardware and the announcement of such a system is likely to `spook the horses' in terms of future Saturn sales.
To recap what is currently known of the system (which is still being designed), it will have:
- A 3DFx-based graphics sub-system
- 16MB general RAM
- 2-8MB texture RAM
- A Microsoft OS likely to be some form of DirectX as a part of its `arcade initiative'
The hardware design is being conducted in the US by both Sega and SegaSoft and does not include perennial hardware partner Lockheed Martin. Internal teams are already working on three games including Virtua Fighter 3, a soccer game and a basketball game. Third parties should be receiving development kits as early is the first quarter of 1998, with an ambitious Japanese release scheduled for Christmas 1998. The US isn't expected to see the system until mid-1999.
Black Belt CPU Comparison
There are currently two processors being considered for the CPU of Black Belt.
May 2, 1997
The PowerPC 603e and the Hitachi SH4 are currently the two processors under consideration by Sega for use in Black Belt. Both processors are extremely good at floating point calculations.
PowerPC 603e
Specification
16-Kbyte instruction and 16-Kbyte data caches
Superscalar--3 instructions per clock cycle
On-chip power management
32/64-bit data bus mode
Fully JTAG-compliant Performance
166 MHz
SPECint95* 3.9 (1) - 4.5 (2)
SPECfp95* 2.5 (1) - 3.3 (2)
200 MHz
SPECint95* 4.4 (1) - 5.1 (3)
SPECfp95* 2.8 (1) - 3.7 (3)
240 MHz
SPECint95* 4.9 (1) - 6.3 (3)
SPECfp95* 3.1 (1) - 4.6 (3)
*Estimated performance.
(1) 66 MHz Bus, L2 - 512 KB, 70 ns DRAM
(2) 66 MHz Bus, L2 - 1 MB, 60 ns DRAM
(3) 66 MHz Bus, L2 - 1 MB, SDRAM
Hitachi SH-4
While the SH-4 is not yet in production, it was initially announced at the Microprocessor Forum in October of 1996. Hitachi announced that it would have first silicon in the first quarter of 1997 with production beginning late in the second quarter of 1997.
The design of the SH-4 itself lends itself well to generation of 3D graphics. Current specifications are:
200MHz
360 Dhrystone v1.1 MIPS
2-way superscalar
32-bit integer, 64-bit floating point
8Kbyte instruction cache, 16Kbyte data cache
5 stage pipeline
floating-point unit that can do the following:
208 or 256-pin package
- scalar product in 3 cycles, fully pipelined (single-precision floating point) using just 1 instruction
- matrix transform in 7 cycles, partially pipelined, single- precision floating point, using 1 instruction. That's 16 multiplies and 12 additions, all single-precision fp, in 1 instruction.
1.8 Watts worst-case power consumption Even at the processor's initial announcement last October, certain magazines were already considering the possibility of its use in the next Sega console. According to the October 28th issue of Microprocessor Report: "The new core seems likely to appear in videogames, possibly from Sega, but it may not debut until 1998." Such predictions are looking more and more possible considering the proposed timing of Black Belt.
Prices have not yet been announced for the Hitachi chip yet, but it is expected to be the cheaper of the two possible solutions before Sega right now. As it stands now, Sega has still not made a decision as yet upon which processor to use as its CPU.
Last edited by LeGIt; 11-12-2012 at 08:23 AM. Reason: Triple Post Merge
am I here? ¬¬
Nice info!
Have you got a source for all of these?
Forum Moderator
The Real Dural Specs
September 17, 1997
Coming straight from developer documentation and manuals
Dural. And super-console is definitely what it is. With blistering technology and incredible features, it looks like it'll make Sony and Nintendo's current game systems look flaccid by comparison. While these specifications aren't massively different from what Next Generation Online has reported in the past, they are the current definitive stats as far as the developer manuals specify. Dural, AKA Black Belt and Dragon (which actually refers to the Microsoft Windows CE OS), is an incredible piece of gaming technology that Sega have provisionally set for a Fall `98 release. But this is very dependent on the delivery of killer app software that is required to clearly demonstrate Dural as a quantum leap in gaming technology. We have seen many times in the past that superior technology alone is not enough to seduce consumers - it's games that maketh a system.
The machine has been developed by Sega in conjunction with a variety of big-name partners. Biggest of all has to be Microsoft, who are creating the WinCE Operating System which will allegedly make the Dural easy to use and allow for the development of non-gaming utilities. Certainly, a decent, intuitive operating system would be a first for a games machine, and with a modem, keyboard and mouse also in development, it's clear that Dural isn't just going to be a pure gaming machine. Three other partners are also involved in the hardware development - Hitachi, NEC and Yamaha who are supplying the Dural's SH-4 CPU, PowerVR2 graphics chip and ARM7 sound chip respectively.
UNDER THE HOOD
HITACHI SH-4 CPU
While the SH-4 is not yet in production, it was initially announced at the Microprocessor Forum in October of 1996. Hitachi announced that it would have first silicon in the first quarter of 1997 with production beginning late in the second quarter of 1997.
The design of the SH-4 itself lends itself well to generation of 3D graphics. Current specifications are:
- 200MHz
- 360 Dhrystone v1.1 MIPS
- 2-way superscalar
- 32-bit integer, 64-bit floating point
- 8Kbyte instruction cache, 16Kbyte data cache
- 5 stage pipeline
- floating-point unit that can do the following:
- scalar product in 3 cycles, fully pipelined (single-precision floating point) using just 1 instruction matrix transform in 7 cycles, partially pipelined, single-precision floating point, using 1 instruction. That's 16 multiplies and 12 additions, all single-precision fp, in 1 instruction.
- 208 or 256-pin package
- 1.8 Watts worst-case power consumption
Even at the processor's initial announcement last October, certain magazines were already considering the possibility of its use in the next Sega console. According to the October 28th issue of Microprocessor Report: "The new core seems likely to appear in videogames, possibly from Sega, but it may not debut until 1998." Such predictions are looking more and more possible considering the proposed timing of Black Belt.
GRAPHICS
If the SH-4 is the heart of the system, the PowerVR2 graphics chip are the lungs. With a screen-blistering 1.5 million polygons per second and with mip-mapping, texture filtering and hardware fogging, light and shadow, the PowerVR2 (otherwise known as Highlander) is capable of delivering incredible quality visuals. While these specs on the surface would indicate greater than Model 3 performance, rendering quality isn't expected to be as high as the expensive arcade board despite the impressive specs.
On an interesting technical note, the PowerVR chip supports both Open GL and D3D, which will apparently make ports to and from the PC relatively straightforward.
SOUND
A Yamaha audio ASIC will be used based upon the ARM 7 core (who licensed the technology from Advanced RISC Machines for exactly these sort of applications). Yamaha's version of the ARM7 is a small, but noisy beast capable of singing in 64 simultaneous voices (think of the potential - a full choral version of the Daytona soundtrack). It also sports a plethora of DSP effects that promise to make games sound as good as they look.
The base ARM7 chip uses 36,000 transistors and runs at a 45MHz clock speed pulling an average of 40 MIPs.
MEDIA
Dural is a CD-based games system, and Sega is utilizing a rather unusual Yamaha CD drive to this end. Running at 12x speed, Dural's CD-ROM features dual density capability that allows games to be delivered on either regular density CD's, Dural-specific 1 Gig super-density dics or both.
MODEM
Dural will definitely feature modem capability in the form of a card (possibly similar to PCMCIA specifications), but it is unclear at present whether or not this will come standard, or will be available as an add-on. Speeds being considered for the modem were not specified in the developer manuals. If Sega are serious about making this a truly next generation multimedia/gaming machine, we feel it should definitely come standard.
DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS
The Dural development system exists in rudimentary form at present, but developers will be receiving updated chips and kits over the course of several phases during the next five months to create a complete and final development kit by February `98. The final SDK is expected to be completed late spring of `98.
However, with only a year to go until the system hits the streets, it seems that developers will have their work cut out to create games for launch. Obviously, we'll keep you updated on this.
SUMMARY SPECS:
CPU: Hitachi SH-4 200 MHz CPU
GRAPHICS CHIP: PowerVR2 (Highlander)
SOUND CHIP: Yamaha ARM7-based ASIC
MAIN RAM: 8 Megabytes
VIDEO/TEXTURE RAM: 8 Megabytes
AUDIO RAM: 2 Megabytes
CACHES: 8k instruction/16k data/128K CD ROM buffer
MODEM: Modem card (possibly PCMCIA based)
OUTPUT: VGA and 640x240 anti-aliased RF
CD ROM: Custom dual format
Yes, the Wayback Machine ;-)
Examples from 3dfx.com:
January 27, 1998 - Court Enters Injunction Against Sega
September 2, 1997 - 3Dfx Interactive Files Lawsuit Against Sega Enterprises, Sega of America and NEC Corporation.
July 23, 1997 - 3Dfx Interactive Announces That Sega Enterprises Ltd. Has Terminated the Contract for 3D Graphics Processor
etc, etc ....
There are a lot of info at old websites, but some links doesn´t work
Last edited by LeGIt; 11-12-2012 at 08:23 AM. Reason: Double Post Merge
am I here? ¬¬
Ah thats good cos not seen any of these before! Nice to have them on an official website.
Forum Moderator
thanks for posting this one! I remember it
http://217.158.191.134/pma/10112 from Totalgames.net link broken.
Dreamcast Story, The
''A do-or-die machine which will decide whether Sega stays in the hardware biz''
Dreamcast is a system born out of Sega’s darkest hour, a do-or-die machine which will decide whether the company stays in the hardware business. Its precursor, the 32bit Sega Saturn, had been widely expected to conquer the world with Nintendo’s own second next generation system heavily delayed -- due to the collapse of an alliance with Sony -- and neither Atari nor 3DO seriously threatening mass market success.
All that changed with the November ’93 announcement of the Sony PlayStation, a system which would heavily defeat Sega’s system and become a considerable influence on how Sega designed Dreamcast. Although there had been rumours of Sony producing a console, what came as a heavy shock to Sega was the technical superiority of the PlayStation. While the Saturn had been designed as perhaps the ultimate 2D arcade machine, albeit with a substantial 3D capability, PlayStation was totally committed to polygons.
Sega boss Hayao Nakayama angrily berated Sega’s engineers for their failings, but it was too late to totally redesign the system if the 1994 launch was too proceed. Instead, Sega added yet another processor to an already over-complicated design. In terms of raw power, the new Saturn was much more of a match for PlayStation, but it would never be an easy machine to program for. The twin CPU design in particular demanded highly specialised machine code rather than the C most Japanese developers prefered: barely a year after Saturn’s launch a key Sega manager admitted only one in a hundred programmers would have the skill to use the machine’s full potential.
Ironically, the Saturn’s Japanese launch would be Sega’s best ever performance in its home territory. Even a flawed version of Virtua Fighting was enough to transform the company’s traditional weakness in its home territory. Overseas, however, it was to be a different matter. Scepticism about the prospects of a CD-ROM machine succeeding in the cost-sensitive US market meant Saturn was originally partnered with a low-cost, cart-based system codenamed Jupiter -- principally due to American scepticism that a CD-ROM machine could be competitively priced. When Saturn was upgraded, Jupiter got axed in favour of Mars, an upgrade for Sega’s 16bit Mega Drive which was supposed to protect the company’s hugely lucrative US market. In fact, 32X was an unmitigated disaster, drawing vital developer support away from Saturn and destroying the company’s reputation among gamers who found themselves with an add-on with barely a handful of games.
The Saturn debacle would cost the jobs of Sega’s American and Japanese bosses, beside reducing its US empire to a ruin running up losses of $167 million in 1997. For any replacement machine the lessons were clear: a single format, complete user-friendliness for developers and a new brand -- so low had sunk the once mighty Sega name.
As soon as any console is launched, work is usually underway on a replacement but the Saturn’s troubles gave this process an unusual urgency for Sega. By 1995, rumours surfaced that US defence contractors Lockheed Martin Corp. were already deep into the development of a replacement, possibly even with a view to releasing it as a Saturn upgrade. There were even claims that during Saturn’s pre-launch panic a group of managers argued the machine should simply be scrapped in favour of an all-new LMC design.
Sega originally entered into partnership with LMC to solve problems with its Model 2 coin-op board, however by 1995 the relationship had soured somewhat with the Model 3 board suffering massive delays. Around the same time, 3DO began shopping around its 64bit M2 system. According to informed sources, Sega’s Japanese bankers had brokered an unwritten deal whereby Matsushita would manufacture M2 units, while Sega would concentrate on the software. M2 devkits were supplied to Sega in early 1996, with initial work reputedly concentrating on a Virtua Fighter 3 conversion for M2’s launch.
Sega’s M2 project soon fell apart however. 3DO’s Trip Hawkins blamed corporate ‘egos’ for the collapse, while Sega insisted its engineers were unconvinced M2 was the breakthrough technology they needed. Instead, the company was increasingly preoccupied by the PC market -- unlike Nintendo, it was fully prepared to convert its games onto the format and in mid-1995 it had entered into a partnership with PC graphics card manufacturer nVidia. Under the terms of the deal, Sega would supply ports of key Saturn titles exclusively for the nVidia PC graphics card. At the time, pundits wondered if Sega might be switching from Saturn to nVidia as its principal platform.
By 1996, this speculation was ebbing away as two clear frontrunners emerged in the PC graphics market: VideoLogic’s PowerVR and 3Dfx’s Voodoo chipsets. Sega approached both companies to be partners in two parallel Saturn 2 projects, each of which having minimal if any knowledge of the other. The 3Dfx-Sega of America project was codenamed Black Belt, while the VideoLogic-Sega of Japan system was known as Dural. Although console development is usually shrouded in total secrecy, Saturn 2’s development coincided with the rise of the Internet and Black Belt soon became a popular topic of gossip. For a time, many presumed Black Belt was the only new Sega system.
All this changed on July 22nd, 1997, when 3Dfx was informed them Black Belt was cancelled. It was a shattering blow -- "Our contract with Sega was considered to be gospel right up until we received the call," admitted marketing manager Chris Kramer. Two months later, 3Dfx issued a lawsuit against Sega while blaming VideoLogic’s Japanese backers, NEC, for bringing influence to bear on a decision which would otherwise have gone to 3Dfx. An initial burst of publicity soon gave way to highly confidential discussions which settled the lawsuit away from the public eye in August 1998.
For outsiders, 3Dfx had always been the favoured partner due to their leadership in the PC market, moreover Sega let it be known the decision to cancel wasn’t due to either performance or cost reasons. What may have been a factor is 3Dfx’s very strength made it a difficult partner for Sega, VideoLogic’s second-place status obviously made it the hungrier partner. Moreover, whereas 3Dfx see themselves as creating a new gaming platform around their Voodoo hardware and Glide software, VideoLogic were much more eager to use Microsoft’s Direct3D API.
Whatever the reasoning behind the decision, the PowerVR decision further dampened excitement about a machine soon to be redubbed Katana. In January ’98, UK trade newspaper CTW ran a savage onslaught upon the new format: "When one looks at a format owner that actually struggles to garner interest in its latest hardware announcements, you know it''s in trouble. From Black Belt to Dural and Katana, journalists have leapt into headline mode, but the level of disinterest elsewhere is palpable." Commenting upon the latest redundancies in America and Britain, Dinsey wondered whether the company was "giving up and trying to re-invent itself as a PC publisher."
In May, Sega gave its response with the official announcement of its new system, its specifications and that controversial name: Dreamcast. The marketing campaign began with the announcement of the marketing campaign and its $100 million budget for each territory: America, Europe and Japan. Sega boss Shoichiro Irimajiri put the cost of hardware development at $50-80 million, software development at $150-200 million, which with marketing added up to half a billion dollars.
The PR statements were suitably bullish: "Dreamcast is Sega’s bridge to world-wide market leadership for the 21st century" commented Sega US VP Bernie Stolar. "I am confident that Dreamcast will become a de facto standard for digital entertainment" claimed Sega chairman Isso Okawa. However, it was at E3 itself that the tide really began to turn for Sega with bravura software demos finally earning the machine journalists’ respect. Post E3 reports were full of adoration , as impressed by the restoration of Sega’s old self-confidence as the raw processing power on show. Dreamcast’s launch date was set as November 20th and this time all Sony can threaten is the announcement of new hardware -- 1998 is Dreamcast’s alone.
From E3 onwards, Sega orchestrated a careful drumbeat of announcements, including the launch of the VMS unit on July 11th to tie-in with the Godzilla movie and a much hyped August 22nd PR event for Sega’s old mascot in Sonic Adventure. In September, Sega ran an ad showing MD Eiichi Yukawa being abused by members of the public who preferred Sony -- and promising all would change with Dreamcast’s arrival. And so it is, everything now rests with the machine and its software.
Written By: Stuart Wynne
Last edited by GigaDrive; 01-14-2009 at 02:39 PM.
Great read! SEGA's history after 1994 is very confusing. You can see SEGA lost theirs focus:
Partership with 3DFX, Nvidia, Matsushita, almost merging with Bandai...
It's a piitty for a great company :(
There was mention of PowerVR and Sega's next console (Dreamcast) in GamePro's May 1998 issue.
GamePro(May1998)SaturnGoingGoingGoneThumb.jpg
I often think that if conditions had been just a little bit different in the late 90s, a different graphics company would have come out on top, and that would have had huge consequences on the graphics technology being used today. For example, I think if that company had been Real3D, we would be 5 or 6 years ahead of where we are now. If it had been 3Dfx... well, not really sure about that one.
Not sure what any of the above geForce vs VooDoo drama has to do with the Sega Black Belt though... > hits delete
Last edited by LeGIt; 11-12-2012 at 08:09 AM.
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