NVIDIA Adds Support for OpenGL Vertex Programs; Delivers New and Innovative Shaders; and Conforms to Microsoft DirectX Syntax and Command Structure

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Susan Austin 
NVIDIA Corporation  
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
 
SANTA CLARA, CA—AUGUST 21, 2002—NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today released Beta 2 of the NVIDIA® Cg Compiler and NVIDIA Cg Toolkit for Cg, a high-level programming language for content creation developers.  This new version of the compiler and toolkit, available now at http://developer.nvidia.com, includes support for the OpenGL® GL_ARB_vertex_program extension, and allows developers to create shaders in the Cg Language Specification and implement them in the OpenGL 1.4 application programming interface (API).  The NVIDIA Cg Compiler Beta 2 release also fully conforms to the Microsoft® DirectX® high-level syntax and command structure. 

“This latest version of the Cg Toolkit and Cg Compiler delivers exactly what developers have been asking for—the ability to develop shader programs for both OpenGL and DirectX with one high-level language,” said Lew Wagman, director of software product marketing at NVIDIA.  “By way of these APIs and NVIDIA’s CineFX™ architecture, new shader examples can be easily created, opening a world of real-time cinematic quality rendering.”

“CineFX” is NVIDIA’s next-generation graphics processing architecture--a highly efficient and advanced rendering architecture featuring advanced programmability; high-precision color; dramatically improved performance; support for high-level shading languages; generalized vertex and pixel processing; and high bandwidth to system memory and CPU.  The NVIDIA Cg Toolkit Beta 2 also contains new Cg shader examples that are NVIDIA CineFX architecture-specific. 

“Without a new generation of tools, we wouldn’t be able to take advantage of new hardware functionality,” said John Ratcliff, senior technology architect, Planetside, Sony Online Entertainment.  “What’s really exciting to us is that Cg and the NVIDIA Cg Compiler allow us to fully leverage new hardware architectures, like NVIDIA’s CineFX.  They also empower developers to share shader resources and to speed up the product development process.  We’ve already integrated Cg into our Planetside engine and are using it to develop a massively online first person shooter game.”

With the NVIDIA Cg Compiler Beta 2, developers will be able to start writing realistic shaders more quickly and easily.  Working in NVIDIA’s next-generation graphics environment, including the CineFX architecture, developers will be able to write and compile much longer programs with hundreds of instructions—and achieve near-cinematic results on a PC in real time.  With the accelerated convergence of real-time and cinematic quality rendering, NVIDIA will make myriad of new special effects more accessible and easier for artists and game developers to use. For more information on the CineFX architecture, or to download the Cg Compiler Beta 2, go to http://developer.nvidia.com.

About NVIDIA
NVIDIA Corporation is a visual computing technology and market leader dedicated to creating products that enhance the interactive experience on consumer and professional computing platforms. Its graphics and communications processors have broad market reach and are incorporated into a wide variety of computing platforms, including consumer digital-media PCs, enterprise PCs, professional workstations, digital content creation systems, notebook PCs, military navigation systems and video games consoles. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and employs more than 1,400 people worldwide.  For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.nvidia.com.

Certain statements in this press release, including the statements relating to the Company's performance expectations for NVIDIA's family of products and expectations of continued revenue growth, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations.  Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, manufacturing and other delays relating to new products, difficulties in the fabrication process and dependence of the Company on third-party manufacturers, general industry trends including cyclical trends in the PC and semiconductor industries, the impact of competitive products and pricing alternatives, market acceptance of the Company's new products, and the Company's dependence on third-party developers and publishers.  Investors are advised to read the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled "Certain Business Risks," for a fuller discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.

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