ATI OFFERS HELP TO 3D GAME DEVELOPERS
By Adnews Staff
ATI Technologies is attempting to grab a larger part of the computer game market with an incentive program for game makers. The 11-year-old company, with its head office in Thornhill, Ont., is offering a free set of marketing and technical services to developers creating 3D computer games based on the ATI 3D Rage chipset and accompanying software. ATI is offering to put game developers in touch with computer companies to give the developers the chance to have their games bundled with computers. Starting this spring, IBM's Aptiva home computers will contain hardware to run 3D Rage games. Developers will also have access to ATI's retail channel worldwide. ATI will exhibit the developers' games at trade shows in different parts of the world and feature the games in corporate advertising. ATI creates ads in-house and runs them in computer publications. Companies using the ATI technology in their games will also be permitted to put the 3D Rage logo on their packaging. On the technical side, ATI is offering game makers access to the ATI developer Web site for 3D Rage, discounts on ATI hardware, priority telephone support and preferred rates for the ATI Developers Conference. ATI has offices in the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Marketing vice-president Henry Quan says the company is the top marketer of graphics boards in the world and ranks number three in chip sales. It has products for both Macintosh computers and PCs. The Rage 3D platform powers games such as the international best-seller MechWarrior 2 from Activision. It is also used with Sony PlayStation games, including Wipeout and Assault Rigs.