7th March 1996, Creative Labs, the leading provider of multimedia products for the PC, announced today that its 3D Blaster(tm), the first consumer level 3D accelerator, will fully support Microsoft's newly announced Direct3D API. Recongnised for establishing the standards for PC sound, Creative has worked closely with Microsoft and other industry leaders to define the standards for 3D graphics. Microsoft's newly released beta of DirectX SDK includes Direct3D drivers for Creative's 3D Blaster product line.

"The announcement of Direct3D by Microsoft represents a significant step in validating the great potential of the 3D market," stated Chris Boyce, Creative Labs European brand manager for video and graphics cards. "As we did with our Sound Blaster cards, we're excited to be working with Microsoft to ensure our customers have the broadest software support in the industry."

Creative plans to have all 3D Blaster products support multiple 3D graphics APIs, including Creative's own Creative Graphics Library (CGL) and Microsoft's Direct3D API. By working with both standards, the 3D Blaster supports more titles and libraries than any other PC-based 3D accelerator, providing the end user with the broadest access to new 3D titles.

In addition to running under Windows 95, CGL is distinguished from Direct3D in that it is also available for DOS. This makes CGL useful immediately, and makes it an ideal development platform for developers with legacy DOS-based applications. Creative currently has over 200 registered developers in its 3D Developer program, with more than 50 titles announced with support for CGL. In addition, Creative has licensed CGL to 3Dlabs(tm) for use on PermediaT line of 3D accelerators.

We believe Creative Labs has the technology know how and marketing muscle necessary to make true high-performance 3D games a reality for home PC users," said Mike Duffy, chief technical officer at Mindscape, Inc.

The 3D Blaster is currently available for VL-bus systems. A PCI version is planned for shipment in the Summer.

About Creative ...
Creative Technology Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets a family of sound, video, software, telephony and multimedia products for PCs under the Blaster family name, and the ShareVision line of desktop video conferencing products for PCs. The company's Sound Blaster sound platform enables PCs to produce high-quality audio for entertainment, educational, music and productivity applications, and has been accepted as the industry standard sound platform for PC-based software.

Creative Technology was founded in 1981 and is based in Singapore. The companys subsidiaries include Creative Labs in China, Europe, Japan, Taiwan and the US. The European head office is based at Ruscombe, near Twyford. In January 1994, Creative opened its technical support group in Dublin, which provides telephone support to French, German and English-speaking customers across Europe. Creatives stock is traded on the NASDAQ exchange, with sales in FY 1995 of $1202.3 million - a 83% increase on 1994.