ACADEMIA

SANTA CLARA, CA -- NVIDIA(R) Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) , a worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today introduced the Cg Language Specification - C for Graphics. Cg is a high level programming language that enables content developers to create cinematic-quality real-time graphics easier and faster. Developed in close collaboration with Microsoft(R) Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cg gives developers a new level of abstraction, removing the need for them to program directly to the graphics hardware. The common, familiar C-like syntax enables rapid development of stunning, real-time shaders and visual effects for graphics platforms, and is compatible with Microsoft's recently announced High Level Shading Language for DirectX(R) 9.0. "Until recently, developers had to program in assembly language in order to achieve cinematic-type features in today's graphics applications. Very few people know how to do this and it's a painfully slow process," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. "With the introduction of Cg and NVIDIA's Cg Compiler, developers will be able to more quickly create, share and re-use shaders that will make their content even richer with the stunning, visual effects and enhanced realism we've come to expect in this industry." "Cg has already garnered a tidal wave of industry support ranging from game developers to digital content creators," said Jen Hsun Huang, CEO at NVIDIA. "Cg is a significant milestone for the computer graphics industry as it moves real-time 3D graphics programming a quantum leap closer to the programming model of cinematic rendering. Cg will dramatically increase the speed at which increasingly sophisticated and exciting graphics features are adopted. Cg will do for GPUs what C and C++ did for CPUs." In a separate announcement today, NVIDIA also unveiled a Cg Toolkit that includes a Cg Compiler, Cg Browser, CgFX file format, Cg Standard Library and a collection of pre-written Cg shaders which can be used for a variety of applications, ranging from game development to digital content creation and computer-aided design. The NVIDIA Cg Toolkit will be available to developers attending "The Gathering 2", a conference in London on June 13-14, and for download at http://developer.nvidia.com/cg . For more information visit www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=cg.