Scaleform Announces Gfx 3.0 And New Video Solution

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13th March 2009, 02:31am - Views: 1305





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Scaleform Announces GFx 3.0 and New Video Solution


GREENBELT, Md., March 12 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --


         Release accelerates workflow, productivity, and establishes new

                            standard for quality


    Scaleform(R) Corporation (Scaleform), the groundbreaking force in interactive

entertainment middleware and user interface (UI) engines for video games, today

announced Scaleform GFx(TM) 3.0, with powerful new features, optimizations and a

new premium video module that enables game developers to cut costs and minimize

development risk while advancing game quality.  Scaleform GFx 3.0 alpha is

available for qualified developers and will be featured at the GDC 2009 Expo from

March 25-27 in San Francisco, CA. Special introductory pricing is available

through March 31, 2009.


    (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090312/NY82350LOGO )


    Scaleform GFx 3.0 is a major release that introduces new productivity

tools to speed the creation, assembly and optimization of UI elements. It

significantly accelerates workflow to empower artists and designers to design

more freely and autonomously, while allowing programmers to focus on creating

the highest quality gameplay rather than building time-consuming custom tools.


    "Our objective to ensure Scaleform is synonymous with competitive advantage

for game developers and publishers achieves a new standard with

Scaleform GFx 3.0," said Brendan Iribe, president and CEO of Scaleform.

"Scaleform GFx 3.0 delivers a new workflow paradigm including a fully integrated

Scaleform Video(TM) module, complete prebuilt Adobe(R) Flash(R) UI

component set, and other substantial productivity enhancements. With Scaleform

GFx 3.0 improving our customers' production process, an investment in Scaleform

is an investment in a team's ultimate success."


    "Scaleform has enabled BioWare to accelerate our workflow processes, which

helps us ensure our games are consistently high quality," said Dr. Ray Muzyka,

general manager and CEO of BioWare, the award-winning developer of Mass

Effect(TM) and the highly anticipated Dragon Age(TM): Origins, and general

manager and vice president, Electronic Arts. "Scaleform's middleware allows our 

creative talent to focus on higher level tasks, helping BioWare's teams fulfill

our mission to deliver the best story-driven games in the world to our fans."


    Scaleform GFx 3.0 feature highlights:


    - Scaleform Video(TM), powered by the award-winning CRI Movie(TM) from

      CRI Middleware (www.cri-mw.com), is a premium module licensed directly

      from Scaleform that allows game designers to add high performance video 

      playback capabilities to their Flash assets. Unlike existing video 

      engines, which are focused solely on standalone full screen video, 

      Scaleform expands the possibilities and workflow with fully integrated

      Flash video component support. Using the new Scaleform Video module,      

developers can play high-resolution, noise-free videos for intro logos,

      main menus, HUDs, in-game textures, full-screen cinematic cut scenes,

      and "green screen" per-pixel alpha composited effects. The CRI Movie

      codec was selected due to its proven success in hundreds of games and      

significant playback and encoding advantages over existing video codecs.

      See companion announcement, Scaleform and CRI Middleware Announce 

      Exclusive Licensing Agreement 

Science Information Technology Scaleform Corporation 3 image

      (https://www.scaleform.com/press_03_12_2009_2) for more information.


    - Scaleform CLIK(TM) ("Common Lightweight Interface Kit") helps accelerate

      the design and development of UIs on multiple platforms including PCs, 

      consoles and mobile devices. Architected by the gskinner.com team, 

      led by world-famous Flash expert Grant Skinner, the Scaleform CLIK 

      component architecture and workflow enhancement tools enable users to      

rapidly create sophisticated user interfaces from prototype to final      

design. By easily iterating the look and feel through all stages of the 

      development pipeline, Scaleform CLIK dramatically reduces the time and

      costs of developing UI elements.


    - Scaleform AMP(TM) ("Analyzer for Memory and Performance") is designed

      to offer insight into memory usage and other important performance 

      metrics developers require to improve real-time playback. This critical

      new feature set allows users to quickly optimize content by making it      

easier to identify inefficiencies and hot spots, enabling faster 

      iteration and integration.


    - Garbage Collection enables more efficient programming by detecting and

      removing circular references in ActionScript(TM) code via an optimized

      reference count collection algorithm. Developers no longer have to worry

      about ActionScript memory leaks.


    - Audio Playback for sounds embedded in Flash SWF and Scaleform GFX files,

      as well as multichannel audio from Scaleform Video playback.


    "Scaleform CLIK is great for building video game user interface elements

faster than ever before," said Graham Wihlidal, senior programmer, BioWare.

"Scaleform has demonstrated its on-the-ground understanding of production by

architecting a framework that truly accelerates development. Scaleform CLIK

provides more control to UI designers, while offering an increased pipeline

and runtime consistency that is needed for console development."


    Details on these features, as well as more information on enhancements to

the Scaleform IME ("Input Method Editor") Module and tighter game engine

integration with leading engines such as Epic Unreal(R) Engine 3, Emergent

Gamebryo(TM), and Crytek CryENGINE(TM) can be found at the Scaleform website



    Availability, Pricing and Special Introductory Offer

    Scaleform GFx 3.0 Alpha is available now. The new release will introduce

new pricing that aligns with the value of the Scaleform GFx 3.0 feature set

and functionality. Scaleform Video is licensed separately and is available

directly from Scaleform worldwide, with the exception of Japan, where it is

available for license from CRI Middleware.


    As a special introductory offer, Scaleform is offering pricing that

enables customers who purchase prior to March 31, 2009 to secure the full

Scaleform GFx 3.0 release at the Scaleform GFx 2.2 price, plus receive the

new Scaleform Video module for free. Contact sales@scaleform.com for more

information on this promotion.


    About Scaleform

    Scaleform Corporation revolutionizes the interaction between humans and

media with its groundbreaking user interface (UI) design environment for

video games. Enabling a new way of crafting media, Scaleform functions as an

extension of its clients' teams, enhancing and streamlining the development

process with technical ingenuity and accelerated workflow while lowering

risk. The company's flagship solution, Scaleform GFx, is fast becoming

ubiquitous in UI design, driving over 300 titles worldwide across multiple

platforms, and is integrated with leading game engines for rapid,

artist-driven UI and casual game development on PC and console systems. Visit

Scaleform at the GDC 2009 Expo March 25-27, Booth 6018, North Expo Hall.



    About BioWare

Science Information Technology Scaleform Corporation 4 image

    BioWare develops computer, console, handheld and online video games

focused on rich stories and memorable characters. Since 1995, BioWare has

created some of the world's best-selling titles including the award-winning

Baldur's Gate(TM) and Neverwinter Nights(TM) series, Star Wars(R): Knights of

the Old Republic(TM) and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood for the Nintendo

DS(TM). Original BioWare-created intellectual properties include

Jade Empire(TM) and the 2007 Game of the Year, Mass Effect. With studios in

Edmonton, Canada, and Austin, Texas, BioWare is hard at work on the epic fantasy

RPG, Dragon Age(TM): Origins, and a story-driven MMO, Star Wars(R):

The Old Republic(TM) as well as several unannounced projects. In 2008, BioWare

was acquired by the world's leading electronic entertainment publisher,

Electronic Arts. For more information on BioWare, visit www.bioware.com.


    About Electronic Arts

    Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is

the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in

1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software

worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and

the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA

SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA SPORTS Freestyle(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2008, EA

posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than

one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More

information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on

the Internet at http://info.ea.com.


    *BioWare, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Jade Empire are trademarks or

registered trademarks owned by EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd.

in the U.S. and/or other countries. EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle and

POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the

U.S. and/or other countries. Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft

group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective

owners.


    All trademarks and copyrights contained herein are the property of their

respective holders.


    For more information, or to be added to our list to receive news and press

releases, please contact press@scaleform.com


SOURCE: Scaleform Corporation


    CONTACT: Wendy Beasley, 

             +1-919-949-2406, 

             press@scaleform.com 


    Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090312/NY82350LOGO 




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