Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hey Mark,

Curious how Matrox is supporting/lobbying devs of some of the newer upcoming games; i.e. STALKER:CS, OFP2, Far Cry 2, etc.

Do you all offer free TH2Go units to them so they can develop for it? Do you actively reach out to in-progress devs to enlighten them about the product? How many people are involved in the process?

It seems a tad sad that the only game I can think of (and correct me if I'm wrong) that actually has Triplehead gaming infused into it from the start is Arma:Armed Assault.

Has Matrox ever released the number of units sold to help motivate devs.... or is the number still so small that you all don't make that number public?

It seems that until Matrox really does a full court press on this, we all who love and support your product will be relegated to the backwater world of crazed enthusiasts....

Thanks,

Wazoo

_________________
Gigabyte GTX 980 - SLI

i7-4770k @4ghz

16GB Ram

Planar SA2311W 3D Vision monitors (x3)

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1

I think if they gave some TH2Gs to Testing Outsourcing companies they may use em and file bugs with the devs about it. With the new curved screens coming out this will become more important!

Sooooo.... has Mark been abscent from the Forums??

_________________
Gigabyte GTX 980 - SLI

i7-4770k @4ghz

16GB Ram

Planar SA2311W 3D Vision monitors (x3)

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1

One would suspect that such things would be behind NDA and hence none of our business...

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

One would suspect that such things would be behind NDA and hence none of our business...

The reality is if the numbers of units sold was huge, it would be made public. That fact has nothing to do with NDA's whatsoever.

As far as whether or not they are lobbying devs would also, in and of itself, not be the subject of an NDA.

If a dev was working on a specific game that they did not want announced... THAT would more likely be the purview of an NDA.

I think the deafening silence on the issue of units sold speaks volumes to the actual adoption of the product.

_________________
Gigabyte GTX 980 - SLI

i7-4770k @4ghz

16GB Ram

Planar SA2311W 3D Vision monitors (x3)

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate SP1

Hi wazoo,

Sorry for my late reply.

Matrox is a private company and has never disclosed sales figures. This is not specific to TripleHead2Go, it applies to all our products.

Although I can't speak in numbers, I can say that this product has been more successful in its two years since release than we had anticipated.

With regards to dev lobbying, we are indeed in contact with all major publishers and numerous dev studios. We are taking an active role in assuring support for as many titles as possible.

If a mainstream title releases at this point that is not TripleHead2Go compatible, it is usually for one of two reasons:

1. The dev cycle for the game started years ago, and decisions to integrate 3rd party technologies came long before Th2Go. (Also remember that patching a game to support a 3rd party tech near or after release is not something that happens easily. There are normally large eval processes involved, as well as cross-validation of compatibility in QA labs).

2. We approached the developers but they simply did not have the a)time, b)resources, c)authorization from Publishers), or d)interest in adding support.

Not every developer will see the merit of supporting every 3rd party technology for their games. Sometimes it's just a question of resources vs. benefit, and in some cases (especially with titles ported from console versions), the PC port is a quick spinoff that gets lower priority.

What can go a long way to encourate developers to support Th2Go is indeed when folks from this forum and others voice their opinions on the developer's sites. When there is a visible pull of demand from end-users it always helps to move things along.

GRID, Bioshock, and World in Conflict are just a few examples of how you guys can really make a difference! :)

It's one thing to be a dev and have a company "pitching" their product to you. It's another to see users in your forums activily voicing their desire to have a specific technology supported in your game.

Communities like this one make all the difference - so thanks again to everyone! :cheers

-Mark

[quote]One would suspect that such things would be behind NDA and hence none of our business...

The reality is if the numbers of units sold was huge, it would be made public. That fact has nothing to do with NDA's whatsoever.

As far as whether or not they are lobbying devs would also, in and of itself, not be the subject of an NDA.

If a dev was working on a specific game that they did not want announced... THAT would more likely be the purview of an NDA.

I think the deafening silence on the issue of units sold speaks volumes to the actual adoption of the product.

Most NDAs don't exclude the announcement of games. They just embargo talking about them in specifics. The rendering system of a 3d engine is often treated as NDA material, hence why I made my statement. NDAs are often at odds with the want to release PR about certain unreleased titles. For example, I'm behind a NDA currently. I'd love to do a detailed writeup on dual and triple screen use in the game, but one must respect NDAs till they are lifted.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

I as well am under several NDAs and the language in them tends to restrict you from saying any info that you obtained while working on the project.