TWIMTBP/GItG

[silhouette]

Hi Guys,

Nvidia has TWIMTBP and ATI has "Get in the game", we all know this. But, I do not think many people know what they really are like me. I just would like to ask what it requires to get into one of those and what is the benefit for a developer to be in this programs (getting money from IHVs/getting tech support/getting hardware early, etc?). Also, are those exclusive? I mean is it possible for a developer to be in both of them at the same time?

Thanks,

 

[Pete]

It's mainly a marketing relationship. The IHV (ATi/nV) pays the dev/publisher to slap their logo all over their games, and may include some extra help with coding. They either pay money or provide hardware (nV supplies EA with GF cards). The end result isn't always a boon to gamers, as you can see with Tiger Woods: some effects are reserved for nVidia cards only, at least initially. OTOH, this may provide much-needed support to smaller devs (like Crytek and the STALKER devs, IIRC).

I don't think one game can be both GITG and TWIMPBP. There are enough games that each IHV can ally themselves with a few solid titles each year, anyway.

 

[gandalfthewhite]

PETE good start but to clarify a little its strictly publishers of games that are in a program they are given a shit load of cash gfx cards and tech support from either company they choose for twimtbp games their is usally a special feature or effect or something SPECIAL for NV only

 

[gkar1]

What's funny is that most TWIMTBP games run better in ATI hardware. Go figure

 

[Arun]

AFAIK, some games *are* developer relations (Savage: The Battle For Newerth would be one of those; I noticed several commented out functions from the NVIDIA Math lib in the SDK, and there gotta be some more serious stuff in the core graphics engine).
But many are not, and developer relations ones often become marketing too down the road.

Uttar

 

[Doomtrooper]

What's funny is that most TWIMTBP games run better in ATI hardware. Go figure

Which is understandable, as the hardware is better. So unless the developer intenionally sabotages the code for ATI cards to make the their marketing partner look better, the results show the truth. Then you wonder how much 'better' the game would run if the developer chose no one as a favorite IHV, and and spent time to ensure their title ran optimally on all popular hardware.

Look at Yeti Studios and GunMetal, their little games with their device ID detection on their launch of the playable demo telling R300 users at that time they didn't have the correct hardware to run this DX 9 title. Sales of the game stunk, and their bankrupt now...no loss there.

 

[Waltar]

What's funny is that most TWIMTBP games run better in ATI hardware. Go figure

Which is understandable, as the hardware is better. So unless the developer intenionally sabotages the code for ATI cards to make the their marketing partner look better, the results show the truth. Then you wonder how much 'better' the game would run if the developer chose no one as a favorite IHV, and and spent time to ensure their title ran optimally on all popular hardware.

Look at Yeti Studios and GunMetal, their little games with their device ID detection on their launch of the playable demo telling R300 users at that time they didn't have the correct hardware to run this DX 9 title. Sales of the game stunk, and their bankrupt now...no loss there.

Pretty sure Yeti went bankrupt from producing hideously bad titles and overcharging for them.

Honestly, anyone who paid $50 for gunmetal must've gotten a brain transplant with "Abby Normal" before heading over to gamestop.

 

[Mendel]

Honestly, anyone who paid $50 for gunmetal must've gotten a brain transplant with "Abby Normal" before heading over to gamestop.

Aren't we a bit rude here? I, for one, happen to like the game. It would be better with more mechwarrior (2)ish controls and feel but damn, this is definitely better than... say, the mech warrior game for xbox... or mech 4 for pc.

 

[Dave Baumann]

EA are using both.

 

[ChrisRay]

I dont think the PC version of Gun Metal Ever got a real publisher, The only way to get the game was via software bundles,

Looks like they did finally get a publisher for Gun Metal. Rage Software? Ever heard of them? I think by the time they actually had a publisher they were out of business. (Bah N/m Rage Software is a Division of Yeti Studios)

I actually got Gun Metal With my Leadtek FX 5900 LX. All I know is I never saw the game for retail. And they had a ton of trouble finding a publisher for it in the US. So Sales really cant be determined by anything other than folly distribution of their product. Most of any distribution for the product ended up being Via Package Deals for Graphic Cards or Of course the wonderful Kazaa.

It actually wasnt that bad of a game. For a Single one time play through

 

[CMAN]

I thought GunMetal was sweet, the demo at least, and it ran well on my R300....

Maybe I have a softspot for Transformer esk games

 

[Big Bertha EA]

EA are using both.

Hmmm, this must be a new thing as I have not seen nor heard of EA being partnered with ATI in a GITG campaign. I hope this is indeed fact and if so, a counter to TWIMTBP so that users of BOTH IHV's have the maximum effects that their hardware is capable of rendering...not just users of one IHV.....

 

[Sabastian]

EA are using both.

Hmmm, this must be a new thing as I have not seen nor heard of EA being partnered with ATI in a GITG campaign. I hope this is indeed fact and if so, a counter to TWIMTBP so that users of BOTH IHV's have the maximum effects that their hardware is capable of rendering...not just users of one IHV.....

I doubt that it will catch on with a lot of developers. The reason EA has gotten away with both is because they are such a big fish, err at least that is what I think.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Hmmm, this must be a new thing as I have not seen nor heard of EA being partnered with ATI in a GITG campaign. I hope this is indeed fact and if so, a counter to TWIMTBP so that users of BOTH IHV's have the maximum effects that their hardware is capable of rendering...not just users of one IHV.....

Go and look up Steve Anderson, VP & COO EA LA. Asking him about MoH: Pacific Assault.

 

[Ostsol]

I thought GunMetal was sweet, the demo at least, and it ran well on my R300....

Maybe I have a softspot for Transformer esk games

I thought the concept was cool (it being Macross-esk ), but I found the controls -really- lousy.

 

[WaltC]

What's funny is that most TWIMTBP games run better in ATI hardware. Go figure

It's because those developers are smart enough to take the TWIMTBP money and perks while writing API-compliant software at the same time... An intelligent developer/publisher isn't going to want to distribute his software to anything except the widest possible audience, which means he will stick to the API so that any API-compliant hardware will have no trouble with his software.

The hope of ATi and nVidia in marketing with such programs is that end users will assume they "need" the respective IHV's hardware to get a better "experience" with the game, when such is not actually the case at all. Generally, it's the better hardware and drivers which make for the better experience, regardless of the IHV marketing program associated with the particular game.

 

[Big Bertha EA]

Go and look up Steve Anderson, VP & COO EA LA. Asking him about MoH: Pacific Assault.

Thanks Dave...I'll do that...better yet, I will AIM one of the producers for that title since he is on right now...

Thanks Again!

-Tim

 

[Pete]

Interesting. So MoHA is both GITG and TWIMTBP, or just GITG? Just want to be clear if Dave is saying that EA the publisher uses both but on separate games, or that EA is using both on certain games.

I think that PCLabs "preview" showed MoHA at ATi's recent Shader Days, but I can't find the title on EA.com (probably too early).

 

[Kaotik]

Interesting. So MoHA is both GITG and TWIMTBP, or just GITG? Just want to be clear if Dave is saying that EA the publisher uses both but on separate games, or that EA is using both on certain games.

I think that PCLabs "preview" showed MoHA at ATi's recent Shader Days, but I can't find the title on EA.com (probably too early).

Too early, probably, yeah, but you can get nice video of it from Havok's site: http://www.havok.com/clients/ea_la.php