IBM'S New OS/2 to Bring High-Octane Performance to The PC Gaming World

Fast Action on the OS/2 platform...

AUSTIN, Texas, September 27, 1994 ...IBM today announced that the next
version of its 32-bit PC operating system, OS/2, code-named Warp, will
provide users with a new level of high-performance game play currently not
available in the DOS or Windows environments. By fine-tuning special
settings for more than 100 software game titles and adding new features
such as improved audio/video synchronization and enhanced memory
management, Warp will deliver unprecedented speed and improved realism to
today's popular arcade-style, simulation and strategy games.

IBM also announced a new development tool designed to make it easy for
developers to quickly build exploitive native OS/2 games. With the DIVE
(Direct Interface Video Extensions) programming tool, game developers have
direct access to the video drivers needed to perform high-speed animated
graphics that are critical for action-based games. A Game Developers
Toolkit for OS/2 will be available in Beta in early 1995 to provide
additional development support.

"Warp will deliver top-notch multimedia functionality that appeals to both
novice and expert gamers," says Wally Casey, director of marketing for
IBM's Personal Software Products division.  "Although games represent the
most resource-intensive software on the market today, Warp's memory
management and synchronization features lessen the complexity of game
configuration and operation and promote higher performance play."

Built-in Memory Management

Since most games run on DOS, gamers are faced with the limitations of the
DOS environment. Common problems include lack of adequate memory, system
configuration issues and the inability to run more than one application at
a time reliably. The new OS/2 will eliminate most memory problems, make
system configuration easier and allow multiple application processing in a
reliable environment. OS/2 will easily enable gamers to take full
advantage of the memory they have by supporting most popular standards,
such as EMS, XMS, DPMI and high memory.

Settings for Today's Popular Games

To boost ease-of-use, IBM has identified over 100 of the best-selling DOS,
Windows and OS/2 game titles and incorporated settings for each game into
the base Warp operating system (see attached list). Gamers no longer have
to navigate system configuration and AUTOEXEC.BAT files -- the new OS/2
automatically chooses the proper game setting. Gamers gain easy access to
their favorite games with drag and drop speed. Should gamers wish to
manually change settings, OS/2's multiple VDMs (Virtual DOS Machines) will
allow session configuration without having to reboot the system or
maintain separate boot diskettes.

The VDM technology also takes advantage of OS/2's Crash Protection,
multitasking and memory management -- gamers can play while running print
jobs, faxing documents or accessing a communications session, without
disrupting performance.

Several OS/2-specific games designed to utilize the inherent stability of
the 32-bit operating system are in development, including Sim City Classic
for OS/2, Sim City 2000 for OS/2, Galactic Civilizations and DOOM for
OS/2.

"Gamers playing Sim City 2000 for OS/2 will see increased performance and
smoother game play because of OS/2's multitasking capabilities. The
multitasking also enables gamers to work on other projects while their
simulator continues to run in the background, " says Joe Scirica, vice
president product development, MAXIS, Orinda, Calif. "We see OS/2 as a
great platform for games. Given IBM's lead on Windows95, we also see this
as a real opportunity to gain market share."

"One key feature for a game with complex graphics and sound is
multithreading, which allows parallel running of different processes and
enhances overall performance, " says Bob Adams, president, DUX Software
Corporation, Palo Alto, Calif. which has obtained the license to port Sim
City Classic for OS/2 from MAXIS. "Our excitement in porting Sim City
Classic for OS/2 came from the fact that we could develop into a GUI
environment that was built on a real 32-bit multiprocessing networked
operating system."

The new OS/2 will combine the performance and reliability of the 32-bit
OS/2 environment with mobility and productivity features, such as
simplified installation, reduced memory requirements, a BonusPak of
productivity applications, Internet access, Launch Pad and a more
responsive user interface. The new OS/2 will allow OS/2, Windows 3.1,
Windows 3.11, Windows for Workgroups 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and
DOS applications to run on the same desktop.

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