G-cluster, Club iT and Texas Instruments Bring High-end Online Video G

HELSINKI, Finland and TOKYO and DALLAS, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Gaming- on-Demand (GoD) technology vendor G-cluster, service provider Club iT, and Texas Instruments (TI) today announced that IP-based set-top box manufacturers can now easily turn their products into genuine gaming consoles, using the G-cluster Gaming-on-Demand client to provide end users with access to hundreds of games over IPTV.

The set-top box will connect to G-cluster's grid of computer servers via a broadband connection, receiving game graphics and sound to display on a television screen in real time. USB-based gamepads or remote controls can be used by subscribers to play a wide variety of games.

The availability of G-cluster's advanced video games service on TI's programmable DSP-based TMS320DM642 delivers a new range of online gaming services for manufacturers' IP set-top box designs. Companies using TI's DM642 high performance, programmable DSP-based architecture in their design can now add cutting-edge G-cluster gaming client software with TI's Software Development Kit (SDK). With high-end 3D gaming applications embedded in the set-top box, service providers and operators will be able to deliver high quality online gaming services to their subscribers without any additional hardware or game discs.

"We are excited to make G-cluster Gaming-on-Demand software available on the TI DM642, further contributing to help manufacturers and service providers offer a radically new online entertainment concept and services to the end- users. Running G-cluster gaming software on our high performance and programmable DSP-based architecture will enable a high quality gaming experience and easy software upgrade, turning OEMs' set-top boxes into advanced gaming consoles," said Arnaud Duclap, business development manager for TI's Video/Imaging DSP group in Europe.

"Texas Instruments shares our vision of the future of interactive entertainment. We are aggregating cutting edge content for this solution to jointly enable high-end gaming on TI DM642-based solutions," said Taro Hashimoto, CEO and Representative Director of Club iT.

"We feel we have found a very good partner with TI -- they fully understand both the technical and commercial drive behind G-cluster's GoD solution. The TI platform is very powerful and we are glad to be part of its range of applications," said Erik Piehl, CTO of G-cluster.

"We are very excited about the availability of the G-cluster solution on TIs DM64x platform," said Hans Vind, Product Manager, Kreatel Communications. "The software based decode solution from TI already enables us to decode H.264 and Windows Media(TM) VC-1 formats on our 1700 platform, but the addition of extra value added services like the G-cluster GoD solution further enrich the user experience and we are pleased to have this solution available also on our advanced video codec-enabled product range."

About G-cluster

G-cluster offers Gaming-on-Demand (GoD) for broadband networks. A dedicated grid of game servers enables the latest video games to be played on- demand with any broadband-connected device, including existing digital cable and IPTV set-top boxes, entry level PCs, and 3G mobile phones.

In the case of digital cable and IPTV deployments, G-cluster GoD allows network operators and MSOs to leverage investment already made in video-on- demand (VoD) infrastructure. There is no need for upgrades to customer premise equipment.

All existing and future game titles can be brought to the G-cluster platform with minimal porting work. The server-centric nature of the system is particularly well suited to multiplayer and other community-building games. G-cluster is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SOFTBANK Broadmedia Corporation ("SBBM", http://www.broadmedia.co.jp/ ). For more information, go to http://www.g-cluster.com/ or email contact@g-cluster.com .

About Club iT Corporation

Club iT is a subsidiary of SOFTBANK Broadmedia Corporation ("SBBM", http://www.broadmedia.co.jp/ ). The G-cluster business is operated worldwide through Club iT Corporation (Osaka New Market: 4347, http://www.clubit.co.jp/ ). For more information, go to gcluster@softbank.co.jp .

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com/ .

Trademarks

Windows Media is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.