Alias/Wavefront and Microsoft Sign Strategic Xbox Development Agreement; Alias/Wavefront Becomes an Official Xbox Tools and Middleware Developer.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2001

Alias|Wavefront(TM), an SGI (NYSE:SGI) company, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft(TM) Corp. to become an official tools and middleware developer for the Xbox(TM) Video Game System.

Xbox, Microsoft's future-generation game system scheduled for release this fall, is positioned to become one of the most advanced on the market.

Alias|Wavefront's Maya(R) software, with its powerful modeling and animation toolsets and its open, extensible API is strongly established in the game development market as the package of choice for top quality interactive entertainment with many of the top-selling next-generation games produced using the Maya software. Already developers of Xbox games, anxious to take advantage of the hardware capabilities of the soon-to-be-released platform, are turning to Maya to achieve film-quality graphics and animation.

"Game developers looking to create the most graphically advanced future-generation titles need look no farther than the Xbox," states Seamus Blackley, Xbox Technology Officer. "A key part of the design process is having access to the richest, most robust and flexible 3D graphics software. In order to turn a creative vision into reality the game designer must have the right tools. We're very excited to have Alias|Wavefront in the Xbox fold."

"I am always amazed when I see the outstanding caliber of the work our customers produce," says Tom Harper, Alias|Wavefront Product Manager, Games/Interactive. "This is particularly true of the early Xbox titles that are under development with Maya: the depth and quality of the content is truly breathtaking. Our Xbox development customers consistently praise the Maya API and MEL scripting language saying it allows them to get up to speed on this important new platform quickly and easily."

Maya for Xbox games

Game-developer heavyweight, Electronic Arts, recently announced that they will soon begin creating titles for Xbox. "Captivating graphics are one of the primary ingredients in any successful game," says John Rix, Director, Digital Production Services at EA. "Alias|Wavefront has been adding features to Maya which address our game production needs and we have made it an integral part of our 3D pipelines. Maya's flexibility and extensibility has made it indispensable on some of our major hit titles."

Alias|Wavefront's Maya software has also played a significant role in the creation of the much talked-about Xbox title, Munch's Oddysee(TM): the game designed by Oddworld Inhabitants, Inc. that Bill Gates previewed at the recent CES conference. "For Oddworld's cinematic production needs we used Maya because it is the strongest complete package solution on the market today for the artistically inclined," states Lorne Lanning, President/Creative Director, Oddworld Inhabitants, Inc. "When it comes to modeling, character animation, atmospheric and particle effects, Maya has served us well. Having a single package that allows us to design our own interface, write our own utilities, run scripting and which gives us the ability to pick from a large selection of existing plug-ins, adds up to more time focused on the quality of content and less time wasted wrestling with tools."

About Alias|Wavefront

As the world's leading innovator of 2D and 3D graphics technology, Alias|Wavefront develops software for the games, interactive media, film, video, industrial design and visualization markets.

Games customers include Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., Core Design Limited, Electronic Arts Inc., Factor 5 LLC, Kodiak Interactive Software Studios Inc., LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC, Midway Home Entertainment Inc., Naughty Dog, Inc., Nihilistic Software, Inc., Nintendo, RareLtd., Retro Studios Inc., Sega Corporation, Single Trac, Sony Computer Entertainment, Square Co., Ltd., Timeline Studios, Valkyrie Studios, Relic Entertainment and Westwood Studios.

Entertainment customers include Blue Sky, Cinesite, CNN, Digital Domain, Electronic Arts Inc., Industrial Light & Magic, Midway Games, Nintendo, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Pixar, Sega, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Square Co., Ltd., The Secret Lab and Warner Feature Animation.

Alias|Wavefront is a wholly owned, independent software company of Silicon Graphics, Inc., with headquarters in Toronto and technical centers in Seattle and Santa Barbara. Please visit the Alias|Wavefront website at www.aliaswavefront.com or call 1-800-447-2542 in North America. Readers in Europe can call [phone] or 800 791 174 in Italy; 353 1 890 2244 in the Middle East and Africa; 81 3 3470 8285 in Asia-Pacific; and 525 203 0030 in Latin America for the nearest sales office or authorized reseller in their area.

About Xbox

Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/) is Microsoft's future-generation video game system that delivers new and unforeseen gameplay experiences. With more than three times the graphics performance of the newest generation of game systems, Xbox unleashes game designers' creativity to produce games that are challenging, exhilarating, surprising, and fun.

(c)2001 Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. All rights reserved.

Alias|Wavefront and the Alias|Wavefront logo are trademarks of Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. SGI is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. The Maya logo is a trademark and Maya is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., exclusively used by Alias|Wavefront, a division of Silicon Graphics Limited. Microsoft and Xbox are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Munch's Oddysee is a trademark of Oddworld Inhabitants, Inc. All other products or companies mentioned are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Alias|Wavefront, 210 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5A 1J7, Tel: [phone], FAX: [phone].

Note to Editors: In the company name Alias|Wavefront, the "|" between "Alias" and "Wavefront" was changed to a slash ("/") in the headline for transmission purposes only.