Immersion, Intel enter into technology agreement; force feedback technology to be demonstrated at Immersion, Intel booths at Electronic Entertainment Expo June 19-21.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 1997--Immersion Corp., a leader in the development of the "touch and feel" force feedback experience for PC peripherals and software applications, announced today that it has entered into a technology agreement with Intel Corp.

Under the agreement, the two companies will work together to integrate Immersion's I-FORCE technology -- a force feedback hardware and software solution that provides a sense of feel to joysticks, steering wheels, flight yokes and other computer peripherals -- with Intel products like the Pentium II processor with MMX media enhancement technology and Intel's PC platform advancement efforts such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Accelerated Graphics Port.

"Today, PC users experience computing through their senses of sight and sound," said Louis Rosenberg, president of Immersion. "With Immersion's force feedback technology, consumers are able to also use their sense of touch when interacting with PCs. Combining our force feedback technology with recent technology developments like USB -- which provides a simple, instant plug and play PC connection and higher bandwidth capabilities -- will help make high fidelity feel a part of the everyday PC user."

Immersion (booth number 7925) and Intel (booth 253) both plan to demonstrate Immersion's force feedback technology at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Atlanta from June 19 to 21.

"The best way to understand the potential of I-FORCE is to try it -- feeling is believing," Rosenberg said.

"Providing the sense of feeling to PC computing is the next step in delivering a truly immersive computing experience," said Steve Whalley, connectivity initiatives manager for Intel's Desktop Products Group. "By combining this new technology with other Intel driven PC platform advancements like USB, software developers and peripheral makers will have the capability to more easily deliver applications and products that bring this sensory experience to the PC user. This could be as significant a technology as what color brought to the black and white monitor."

Peripheral manufacturers that have already announced their support of the I-FORCE technology include Logitech Inc., CH Products, Thrustmaster, Advanced Gravis, Interact, ACT Labs, Interactive IO and SC&T International.

Software developers that have incorporated I-FORCE into their titles include Electronic Arts, Sega Soft, Interplay, Philips Media, Accolade, Sierra, Activision and others.

In addition, Microsoft has included support for the I-FORCE 2.0 hardware technology in the company's recent release of Direct-X 5.

Universal Serial Bus is a PC peripheral interface connection that provides instant plug and play recognition and functionality, with the capability of connecting more than 100 peripherals simultaneously into one PC through the use of USB hub ports. Users can add or remove PC peripherals without opening the box to install add-in cards, rebooting or shutting down the computer. Virtually all new desktop PCs are shipping with live USB connectors and Microsoft Windows 95 with USB supplement. Several USB enabled notebooks are also being introduced to the PC market.

For more information on Immersion Corporation or I-FORCE force feedback technology, visit Immersion's website at www.force-feedback.com . -0-

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CONTACT: Immersion

Barry Robbins, 408/467-1900

[e-mail]

or

Intel

Bill Kircos, 602/552-2396

[e-mail]