NVIDIA Returns to Red Bull Battle Grounds

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NVIDIA RETURNS TO RED BULL BATTLE GROUNDS GRAND FINALS AS OFFICIAL

TECHNOLOGY PARTNER WITH FIRST MAJOR TOURNAMENT UTILIZING MAXWELL ARCHITECTURE

NVIDIA Logo

Santa Monica, CA September 19, 2014 NVIDIA announced that the Red Bull Battle Grounds Grand Finals taking place this weekend in Washington, D.C., will be powered by NVIDIAs groundbreaking gaming technology. The final stop in the five-month, six-tournament series featuring Blizzard Entertainments award winning real-time strategy game StarCraft II, the eight elite competing professional players, will battle on high-end GPUs based on the Maxwell chip architecture, delivering unmatched performance, major new graphics capabilities, and twice the energy efficiency of the previous generation.

The Red Bull Battle Grounds Grand Finals will be the first tournament utilizing NVIDIAs groundbreaking Maxwell architecture. Maxwell gives eSports players the competitive edge through clearer, sharper graphics capabilities and unparalleled speed. Maxwell architecture utilizes Voxel Global Illumination (VXGI), an NVIDIA invention making it possible to model light sources, creating a near-real gaming environment. It also introduces new anti-aliasing and super-resolution technologies to deliver near-4K fidelity on 1080p displays. Maxwells energy-efficient design is unmatched to anything else on the market.

Global Illumination

Realistic lighting is one of the last frontiers in video games. Simulating both direct and indirect lighting (like reflections) has to date been too computationally demanding for GPUs beyond those available to professionals, forcing game developers to utilize lighting tricks that compromise scene realism.

Maxwell overcomes these limitations, combining the performance and programmability required to model both direct and indirect light sources. It does so by deploying a new NVIDIA technique called VXGI, a mathematical algorithm that uses a fast volumetric renderer to accurately depict specular and diffuse reflections. VXGI will be added to GameWorks, the worlds largest game graphics library, so developers can build future games with rich, natural lighting and breathtaking realism.

Multi-Frame Anti-Aliasing

Until now, most gamers have had to make compromises between performance and image quality. Increasing anti-aliasing makes games look more realistic, but the cost in performance can make the game unplayable.

Attendees at Red Bull Battle Grounds Grand Finals will also have the opportunity to interact with cutting edge G-SYNC technology, by visiting the NVIDIA booth on site at the Lincoln Theatre. Delivering smoother, faster gaming with virtually no tearing and faster response times, NVIDIA G-SYNC eliminates tearing and greatly reduces lag and stutter. Red Bull Battle Grounds attendees can experience this latest gaming innovation throughout the tournament weekend.

Red Bull Battle Grounds

EVENT DETAILS

September 20th -21st, 2014

The Lincoln Theatre

1215 U Street NW

Washington, D.C. 20009

Doors open at 10AM EST both days

The entirety of Red Bull Battle Grounds Grand Finals will be livestreamed, giving fans from around the globe and those at home intrigued by eSports the ability to take part in this WCS sanctioned event. Visit http://battlegrounds.redbull.com to tune into the livestream broadcast from 11AM EST each day of the tournament.

Visit http://battlegrounds.redbull.com for additional details, and for many more exciting programs and announcements from Red Bull eSports. Follow @redbullESPORTS on Twitter, #battlegrounds

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About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.

Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft and the Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industrys most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainments track record includes sixteen #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The companys online-gaming service, Battle.net, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

ABOUT RED BULL MEDIA HOUSE

A global media company, Red Bull Media House produces, publishes, distributes and licenses high-quality sport, entertainment and educational programming from the areas of Sport & Lifestyle, Nature & Science and Tradition & Inspiration. Its product portfolio includes sport and lifestyle programming, documentaries, feature films, music, games and mobile apps, as well as print and online magazines, that fascinate and inspire audiences all over the world through all media channels and on all types of devices. www.redbullmediahouse.com.

About RedBull.com/eSports

Redbull.com/eSports is the digital source for the latest news, tournament coverage, interviews, video features and live digital broadcasts for the eSports community. Giving fans in-depth access to eSports scenes, Redbull.com/eSports provides the competitive gaming audience a venue to connect with personalities and players of the sport, as well as one another.

2014 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo and GeForce are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.