Nvidia launches NSIST scheme

WE GET a lot of press releases sent to us over here at the INQ, but few of them hold much of interest.

We had a good'un arrive from Nvidia, however, so here's the 411, as they say in Santa Clara.

"MEDIA ALERT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NVIDIA NSISTS ON THE BEST
NSIST on NVIDIA campaign helps PC buyers get the best out of their computer graphics"

Now, is that strictly true? Does this mean that buyers looking for awesome TV-out and HD video capabilities will be told to buy an ATI All-In-Wonder? It's unlikely, so this should possibly read "NSIST on NVIDIA campaign helps PC buyers choose an NVIDIA-based graphics card".

Designed to help consumers through the minefield of the various graphics technologies incorporated in PCs, NSIST demonstrates the clear benefits of choosing NVIDIA-enabled systems in four categories, each crucial for the mainstream buyer, whose priorities may be different to that of the hardcore gamer.

I love the phrase 'NVIDIA-enabled'. It's good writing - the corollary is that anything else is disabled, or handicapped, in the graphics world.

"Photos- See crisp vivid photos and brilliant image quality
Videos- Play smooth, stutter-free videos
Games- Experience ultra-realistic characters and environments
Performance- Improve your system performance by up to 26%!"

Now I have no idea where that 26% claim comes from, and nothing is given later to back it up. It's like saying the Inq gives you 34% more hernias than our nearest competitor. And "crisp, vivid photos"? I'm sure even XGI could manage that.

"The NSIST campaign is designed to complement NVIDIA: The Way It's Meant To Be Played, the well-established and highly successful NVIDIA seal of approval carried by the 250-plus games within the scheme, which is recognised by gaming enthusiasts worldwide."

That in itself is an interesting one. TWIMTBP won an award last year for marketing awareness in the IT industry, and is generally considered rather a success. Moles at QuakeCon this year, however, informed me that they conducted an impromptu survey of 50 gamers, and only 2 or 3 knew the Nvidia slogan - pretty poor.

Lastly, for a company as slick as Nvidia, this is quite an interesting one. The headline at the top of the release reads:

"NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today announced a new initiative..."

Notice the definite article, the worldwide leader. The footer to the email, however, contains the following phrase:

"NVIDIA Corporation is a market leader in visual computing technology..."

Notice the indefinite article, a. Apparently, even Nvidia itself doesnt know if it's the daddy or not. µ