Creative Labs Unveils Wave Blaster II-GamePak and Blaster CD 4x at E3

Strategic Insights -

Creative Labs, Inc., the U.S. sales and marketing subsidiary of Creative Technology Ltd., has introduced Wave Blaster II-GamePak and Blaster CD 4x at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Wave Blaster II-GamePak is an upgrade for users of the Sound Blaster 16 audio card, offering next-generation wave table products and four interactive wave-table titles, including Doom and Heretic. Blaster CD 4x is a quad-speed CD-ROM kit for PC users, featuring Grolier Electronic Publishing's award-winning encyclopedia and a cost-effective upgrade to quad-speed technology. Both products demonstrate Creative's commitment to providing leading-edge technology and innovative multimedia solutions.

Key Takeaways:

  • Wave Blaster II-GamePak is a daughterboard for Creative's upgradeable line of Sound Blaster 16 audio cards, offering 128 real instrument sounds, 10 drum kits, and 46 sound effects in 2MB of ROM.
  • Wave Blaster II-GamePak supports General MIDI, Sound Canvas, and MT-32 standards, with 32-note, 16 channel polyphony, chorus, reverb, and Q-Sound capabilities.
  • Wave Blaster II-GamePak includes four interactive wave-table titles: id Software Inc.'s Doom, Episode 1, Interplay Productions, Inc.'s Descent Destination Saturn, id Software Inc.'s Heretic, Episode 1, and Blizzard Entertainment's WarCraft, Special Edition.
  • Blaster CD 4x is a quad-speed CD-ROM kit for PC users, featuring an IDE interface card, a 600KB per second transfer rate, and a better than 250ms access time.
  • Blaster CD 4x is multi-session and Kodak Photo CD-compatible, and it comes with an award-winning encyclopedia from Grolier Electronic Publishing.
  • Both Wave Blaster II-GamePak and Blaster CD 4x will be demonstrated at Creative's exhibit booth at E3, from May 11 through May 13, 1995.
  • The projected prices for Wave Blaster II-GamePak and Blaster CD 4x are $129.99 and $219.99, respectively.

Statistics:

  • Wave Blaster II-GamePak includes 128 real instrument sounds.
  • Wave Blaster II-GamePak has 10 drum kits.
  • Wave Blaster II-GamePak has 46 sound effects.
  • Blaster CD 4x has a transfer rate of 600KB per second.
  • Blaster CD 4x has an access time of better than 250ms.

Sources:

  • PRNewswire, May 11, 1995
  • Creative Technology Ltd.
  • E-mu Systems, Inc.
  • Digicom Systems, Inc.
  • ShareVision Technology, Inc.
  • Grolier Electronic Publishing
  • id Software Inc.
  • Interplay Productions, Inc.
  • Blizzard Entertainment