Unfortunately, those boards didn't materialize and as the ensuing months dragged by without any update or even official comment from VideoLogic or NEC, speculation about serious problems in the technology bubbled up. Rumors of a failed chip run were never given any real credence but they didn't help bolster support for PowerVR. But the nagging question of why an announcement would be made in early May that the 2D/3D product would be available by summer if anyone thought that wasn't the case has still not been addressed. Perhaps with the British equivalent of a corporate annual meeting scheduled for early June, the possible missed deadlines or production problems with the PC product, which was after all third down the list following console and arcade, was just not on.
Disappointed in the potential loss of some promising technology for gamers and puzzled how most main stream press, (but not the hard-core PowerVR fans), seemed to have forgotten about this "breakthrough" technology, same fish posted a provocative piece August 20th, unwittingly contributing to the already brewing VideoLogic Group PLC stockholder flaps.
One such flap, conducted on the Hemmington Scott Limited web site, a London based information company specializing in data about publicly traded UK based companies and a "custom-built storehouse of up-to-date facts and figures which are constantly being amended with the latest available results announcements and Board changes" and frequent chatter group for VideoLogic stockholders, prompted a response from Dr. Hossein Yassaie, Managing Director of VideoLogic Group PLC regarding product announcement dates.
Thought we think it is unfortunate that VideoLogic felt they could not discuss the full story at the time as they may well have settled gamers and stockholders questions without looking like there was something big and ugly to hide, we understand that the pressure on Dr. Yassaie to offer an accounting to his shareholders must have been quite something and we do have the added advantage of hind sight whilst he had to ad-lib his way through the crisis in real-time.
Anyway, he offered the shareholders an explanation having to do with promised announcement and delivery dates being referenced to the FINANCIAL year, ending in March, (we though they meant the CALENDAR year), saying that things were therefore actually right on schedule and peachy to boot. For the most part, he reiterated past performance and defended his engineers and marketeers with the "when it is ready and not before" timetable, a common developer answer to the "Why we missed Christmas" question (yes, this developer pleads guilty to the above).
In fairness, Dr. Yassaie had only recently taken over as Managing Director after founder and chief executive, Tony Maclaren, left the company after 12 years to take some time off and do a bit of mountain climbing (as if pioneering 3D graphics isn't enough of a challenge?). While Dr. Yassaie may not have sorted out exactly what all the technical issues with the PC product were at the time, he did the job of a Managing Director and soothed the worries of his stockholders. It falls on the shoulders of production engineers to soothe the worries of gamers hankering for the next great technology.
