On Tuesday at GDC, 3Dlabs, Inc. launched a developer support network to provide extensive resources and support for game and application developers worldwide. Developers belonging to the Permedia Developer Network will get early access to hardware and technology, dedicated technical contacts for both DirectX and OpenGL assistance (3Dlabs has always been strong in the OpenGL arena and last fall was elected to become a voting member of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board) and special access to online support including white papers, utilities, profiling drivers and sample source code. The Developer Network also includes exclusive access to the Permedia Software Lab to test titles at any stage of development to insure compatibility with 3Dlabs' hardware and selected opportunities for inclusion in promotional programs and assistance with software bundling.

An interesting example of the level of developer support offered by 3Dlabs concerns the implementation of advanced features in new hardware while also supporting less capable and legacy hardware. Usually, a developer must expend the time and effort to figure out how to utilize some new feature and also how to make the software work on hardware that does not support this particular feature. Then it must be determined if all the time spent will be worthwhile (what kind of installed base does this special feature hardware have, will it break everything else, etc.) for the effect it will bring.