AMD hasn't yet hammered out all the specifics, but the netbook part will run in the 10-15 watt range, which is similar to the Intel Atom, and "it will have a good processor integrated with graphics, so you won't need the [Nvidia] Ion graphics to give it half-decent performance," according to Nigel Dessau, chief marketing officer at AMD.

Game Development Serves as Tool to Promote STEM Education, Social Issues

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--AMDD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the AMD Foundation, in support of AMD Changing the Game, has awarded a grant to the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. The $65,000 grant will be used to help fund the Alliance’s new video game design category for the 2010 and 2011 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

“That tradition is well-represented with the addition of the video game design category.”

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers is a nonprofit organization that runs The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the most prestigious and longest-running competition in the United States recognizing teenagers’ intellectual creativity, innovation and artistic talent. Through this competition, scholarships and other activities, the Alliance annually reaches more than three million students in seventh through 12^th grades, and 400,000 Art and English teachers. Including the new video game design category in the competition increases the reach of the program to math and science teachers and presents video game production as an art form requiring imagination, technical skill, planning and storytelling.

AMD’s partnership with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers will help to significantly broaden the reach of the AMD Changing the Game signature education initiative to its target audience. The AMD program is designed to promote the use of youth game development as a tool to inspire learning and improve science, technology, education and math (STEM) skills.

“The Alliance’s addition of a video game design category to its annual competition validates the growth of game design as a creative learning tool for teens,” said Allyson Peerman, President, AMD Foundation. “Digital gaming is the universal language of teens, and teaching them in that language can result in more engaged and better prepared students.”

“The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have always represented the cutting edge of student creativity,” said Virginia McEnerney, Executive Director of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. “That tradition is well-represented with the addition of the video game design category.”

During its 87-year history, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards has recognized more than nine million creative teenagers, including Andy Warhol, Robert Redford and Sylvia Plath. For the 2011 program year, the Alliance anticipates receiving 700 student submissions for the video game design category. The AMD Foundation grant also will help the Alliance host game design workshops and help fund cash awards and summer program scholarships for students. Each year top video game submissions will be showcased online.

“The ability to design computer and video games taps into a deep-seated passion for today's youth and fosters critical 21st Century skills such as creativity, collaboration and critical thinking,” said Alan Gershenfeld, Chairman, Games4Change. “The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards video game design competition is a phenomenal outlet to spotlight teens’ passion and talent for shaping this powerful new medium. I tip my hat to the AMD Foundation for recognizing that when kids are motivated to learn they can move mountains.”

AMD Changing the Game

AMD Changing the Game is designed to take gaming beyond entertainment and inspire youth to learn critical education and life skills by equipping them to create digital games with social content. The program’s purpose is to promote the use of youth game development as a tool to inspire learning and improve science, technology, education and math (STEM) skills. The initiative is rooted in AMD’s commitment to and experience in supporting education, and the company’s passion and expertise in the graphics processor and gaming industries.

Since its launch in June 2008, AMD Changing the Game has:

• Funded 13 organizations that enable youth game development
• Funded the development of a youth game development curriculum with PETLab and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). Earlier in 2010, BGCA chapters in Larimer County, Colorado and Marlborough, Massachusetts kicked off new “Game Tech” programs that teach club members how to understand game design and create their own games.
• Co-sponsored the Malaysian Cybergames Festival 2010, including the “Dare to Create” digital game design and development workshop
• Co-sponsored the 2008 and 2009 Games for Change Festival
• Funded an online toolkit to help nonprofits create games on social issues
• Sponsored a video contest exploring the intersection of education and gaming

About the AMD Foundation

The AMD Foundation connects and empowers individuals with knowledge, thereby opening doors to opportunity. The Foundation’s signature program, AMD Changing the Game, supports initiatives designed to help youth harness the power of digital games with social content, while learning critical Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills and life skills. The Foundation also funds the AMD Employee Giving Program which supports AMD employees’ community interests by matching their personal donations of time and money to local organizations and schools.

Supporting Resources

• AMD Changing the Game fan page on Facebook
• AMD Changing the Game video
• Alliance for Young Artists & Writers Featured Donors page
• Media Information about the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

AMD, meanwhile, will soon introduce two additions to its Opteron family for smaller servers that sell in the highest volumes. "We are more focused on the volume space than ever before," said Pat Patla, general manager and vice president of AMD's Opteron business unit.

Now, motherboard and server maker Super Micro and Otoy have teamed up to take the idea commercial as the Fusion Render Cloud, which will be based on the most recent CPU and GPU technology from AMD and systems from Super Micro. Specifically, the Fusion Render Cloud will cram 125 two-socket servers based on AMD's imminent "Mangy-Cours" Opteron 6100 processors, yielding a total of 3,000 x64 cores. The machines come in what Super Micro calls its pre-configured Super Rack setup, with 500 of AMD's Radeon HD 5970 graphics cards in the servers.

The Fusion Render Cloud hardware will generate 3,000 concurrent HD streams (720p/1080p or higher at 60 Hz, OTOY said) for streaming video games, high end CAD programs and full virtual desktops for all major operating systems, OTOY said. In a press release, OTOY also indicated that its service will supply an additional 12,000 concurrent SD streams at 120 Hz. However, whether those streams will replace the HD streams, as opposed to supplementing them, couldn't be absolutely confirmed.

Customers now have the option to either integrate MachStudio Pro software into existing production pipelines with installed workstation graphics accelerators, or cost-effectively upgrade graphics performance with a value-added bundle featuring the industry-leading AMD ATI FirePro V8750 workstation graphics accelerator. With ATI graphics, customers can take advantage of MachStudio Pro features that are exclusive to ATI accelerators such as real-time hardware tessellation and displacement mapping.

AMD Gaming Evolved perfectly captures the essence of what we do as whole at AMD. With every technology we introduce, with every industry standards meeting we go to, with every game we work on, and with every partner bundle we put in place, our goal is to steadily evolve the gaming experience, making it incrementally better for everyone without adversely affecting the industry or gamers. As part of AMD’s Fusion Partner Program, AMD Gaming Evolved will see the same support as other partner-related activities. Resources across the company are focused on making AMD’s developer relations efforts even more of a success than they’ve been to date. That means that if you like the experience of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 2, Dragon Age™: Origins or Supreme Commander® 2 on the latest ATI Radeon graphics hardware, we’ve got lots more in store for you.