So what does the future hold for NVIDIA and 3dfx, now that things have changed? We decided to conduct an interview with a person who has a rather unique perspective on all of this. Brian Burke, Sr. PR Manager for NVIDIA, used to work for STB back in the day and the dawn of 3D graphics. STB sold products based upon both NVIDIA and 3Dfx hardware. Three years into his STB stint, the company got bought by 3dfx Interactive and Brian was lead PR for Voodoo3, 4 & 5 until only a few months ago.

It could be said that he behaved like a true English Gent and let all the women and children off of the sinking 3dfx ship first. Luckily someone saved him a spot on a lifeboat (which NVIDIA says seats exactly 100 more 3dfx people - so scramble aboard!) and so here he is now working on NV-20. Here is his story (no need to cue the E Hollywood Story music on this one)... or rather here are his answers to our questions.

SE: Did you hear the news last week? You have got a new president. Also, it looks like 3dfx, your former employers got bought by NVIDIA, your new employers. Was it much of a surprise to you?

Brian Burke: Yes, I did hear something about that. It did come as a little bit of a surprise to me as well. I would not have put the two together when I made my move back in September. But I knew that something drastic had to change for 3dfx.

SE: Were there any other interested takers? ATI, Intel, AMD, the Sultan of Bahrain, perhaps?

Brian Burke: I was not involved in the negotiations. I am just a lowly worker bee. I would not be able to disclose it if I did know.

SE: Can you talk about the specifics of the deal in terms of how this purchase will change things for NVIDIA over the next few months?

Brian Burke: I am not sure it will have very much of an effect product wise, short-term. We are already pretty far along in the process for NV20 and it would be difficult for us to change anything at this point.

We will get a much need influx of some very talented people with a lot of 3D graphics experience. That will allow us to be more productive. The increase in our engineering talent will allow us to bring products in development to market sooner and address incremental markets, all of which should increase the rapid revenue growth rate of Nvidia.