ATI's Leap Into Set-Top Circus

ATI will unveil its reference design for a device called the Set-Top Wonder II at the WinHEC 99 conference. The design runs on a MIPS processor running Microsoft's pint-sized operating system, Windows CE.

ATI is calling the Set-Top Wonder II, the "first true consumer entertainment portal, converging the Internet, home theater, at-home digital authoring, networking, and advanced 3D gaming applications into a set-top box that can meet consumer price points." While specs for the machine are a little scarce, the design allows for Windows CE computing, an MPEG-2 decoder, the Rage video encoder/decoder, and the Rage XL engine for 2D/3D graphics, and multiple PCI slots for developers to add in applications. No word yet on any company adopting the reference design to use in upcoming consumer devices.

Last year, we saw an early prototype at the last CGDC (since renamed the GDC), which showed off a small USB camera, a small footprint, and the ability to run Direct X games. While we're not sure if anyone will pick up the design reference, some of the ideas inherent in the Set-Top Wonder II could help convince others to expand on a market that may hold a great future for gamers.