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Originally Posted by Jibartik
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Yeah, love the old ads. I was a big Creative fan until I read what they did to Aureal. They went into a BS lawsuit with them and lost but cost Aureal so much in legal fees they had to close shop. Then Creative purchased all of Aureals tech then shelved it. Many old enthusiasts agree that Aureal was superior.
Aureals sound demo from Thief 2 (mind the year)
So creative sued their main competitor out of business then caused so many problems with Windows drivers that Windows Vista removed the access. This was worked around with Creative Alchemy but essentially killed the hardware accelerated sound market. These days you are lucky if any PC game advertises sound as part of its game design, if it has something it will be software based. The enthusiasm left when the hardware did and perhaps the advancements as well. How I kept situation awareness in original everquest while having my book up (blind) was my speakers. I used a creative card at the time with its version of 3D soundscapes. I could hear the Hill Giant or the Shadow Wolf walking around me.
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On March 5, 1998 Creative Labs sued Aureal for patent infringement. Aureal countersued because they believed Creative was guilty of patent infringement. After numerous lawsuits Aureal won a favorable ruling in December 1999,which vindicated Aureal from these patent infringement claims, but the legal costs were too high and Aureal filed for bankruptcy. On September 21, 2000, Creative acquired Aureal's assets from its bankruptcy trustee for US$32 million through the bankruptcy court, with the specific provision that Creative Labs would be released from all claims of past infringement by Creative Labs upon Aureal's A3D technology. The purchase included patents, trademarks, other property, as well as a release to Creative from any infringement by Creative of Aureal's intellectual property including A3D. The purchase effectively eliminated Creative's only competition in the gaming audio market. It also eliminated any requirements for Creative to pay past or future royalties as well as damages for products which incorporated Aureal's technology.
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Arstechnica forum, Sound card discussion - year 2000