Inside Mac Games Volume 4 #9/IMG 40 Sep 1996.iso/More Goodies/Inside Games Update/Inside Games Update.rsrc/TEXT_131.txt

Text File | 1996-09-03 | 31KB | 581 lines

INSIDE GAMES & ENTERTAINMENT UPDATE
Volume 3, Issue 3


3Dfx: PACKIN' POWERFUL 3D
Graphic acceleration technologies and boards are becoming THE peripheral
device for consumers . . .as well as hardware manufacturers who are
starting to enjoy the idea of bundling such digital processing with their
systems. One of the leading companies in this arena is 3Dfx and they have
now announced two new game titles that'll be available for use with their
Voodoo Graphics(TM) product via Orchid Technology's Righteous 3D(TM) board
this summer. The titles are none other than Gremlin Interactive's
Whiplash/Fatal Racing and their VR Soccer 96/Actua Soccer game. Gremlin is
one of the first companies to actually use 3Dfx's detailed fine-grained
texture technology for true, real-time, photo-realistic graphics in 3D
gaming. Using Interactive Motion Technology(TM), international and premier
league players were captured, in action. Then, the Motion Analysis System
affords game designers the capabilities of then placing the motion directly
into the game.



Activision: PINHEAD INTO BLAST CHAMBER
Talent is a commodity all game publishers wish to possess. Those who have
proven their success in other entertainment genres are among the highly
prized. And so it is that Activision has acquired the services of Gary
Tunnicliffe, who is the creator of the legendary Pinhead character from the
Hellraiser series. From Image Animation, he has now teamed up with
Activision to bring the athletic warriors from Activision's
soon-to-be-released Blast Chamber to life. Under his direction, technicians
have created a life-size costume of the title's helmeted, bomb-laden,
futuristic athletes. This costume will be incorporated into the game's
package design and advertising and promo campaigns. The game sets as many
as four players in the future where each is challenged in a race against
time. Each player controls a genetically engineered athlete who has been
raised from birth to be the ultimate fighting warrior. You must maneuver
their character through obstacles to obtain control of a powerful, pulsing
crystal. They must then place the crystal into the appropriate time clock
before a time bomb strapped to the character is triggered. This title is
going to be released for the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Windows 95 and
DOS machines this October.



Activision: CLASSIC DEBUT
Many of us who have enjoyed interactive entertainments for a number of
years remember well the delightful text adventures from Infocom. With
spirited descriptions, your imagination provided the graphics as you
ventured into science-fiction and fantasy worlds limited only by your sense
of wonder. Activision has now assembled several of the classic Infocom
titles--in fact, more than 30 such titles--onto a single CD-ROM. This is a
"must have" collection if you enjoyed such games as Bureaucracy, Leather
Goddesses of Phobos, and Zork I. The CD is entitled The Infocom
Masterpieces and also includes six, all-new games that won the Society for
the Preservation of Adventure Gaming's first annual text adventure
authorship competition. These new titles are The One That Got Away, Mind
Electric, Change in the Weather, Uncle Zebulon's Will, Toonesia and, The
Magic Toyshop. This is a hybrid CD offering and runs on Macintosh, DOS, and
Windows 3.1/95 machines.



American Express & Microsoft: DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT
That's the well know sales pitch of American Express, but a more recent
venture includes Microsoft Corporation in an effort to provide a
comprehensive online corporate travel booking service. Business travelers
will be able to make reservations from their PCs. American Express and
Microsoft have already begun developing, and will soon begin testing, the
corporate online travel product with full roll-out expected in the first
half of 1997. Driven by the Microsoft Travel Technologies platform, users
will be able to access online reservations, destination information,
negotiated discounts and travel advice. All transactions will be backed by
American Express' world-wide customer service.



America Online: CYBER COMICS
No, not at the Improv, but on the Web. Marvel is on America Online in The
Cyber Age of Comics, and is one of the first elements to be a part of
Marvel Online. There are areas such as the latest news flashes and Marvel
chat rooms. Or, you can become a knowledge master in the Marvel Trivia Game
and pump questions to Marvel editors, writers and artists featured in the
live interviews.



Apple Computer: QUICKTIME 2.5 BREAKS FREE
The long-awaited iteration to Apple Computer's QuickTime has occurred, with
version 2.5 now available for Macintosh computers. This technology stores,
edits and plays sync'd graphics, music, text, sound and video. This
particular version has been optimized to meet specific requirements for use
in broadcast, film, the Internet and the music industries. You can download
this new version from Apple's WWW site at http://www.quicktime.apple.com/.
There is no charge for the software.



INDEPENDENCE DAY MOVES TO SECOND BEST
A Time To Kill, the big-screen adaptation of John Grisham's racially-charged
legal thriller, ended Independence Day's lead at the U.S. box office. Since
opening, A Time To Kill has earned $19.3 million. After 20 days in release,
Independence Day has earned $198 million, making it the fastest movie to
pass the $200 million mark. That breaks the record of 23 days set by
Jurassic Park in 1993.



Billboard Magazine: TOP TEN VIDEO PURCHASES
The August 3rd issue of Billboard magazine lists the following as the top
ten in video cassette sales:

 1. Playboy: The Best of Jenny McCarthy, (Playboy)
 2. Heavy Metal, (Columbia TriStar)
 3. Jumanji, (Columbia TriStar)
 4. Ghost In the Shell, (Mango)
 5. Clueless, (Paramount)
 6. Mortal Kombat-- The Movie, (New Line)
 7. The Aristocats, (Disney)
 8. Babe, (MCA-Universal)
 9. Sabrina, (Paramount)
10. Playboy's Rising Stars and Sexy Starlets, (Playboy)



Casady & Greene: MACWORLD MAGIC
One of the largest tradeshows for the Macintosh community is Macworld
Boston. This year, despite some upheavels at the Cupertino-based company,
proof continues to remain evident that Macintosh users and gamers are among
the most loyal system advocates that ever existed. One of the most loyal of
Macintosh developers is Casady & Greene and they are going to debut several
programs at this year's show. First, there's Macworld Game Hall of
Fame(TM), which is a rare collection of game classics, now on a single
CD-ROM. The games include five Macworld Magazine Game Hall of Fame winning
entertainment titles: Glider 4.0(TM), Crystal Quest(TM) with
CritterEditor(TM), Mission Thunderbolt(TM), Sky Shadow(TM) and Crystal
Crazy(TM). A new game is called Stepping Stones(TM). The characters in this
new entertainment title resemble toys that you might find at the bottom of
your old toy chest. Here, the idea is to help the robotic Ted escape from
the infinite maze of blocks, smiley faces, copters, and so on, into the
rainbow escape hatch. This game is a challenge for all ages of gamer and
possesses some highly unusual graphics. A third entertaining product is
Origami, the Secret Life of Paper(TM). This title demonstrates the
thousand-year-old art of paper folding through QuickTime movies, art
galleries displaying over 100 art projects, hands-on folding projects,
history lessons, and more. There's even Origami paper included in the
package, plus step-by-step instructions on how to turn recycled paper into
hand-made origami paper. All products are for the Macintosh computer and
will release this fall.


ClassicVision: ACQUISITION OF TIME LINE
ClassicVision Inc., a complete motion picture production company that
specializes in making documentary films and restoring classic movies, has
acquired Time Line Entertainment Inc. Time Line's experienced, highly
regarded staff includes producers and directors of more than 50
documentaries that are now being broadcast on the A&E and Discovery channels
. Time Line Entertainment is now a wholly owned subsidiary of
ClassicVision.



Comfy: DAYCARE CAN GET KEYED IN
Very young children require special hardware and software to accommodate
their early learning needs. One of the most successful companies in this
genre is Comfy who have now introduced the Comfy CD program. This new
effort enables care providers to enrich their charges' learning environment
with multimedia hardware and software while receiving substantial discounts
on the latest computer systems. Three options are offered to day care
centers. The first two options allow a qualified Child Development Center
to purchase a computer through Comfy for a volume discount price. The third
option is designed for centers that already use computers and allows these
locations to buy the Comfy Activity Center and Comfy Software at discounted
price. The Comfy Activity Center plugs into a Macintosh or a PC and offers
a youngster an alternative to a confusing keyboard. They see an inviting
array of large, colorful pads and buttons that are compatible with their
dexterity and attention patterns. These products have been designed for
children as young as 12 months old.



DATAQUEST PREDICTS ROBUST ONLINE FUTURE
The area expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the online world will be
security solutions for online commerce, order processing, and personal
finance--to the tune of $13.1 billion by 2000. This projection is according
to a Dataquest Inc. (http://www.dataquest.com/) study. Dataquest estimates
the market for encryption software for secure communications, remote access
and electronic commerce at $5.9 billion this year. It is predicting a jump
to $6.9 billion in revenues in 1997. Once folks are convinced that the
Internet has progressed in its efficiency and cost-effectiveness, the
futurologists see the demand for security hardware and software as going
totally gangbusters.



DREAMWORKS DREAMS OF OLYMPIC GOLD
DreamWorks Television offers the first multimedia Olympic Collection
electronic catalog entitled The Olympiad's Greatest Moments. This is the
U.S. Olympic Committee's official history of the modern Summer Olympic
Games (1896-1996) and may be found at http://www.olympicsdw.com. This site
not only lists every major Summer Games Olympic record but also delivers,
in detail, the entire Official Centennial Collection.


EIDOS: FUTURISTIC TANK SIM
Not so many months ago, three companies joined forces to become Eidos
Interactive. That combo company has now published Shellshock for the
Macintosh, PC, Internet and consoles. You're in the future--violence is
rampant. Justice is long forgotten. The world is run by thugs, but five,
highly trained commandos known as Da Wardenz fight the good fight using a
fully armored, state-of-the-art M-13 Predator Battletank. Battle occurs in
a first-person perspective over a variety of fractal-mapped 3D terrains. As
many as eight players can enter combat over a net. There's also an original
soundtrack by William Floyd, a.k.a. Bar None. You can glom onto more info
at the company's WWW site at http://www.eidos.com. And here's something
that'll cause you to be somewhat awesome during the game . . .hit your ESC
key and then enter "ratty rat ratty" and see what invincibility can do for
your ego!



Electronic Arts: HORRIFIC FUTURE FOR SATURN'ERS
As the Sega Saturn continues to battle the Sony PlayStation for console
dominance, 'tis the calibre of the software that could well determine the
overall winner. Electronic Arts is attempting to help Saturn retain a
significant portion of the marketplace by releasing Shockwave(TM) Assault
for this platform. This new version has the five extra missions from
Operation Jumpgate(TM) that were previously available as an add-on disk for
the original 3DO version of the game. This title is of the science-fiction
genre where you, from the cockpit of a F-177 space aircraft in the year
2019, fly over texture-mapped landscapes fighting rendered, 3D alien craft.
You'll experience real video and radio broadcasts from other pilots as they
fly combat missions around the world. Earth is bombarded from space by an
unknown alien attack and, as our planet's defenses are systematically
destroyed, the stage is set for a novice pilot to fly death-defying solo
missions in an attempt to save mankind. The Shockwave Assault development
team enlisted professional actors and a movie director, a best-selling
novelist/screenwriter, and top computer artists to create the finished
product which also features Dolby(TM) Surround Sound.

MORPHING ENEMIES
There is also an exclusive publishing agreement between Electronic Arts and
Delphine Software International. This agreement is now culminating in the
fourth title called Fade to Black, which is the sequel to Flashback: The
Quest for Identity(TM). The sequel uses a new 3D engine and offers a much
richer and deeper storyline. For the PlayStation, there are 13 diverse
levels as well as numerous 3D animated characters. Conrad B. Hart is the
main character in the year 2190 wherein an evil species of malevolent
master brains have taken control of the Solar System. This alien race
controls an alien army of Morphs whose metabolism allows them to adopt any
shape they wish. Conrad is returning home while in a cryogenic sleep but is
intercepted and imprisoned on the moon by the Morphs. A human rebel
faction, intent on overthrowing their alien masters, persuades him to join
their rebellion. The game blends arcade action and strategy in a 3D
masterpiece.

SPLIT-SCREEN SIM
Now enroute to Saturn gamers is Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed,
a driving sim that lets players compete against a friend in single monitor,
split-screen mode. You enter the world of high-performance driving in one
of eight exotic sports cars. This title features a frame rate of 30 fps, an
improved physics model (courtesy of input from Road & Track editors),
photorealistic graphics, and new light-sourcing. The latter allows you to
preset the time of day for each track. There's a 3D engine that lets you
switch, on-the-fly, among four real-time racing views. Fourteen music
tracks have been added to the game. There's even a stats and graphs option,
with voice over from the editors, that displays key performance
measurements as well as information on the engine, chassis, and driveline.
The PlayStation version of this title shipped last March.




EMMY TIME, AGAIN, IN LA-LA LAND
Seems like this just happened not too long ago but, the Emmys, TVs awards
to the brightest and the best, are about to happen again. NBC's E.R.
received 17 Emmy nominations to lead the field in television's premier
awards for a second year in a row. The show's strong performance helped NBC
amass 88 nominations to lead the networks sweepstakes. CBS was second with
67 nominations followed by Home Box Office with 66. Another medical drama,
CBS'Chicago Hope, took 15 nominations including best drama series as did
E.R., Law and Order, NYPD Blue and The X-Files. Shows nominated for best
comedy series were Frasier, Friends, The Larry Sanders Show, Mad About You
and Seinfeld. The nominations, voted by members of the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences, were announced by five-time Emmy Award winner
Tracey Ullman who is nominated again this year for a writing achievement
award for her HBO show Tracey Takes On ...,. The Emmys will be presented in
Pasadena, California, on Sept. 8.



EMMY NEWS ENTRIES
The 17th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Award Nominations have been
announced. There were 111 nominations from 1,300 entries for calendar year
1995. The actual award show is scheduled for September 11th in New York
City. Leading the networks was ABC, with 29 nominations. They were followed
by the Public Broadcasting Service (with 27 nominations), NBC (with 20
nominations) and CBS (with 19). The other networks, in order, are The
Discovery Channel, TBS, A&E, AMC and Cinemax (with three each), HBO and The
Learning Channel (with two each), CNN and syndicated television (with one
each).



Empire Interactive: PARTNERSHIP ROLLS ONWARD
Game publishers are a gregarious lot--they love to combine business with
friendship and glom onto agreements with a variety of companies. These
associations not only increase their own SKU count, but they also broaden
their product lines. Empire Interactive has now signed an agreement with
TalonSoft for that company's Battleground 5: Antietam and Age of Sail
titles, both to release this fall.  And, just released by Empire, is
Battleground 4: Shiloh. This milsim covers the two days of April 6th and
7th, 1862. This is when the Confederate Army launched a bold attack on U.S.
Grant's Union Army. There's lavish attention to detail, superb graphics,
and full color re-enactment videos. You can also play this title
head-to-head with your friends via modem-to-modem, null-modem or email.
There are also multiple scenarios including The Surprise Attack, Hornet's
Nest and Pittsburg Landing. This title is for Windows 3.1 and Windows
95-based machines.



Exhibitor Relations: TOP TEN MOVIES AT THE BOX OFFICE
The top 10 movies at the U.S. box office for the Friday to Sunday
period of July 26-28, according to studio estimates released by Exhibitor
Relations Co.

 1. A Time To Kill $14.5 million
 2. Independence Day $13.2 million
 3. Phenomenon $6.3 million
 4. Courage Under Fire $5.7 million
 5. Supercop $5.5 million
 6. Kingpin $5.0 million
 7. The Nutty Professor $4.9 million
 8. The Adventures of Pinocchio $3.8 million
 9. Multiplicity $3.6 million
10  The Frighteners $2.7 million



FCC--LISTEN UP!
A group of IMPORTANT FOLK are banding together to present an American
argument. Microsoft Corp's. CEO, Bill Gates, is joining Steven Spielberg,
Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Martin Scorsese, Robert
Zemeckis and a host of other well-known, high-tech and film industry
company leaders to form the Americans For Digital TV. This group will
confront the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding restrictive
standards relating to the next generation of television sets called High
Definition Televisions (HDTV). This American media group is reacting to the
FCC which is considering standards proposed by a group of foreign
television manufacturers who have formed the Grand Alliance. The Alliance
proposal reportedly contains 18 different standards, some of which are not
compatible with displaying standard computer-driven data and images on HDTV
sets. The computer and film industries don't want their efforts regarding a
marriage between computers and televisions deterred, and they warned that,
should the foreign standards be accepted, such could result in consumers
being forced to use inferior technology.



FormGen: NOTHING HAS CHANGED!
As you'll recall, only a few weeks ago, FormGen was acquired by GT
Interactive. FormGen, currently riding the tidal swell of acceptance for
their Duke 3D twitch, is working closely with their new parent company on a
number of new products. First of all, the company has a new T-1 line and
their WWW site is a great place to locate screen shots and demos. You can
reach it a http://www.formgen.com. The next game heading your way that uses
the same engine as Duke 3D, is Shadow Warrior, with the shareware version
to reach stores before the end of the year. Just a couple of months later,
the complete version will release. In this title, you become a ninja! In
August, XenoPhage reaches retail distribution. This is a fighter from Argo
Games and Apogee. There's panning, scrolling, huge sprite action. Watch for
demos to be available on a number of magazine CD-ROM inclusions in the
future. By the way, the winners in FormGen's Duke Nukem 3D Media Buds Level
Creation Contest are Steve Klett, John Di Saia and Martin Kozicki.



Gaylord Entertainment: LORDY, IT'S MORE COUNTRY FOLK!
The country entertainment and lifestyle areas have expanded on the
We--thanks to Gaylord Entertainment Co.'s site COUNTRY.COM, which is due
this fall. The push for country will be in three areas: the total country
lifestyle, from music to motorsports to outdoor and country life. Secondly,
Gaylord has great marketability on networks such as TNN and CMT which can
draw in a big crowd on the Web. And lastly, the loyalty from the artists,
drivers and outdoor enthusiasts towards their fans, which is strong.



Hollywood Pictures: PREVIEW OF THE MATERIAL GIRL
Folks can get a peek of Madonna as Evita on Wednesday, July 31, when a
newly completed preview trailer for Hollywood Pictures' feature film debuts
via satellite. Written and directed by Alan Parker (Fame, The Commitments),
Evita doesn't arrive in theaters until December, but this preview satellite
transmission will provide an advance look at the film. Television stations
across the country will be able to download the transmission and use it on
their regularly scheduled news and entertainment programs.



IDG Books: WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
Are you a computer trivia kind of person? You may find a good challenge at
the IDG Books Dead or Alive Contest with questions like--Commodore Vic 20,
Apple Lisa, Netscape Navigator... are these dead or alive in today's
computer industry? The information is based upon the book PC Roadkill, a
comical satire of the computer industry with the features such as a brief
quiz on the companies, products, and people of the computer industry. To
test yourself, simply visit the PC Roadkill section of IDG Books' World
Wide WEB site at http://www.idgbooks.com and enter to win a limited PC
Roadkill t-shirt.



Instant Sports: COLLEGIATE SPORTS IN REAL-TIME
There are a number of sports sites on the World Wide Web, some rather
eclectic in their information offering, others backed by huge corporations,
and others that present sports information in rather unique ways. Instant
Sports falls into the latter category, as the popularity of their Instant
Baseball(TM) WWW site has now afforded them the opportunity to sign an
agreement with STATMAN Information Systems Inc. to bring college football
and basketball cybercasts to their site. To be called Instant College
Football(TM) and Instant College Basketball(TM), you'll get real-time,
play-by-play updates of your favorite college football and men's AND
women's basketball from your home of office computer. Web coverage for the
football site will start on August 28th with college football's Summer
Kickoff Classic, which finds Penn State versus USC. The Java-animated
version will be available in September. The basketball coverage will start
in December. The raw sports data of all "Big 10" and "Ivy League"
conference games is licensed from STATMAN, with other schools and
conferences to be added throughout the 1996-1997 season. This data drives
Instant Sports' text-based and Java-animated computer sims of the events on
the football field or basketball court. STATMAN will co-brand their WWW
site as an affiliate of Instant Sports. These sites are all free to users
and are supported through advertising sold by Instant Sports.



Integraph: 3D SOLUTIONS FOR GAME DEVELOPERS
A big solution for game developers--real-time 3D on the Intel/Windows NT
platform and real-time 3D authoring tools--has been developed through the
cooperation, and long term relationship, of Intergraph Computer Systems and
MultiGen Inc. This is the first step for both companies in aggressively
marketing MultiGen's new GameGen II products and Intergraph's
high-performance TDZ(TM) 3D Graphics Workstations into the game development
arena. This announcement coincides with MultiGen's product announcement of
GameGen II for Windows NT, demonstrating its product on Intergraph's TDZ 3D
Graphics Workstation. More info is available at
http://www.intergraph.com/ics.



Interactive Magic: NOT READY, WON'T SHIP
Many times, a scheduled product release date means late hours for
programmers and marketers when a title starts to slip. In many cases,
patches hold a program together simply so that planned ship date is
met--many times, such forced title debuts lead to disaster. Interactive
Magic has no plans for such to occur to their highly anticipated sim,
Destiny: Man's Journey Through Time. Frankly, the game is not ready, so the
company is going to continue to work on the project. There is a new tag
line: World Domination from Stone Age to Space Age, and there's a new WWW
site for the game at http://www.imagicgames.com/mediaroom/ where you can
view screen shots and other information about this upcoming game.



Interplay: ANYTHING BUT NORMAL HITS THE SHELVES
Working with third-party developers, many mainstream game publishers are
finding gold in them thar agreements. One of the hottest titles to be
heading toward your retailer is NORMALITY(TM). This is a fully 3D rendered
adventure game which finds Gen-X daydream, Kent, as the headliner.
Interplay plans on spending nearly one million dollars in promotion this
title with marketing, public relations and a sales blitz. NORMALITY was
developed by Gremlin Interactive and will ship on July 30th.  An
interactive preview of the game was released in May, and retailers
throughout the nation will also be equipped with demos and Point Of
Purchase materials. Select retailers are also offering a NORMALITY screen
saver, free with the purchase of the game, while supplies last. Pre-launch
activities included a "Rub Out NORMALITY" scratcher mailer sent to 50,000
die-hard adventure gamers with a rebate offer of up to $20 at retail. A
NORMALITY WWW site features cool movie and soundfiles and will also offer
hints and tips as well as an online contest and "Are You Normal?" surveys.
There are over 120 locations to discover as 17 characters come to life.
Plus, the title has a hip soundtrack. This game will appeal to a broad
range of gamers.

NEW JAPANESE CHIEF
Interplay is quite the international game publisher, as well. In September
of 1995, the company formed Interplay Japan. The company has now appointed
Toshihiro "Ted" Fukudome as that company's Representative Director and
President and he'll oversee the marketing and promo of Interplay products
within the Japanese market. Previously, Fukodome was the President and
Representative Director of Mattel Japan. He successfully engineered
Mattel's re-entry into the Japanese market.



InterVU: NOW ARRIVING FOR MACS
The talk about video compression and graphics playback has certainly
reached well into the PC industry. Now the very first audio and MPEG player
for the Macintosh has been released by InterVU. InterVU's MPEG Player 0.95
is a beta plug-in for Netscape Navigator 2.0 and 3.0. The plug-in will
offer first-frame previewing, streaming and full-quality MPEG playback,
from either a cache or a hard drive. You'll be able to hear and view video
during streaming preview, or when played back from your selected cache.
First-frame technology allows you to see the first frame of the video to
help you decide whether to download the complete offering. Once downloaded,
you can then view the video in streaming mode as it downloads from the WWW
site. A 28.8 kbps modem connection will provide transmission of images at a
few frames per second. The InterVU player downloads the entire MPEG file,
regardless of your modem speed, which allows you to then playback the video
at full MPEG quality. THis means you'll view the highest-quality video
possible. You can download the current version from http://www.intervu.com.



The Learning Company: READER RABBITS MULTIPLY
The Learning Company (http://www.learningco.com), a subsidiary of SoftKey
International Inc., has a new program that can strengthen the reading
skills of five- to eight-year-olds. Reader Rabbit's(R) Interactive Reading
Journey(TM) 2,
available this fall on Windows and Macintosh CD-ROM, is based on the most
successful reading CD-ROM of 1995 entitled Reader Rabbit's Interactive
Reading
Journey 1.

Interactive Reading Journey 2 continues the adventures of Reader Rabbit,
Sam the Lion, and Mat the Mouse, as they search for Sam's imagination through
15 reading lands comprised of multilevel activities. There are newcomers
that include Buster the Car, Sparky the Imagination, and Booker Frog, that
build on newly-learned skills as children read, listen, respond, click on
educational animated hot spots and think their way through the program.
Children can learn  essential reading skills with the thirty original
storybooks featured in the program. There's also a record and playback
feature that helps wee ones develop
reading confidence and expression, while sixty questions throughout this
adventure encourage children to voice their ideas as well as oral reading
skills that include pace, voice inflection and word emphasis.



Macromedia: FREELOADING CAN BE FUN
Companies are want to agree . . .conflict is not the true mettle of
business, competition is . . .but when two companies can agree on a joining
of forces, seems as though just about everyone is a winner. This has
happened for Macromedia and FreeLoader, Inc. They have come to terms for
the latter's WWW offline browsing and agenting software to be distributed
from the former's WWW site at http://macromedia.com. FreeLoader's software
will also be distributed with the Macromedia Showcase(TM) CD-ROM. This
product ships with every Macromedia product that is sold. And, as turn
about is fair play, FreeLoader will bundle Macromedia Shockwave(TM) with
its FreeLoader service. This technology allows you to download multimedia
content and then view the goodies offline on your browser or screen saver.



LORD WON'T YOU GIVE ME A MERCEDEZ-BENZ?
The Mercedes-Benz SLK roadster is getting great promotion on the Web at
http://www.wardsauto.com. This site was created in anticipation of the
North American launch next February, which should prove to be an extremely
popular event. Premium automakers, such as Mercedes, BMW, and others,
believe that roadsters will eventually pass sports and utility vehicles in
popularity. They had also better hope American wallets get fatter, as well.



MicroProse: RADICAL RACING
Few companies launch a product with more than 60,000 units. Unless
pre-orders and other elements are in place, to head into distribution with
more than 100,000 units is certainly rare. MicroProse has now launched
their Grand Prix II for PC CD-ROM--to the tune of some 300,000 units, the
largest initial release for the company this year. You'll join a FIA
Formula One team and race on some of the most challenging courses around
the world. This title puts you in the driver's seat as you practice,
challenge for the pole, and go head-to-head with actual Formula One drivers
on tracks in Monaco, Brazil, France and beyond. The game provides every
aspect of the Formula One circuit and includes pull pitching and rolling,
crashes, engine blowups and detailed 3D effects. There are even the same
trackside sponsors you'd see at the track itself. There are enhanced camera
views let you watch the race from several different angles. A replay
feature lets you relive the finest moments from any of the available views.