Perspectives: rational investigations of new products
--Glider Pro and AmoebArena from Casady & Green by Lance Forrest, Senior Editor
Mudgeon: On Games
Inside Games and Entertainment Update (TM) is published by The Word Warriors(TM), Auburn, CA. Federal law prohibits the unauthorized replication or distribution of the contents of this newsletter without the express, written permission of the publication's owners. This publication is distributed via on-line services, the Internet, and through regional and international bulletin board services who have requested permission from this newsletter's owners to distribute this product.
DISTILLATIONS: news and new products
* COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT NEWS *
APPLE'S CORE CUT
Due to a net after-tax loss for their Q1 fiscal quarter of $69 million, Apple Computer Inc. has notified one and all of plans to restructure the company. Despite net revenues of $3.1 billion, which was an 11 percent increase over Q1 a year ago, shrinking prices and shrinking market share have hurt the company. The first restructuring hit will be felt by 1,300 full-time, temporary and contract employees over the next 12 months. (Look to the second and third positions to feel the full majority weight of the cut!) There will be an associated charge of around $125 million before taxes for its Q2 results to pay for such matters as severance packages and the like. Taligent and Kaleida investments will be divested, although the technologies currently created by those entities will remain with Apple. Watch for a dramatic refocus on eWorld and Internet integration. Expanded licensing of the Macintosh OS and new business alliances are all high level action items for the company. There was no discussion as to Michael Spindler's continuing role with Apple, but as the Executive Board meets later this month, more could be heard at that time.
KING OF BLUES INTO INTERACTIVITY
A new interactive musical CD-ROM has been released by legendary blues guitarist B.B. King. Released by MCA Records, this CD-ROM unveils King's life. Look for collaborative music videos on the disc from Bono, Eric Clapton, and Bonnie Raitt with her "When Love Comes to Town." The CD-ROM is entitled On the Road with B.B. King. The story behind the naming of his guitar, Lucille, and his transition from Gospel to Blues is revealed in an interactive autobiography. Just recently, King received a Kennedy Center Honor, and next month he will start a European tour.
PLAYSKOOL PRODUCTS TO CD-ROM
There are few folk who don't remember playing with Playskool toys as we were growing up: Mr. Potato Head, Tonka vehicles and Play-Doh. Hasbro Interactive has now announced they will produce a new line of edutainment CD-ROM titles based on this product line. Four titles are expected to be released next month. Candy Land Adventure, Mr. Potato Head Saves Veggie Valley, Play-Doh Creations, and Tonka Construction will all be priced around $39.95. Two more Playskool titles will debut later this year. The company will also release interactive board games based on Battleship, Clue with live action video, Risk, and Scrabble. The company expects about 25 to 33 percent of their sales to come from the more traditional toy retailer, the balance from the computer side of the marketplace and mass merchants.
NEW DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
A new agreement between Navarre Corporation and OmniMedia of the United Kingdom will result in the former distributing the latter's CD-ROM catalog. Commencing this April, Navarre will feature some of OmniMedia's best-selling titles such as The Ultimate Video Jukebox: Volume 1, Sade Interactive, and The Greatest Toy Shop on Earth. OmniMedia was founded in 1993 and is based in London and uses their own proprietary MPEG video compression software. This results in full-screen, full-motion TV-quality video images, as well as CD quality sound, in their CD-ROM product line. Another of their titles is the video interest "documentary" about an alien autopsy, Incident at Roswell
VIDEO GAME NEWS
DROPPING 3DO
The Matsushita investment in M2 technology from 3DO has resulted in licensing partners deciding to cease their production of 3DO Multimedia video console units. The latest to decide it's time to give up 3DO production is Goldstar. This leaves Panasonic as the only hardware supplier for the system.
** DIGITAL DELIGHTS **
MILLIONS TO BE PRODUCED
Sanyo Electric Company manufactured just over 1 million CD-ROM drives last year. In 1996, the company has stated they will manufacture 3.2 million such units, specifically for OEM contracts. Shenzhen, China, and Ota, Gunma Prefecture, sites will produce the new models. The reason for the increase is based upon the number of PCs being sold that are now sold complete with internal CD-ROM drives and the forecasts of 50 million CD-ROM unit sales this year.
ENCODING TECHNOLOGY LICENSED
To enable computer-generated graphics and sound to appear on standard TV sets requires digital coding technology that can port digital signals to NTSC or PAL format. The latter are color TV broadcast standards and hold 90 percent of the world market. In order for new multimedia computer and info products to connect to regular TVs, without requiring a dedicated and much higher cost monitor, one method is to use digital video encoding technology designed by the 3DO Company. And that's just what VLSI Technologies has decided to do, and believes consumers will save around $300 as a result. The company will integrate this technology into multimedia computers, browsers and other digital entertainment systems. Most off-the-shelf systems that can turn computer-generated images into NTSC or PAL are rather expensive, and the 3DO technology offers both cost savings and high quality image reproduction on TV sets.
PRICE DROPS ON I/O DEVICE
Spacetec IMC Corporation has lowered the price on their Spaceball(R) Avenger Advanced 3D-I(TM) PC game controller. The new price is $129, down from $179. Plus, the company is offering retailers and distributors several incentives, including generous market development funds, a dedicated technical sales support staff, point of purchase in-store displays, and a demo unit program. You can also check out the company's WWW site at: http://www.spacetec.com.
** OTHER ENTERTAINING NEWS **
ATLANTIC SAILS WITH A NEW APPOINTMENT
Today the Warner Music Group announced the appointment of Val Azzoli who joins Atlantic's founder and Co-Chairman/Co-CEO Ahmet Ertegun in heading the company. Val Azzoli has been appointed Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of The Atlantic Group. Based in New York City, The Atlantic Group is a subsidiary of Warner Music
Group, a division of Time Warner Inc.
Robert A. Daly, Chairman and Co-CEO, and Terry Semel, Chairman and Co-CEO of Warner Music Group and Warner Bros. expressed their positive observations of Azzoli in his strong visions and necessary discipline of keeping the Atlantic label on course during stormy times. Azzoli also accomplished maintaining the label's status as number one in the business bringing Atlantic to one of its most successful years.
Immediately prior to this new appointment, Val Azzoli had served as President of The Atlantic Group since November 1994. He joined Atlantic Records in June 1990 and quickly climbed the corporate musical ladder. Before Atlantic, Azzoli was an artist manager at Q-Prime, where he worked with such groups as Def Leppard, Metallica, and Queensryche, as well as with The Rolling Stones on their "Steel Wheels" tour.
DONAHUE DOWN AND OUT
With ratings slipping beyond an acceptable level, Phil Donahue has decided to cease his daytime talk show at the end of this season. He will continue to work on specials and other TV projects with Multimedia Entertainment, his show's syndicator. Donahue's talk show is seen in more than 45 countries, won 20 national Emmys, plus the Peabody award, and marked its 25th anniversary in 1992.
THREE WEEKS AS #1
According to Billboard, and for the last three weeks, the Hot Country Single remains none other than "It Matters to Me" by Faith Hill. For the second week in a row, the song has been the #1 single for Radio and Records. Her album, of the same name, is the sixth best-selling country album, according to SoundScan data. Faith will be performing at the Grand Ol' Opry from January 26th to January 27th.
INTO GRASS
Alan Meltzer has completed his acquisition of alternative music record company Grass Records and plans 15 releases during the first half of 1996. Distribution will be through BMG. Meltzer is the founder of CD One Stop and Hard Core Marketing. He was also president of Alliance Entertainment Corp., a huge distribution company for music products. February releases will include a new release from The Wrens, the debut of Wasted Time, a new release from A Ten O'Clock Scholar, and the premiere of Omatic (fronted by Michelle Bodine who was formerly with Brainiac). Once these releases are out, expect new records from Baboon, Chimera, Fifteen, Godplow and Pollen.
MCA TO SPONSOR RACE CAR
Joe Ruttman is going to race in the Daytona 500, and for the first time, a top record label will be the exclusive sponsor of his race car. MCA/Nashville will decorate the hood of Ruttman's '80 Ford T-Bird with graphics from "Out With A Bang" from David Lee Murphy. This marketing event involves MCA/Nashville, racing team owner Stan Hover Motorsports and Blockbuster Music, the latter having its logo displayed on the back lid of the car. For those unaware of this fact, but stock car racing is the No. 1 spectator sport in America. Ruttman finished second in the NASCAR Truck Series points standings in 1995 and he's been racing stock cars since 1962.
GIVE THE FANS WHAT THEY WANT
OK, just because we're still bummed out that the Raiders didn't make it to the Super Bowl doesn't mean that others can't join in the fray and vie for the beer commercials (hey man, I really love you). Specifically, plans for the launch of ALL-STAR FOOTBALL, a new professional sports enterprise, were unveiled today by a group of business executives. The enterprise will be led by former Minnesota Vikings quarterback, Joe Kapp, who founded a media creation company in 1987, Team Dynamics, Inc. and Bert Zeldin, executive vice president of Team Dynamics and a former NBC Sports executive. Team Dynamics is a California-based business development firm that provides team-building consulting services and products to corporations, schools, colleges, government agencies and other organizations.
According to Kapp and Eric Parton, president and CEO of Team Dynamics, ALL-STAR FOOTBALL has plans for teams in 16 North American cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Hartford, Miami, Orlando, Memphis, Houston, San Jose, Cleveland, Columbus, Milwaukee, El Paso and Mexico City. Eight of the inaugural teams have already been reserved by individual operators. Candidates for the remaining teams will be evaluated and approved in time to open training in August.
This is the interesting part--the concept that makes this team unique is that ALL-STAR FOOTBALL will have no draft for players, but instead will draw from the 97 percent of college-trained players who've never had an opportunity to play professional football. They'll also select from current pro players who prefer a league that includes players on its management board and shares with them the profits and equity appreciation they help produce (what? no salary caps?). ALL-STAR FOOTBALL will rely on fan accessibility and affordability and will begin its season of Sunday afternoon football games in September. A championship game will be played in early February 1997.
The plan is to use a combination of American professional and collegiate-style rules.
ALL-STAR FOOTBALL games will feature a 25 second play-clock to speed up the
action, fewer players on the roster (40) to reduce substitutes, deeper kickoffs to stimulate run-backs, and allowance of one-foot-in-bounds for pass reception. One innovative ALL-STAR FOOTBALL rule change imitates the fan-popular play in basketball that awards four points for any successful field goal beyond fifty yards.
NO IMMEDIATE EMERGENCIES IN ER
Folks enamored with the ``ER'' star George Clooney will sigh with relief at the news that he won't pull a David Caruso, who quit ``NYPD Blue'' to pursue a movie career. Clooney, whose first feature film ``From Dusk Till Dawn,'' a comedy/drama/adventure vampire flick from Quentin Tarantino which opens Friday, says he'll do more movies but work them around his TV obligations and vows to honor his contract. Clooney says, "The truth is, most people who are on a TV series manage to make them both work, and that is what I am doing." Clooney will star in the romantic comedy ``One Fine Day'' opposite Michelle Pfeiffer and the post-Cold War drama ``The Peacemaker.''
CRY-IN' SHAME
Odds-makers win! Presley and Jackson's marriage is, mercifully, at an end! Lisa Marie Presley has filed for divorce from pop star Michael Jackson. Irreconcilable differences is listed as the driving force behind the divorce. Hmmm, is that the sound of one gloved hand clapping?
* ONLINE STUFF *
WEB INDEX FROM IDC
A comprehensive model of Internet usage dynamics and demographics has been developed by International Data Corporation (IDC). Called the Internet Commerce Market Model(TM), the data is based on numerous data sources, all collected over 15 years of business and consumer on-line markets study. The IDC Web Index(TM) was developed from the output of this model and provides a single number as a key indicator as to the current and forecasted Web commerce opportunities. Monthly increase in home pages and usage hours is used by the Index to measure development ROI. A down Web Index means problems for Web tools and services. An up Index could mean a great time to grow with the Web. To purchase a copy of this information, you should contract Cheryl Toffell at 1-800-343-4952.
THE GENIE HAS LEFT THE LAMP
John Barber, general manager of GEnie, the on-line service operated as part of GE
Information Services, is leaving to become managing director of the Asia Pacific region with America Online. In April, 1991, Barber became GEnie's general manager after 20 years with GE. He replaced Bill Lauden.
It's no secret that GEnie's share of the on-line market has been anemic and this past November, reports indicated that GE Information Services were working with investment banking firm Allen & Company to arrange the sale of GEnie although sources at GEnie are tight-lipped about any speculation.
INTEL & NETSCAPE CHIPPING AWAY
The Internet remains a key focus of giant chip manufacturer, Intel. Working with companies, such as Netscape Communications, the company will provide technologies that will allow users to not only be browsing the WWW, but simultaneously view live TV. Intel will provide the video-capture cards and integrated motherboards, while companies like Netscape will offer browsers that can access the new silicon capabilities. 1997 is the year when these features are expected to be made available to an eager marketplace. But don't expect Intel to simply be involved in the chip side of the net biz. Later this year, Intel will release Smart New Reader. This agent will browse and filter articles for clients from the Web.
TAXING SITE
There is naught we can much do about death or taxes. However, to help ease us through the frenzy and depression of tax prep, the Internal Revenue Service has created a new homepage on the World Wide Web. Check out http://www.irs.ustreas.gov. When this site went on-line on January 8th, there were more than 220,000 hits in the first 24 hours. (And they were all from the First Family! :-> ) The pages are quite easy to navigate and you can not only find answers to your basic questions, but there's also an interactive session called Tax Trails that actually can help you identify your particular circumstances through key questions. There are summaries of 150 different tax topics plus a huge assortment of FAQs. The bane of small biz, there are summaries of new IRS regs as well as descriptions of different IRS electronic services. No, not the most enjoyable site in the world, but certainly one worth a visit BEFORE you find yourself at odds with the feds over your taxes.
APPLETS RULE
Web'ers are, for the most part, visionaries willing to work with various technologies to create the best stuff available on the Net. As you have already noted, Java applets pop up everywhere to animate your life on-line. Many are innovative, some are simply dupes of the cool stuff, and it's tough to sort them out. Now there's the Java Applet Rating Service. From Web Creations, this operation is comprised of judges who'll rank applets on their usefulness and uniqueness and how well they've been coded. Check out http://www.surinam.net/java/jars for this panels' ratings of December applets.
SUPERMAN RADIO ON-LINE
Warner Brothers Online is bringing the old Superman radio show to the Internet as an integral part of their multilevel entertainment site at http://www.warnerbros.com. Using RealAudio, the Superman radio serials from the '40s can be heard. The site also has other info on other popular Warner Brothers movies, TV shows, recording artists, cartoon and DC comics characters. You'll also find the highly entertaining Looney Tunes Karaoke there, as well.
15 PROVIDE NETSCAPE PLUG-INS
The capabilities of the Netscape Navigator 2.0 platform has been increased by new components created by 15 companies, all using the Netscape Navigator(TM) Plug-In API. These plug-ins from both Windows and Macintosh developers were created in about four months time and are now available from the Netscape Plug-In Clearinghouse. The added feature simply shows up for the user as an additional capability to Netscape Navigator. The list is quite impressive and should certainly be of concern to others who are fighting for a piece of the browser marketplace (Spyglass and Microsoft, take note!). Here are some of the new offerings:
IION: Lightning Strike: optimized wavelet image codec for better compression/decompression
Adobe: Acrobat "Amber" Reader for printing fully-formatted docs in Navigator
Chaco Communications: VR Scout VRML, VRML viewer with multithreading (download while viewing)
Corel: Vector Graphics CMX Viewer for creation of hi-res vector graphics smaller in size than GIF or JPEG
Macromedia: Shockwave for Director which brings true multimedia to the Web
Ncompass: OLE Control Plug-In, embed OLE controls as applets
Object Power: OpenScape Toolkit, builds enterprise apps for the net, corporate nets, or Intranets
Paper Software: WebFX, 3D VRML platform to fly through VRML worlds and run VRML apps written in Java
Progressive Networks: Real Audio for live, on-demand, real-time audio
Starfish Software: Tell the time anywhere in the world without leaving Navigator
Tumbleweed Software: Envoy Plug-In, view docs as created in compact format
VDONet: VDOLive for uncompromised video image compression
Visual Components: Formula One/NET, Excel-compatible spreadsheet with Internet functionality
Voxware: ToolVox for The Web for streaming high compression (53:1) speech audio to Web pages without an audio server requirement
VREAM: WIRL with VRML support for object behaviors, links to Windows apps, more
This highly exciting site can be reached at http://home.netscape.com/comprod/development(underscore)partners/
plugin(underscore)api/index.html.
ON-LINE MUSIC AWARDS
Starting January 15th (three days ago!), members of America Online can nominate their favorite music for the first Online Music Awards (OMA). This award is hosted by America Online and Reebok and will allow over 4.5 million AOL members to vote for their favorite artists, release and music sites on the WWW for 1996. There are 51 categories with final nominees to be announced on January 23rd. Final votes must be cast between January 23rd and 29th. The winners of the OMA will receive a 1996 OMA commemorative award. Use Keyword OMA to get to this area of the service to tally your vote because you can win a Wild Hair Weekend which includes airfare, hotel, transportation, dinner and concert tickets to see any artist of your choice perform in one of 6 major cities in the continental U.S.
SKI ON-LINE
A new interactive ski area has launched on America Online, thanks to InterZine Productions. Called iSKI, an on-line community of skiers, from novices to extreme, where ideas and experiences can be shared. There'll be info on snow conditions, ski equipment deals, new trends, lodging and real-time ski reports and interviews. iSKI is looking to recruit regional SnoMad guides from among AOL members across the country and info can be obtained using keyword iSKI.
SUPERBOWL SITE ESTABLISHED
NFL Enterprises, NBC Sports and Microsoft have selected UUNET Technologies to be the supplier of all Internet connectivity for the web site superbowl.com. This will be the official web site for Super Bowl XXX which will be played on January 28th in Tempe, Arizona. UUNET will provide the network backbone between the Microsoft Internet Information Server in Redmond, WA, and two Super Bowl sites located in Tempe and in Phoenix, AZ. The site will provide previews and up-to-the-minute news on the playoff teams. From NBC Sports will come team and game analysis talent. You'll also find info on past Super Bowls as well as video and audio clips of the most memorable moments.
** DEVELOPER DUMP **
3D TOOL FREE OF CHARGE
Asymetrix Corporation of Bellevue, WA, today released, free of charge, the beta version of the Asymetrix 3D Scene Viewer that makes implementing web based animation easier than any other product available on the market today with no scripting and no programming needed to create your animations with Asymetrix Web 3D. You add them to your Web Page, along with the free 3D Scene Viewer. Then visitors to your sight need only download the viewer once to interact with any animated scene created with Web 3D and viewers can jump to other Web sites by clicking on objects that have embedded hotlinks.
The Asymetrix 3D Scene Viewer is available for users of the Netscape Navigator 1.2 and above, and is free of charge for unrestricted use and distribution on the Asymetrix Web Site (http://www.asymetrix.com).
Another benefit to the 3D Scene Viewer is that 3D scenes created with Web 3D show spatial relationships in an effective way without having to use complex modeling tools that require a high level of expertise. Visitors can move and interact within these 3D scenes on the Web as an example, students can go to a scene created to show the solar system and view each planet from different angles, allowing them to move and explore the created solar system from new perspectives. Then embedded hotlinks could take them anywhere in the Internet universe, such as NASA, the Smithsonian, or a university astronomy department.
CHIP SOUNDS
The SRS 3-D sound-retrieval system will soon be embedded in audio chips from Crystal Semiconductor, thanks to a new agreement between Crystal and SRS Labs. Inc. This is the first time Crystal has licensed a semiconductor manufacturer to sell chips that use the SRS sound algorithms.
$$$ EARNINGS INCREASE
Macromedia continues to do well, financially. Their revs for Q3, which ended December 31st, 1995, were $29,149,000. That's an increase of 144 percent from the same period one year ago. Net income for the quarter, before the one-time merger charge (in December 1995, Macromedia acquired OSC Software) was $7,377,000. And that's up 302 percent from Q3 of last year.
DEVELOPER KITS FOR SPACEWARE
Spacetec IMC Corporation is now offering a FREE SpaceWare(TM) Software Developers Kit (SDK) to 3D game and multimedia developers. With this SDK, you'll be able to add unlimited, 3D interaction and support for Spacetec's popular Spaceball Avenger(R) PC 3D game controller. This unit offers simultaneous six-degree of freedom operation (6DOF). The SKD includes the game controller and SpaceWare Advanced 3D-I software for DOS and Windows 95 (via Windows 95 DirectInput). The software contains the core algorithms and libraries for cyberdynamic control and 6DOF. Cyberdynamic or physics control provides speed and acceleration control as well as the ability to experience gravity or feel pressure, such as when bumping into a barrier or crashing into a wall. For more information, call Adam Bosnian at 508-970-0330.
HEY!
Be certain to check out 15 PROVIDE NETSCAPE PLUG-INS within the On-Line Stuff section!
Perspectives: rational investigations of new products
Glider Pro and AmoebArena for Macintosh CD-ROM
from Casady & Greene
Many Macintosh owners already know Casady & Greene because of their stellar Conflict Catcher 3.0 utility program. Now there are two simple and fun games from the same company that will surely give Microsoft Windows solitaire and minesweeper players a run for their idle time--if they have a Mac, that is!
Glider Pro is a simple game that will keep you amused for hours. Four arrow buttons are the only controls needed to move your paper airplane around each convoluted house. Look for heat vents, candles, barbecues, and a multitude of other sources to keep your airplane aloft. Be careful of obstacles that can smash your delicate plane: balloons, basketballs, flying toast, jumping fish, and the list only gets crazier. Collect a battery and you'll be able to accelerate yourself at your whim. Collect the helium tank and you'll be able to give yourself a lift without a heat or air source nearby. Oh, and find rubber bands and you'll be able to shoot many obstacles (like balloons and other paper airplanes) before they destroy you.
The CD-ROM version contains 18 complex houses--or worlds--that you can guide your paper airplane through (11 of these are brand new worlds for the CD-ROM version only). Ranging from an art museum, to an oceanliner, to a grocery store, to a space pod, the houses present unique challenges and puzzles as you navigate through them. Together, the vivid graphics and hilarious sound effects will keep you on the edge of your seat as you pilot your craft toward the next challenge.
There's an editor included with the CD-ROM version that you can use to modify existing houses, or make new ones from scratch. Also, you can play a fiendish two-player mode where both players play from the same keyboard (read: no modem or network required) as they compete for power-ups and resources. It's the bloodless G-rated version of multiplayer Doom!
The second new game from Casady & Greene is AmoebArena, a turn-based board game. You control an army of four unique pieces. The Amoeboid piece, for example, can move up to two squares each turn, and will attack all enemy pieces in adjacent squares after it has finished moving (inflicting one damage point each). The Mitoplast, however, can only attack one enemy piece per turn; but when it does attack, it injects its genetic code into the enemy, thus converting the piece into an ally, now controlled by the owner of the Mitoplast. There's Cytozoid and Blocker pieces, which have unique characteristics as well. It's a little confusing at first, but after a couple of games against the computer, you'll get the hang of it.
The real fun comes in Tournament Play, where the board and starting positions are randomly chosen by the computer. Here, you will start the game with your troops split apart, in strange formations, and with different board configurations. Some games will include pits, and if you can block your enemy's piece into one of these delightful depressions, your enemy will fall into oblivion.
Although amusing for the first few games, the graphics and animations of AmoebArena do grow tiresome, and unless you really like board games, you might get bored playing against three computer players. Of course, you can also add up to three other human players, and there's enough strategy to keep the games interesting for even advanced players.
Although GliderPro and AmoebArena won't excite the hard-core gamer, they will keep the novice and intermediate Mac gamers amused for hours. Glider Pro is especially suited for family play as both adults and children will enjoy the bloodless challenges. Both games have street prices around $30. I highly recommend Glider Pro for all arcade/puzzle fans. And if you enjoy board-based strategy games, AmoebArena will keep you amused as well. Relax Mac users, you no longer have to be jealous of those Windows players who have solitaire and minesweeper to occupy their free time.--Lance Forrest.
Game requirements
Glider Pro requires Macintosh System Software v. 7.0, a CD-ROM drive, 256 colors (or 16 shades of gray), 3MB of RAM and 5MB of free hard drive space. AmoebArena has the same system, monitor and CD-ROM requirements and needs 8MB of RAM.
