There were a tremendous number of new products shown at Fall Comdex 1994. Rather than describing any "vaporware" or other unreleased products, I'll describe some new available products.
Education
ViaGrafix has just released a new interactive CD-ROM tutorial titled Introduction to Visual Basic 3.0 along with twenty-two other videotape titles for both the PC and Macintosh. Nine new PC releases include Introduction to Harvard Graphics 2.0 for Windows, Learning CorelDraw 5.0, Learning Project 4.0, Learning Microsoft Office, Learning Visual Basic for Word, Getting Started with Great Plains Profit 2.0, Getting Started with Windows 95, Updating to Windows 95 and Advanced Programming in C, Volume 2. The thirteen Macintosh titles include: Introduction to the Macintosh, Troubleshooting the Macintosh, Learning Word 6.0 for the Macintosh (Introduction and Advanced), Learning Excel 5.0 for the Macintosh (Introduction and Advanced), PageMaker 5.0 for the Macintosh (Introduction, Advanced, Secrets & Timesavers), Learning QuarkXPress for the Macintosh (Introduction and Advanced), Learning Photoshop for the Macintosh (Introduction and Advanced). Most titles are available for $49.95 and include a learning disk containing sample files, so you can perform the same tasks shown in the tutorial on your own computer. Each videotape is between 60 to 90 minutes in length.
Midisoft has released two interactive music education titles. Music Mentor is an interactive journey through the world of music, composers and instruments. Multimedia Songbook offers a way to experience, interact and modify music from seven different libraries (Classical, Jazz, Holiday, Kid Favorites, Rock & Pop, Foreign and Inspirational).
Multimedia
Wayzata Technology has recently released their second 10 pack of full length CD-ROM titles, conveniently enclosed in two multiple CD crystal packs. Several CD-ROMs include royalty free multimedia production elements such as sound, [ Sound Library Pro ], typefaces [ Font Pro 2 ], film clips [ World of Motion ], photographs [ Photo ProTM Select: The Best of Photo Pro ] and backgrounds [ Matt and Joe's Cool Screen backgrounds ]. Other titles also included are Tony Quinn's Virtual Galaxy (interactive movies and 3-D computer generated images), Beyond the Wall of Stars: Quest One of the Taran Trilogy (a multimedia adventure game), CD Filmfest: Comedy Classics (classic QuickTime public domain movies) and Supertoons 2: The Legend Continues (nostalgic Superman animated movies). These CD-ROMs run on both the PC and the Macintosh (same CD-ROM) and are available for $49 for the entire set!
Medio has also been busy releasing some new interactive titles. VietNam is a visual investigation of the political forces, personalities, places and events of the war in VietNam. Extreme Sports is a presentation of 20 high-risk, adrenaline pumping, endurance sports. Safari is a multimedia guided tour of the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya and the adjoining Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
Entertainment
American Laser Games has recently shipped the PC CD-ROM version of Space Pirates which utilizes full-motion live-action video. Throughout this futuristic fantasy game, you become a Star Ranger who has the responsibility of saving the colonists who have been taken hostage by the pirates. You must also collect the energy crystals from three different worlds so you can use them to power a star-splitter cannon in order to destroy the pirate ship. The Sega CD version is scheduled for March release and the 3DO version is scheduled for May release.
Masque Publishing has released Shadows of Cairn, a medieval adventure game which you help a young thief, Quinn, foil the plot to assassinate the Duke of Cairn. The game supports 256 color graphics in resolutions from 320x200 to 1024x768, contains over 3000 screens of detailed backgrounds, includes more than one hour of digital sound and features lifelike, rotoscoped animation with hundreds of frames per character and hand drawn cel based cinematic sequences.
For pinball aficionados, Amtex has captured the experience of playing Bally's Eight Ball Deluxe and Gottlieb's Royal Flush pinball machines in their new CD-ROM simulation games. They have also released gone fishin', a digital simulation of fresh, warm water fishing in the Bay of Quinte on the shore of Lake Ontario. The fishing ecosystem is accurately modeled in all aspects including weather, water temperature and fish behavior (small & large mouth bass, pike, muskie, sunfish, perch, catfish and walleye). If you need help during this simulation, you can call on Bill Saiff for helpful advice. Bill is the host for the PBS fishing program "Rod and Reel". The software even comes packed in a real tackle box.
Berkeley Systems has released Star Trek: The Next Generation Screen Saver along with Stardate, a calendar and address book with a Star Trek theme. Both of these products are available in PC (Windows) or Macintosh format.
Hardware
Keytec has recently released Magic Touch, a new low cost touch screen ($199) for the PC which is easily connected to the serial port and is compatible with all mouse driven Windows software.
CH Products has released several models of the Trackball Pro, a high resolution trackball for various computer systems. Each of the PC versions (Serial, Bus or PS/2) offer 100% Microsoft compatibility. The Macintosh version features 100% Apple Advanced Desktop Bus compatibility with twice the speed and resolution of an Applemouse. Additional models are available for Sun, Silicon Graphics and other workstations.
Utilities
Quarterdeck has recently released a new version ( QEMM 7.5 ) of their memory manager which increases your memory over that of DOS 6 and gives you lots of memory for CD-ROM drivers, sound card drivers and games. Clean Sweep helps eliminate unwanted and unnecessary programs and files and safely uninstalls unneeded programs.
Copyright
© 1995 Rick Smith All rights reserved.
