Spy v. spy Internet adventures
Article Abstract:
Activision's $50 Spycraft: The Great Game adventure game uses a variety of multimedia techniques to present an acceptable spy game, but it suffers from a lack of consistency between its various interfaces. Spycraft's other chief drawback is a confusing installation. The program is advertised as a joint effort by the former heads of the CIA and the KGB, but these luminaries make only brief appearances. Players take on the role of CIA agent Thorn, who must save the President so that he can sign a disarmament treaty with Russia. Spycraft's interactive tools are especially strong, and one allows users to gather information by tracing a bullet's path back to the source of the shot and enlarging a photograph of the source. Another allows players to eavesdrop on telephone conversations and uncover patterns in masses of data, but the sound analysis tool is poorly designed. Spycraft includes a link to the Web so users can download daily changes to the fictional world.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1996
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A winner on CD-ROM: revisiting radio days
Article Abstract:
Berkeley Systems's $30 You Don't Know Jack trivia game loses its sparkle after a few games, but Voyager Co's $25 Theatre of the Imagination: Radio Stories of Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre provides a wealth of information on Welles and the culture of radio. You Don't Know Jack uses a straightforward interface and a voice-over announcer to pose clever questions in a television-quiz-show format. After several rounds, the abrasive humor loses its appeal, the musical clips become irksome, and the questions are too simple. Voyager's Theatre CD covers Welles' career in radio with five hours of broadcasts accompanied by remarks from critics such as Andrew Sarris. The CD's most glaring omission is a full recording of 'The War of the Worlds' broadcast, although a few clips from it are included. The CD's organization is clumsy, with text links leading to unexpected destinations, and the broadcast transcripts are poorly edited.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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Electronic reproductions of rare art works
Article Abstract:
Corbis Corp's $45 A Passion for Art: Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse and Dr. Barnes is a CD-ROM collection of 330 paintings by dozens of Impressionist, post-Impressionist and modern masters. The paintings are from a rarely-seen private collection put together by Dr Albert C. Barnes. The CD-ROM includes painting by masters such as Van Gogh, Rousseau, Seurat, Monet, Picasso, Gauguin and Manet. Artists with multiple works are given a brief biography. The disk also includes a documentary introduction about the creation of the collection. Also, documents detailing Dr Barnes' collection efforts such as check stubs, bills and original letters. The disk allows the collection to be sorted by title or artist, but not by date. Images can be viewed with descriptive text, full screen or in zoom view. Unfortunately, the disk supports only 256 colors and 640x480 dot resolution, which is too low for newer computers.
Publication Name: The New York Times
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0362-4331
Year: 1995
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