Active Imagination wins Newsweek Editors' Choice award for children's software title

Business Wire, Oct 10, 1995

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 1995-- Active Imagination, a subsidiary of leading PC manufacturer Packard Bell and publisher of the Kidstory Series of children's software, has received the Newsweek Editors' Choice(TM) award for "The Yukadoos."

The product was singled out by Newsweek as one of the 50 best in children's software and is featured on Newsweek's new CD-ROM title, "Parent's Guide to Children's Software 96."

"We are very honored to be a recipient of the Newsweek Editors' Choice award," said Glen Uslan, vice president marketing, Active Imagination. "Our focus is to encourage young children to learn, by providing them with software titles packed with fun and colorful interactive animation."

"The Yukadoos' is one of the outstanding multimedia CD-ROM software products available for children," said Michael Rogers, contributing editor of Newsweek and managing editor of Newsweek InterActive.

"By singling out children's software products that are entertaining, informative and educational, we are helping guide parents through the tangled web of titles on the market today," said Rogers, who is also executive producer of the "Parent's Guide to Children's Software 96."

"The Yukadoos" are three fun-loving characters that create mischief by muddling in old mud puddles, hiding in halls and even singing in showers. Children can follow the Yukadoos along in their crazy adventures and even set them in motion with a click of the mouse. This title is geared towards three to five-year-olds and emphasizes alliteration, phonetics and other basics of sentence structure.

The 50 selected titles, including "The Yukadoos," are featured on "Parent's Guide to Children's Software 96," an unbiased and comprehensive guide to children's CD-ROM software that includes the world's first multimedia product reviews.

Available September 1995, in both MacIntosh and Windows, the CD-ROM is packaged with a 184-page print supplement which allows parents and children to preview what's best in children's software before they buy.

Nearly 300 products, selected from the thousands available, were reviewed by Newsweek editors. Seventy-five were chosen for a second round of reviews, ultimately resulting in the 50 that received the Newsweek Editors' Choice award.

In judging the products, Newsweek editors were guided by strict criteria, including how well the products make use of multimedia; encourage decision making; give consistent feedback; provide multiple layers of sophistication; require interactivity and allow for self-pace and exploration. In addition, input from a panel of 12 children on qualities such as ease-of-use, appealing graphics, fun and the desire to replay the product were key factors in the judging.

Active Imagination, a new multimedia publishing company, was launched by computer manufacturing giant, Packard Bell in October 1994. The software publishing company was formed to expand Packard Bell's goal of making home computing easy, educational and entertaining for the entire family. The division is based in Westlake Village.

Based in Sacramento, Calif., Packard Bell designs, manufactures and markets a broad range of PC-compatible desktop computers. Packard Bell is the leading supplier of PCs in the U.S. mass retail channel, according to Audits and Surveys, a research firm that tracks the retail market.

Packard Bell is the fourth largest computer company worldwide in terms of shipments, according to International Data Corp., Framingham, Mass. The company maintains a home page on the World Wide Web at http://www.packardbell.com, featuring product information, news releases and technical support contacts.

CONTACT: The Bohle Co., Los Angeles

Christina Kennedy or Wendy Pratt, 310/785-0515

chris_kennedy@bohle.com