Black Sun Interactive and Lycos partner to create PointWorld on the Internet; Three-dimensional rendering and interactive capabilities allow users to explore virtual world and communicate with other users in real-time

Business Wire, Feb 12, 1996

Interactive, Inc., an international leader in 3D multi-user interactive technology development, and Lycos, Inc., provider of the world's fastest and most comprehensive Internet catalog, today announced the creation of PointWorld, a 3D version of the leading Internet review service from Point Communications Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lycos.

Totally free to users, PointWorld is the first 3D multi-user interactive review service on the Internet.

PointWorld can be accessed with Black Sun's CyberGate, a VRML browser for 3D information visualization and multi-user interaction on the Internet. CyberGate is available for free download from Black Sun's website at http://www.blacksun.com. Users can access PointWorld at http://www.pointcom.com.

The overall plan of PointWorld is like a town square: the buildings around the square are the top-level categories in Point. Enter a category building to jump to a square with subcategories. Enter a reviewed site building and the review is displayed in a CyberGate window. The user can also click to bring up a web browser to look at the site itself. Reviewed site buildings offer visual cues to their content: expansive buildings are sites which offer lots of information content; colorful buildings are sites rich in visuals and experience, making it easy for users to identify their favorite type of site at a glance. When using Black Sun's CyberGate browser, users can see other figures moving around in PointWorld. Known as "avatars," these animated figures represent other users. Clicking on an avatar shows the user's public CyberCard like a business card that contains user-defined information such as text and links to web documents. Users can also define, exchange and collect private CyberCards. Chat between users is also supported, either singly or in groups, and users can switch back and forth between different conversations in the same space.

"Black Sun and Lycos share the same objectives: to make the home computer a meaningful resource and to make the Internet manageable," said Franz Buchenberger, President and Chief Executive Officer of Black Sun Interactive. "In PointWorld, Black Sun's technology enables computer users to see the big picture of what's available on the 'Net and also gives them the ability to find other people interested in what they are researching, to share their own experiences on the 'Net with each other directly."

"This is a revolutionary way to browse the information offered from Point," said Bob Davis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lycos, Inc. "Lycos supports individual users looking for information quickly, and now with Black Sun's technology, we can offer a new way for users to interact with Point and with members of the 'Net community in a virtual environment."

Lycos, Inc. has licensed Black Sun's CyberHub server software to support CyberGate users of PointWorld. CyberHub is scalable and can support several hundred simultaneous users with a single server, or distribute support for the users of a single large virtual world over multiple servers.

CyberGate and CyberHub are two parts of Black Sun's integrated product line based on VRML, the Virtual Reality Modeling Language, the standard for 3D virtual worlds. A third product is the CyberKit builder for designers of virtual worlds. CyberGate is currently in beta and will be commercially released this summer. CyberHub will also be released this summer. CyberKit will be commercially released in the fall, but made available to selected partners before then. -0-

Black Sun Interactive, with offices in San Francisco and Munich, is an international leader in cyberspace technology. Combining top talent from the US and Europe, Black Sun develops VRML-based client/server systems of unique scope and power: vehicles for shared virtual worlds. Black Sun's vision is of people everywhere, meeting to work and play as naturally in cyberspace as they do in the real world.

Lycos, The Catalog of the Internet, is recognized as the Web's leading search tool and one of the most visited sites on the Web. With offices in Boston, New York City and Pittsburgh, Lycos serves some 45 million queries each month, helping Internet users to find the information they seek on the 'Net. Lycos also offers free services from Point Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary. Point's reviews are known as the definitive Web rating service, and those sites which merit an award proudly display the Point "Top 5%" badge. Lycos is continuously creating new ways for users to navigate the Web's vast information stores.

Lycos, Inc. and Black Sun Interactive, Inc. are both funded by CMG@Ventures, a strategic investment and development subsidiary of CMG Information Services of Wilmington, Mass. CMG@Ventures has provided financial and intellectual capital to a portfolio of Internet-related companies, including Lycos, Inc.; Ikonic, Inc.; Black Sun Interactive, Inc.; FreeMark Communications, Inc.; GeoCities, Inc.; and NetCarta, Inc.