Psst…Can You Keep a Secret? Panasonic Interactive Ships "Secret Writer's Society"

Business Wire, Feb 10, 1998

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 1998--

Membership has its privileges -- children ages 7 to 9 learn

essential writing skills

Panasonic Interactive Media today announced the addition of Secret Writer's Society to its award winning line of education software. An interactive CD-ROM program, Secret Writer's Society teaches children ages seven to nine the fundamentals of effective writing while inspiring creativity and building self-confidence.

Secret Writer's Society begins in an underground hideout where children start their journey by entering their name in the SWS "Rolodex." From there, young learners embark on seven levels of fun, interactive learning which teach the 5-step writing plan: planning, drafting, revising, editing and presenting; as well as important writing fundamentals: capitalization, end punctuation, sentence and paragraph structure and pre-writing strategies. The majority of levels use text-to-speech technology (direct feedback to words typed by the player), developed by Speech Technology Laboratory, Panasonic Technologies, Inc., which enriches the learning experience.

The first six levels contain interactive songs and videos to teach students various writing concepts. For example, in Level 2, Tex, the anchorman, has children adding the correct punctuation to sentences in the "virtual newsroom." Ultimately, children will help Tex get the script ready for the evening news.

Once all six levels are complete, they obtain the password to access level seven. Here their skills are put to the test by executing a secret writing mission. Successful completion earns children a place in the Secret Writer's Society. This elite club's membership definitely has its privileges as children are assigned new missions and then submit them to the Secret Writer's Society Web Site (www.secretwriter.com). Members can also send scrambled e-mail messages to their club member friends.

Secret Writer's Society comes equipped with a membership card and access to a complete membership kit that includes the club's official notebook, "top secret" stamp, decoder pens and stickers. In addition, members may enter their creations into monthly contests and earn recognition on the Secret Writer's Web Site.

Secret Writer's Society runs on PC and Macintosh platforms and is now available for a suggested retail price of $34.95.

Minimum system requirements:

Windows 95(tm): 486DX4/100MHz, 8MB RAM, SVGA graphic card, 5MB

free hard drive space, SoundBlaster compatible sound card, 2x

CD-ROM

Macintosh(R): 68040/40MHz, 8MB RAM, 5MB free hard drive space, 2x

CD-ROM

For additional information about Panasonic Interactive Media's education titles, call 1-888-PANAKID or visit http://www.panakids.com.

The educational software line from Panasonic Interactive Media enhances the fun of learning for children ages 3-12. Each title renders a unique learning experience in different subject areas such as language arts, math, geography and creativity. In addition, with Panasonic Interactive Media educational products the parent's role goes well beyond making the buying decision and leaving the rest to the child. The products stress parental involvement with parent/child computer and non-computer activities that influence the learning experience.

Panasonic Interactive Media (PIM) is a division of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America (MECA) dedicated to interactive content and content delivery systems. Based in Santa Clara, California, PIM delivers hardware and software products for many different interactive platforms and PC and Macintosh home computer systems.

CONTACT: GCI Group

Nicole Morodan, 212/546-1407

nmorodan@gcigroup.com

or

Panasonic Interactive Media

Kari Gibbs, 408/653-1317