Simon &Schuster Interactive Announces Development of Star Trek Starship Creator: Warp 2 Entertainment CD-ROM Title

Business Wire, Jan 27, 2000

Entertainment/Gaming Editors

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2000

&uot;Starship Creator :Warp 2&uot; to Interface with October Release &uot;Star Trek &uot;Dominion Wars&uot; Game, Allowing Trekkers to Do Battle with Custom

Built Ships Over the Internet

Simon &Schuster Interactive announced today they are developing a new Star Trek entertainment title &uot;STARSHIP CREATOR: WARP 2 (PC/Mac CD-ROM, shipping in April).&uot; The follow-up to the best-selling &uot;Starship Creator Deluxe,&uot; &uot;WARP 2&uot; gives Trekkers what they've been waiting for - the ability to create their own Starships, fly them simultaneously in one of 10 scenarios, the ability to create their own scenes for &uot;mini-episodes&uot; with a drag-and-drop scenario creator and export them onto a Palm Pilot or Visor PDA, and photo editing features that puts Trekkers in actual Starfleet Officer's uniforms.

&uot;STARSHIP CREATOR: WARP 2&uot; will also allow Trekkers to import their newly created Starships into Simon &Schuster Interactive's tactical combat / role playing game, &uot;Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars&uot;

The adventure begins when the player chooses elements to create the external structure of the starship. Mix and match different parts within each of 6 classes of ships, including Klingon B'rel class fighter, Enterprise-D Constitution, Defiant, Galaxy, Sovereign, Akria, Intrepid and Constitution. &uot;Trekkers&uot; then name their original 3-d ships, give them a registry number, and can print them out or trade them with other Admirals over the Internet.

INTERNAL SYSTEMS

Once the structure has been assembled, the user can delve into all sorts of Trek &uot;tech&uot; to make the ultimate Starship! He or she can choose everything from the strength of the phasers, the make of the warp drive, the power of the deflector shields, the number of transporters and the type and capacity of sensors. The player can also take into account the luxuriousness of the crew's quarters or the number of holodecks -- choices that will have a strong impact on the efficiency and happiness of the crew. When you're done, print out a fabulous cutaway view of your unique ship, complete with callouts.

STAFFING

Now it's time to choose the crew of this new Starship. The bridges can be manned with the user's choice of appropriate Starfleet personnel -- Think &uot;Sulu&uot; was a better captain than &uot;Kirk?&uot; Give him his own ship! Make &uot;Scotty&uot; his right hand man! But be careful how you choose -- some officers, like &uot;Worf,&uot; will follow the simulation exactly and ask you for guidance when the unexpected pops up.

Think you're better than everyone who's ever been on &uot;Star Trek?&uot; With the new photo editing program within WARP 2, Trekkers can add digital photos of themselves and &uot;put on&uot; a Starfleet uniform and write their own bio which will appear in scenarios. Also, Trekkers can export themselves and their newly created ships into the forthcoming DOMINION WARS game.

WARP SPEED AHEAD!

Take your newly created Starship and put it to the test on any of the scenarios, from the exploratory to the scientific -- to the Neutral Zone. Pop-up menus give you, the Admiral back at Starbase, status updates and incoming transmissions so you make some critical decisions. Fly a scenario with one, or two of your Starships simultaneously. Players can even run scenarios with a friend over a LAN (Local Area Network) or modem and see who's the better shipwright.

PALMS AND VISORS

Your crew is under attack, but you have to catch the shuttle to Mars. What to do? Take your mission and download it to your Palm Pilot or Visor PDA and keep a watchful eye on your Starship.

AN EXPORT YOU'LL LOVE

STAR TREK STARSHIP CREATOR: WARP 2 will allow Trekkers to import their ships and crew into the forthcoming STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE: DOMINION WARS computer game. Players who import their photos will also see themselves in DOMINION WARS in pop-up windows.

STAR TREK: STARSHIP CREATOR: WARP 2 will be available for the PC and Mac in April at an estimated street price of $29.95. The title is being developed by veteran Star Trek reference and entertainment company IMERGY who is based in New York.

Simon &Schuster Interactive (www.ssinteractive.com) is the consumer software publishing unit of Simon &Schuster, Inc. Based in New York, S&I is the Codie Award winning publisher of the best-selling &uot;Douglas Adams Starship Titanic&uot; adventure, the best-selling parody &uot;Deer Avenger,&uot; the award-winning Richard Scarry children's software line and Star Trek(TM) entertainment / reference titles.

Simon &Schuster, the publishing operation of Viacom Inc., is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed and multimedia formats. Its divisions include Simon &Schuster Trade Publishing, Pocket Books, Simon &Schuster Children's Publishing, Simon &Schuster New Media, Simon &Schuster Online, Simon &Schuster U.K., and Simon &Schuster Australia. For more information about Simon &Schuster, visit our website at www.simonsays.com.