From real-time to DVD, E3 shows off best in games

Discount Store News, June 23, 1997 by Robert Scally

Sesame Street is one of the blue chip children's brands in multimedia. The Elmo's Preschool title has been one of the top-selling titles on PC Data's sales charts since February.

Creative Wonders also introduced its 3D Atlas '98, which features an advanced on-line component that allows the user to build a customized atlas that can gather and store data on locations around the globe via the Internet, Roitblat said.

Disney Interactive is tying much of its release schedule to the parent company's feature film and major home video releases.

Two Hercules titles will street June 24 with the film's release while a Little Mermaid-themed title is due out Nov. 14 to coincide with the theatrical re-release of the motion picture, said Hope Neiman, vp of marketing for Disney Interactive.

Both Hercules and Little Mermaid titles will be in PC/Mac formats.

Disney Interactive's most interesting project is Nightmare Ned, one of the few characters conceived for a CD-ROM game to also make the leap to television, Neiman said.

Nightmare Ned follows the world created by the overactive imagination of a 10-year-old boy. Nightmare Ned is also being made into a television show that will air on ABC, Neiman said.

The interactive division of another of Hollywood's major studio's, Twentieth Century Fox, is also tying into some hot television properties.

Fox Interactive aims to appeal to kids both big and small with titles that tie into some of its hottest television shows, said Jon Richmond, president of Fox Interactive.

The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield, which will street in September, will allow computer users to navigate a 3-D version of Homer Simpson's home town, stop at the Quickie Mart or the nuclear power plant and go inside and take a look around, Richmond said.

A copy of the Simpson's home is currently being built in Las Vegas and will be given away in September as part of promotion that is underway with Pepsi, Richmond said.

'We began with a title [The Simpson's Cartoon Maker] that allowed you to make a cartoon, and now this product allows you to be in a Simpson's cartoon,' Richmond said. 'It's filled with elements of nearly 10 years worth of episodes.'

The title was recorded by the original cast members of 'The Simpsons.'

An X-Files title is also due out soon, as is CROC, a 3-D game for the PlayStation, Saturn and PC.

Fox Interactive's FoxToons line offers quality children's budget titles priced at $14.98 each. The titles are based on name brand children's properties such a Felix The Cat, Hello Kitty and Danny and the Dinosaur.

Broderbund is launching two new Carmen Sandiego products, Carmen Sandiego Travels Through Time and Carmen Sandiego Word Detective.

In conjunction with Random House, Broderbund will publish The Cat In The Hat Living Book, an interactive version of the Dr. Suess classic in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the book's first printing, said Laurie Strand, vp of Broderbund's education group.

Broderbund recently split its business into a kid's division and a new label it calls Red Orb, which is aimed more at serious gamers.