__ Just Outta Beta __
__ The Net Box Beater __
Release: October
Those who enjoy the nuts and bolts of putting together multimedia presentations are not necessarily the same people who can turn out a well-designed product. A look at most companies' sales presentations reveals that much of what passes for multimedia is, well, butt-ugly.
Perhaps it's simply because many designers are put off by having to learn HTML, scripting languages, or the filmic metaphor of multimedia authoring programs like Director. Quark Inc. thinks so and hopes to capitalize on that reluctance with its new Immedia application, which adds intuitive and easy-to-use multimedia authoring tools to its XPress page-layout program.
Immedia presentations can contain anything that an XPress page can plus animations, video, transition effects, sound, and hypertext. Programming in Immedia is a point, click, and drag affair, accessed through the floating QuarkImmedia palette: simply define elements within the XPress layout as objects, then assign events to those objects. For instance, a picture on a page becomes an object that, when clicked on, takes the viewer to another page, plays a movie or sound, or pops up a text box. Complex actions are programmed using a scripting metaphor in which a series of events are linked together but there is no true scripting language to learn.
Intriguingly, Immedia promises to deliver content over the Internet without the design restrictions of HTML. To view an Immedia site, download the free Immedia Viewer (now available only for Macintosh) from the Quark homepage or any Immedia-designed site with a Viewer. Access Immedia content by entering the URL directly into the viewer. Unlike HTML Web browsers, the Immedia viewer has no interface, so when the site loads, all the user sees is the Immedia presentation itself just as if it were a CD ROM, but at those lightning-fast online speeds.
While it's not likely that the release of Immedia will lead print designers to rise up en masse to claim the Web in the name of 37-point Caslon Open Face, it will at least make it easier for them to branch out into interactive media.
- Eugene Mosier *
__ Sega of America: +1 (800) 200 6455, www.sega.com/. __
__ Bwender __
Release: October
In *Chitti Chitti Bang Bang's Adventure in Tinker Town *CD-ROM, little tykes can explore the world of household appliances. Actually, it's more, with games that help teach science and develop memory skills.
MGM Interactive: +1 (818) 646 5808,www.mgmua.com/.
__ Sick? __
Release: October
Jim Clark wants to make you feel good again. Beginning this month, his company, Healtheon, will let you choose a doctor and health plan over the Internet. Healtheon wants to make health care administration more efficient and cost-effective by using secure online technologies. Maybe the Web will become the center of our lives.
Healtheon Corp.: +1 (415) 614 0200, www.healtheon.com/.
__ Lands Lost __
Release: October
Explore the ancient civilizations of the Mayans, Anasazi, even Atlanteans in the CD-ROM TimeLapse Ancient Civilizations. Puzzles, full-motion video, and animation complement these worlds long since disappeared.
GTE Entertainment: +1 (619) 431 8801, www.im.gte.com/.
__ Oh My! __
Release: October
Online CD-ROM hybrids are the current rage - and Starwave's on it. Castle Infinity, an ancient sanctuary for dinosaurs, must be liberated from its infestation of evil monsters. Go help the dinos clean house at this online hangout for kids.
Starwave Corp.: +1 (206) 957 2000, www.castleinfinity.com/.
__ Trilobyte's Back __
Release: October
What's after The 11th Hour? How about Clandestiny, a whimsical CD-ROM adventure set in Castle MacPhiles. Help Andrew MacPhiles solve the puzzles of his clan and unleash a confrontation with ... the Beast within.
Trilobyte Inc.: +1 (541) 857 0614, www.tbyte.com/.
__ Back to Basics __
Release: October
If pro-sports commercialism is bringing you down, try Aaron vs. Ruth: All-Time Superstars Baseball, a CD-ROM featuring the old greats including Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, Ebbets Field, and the Polo Grounds.
Mindscape: +1 (415) 897 9900, www.mindscape.com/.
__ Newslink __
Release: Fall
AirMedia Live! is a wireless news, entertainment, and messaging network that relays information to your PC. The hardware - an antenna and PC card - will be manufactured by Global Village, while Ex Machina will handle AirMedia's software and service.
AirMedia Live!: (800) 843 6029, www.airmedia.com/.
