MetaCreations has based a CD-ROM on physics guru Stephen Hawking’s sublime lecture about the origins and the future of the universe. The theorizing is perfectly wonderful, but presented via low tech audio and scrolling text, Life in the Universe can be fairly boring. Without video and with the eyestrain that comes from reading off a monitor, the heady tone is quicksand-thick.
Fortunately, the text is tastefully hyperlinked to brilliant multimedia. As the scientist narrates, out pops Phage, your virtual lackey, who travels the universe to latch onto black holes and big bangs. Once it grabs hold, out come data nuggets and animated video. So beautiful is the design here that you’ll find yourself eschewing the time lines to float through the maze of golden portals of this virtual outer space.
Life in the Universe makes the cut as prime entertainment. It whisks you away, sparking the terrain in your brain that burbles with a reality so virtual you’ll swear it is real.
Life in the Universe: US$39.95. MetaCreations can be contacted at their Web site.
This article originally appeared in the September issue of Wired magazine.
