***Displays
Virtuality, now owned by Retinal Displays Inc.
(November 14)
Virtuality has been acquired and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Retinal Displays Inc., Los Altos, California. Its next generation
personal display system, the Virtuality VRD, was shown at the IAAPA
(International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) Convention
and Trade Show (see Conferences below).
The Virtuality VRD has a $799 recommended retail price and also includes
a 3 DOF (roll, pitch and yaw) sourceless tracking system with an update
rate of 256 Hz.
www.virtuality.com
***Home Entertainment
Riven Sells 100,000 Copies First Week
(November 17)
Broderbund Software, Inc. has stated that after two weeks into the launch
of Riven PC Data reports indicate that 100,000 units of Riven were sold
during the week of Oct. 26th. According to PC Data's weekly numbers,
Riven, published by Broderbund's Red Orb Entertainment division, outsold
the number 2 title in the game category for the week of October 26th by a
margin of 4 to 1 as measured by units. Riven, developed by Cyan, Inc. in
partnership with Broderbund.
PC Data estimates more than 100,000 units of Riven were sold during the
week based on a survey of 36 percent of the market. This figure
represents a projection of the date from 36 percent to 100 percent of the
retailers carrying Riven.
www.cyan.com
www.redorb.com
www.broderbund.com
Sega Channel to End by June 30,1998
(November 22)
After three years of broadcasting, the industry's first ever cable-based
videogame on demand service will close. All operations will be ceased by
June 30th 1998. The Sega Channel offered gamers a menu of videogames 24-
hours a day over a cable system. However, the system was based on the old
Genesis platform.
GT Interactive Releases Single Trac Title for Playstation
(November 19)
GT Interactive Software Corp. released its first SingleTrac title,
Critical Depth. Critical Depth places players into a quest to recover an
ancient monolith recently discovered on the ocean floor. The latest
information on Critical Depth may be found at on the World Wide Web.
Critical Depth will be available for the Sony PlayStation on November 21
at an expected retail price of $49.95.
www.singletrac.com/criticaldepth.html
www.gtinteractive.com
Wave Issue 9734 1/22/98 Article 6-01