Berkeley Systems' Bezerk Celebrates First Year Anniversary!!; Award-Winning Online Entertainment Network Surpasses 2 Million Games Played.BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 18, 1997--Berkeley Systems, a leader in online entertainment and consumer software, today announced that Bezerk (www.bezerk.com), its free online entertainment network, has surpassed 2 million games played Games played (most often abbreviated as G or GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. in only 12 months. "To achieve the significant milestone of 2 million games played and to have worked with such a high-caliber line-up of advertisers in just our first year really sets the stage for what's to come," stated Chris Deyo, General Manager of Berkeley Systems Berkeley Systems was a San Francisco Bay Area software company cofounded in 1987 by Wes Boyd and Joan Blades. It made money early on by doing contract work for the National Institutes of Health, specifically in making modifications to the Macintosh so that it could be usable by . "With Bezerk's viewership rising steadily, we have even higher expectations for '98!" Bezerk's award-winning line-up includes You Don't Know Jack You Don't Know Jack is a series of computer games developed by Jellyvision and Berkeley Systems. YDKJ, promoted as the games "where high culture and pop culture collide," combine trivia with comedy. the netshow and You Don't Know Jack Sports the netshow, invented and directed by Jellyvision of Chicago, and a new multiplayer word game called Acrophobia acrophobia /ac·ro·pho·bia/ (ak?ro-fo´be-ah) irrational fear of heights. ac·ro·pho·bi·a n. An abnormal fear of heights. . Bezerk was recently named "Cool Site of the Year" by Cool Site of the Day and "Best Entertainment Site" by the Hollywood Film Festival, beating out ESPNet's SportsZone, Comedy Central and E!Online. Additionally, both Bezerk and Acrophobia are finalists in the 1998 SPA Codie Awards in the categories of Best Debut of a World Wide Web Site and Best Multiplayer Online game, respectively (winners will be announced at a black tie ceremony in March of next year). Featuring 250,000 registered users, Bezerk offers humorous entertainment for grown-ups. In You Don't Know Jack the netshow and Jack Sports netshow, Bezerk delivers on the TV metaphor, dropping players inside an irreverent television game show that tests their pop-culture trivia IQ. Two new games a week are served up, including holiday related shows and themed episodes. In September, Bezerk partnered with NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. for a special "Must See TV" themed episode, sending one lucky player to Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. to see a live taping of the hit TV show, 'Friends.' With the average players' session lasting over 40 minutes, Acrophobia is giving new meaning to the phrase "addictive gaming experience." Acrophobia pits your creative energies against the clock and other players in true multiplayer gaming Two or more people playing a game and competing with each other via computer. Although traditional card games such as bridge and poker are played online, games with a large number of people (massively multiplayer) mix real players with simulated environments that turn the computer into a fashion. Up to 14 people meet in a virtual game room where they must come up with witty, creative phrases based on the group of letters (ranging from 3 to 7 in length) and category displayed on the screen. Players have 60 seconds to enter a phrase matching both the letters and category (there are hundreds of categories, ranging from sports to poetry and food to current events). Gamers vote on their favorite phrases and points are awarded for speed and humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was . Acrophobia also offers an innovative chat feature that allows players to converse during the game, building a sense of community between players. Offered free to consumers, Bezerk utilizes the first true television-like ads on the Internet, combining audio and animation in dynamic, full-screen ads. Bezerk's advertisers include Lotus, JAMTV/Rolling Stone, Hugo Boss, Polygram/Grammercy, and Westwood Studios Westwood Studios (1985-2003) was a computer and video game developer, founded in 1985 as Westwood Associates by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle and based in Las Vegas, Nevada. , among others. This month, cable giant TBS Superstation su·per·sta·tion n. A television or radio station that broadcasts to a nationwide audience by satellite, cable, or both. signed-on with Bezerk for a special one-year flight of ads to promote the networks' offerings. In addition, Berkeley Systems recently commissioned a study, fielded by MBInteractive, on the effectiveness of this new form of online advertising. The study showed that interstitial ads generate higher brand recall than online banners, are more effective than traditional media such as television and print, build brand awareness levels, and importantly, increase purchase interest. A copy of the study is available upon request. Berkeley Systems, Inc., a division of Sierra On-Line, develops and markets multimedia entertainment software for grown-ups. Sierra On-Line is one of the original developers and largest worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment, productivity and educational software. The company recently merged with CUC CUC Cuban Convertible Peso (ISO currency code) CUC Columbia Union College (Takoma Park, MD, USA) CUC Canadian Unitarian Council CUC Canadian Ultimate Championships Int'l, a technology-driven, membership-services company that provides access to travel, shopping, auto, dining, home improvement, financial and other services to 70 million consumers worldwide. The company's common stock is traded on the NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CU. Sierra's corporate headquarters are located in Bellevue, Wash. -0- Note to Editors: Video b-roll footage, color slides and electronic images of Bezerk are available upon request. For more information, please contact DeEtte Christie at 510/540-5535 ext. 254 or Monica Granados, ext. 204, or pr@berksys.com . Go beZerk! www.bezerk.com . Winner of "1997 Cool Site of the Year!!" CONTACT: Berkeley Systems, Inc. DeEtte Christie or Monica Granados 510/540-5535 pr@berksys.com http://www.berkeleysystems.com |
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