Codie Award Winning "Douglas Adams Starship Titanic" Ships for the Mac.

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--March 25, 1999--

Winner of the 1998 Codie Award for "Best New Adventure/Role

Playing Game" Now Arriving on Macs

Simon & Schuster Interactive (S&SI) and joint venture partners The Digital Village (TDV), announced today they have won the prestigious 1998 Codie Award from the Software & Information Industry Association for "Douglas Adams Starship Titanic" in the "Best New Adventure / Role Playing Software Game" category. Winning the Codie occurs as the Macintosh version of Starship Titanic ships to retailers (estimated street $39.95, bundled with free strategy guide).

Starship Titanic continues to amaze those who set foot on the "ship that cannot possibly go wrong." Don't take our word for it, here's what the press has said:

-- "(3 1/2 stars) Hilarious blend of Monty Pythonesque humor and

zany wordplay in a sci-fi setting." -- USA Today

-- "(Score: A) Marvelously Playful" -- Entertainment Weekly

-- "Read the book if you like, but I suggest you play the game

first." --The New York Times

-- "A Stellar Titanic" -- New York Newsday

-- "(Grade: 3 1/2 out of 4)...a breathtaking game to behold" -- New

York Daily News

-- "(4.5 out of 5) Incredible Artificial Intelligence (AI) combined

with luscious graphic environments creates a game with longevity

and classic Adams-esque humor..."

-- Mac Gamer's Ledge (www.macledge.com)

"I'm thrilled that our game won this prestigious award at the very moment that we are finally bringing it to the Macintosh platform," said Douglas Adams, chief fantasist of The Digital Village. "It looks beautiful on any half-decent computer, but on an iMac it looks drop-dead gorgeous."

"There was tremendous amount of energy and effort expended in the making of this unique software adventure," said Gilles Dana, senior vice president, publisher of Simon & Schuster New Media. "It's a great honor to be recognized by our peers."

What has made so many people take notice of Starship Titanic? Its ability to allow players to carry on full-length conversations with the characters in the game and its breathtaking graphics. In breaking new ground, Starship Titanic introduces one of the most dynamic language processors ever, capable of facilitating entertaining conversations between the player and the game's central characters. The language engine features SpookiTalk, a revolutionary, proprietary parser tool that draws on more than 16 hours of recorded dialogue and a library of more than 10,000 popular references. The game's breath-taking photo-realistic graphics were executed under the direction of the Oscar(R) Award-winning design team of Oscar Chichoni and Isabel Molina.

ABOUT THE GAME

Never before have the worlds of creative fiction and computer programming collided with greater impact than in Starship Titanic. The setting is a fabulous starship, commissioned and built by a distant, advanced civilization to serve as the ultimate in intergalactic transport. Majestic and luxurious, the ship features the finest in travel accommodations - elegant lounges, palatial vestibules and first class staterooms located on more than 30 decks. Like its ancestral namesake, this vessel holds the promise of infallible engineering.

Alas, on its maiden voyage the Starship Titanic crashes into the player's home. Once aboard, the player's intergalactic adventure begins. The ship is inhabited by a crew of malfunctioning robots and a semi-deranged parrot played by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. In order to progress, the player must secure the cooperation of the parrot and learn to communicate with the ship's cast of idiosyncratic "bots" including Fentible, the distinguished Doorbot; Nobby, the hypochondriac Liftbot; Marsinta, the irascible Deskbot; and Fortillian Bantoburn O'Perfluous, the Barbot.

The player begins as a third class passenger, but quickly becomes subject to one of the most powerful forces known to man or woman - the desire for a free upgrade. As the player moves up to second and ultimately to first class, more of the ship becomes accessible and more of its mysteries are revealed. The player's challenge is to solve a series of bizarre and surreal puzzles, correct the ship's central navigation system and return to Earth before the outlandish behavior of the parrot drives him or her irrevocably mad!

The Starship Titanic Web site is currently on-line and available to the public at: www.starshiptitanic.com

AVAILABILITY

Douglas Adams Starship Titanic is now shipping to retailers nationwide at an estimated street price of $39.95 (including a bundled strategy guide).

Minimum system requirements for the Mac version of Starship Titanic are: Power Mac, 32 Mb RAM, and 160 MB of free disk space.

The Digital Village (www.tdv.com) is a London-based content company focused on the creation of a global publishing and distribution business, selling interactive entertainment and information experiences to a world wide audience.

Simon & Schuster Interactive (www.ssinteractive.com) is the consumer software publishing unit of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Based in New York, S&SI is the publisher of the best-selling parody "Deer Avenger," the award-winning Richard Scarry children's software line and Star Trek(TM) entertainment / reference titles.

Simon & Schuster, the publishing operation of Viacom Inc., is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed and multimedia formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Trade Publishing, Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, Simon & Schuster New Media, Simon & Schuster Online, Simon & Schuster U.K., and Simon & Schuster Australia. For more information about Simon & Schuster, visit our website at www.simonsays.com.

Viacom Inc. is one of the world's largest entertainment and publishing companies and is a leading force in nearly every segment of the international media marketplace. The operations of Viacom include Blockbuster, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television, Paramount Parks, Showtime Networks, Simon & Schuster, 18 television stations, and movie screens in 12 countries. Viacom also owns approximately 80 percent of Spelling Entertainment Group, as well as a half-interest in Comedy Central, UPN and UCI. National Amusements, Inc., a closely held corporation which operates approximately 1,200 screens in the U.S., the U.K. and South America, is the parent company of Viacom. More information about Viacom is available on the Company's web site located at www.viacom.com.

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