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Trilobyte's "7th Guest" Best CD-ROM Game At Cybermania Viewers Teased with Preview of ASOFT Forumite Mechadeus' New Production – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – "There's nothing out there that's really, truly, virtually real, yet… But it will come." – Mark Giambruno, Mechadeus – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – While channel surfing Sunday, I came across something called "Cybermania." Billed as the first annual online interactive awards, the program featured a ceremony held at Universal Studios, Hollywood, with live cutaways to game arcades throughout the U.S. The event, hosted by Leslie Nielsen and a cadre of other showbiz personalities, recognized achievements in interactive entertainment. I was tuned in to what was apparently a rebroadcast of the show on TBS, as opportunities to cast your vote via a 900 number were covered with a label that said "Recorded Earlier." Among the show's cosponsors were Microsoft, IBM's OS/2 Warp and Prodigy. Nominees and winners were chosen by a group identified as the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. A more interesting segment of the show, provided flashes of work in progress on "The Daedalus Encounter," starring Tia Carrere and Christian Bocher, the second offering of San Francisco-based Mechadeus, who is represented in the ASOFT Forum by Eric Chadwick. ( For a glimpse of the artwork featured in "The Daedelus Encounter," dload DAED1.JPG and DAED2.JPG in IMAGES Library 5. ) Part of the hour-long program focused on "Computer Game Creation" and featured interviews with several artists and producers. Mechadeus' Mark Giambruno was among those providing some of the show's more substantive material in pre-recorded sessions edited "MTV style" with fast cuts and rocking graphics. One of the very few software interfaces glimpsed during the show was that of Autodesk's 3D Studio. While Giambruno spoke of the process of creating backgrounds for their game, an artist was briefly seen working with a mesh file in 3D Studio's Keyframer. The beautiful Tia Carrere was shown going through some paces against a blue screen as she acted out her role in various battle scenes for "The Daedelus Encounter." Several of the nominees and award winners featured art and animation created in 3D Studio and Animator Pro. Of those, Trilobyte's "7th Guest," which took the award for "Best Computer CD ROM Game." Charles Fleischer, the voice of Roger Rabbit, provided the show's most humorous moments with his wacky voices and a "dirty joke in binary." The punchline went something like this: 1O1 1O11 11O111 1O1 O Ohhh OOOhhhh It's definitely better to hear him tell it. Fleischer poked fun at the way Apple Newtons had been employed. They served in place of the traditional envelope containing the names of the winners. He irreverantly pointed out that the winner's name actually appeared on a piece of tape attached to the computer's screen rather than as data which had been entered into the digital assistants. "Look. A cyberhoax," he proclaimed. Segues to commercials offered glimpses of Miramar Production's latest, "The Gate to the Mind's Eye" and The Resident's "Freak Show" which lost out to Peter Gabriel's "Explorer" in the "Best Musical" category. ID Software's "Doom" took the honors for "Best Action Adventure." – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – "The threshold of interactivity is less than a thirtieth of a second. You click… something happens." – a disembodied voice heard during an MTV style segment. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – The award for "Best Graphic Art" went to the brothers Miller, Robyn and Rand, for their outstanding work on "MYST." Disney's "Alladin" which took the award for "Best Portable" and "Escape From CyberCity" were among the best examples of products employing traditional style 2D animation. One of the more curious segments involved a look into the world of "hackers" featuring scenes from a midnight raid on an M.I.T. dumpster where a discarded Mac and a computer keyboard were among items retrieved. Characters with names like "Deth Vegetable," "Count Zero" and "Dr. Who" commented on the lifestyle and perceptions of hacker activities. "Learning has become something hip." – Perhaps the most optimistic remark heard during the show. From the appearance of PONG in 1977 to the emergence of VirtuaLand at the Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas, the show tried to cover the gamut. 'Twas not an easy task. And skits featuring World Federation Wrestlers and a trip to Universal's backlot could have been discarded in favor of more worthy material. But, all in all, it was a pleasant surprise to discover while channel surfing on a Sunday afternoon. It's easy to imagine that future awards ceremonies such as this one will look more and more like NAAUG meetings in the years to come as the names and faces of artists using Autodesk Multimedia Products are recognized for their incredible work. by Kevin Gibson, Cybermaniac Animation Nation <tm> -= Go Team. Go Team, Go. =- This is the fifth installment in the / Take 5 / Korner NewsStand