Macromedia, Inc. announced that Shockwave momentum continues to grow through new distribution agreements, new compelling interactive content, new features and the continuing growth of the number of Shockwave players downloaded. Shockwave is the standard for enabling users to view and interact with dynamic multimedia and graphics on the World Wide Web, including the ability to stream from voice to CD-quality audio.

New Distribution Agreements

Netscape Communications has licensed Shockwave to include with Netscape Navigator Personal Edition, the top selling retail software package for consumers to access and browse the World Wide Web. In addition, CompuServe also plans to distribute Shockwave through its WOW! consumer online service. Finally, @Home Networks and Continental Cablevision have licensed Shockwave for distribution to its customers as part of its high speed cable modem network and service. Macromedia also has agreements with Microsoft, Netscape, NetManage, America On Line, and Apple Computer. With these additions, Macromedia expects to have Shockwave installed on more than 30 million desktops by the end of 1996.

Compelling Interactive Content

The driving factor for all the major platform vendors distributing Shockwave is the compelling interactive content it enables. Today, Macromedia demonstrated exciting new content including: Boeing, which has developed a Shockwave application for its intranet with 2.5 gigabytes of information; Disney, whose new Aladdin site leverages dynamic Shockwave animations; and National Geographic, which is enhancing its Web site with high-quality maps and photographs.

New Features

Macromedia previewed the next version of Shockwave with high-resolution, interactive images and graphics. Using the Macromedia FreeHand Graphics Studio, developers can now publish high quality images that a user can zoom in or out within a single image. This gives unparalleled ability to view the minute detail of images from a museum or a graphic of a map within the context of a Web page.

Millions of Downloads

Introduced only nine months ago, the Shockwave platform has become the most popular way to view multimedia on the Web with over 9 million players distributed.

"Macromedia Shockwave will change the face of the high-speed Web," said Charles Moldow, vice president, Media Development, @Home Network. "We're pleased to be working with Macromedia to bring interactive multimedia games, new forms of education and engaging entertainment experiences without delay to our cable modem customers."

"The number of new 'shocked' sites continues to grow including high profile sites like Nike, Universal Studios and The Dilbert Zone. With the new features for graphics and images, we expect to see more sites using high-quality, interactive photos in the coming months," said Phil Schiller, vice president of product management at Macromedia.

Macromedia Shockwave is available for free from Macromedia's Web site, at www.macromedia.com, for Windows 95, 3.1 and NT, Macintosh PowerPC and 68K. Developers can download the free Shockwave Xtras for Macromedia Studios.

Developers can create exciting Shockwave content by using Macromedia Studios(TM) products including the Director Multimedia Studio(TM), Authorware Interactive Studio(TM) and the FreeHand Graphics Studio. The Director Multimedia Studio for Windows and Macintosh is priced at an estimated street price of US $999 based on special promotional pricing through September 1996. The Authorware Interactive Studio for Windows and Macintosh sells at a suggested street price of US $1,999. The FreeHand Graphics Studio 2 for Windows and Macintosh is priced at an estimated street price of US $449.

 

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