Press Releases
Total Entertainment Networkä Announces Major Upgrade
TEN Version 1.2 to Offer More Games, More Tools for Gamers, Better Performance
SAN FRANCISCO April 15, 1997 Total Entertainment Network (TEN), the market and technology leader in online multiplayer gaming, today announced plans for the next version of the TEN service, TEN 1.2, which will replace the existing version in May, 1997. Sporting a host of new capabilities designed to improve member gameplay, communication, and support, TEN 1.2 will include unique features such as email, a web browser, player locate and page functions, and new tools and programs for newcomers who are relatively unfamiliar with online multiplayer gaming.
"Gamers really like TEN -- that's why we've attracted five times as many paying subscribers as the next leading service -- and they're going to love TEN 1.2," said Jack Heistand, president and CEO of TEN. "TEN's success thus far has been due in large part to great games and the overall look and feel of the TEN environment: we understand serious gamers to a degree that competing services do not, and the whole TEN 'space' speaks to gamers in their own voice. Version 1.2 further distances us from the pack by giving us more ways to speak to gamers, and by giving them more and different ways to communicate among themselves."
In addition to interface improvements, several new games will make their first online commercial appearances with the advent of TEN 1.2. These include flight and racing simulations (EF2000 and NASCAR Racing 2, respectively), GT Interactive's Blood (developed by Monolith Productions) and Shadow Warrior (3D Realms), as well as other, as yet unannounced titles.
New Features
- Member Communications: One of the most appealing aspects of online multiplayer gaming is finding appropriate players -- and better yet, people you know and like -- to compete with or against. With the advent of version 1.2, all TEN subscribers will have access to a suite of new communications tools on TEN 1.2.
- "Mail" provides each TENer with a personal email account, making it easy to send and receive messages to and from TEN members and netizens in general. In fact, knowing another TEN member's screen name is all that's required in order to send them an email.
- "Page" enables TEN members to send an instant message to any other member, wherever they may be on the TEN service. This new feature enables instant private chats with one or more other members.
- "Locate" makes it easy to find other TENers, whether they're in a chat room, already participating in a specific multiplayer game, or anywhere else on the TEN service.
- Custom Newsgroups, tailored to all of TEN's diverse player communities, will help players find others with similar interests, share tips and strategies, and recruit other gamers for their clan, guild, or team.
- Improved Game Creation: When creating a game (i.e., a match) on TEN 1.2, gamers can now chat with other players during the process, view each other's personal profiles and rankings, and discuss game settings in an isolated environment. The new Game Creation process greatly facilitates the gathering of players of similar skill levels and interests, the building of teams, and agreement between players of game rules.
- Faster Gameplay: With 1.2, TEN will begin applying its latest proprietary technology, B.U.L.L.E.T. (Bill's Ultimate Lockstep Lag Eliminator Technology), to popular fast-action games on the service. Initially, B.U.L.L.E.T. will dramatically reduce latencies for Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior, as well as other upcoming "lockstep" games.
- Dynamic Web Linking: Web links will be built into TEN 1.2, such that TEN subscribers can jump directly to linked web sites with a single mouse-click. TEN's popular tournaments, "meta-games," and file download sites will be instantly accessible by all players. To facilitate this new capability, Netscape Navigator will be bundled with the TEN CD-ROM.
- Bundled Netscape Browser: The latest version of Netscape Navigator will be bundled with the TEN 1.2 CD-ROM, and web links will be built into TEN, such that TEN subscribers jump directly to linked web sites with a single mouse click.
Other enhancements in TEN 1.2 include: a new dynamic calendar of events, searchable by dates, games and other criteria; regularly scheduled strategy and gameplay "classes" to help TENers improve their performance in all of the top games on TEN; and some transactions support, enabling TEN members to purchase new games online via TEN.
To sign up for the TEN service, call 1-800-8040-TEN and request the free TEN CD-ROM (Windows 95), or go to http://www.ten.net and download the software or request the TEN CD-ROM. Technical support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 1-800-8040-TEN. Customer support is available daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PST).
Total Entertainment Network is the premier entertainment network for game playing consumers on the Internet. TEN has online rights to more than 30 games half of which are TEN exclusives by leading software publishers including 3D Realms Entertainment, Apogee, Blizzard, Eidos Interactive (formerly Domark), id Software, GT Interactive, Maxis, MicroProse, Sierra Online/Papyrus, SSI and Westwood Studios. Based in San Francisco, TEN was formed in 1995 from the merger of Planet Optigon, Inc. and Outland, Inc. TEN received its initial funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, with subsequent investors including: Ameritech; Goldman Sachs; Robertson, Stephens & Co., Vertex Management, and Wasserstein Perella Ventures.
TEN screen shots are available in digital format upon request.
For More Info, Call
TEN Press Contact:
Garth Chouteau
Tel: (415) 778-3774
Fax: (415) 778-3520
Internet:
garth@tenetwork.com
Copyright 1997
T E Network, Inc.
Total Entertainment Network and TEN are trademarks
of T E Network, Inc.
Software Creations and WEB BBS are trademarks of Linton Enterprises, Inc., subsidiary of T E Network, Inc.
All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners', without intent to infringe.