Novell Exhibits New PerfectHome Entertainment Title HardEvidence: The Marilyn Monroe Files

Investigative Mystery Behind the Death of Marilyn Monroe to Ship in June

Atlanta--April 24, 1995--Novell, Inc. today began exhibiting the company's first role-playing simulation game entitled Hard Evidence: The Marilyn Monroe Files. Designed for teens and older audiences (ages 14 and older), Hard Evidence allows users to explore the facts and mystery behind the death of the superstar legend. The Windows multimedia title will begin shipping in June.

For more than two decades the Marilyn Monroe case files have been closed to the public. Now with records in the public domain, this title reopens the mystery and lets users gather evidence by assuming any one of four different roles--an investigative reporter, a lawyer in the district attorney's office, the county coroner or a detective from the Los Angeles police force.

Depending on the role the user assumes, they will gather facts and information that may not necessarily be available to people in other roles. For instance, a reporter is likely to find information that the coroner will not. This strategy challenges the user to explore and understand the facts from various points of view and then draw their own conclusion based on the evidence.

"The professional design, material, presentation and interactivity of the Hard Evidence title are all designed to cause the user to think about the situation, facts and circumstances surrounding Marilyn Monroe," said Julie Tamura, entertainment product marketing director, Novell consumer division. "We think users will be intrigued with the way that Hard Evidence uncovers facts within the investigation through the different role playing activities."

Did Marilyn Monroe really commit suicide, or was she murdered as part of a cover up? Unsolved cases have always been cause for discussion, especially those involving a famous person or public figure. Hard Evidence lets users gather evidence and information about inconsistencies surrounding her death by visiting the places she frequented and the people who knew her, and by reviewing the available records. The title incorporates the evidence and information from the most popular theories about her death to allow users to come to their own conclusions.

Hard Evidence: The Marilyn Monroe Files is the first in a series of entertainment titles by Novell's consumer division and T1 New Media, a division of the Bertelsmann Entertainment Company. T1 is known for their expertise in the multi-platform production of entertainment titles. T1 New Media works in conjunction with several expert organizations in television, video and graphics production, professional script writing and music composition.

"T1 is a young, creative group of people with experience varying in business development, video production, television production, the fine arts and computer programming," said Florian Lahnstein, general manager, T1 New Media, Hamburg, Germany. "The company comes from a production background for television, so organizational aspects are similar to a television production crew, which brings with it the understanding of production values."

The quality of production is reflected in all aspects of the title. The three-dimensional graphics are stylized to represent and recreate the feeling and emotion of the 1960's era and were produced using Silicon Graphics workstations. The content included in Hard Evidence is all factual information acquired from more than 20 years of research, accumulated through various sources such as the Los Angeles Police Department and the Motion Picture and Television Photo Archive.

Hard Evidence is the first title in a series of unsolved mysteries that will be part of Novell's PerfectHome product line. Other entertainment titles from Novell include Paper Planes and the Wallobee Jack series. The PerfectHome consumer software line also includes titles for home education and personal productivity.

Pricing& System Requirements

The suggested retail price for Hard Evidence: The Marilyn Monroe Files is $49. The Windows version requires MPC Level 2 multimedia capabilities, which include an IBM PC or compatible 486/25SX or higher, Windows 3.1 or higher, 4MB RAM, a 16-bit sound card and a double-speed CD-ROM drive or higher.

Note of Disclaimer

Hard Evidence: The Marilyn Monroe Files is a clean and well-designed title for teens and older audiences and contains no questionable or otherwise controversial content. This title should not be considered nor listed in the "adult content" genre of entertainment titles. The theories behind the death of Marilyn Monroe are not those of Novell, Inc., but are common theories that center around the Marilyn Monroe case.

T1 New Media of Hamburg, Germany specializes in the production of entertainment titles for Independent Software Vendors within the computer industry. T1 New Media is part of the Bertelsmann Entertainment Company which includes such divisions as BMG records and Double Day Book publishing.