Freeverse

New York - November 26, 2003 - Freeverse Software today detailed some of the dozen games and toys that will make up ToySight, the first camera-controlled entertainment software for the Mac. Instead of using a joystick, mouse, or keyboard, players maneuver themselves in front of an iSight or other firewire camera to control the action.

[Example picture]

The software, which will be available exclusively for computers running Mac OS X, will include the following games:

Single Player

The Plank
Don't lose your marbles! Carefully balance your motorized plank to catch the falling marbles. Arrange like-colored marbles into rows of three to clear them away. Be careful, as your plank can only support so much weight.
[View Screenshot]

The Owl And The Pussycat
Take your feline friend on a magical flight, as you collect gold coins and avoid the baddies in this epic platformer! Flap your wings to navigate through the maze and solve the puzzles.
[View Screenshot]

Marble Factory
The aliens are invading your factory and trying to steal your marbles! Luckily, you've got the trusty Freeverse Model 9000 Laser, perfect for blasting the space scum - so long as you can match their color. Quick thinking and reflexes are necessary in this reaction-based puzzler.

Freefall
Geronimo! Blaze through the sky towards your landing point on a tropical island. Grab bonus balloons and form rings with other skydivers to boost your score - just don't forget the ripcord!
[View Screenshot]

PieSight
The deep, dense jungle envelopes you. You hear the cries of strange birds, the rustle of thick foliage, the smell of...custard? Throw pies at monkeys, and avoid getting hit by their dangerous bananas!

Volcano God
Now you can be deity for a day! Protect your villagers, help them cultivate the land, demand pilgrimage - all with the power of your hands!

TWO PLAYER GAMES
Submarines
Two subs, lots of missiles, crazy powerups - what could be more fun? Blasting your friend to smithereens, of course!

Toy Wars
Have your favorite toy say "cheese" for the camera, then use your hands to duke it out against your friend's toy as you strategically attack and defend in this battle of the century.

Tennis Xtreme
Watch the grenade carefully, and use your tank to keep it in the playfield. One wrong move, and it's KABOOM! Destroy your opponent's tank to win!

Toysight will require a computer running Mac OS X, as well as a camera that uses the FireWire serial bus, such as Apple's iSight webcam. The software will be released in late 2003 or early 2004, and will be available at Apple resellers at a suggested retail price of US $34.95.

New York - November 26, 2003 - Freeverse Software announced today that it would be giving away a free turkey* with each copy of the vertical and horizontal scrolling shooter, Active Lancer for Macintosh, sold through the Freeverse Store through December 4. All orders for Active Lancer from North American addresses will automatically receive the turkey* in their shipment.

* "Turkey" in this case denotes the ultraviolent and lackluster-selling game of car thievery and underworld mayhem, Payback! This offer is only available in North America to gamers 18 years of age or older. Cranberry sauce not included.

In the newest MacWorld magazine, game reviewer Peter Cohen has lavished Burning Monkey Solitaire 3 with a four and a half mice rating!

Update: The review is now posted online.

Burning Monkey Casino has gone gold! It is enroute to the duplicators for copying, and should ship in the next 2/3 weeks.

New York - November 13, 2003 - Freeverse Software annouced today that 3D Crazy Eights, its rendition of the classic suit-following card game, is now shipping to retail outlets across North America. The game uses the 3D Card Games engine for the most realistic player perspective, and supports Internet play via the GameSmith opponent matching service.

Freeverse's version of Crazy Eights supports many popular rule variants, so players can enjoy the game as they learned it, quickly and easily, with a few clicks. The game also supports two scoring methods, and even allows users to customize card point levels.

Finding an opponent is easy with Freeverse's GameSmith player matching service. Players connect to GameSmith using an in-game menu, and can browse from any number of games in progress or waiting for players, or chat with others and convince them to join their games. The game also supports a parental lockout feature for Internet play, so concerned parents can be sure their children are safe.

3D Crazy Eights also supports Freeverse's PicturePuppets technology, which allows for simple drag-and-drop creation of unique online avatars for network play. Users supply digital photos of their own faces, and PicturePuppets does the rest.

The retail version of 3D Crazy Eights carries a suggested retail price of US $24.95, and comes with a free bonus codebreaking game: Enigma. 3D Crazy Eights requires any Macintosh running Mac OS 8.6 or later, and runs natively on Mac OS X.

About Freeverse
Headquartered in New York, Freeverse Software is a developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. Freeverse operates an online store at http://store.freeverse.com/

3D Crazy Eights, Enigma, GameSmith, and Freeverse are our trademarks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Our flaming simian spin-off site, burningmonkey.com, has been given a massive redesign!

The site not only looks shiny and new, but now contains information, demo links, and easter eggs for all four titles in the Burning Monkey line, including the upcoming Burning Monkey Casino.

Kirk Hiner of Applelinks has reviewed two of our newest games, Burning Monkey Mahjong and Active Lancer.

Burning Monkey Mahjong gets a 4 out of 5 - Freeverse has again taken a classic game and updated it just enough of their personality to give it a bit more life...Freeverse fans will enjoy the familiarity of the characters and the sense of humor, and Mahjong (solitaire version) fans will enjoy the familiarity and variety of the game play. Read the full review!

Active Lancer gets a 3 out of 5 - Active Lancer looks great, but you don't get a lot of time to enjoy it. The action's intense, with only brief respites for you to catch your breath and take in the scenery. Read the full review!

A trailer for Burning Monkey Solitaire 3 has been posted on Apple Games.

If you haven't played Burning Monkey Solitaire 3 yet, you don't know what you're missing! Pick up a copy today at the Freeverse Store.

Freeverse Vice-President and all around bald guy Colin Lynch Smith was recently interviewed by Applelinks. In what could only be called "a momentary lapse of sanity", Colin regales the interviewer with stories about Morty in accounting, Ethel Merman, the possibility of 3D Strip Hearts Deluxe, and celebrity-attracting glow sticks. An excerpt:

Colin: Well, they say that behind every great man is a great woman. For me, that woman is my brother, Ian. He's the founder of Freeverse, our president, and the guy who actually understands what our programmers are talking about. I try to nod my head a lot, look contemplative, and throw-in questions like, "How will that effect the googleflop of the fliegalhertz?" Mostly, they just start looking around for Ian pretty quick.

Check out the full interview, and learn a little about what makes Freeverse tick.

Ian Lynch Smith, the President of Freeverse Software, is 33 today.

Birthday wishes are best posted on our forums.

For Immediate Release-

MAN TRAINS FOR LAST PLACE FINISH IN NEW YORK CITY MARATHON. EATS PORK - DESTROYS HEALTH.

New York-

Thousands of runners, both amateur and professional, will descend on New York City this weekend for the annual New York City Marathon. While the runners will come from all over the world, and many walks of life, they all share the common desire for the best possible finish in the marathon; all except Jared Smith, Head of Security for Freeverse Software.

For the past six months, Mr. Smith has been training to ensure a last place finish in the New York City Marathon. "I knew I couldn't compete for first place, so I figured I'd try for dead last. The last place has traditionally been dominated by the physically disabled, although in recent years octogenarians have posted some stunningly long times." Said Mr. Smith, who is not disabled and, until he started his unique training regimen last May, admitted to being in "pretty good shape".

Mr. Smith went on to say that "It was hard work, trying to lose this much leg muscle in just a few months. I spend most of my time in bed eating milk duds." The rest of his diet includes pork chops, roast pork and pork rinds. Mr. Smith has also managed to avoid ingesting more than trace amounts of vitamins C and A, in what doctors have called "an insane and dangerous" attempt to have full blown cases of rickets and scurvy by the time the starter pistol fires on Sunday morning. Mr. Smith has also been using some of the latest bio-feedback techniques to keep his heart rate under 30 beats a minute at all times, "I get dizzy now if I have to use the remote. I realize this isn't healthy," explains Smith, " but I'm starting at a severe disadvantage, there are paraplegics in the race for god's sake. I need the edge!

To ensure that "edge", Smith has developed some unique strategies, most of which he will not reveal before the race, but he was willing to part with one of them - "Forty minutes before the race, I'm going to put a tourniquet on my right leg. It should be fully asleep by the start so I can get off to a spectacularly slow start, and then hobble along with pins and needles for the next mile."

If everything goes according to plan, Mr. Smith expects to finish, dead last, sometime next Thursday.