EYEWITNESS VIRTUAL REALITY CAT

The publisher is Dorling Kindersley, 1995. DK Multimedia, 95 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016. ISBN 0-7894-0291-2.

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Content

 Subtitled "the ultimate multimedia guide to the world of cats," this CD more than lives up to the term "ultimate." This is a visually stunning and heavily informative presentation. The style and set up are arranged as a museum. Users are able to "tour" the museum and browse at their leisure. The introductory tour has ninety-nine items to view and that is just a sample. The museum has three rooms: the Family room, the East room that deals with anatomy, and the West room that deals with behavior. Each display allows additional information access by clicking on terms or icons. Every type of cat is covered, from the housecat to all the wild cats. Also included are cat related items, such as the Sphinx, with appropriate explanations provided to link these items to the world of the cat.

This is a CD-ROM product only, with no accompanying materials. The directions for use are printed in three paragraphs on the inside cover of the jacket. The program is simple and straightforward and caused no problems in operation. One of the options of movement involves a "navigator" choice. This presents a map of the entire museum with each display marked. Users only have to click on a mark and they are instantly transposed to that display. Other options include a video list and a main index that catalogs all the exhibits. There is a museum store that enables users to download pictures and sounds to the hard disk. Access to backtrack, help and the other options make this easy to use.

The clarity of the images and the colors and movement are truly magnificent. All ages would be enthralled with this CD. If there is one drawback, it is the multiplicity of choices and information. Users could become addicted to browsing the world of the cat.

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System Requirements and Installation

 This is a CD-ROM for Windows. Minimum system requirements are an IBM or compatible PC, with 486SX/25MHz or higher microprocessor, 4Mb of RAM, MPC-compatible double-speed CD-ROM drive and sound card, mouse, SVGA 256-color display, and loudspeakers or headphones. Microsoft Windows version 3.1 or later.

Installation is easy and uncomplicated although it could cause problems with TSRs.

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Reviewed by Kathy Jo Wittig, graduate student in Library and Information Science, University of Texas at Austin, Spring 1996.

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