From Sim Racing News, Monday November 10, 1997
____________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Erica Kohnke
(617) 528-1104
PAPYRUS , NASCAR RACING ONLINE SERIES
SET TO GO LIVE THIS WEDNESDAY
Total Entertainment Network is the exclusive internet host
WATERTOWN, MA (November 10, 1997) ) Papyrus Design Group, the motorsports
division of Sierra On-Line, Inc., and NASCAR, the foremost sanctioning body of
professional motorsports, announce their plans to begin exhibition racing on
their long-awaited NASCAR Racing Online Series (NROS), on Wednesday, November
12. Total Entertainment Network (TEN), the leading online *** service, is
the exclusive source.
Developed by NASCAR and Papyrus, the NROS is the first formalized online racing
series in history. Anyone in North America can experience authentic NASCAR
competition with the NROS races over the Internet. All 16 tracks featured in
their best-selling CD-ROM for Windows, NASCAR Racing 2, are available on NROS
for racing, and each race can support more than 20 competitors. Series news is
available at www.nros.com.
&The NASCAR Racing Online Series positions NASCAR as the first professional
sports league to extend its core business to the online world, 8 stated Paul
Brooks, NASCAR director of special projects. &Creating a competitive and
entertaining racing product has been our business for 50 years. The fact that
we can now bring thousands of competitors together for that same authentic
racing experience is tremendous, 8 Brooks said.
&Papyrus is really e***d to have the opportunity to bring the e***ment of
the NASCAR sport to our customers around the country, 8 said Papyrus Online
Development Manager, Mike Lescault. &The launch of the NROS marks an important
milestone in the online *** industry. Never before has a simulation so
accurately captured both the realistic experience and the intense competitive
enviorment of a professional sport. 8
&The NROS goes beyond a typical game experience, allowing competitors to
participate in a realistic NASCAR racing environment, something that was
previously unattainable, 8 said Mike Helton, NASCAR vice president for
competition. &NASCAR officials continue to work very closely with Papyrus in
preparation for the first fully sanctioned NROS championship in 1998, and we
believe that this exhibition season will provide excellent training for the
competitors, 8 Helton said.
&Understandably, this has been a much larger undertaking than previous game
integration projects, 8 said Greg Harper, TEN ,s vice president of business
development. &As a joint effort between TEN, Papyrus, and NASCAR, the online
implementation of the most complex and realistic racing simulation on the
market is a landmark achievement. 8
Hawaii, Papyrus , initial foray into online racing, first went live on April
1996. Although participation in Hawaii demanded each user call long-distance to
Papyrus , server, the service has logged over 10 million user minutes in the
last one and a half years.
Additional details about the NROS service are available at www.nros.com. In
order to race on the NROS, users need a copy of NASCAR Racing 2, a 28.8 modem,
a P100 machine or better, 16 MB of RAM, and Windows 95. TEN may be accessed by
dialing a local access number. Papyrus also recommends a joystick or steering
wheel for best results.
NASCAR Racing 2 for MS-DOS is currently the #6-selling entertainment title in
the nation (according to PC Data reports) and is available at computer stores
everywhere or by calling Sierra direct at (800) 757-7707. Estimated retail
price is $49.95. Other NASCAR racing products in the Papyrus family are NASCAR
Racing, NASCAR Racing for Mac and NASCAR Racing for the Playstation.
In October, Papyrus released the NASCAR Grand National Expansion Pack.
Featuring ten new tracks and thirty drivers from the popular NASCAR Busch
series, the Expansion Pack enhances the experience of NASCAR Racing 2. It also
includes two fantasy tracks.
Papyrus Design Group is a software development division of Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Developers of the most compelling software-based racing experiences possible,
Papyrus , best-selling products include the NASCAR Racing and CART Racing
lines. Upcoming titles include NASCAR Grand National Series Expansion Pack and
Grand Prix Legends. Winners of 4 Software Publishers Association CODIE awards,
Papyrus has a ten-year reputation for superior use of physics and realism.
Located in Watertown, Massachusetts, Papyrus employs 75 artists, engineers and
marketing staff. The company ,s website is located at www.sierra.com/papyrus.
Sierra, located in Bellevue, WA, is one of the original developers and largest
worldwide publishers of interactive entertainment and productivity software.
In July 1996, Sierra was acquired by CUC International, Inc. (NYSE: CU), a
technology-driven retail and membership services company that provides access
to travel, shopping, auto, dining, home improvement, financial and other
services to more than 70 million consumers worldwide. Sierra is part of CUC
Software, an operating unit that consolidates the sales, manufacturing,
finance, accounting and management of CUC International's software divisions.
Incorporated in 1948, NASCAR? is the most competitive form of motorsports in
the world. Close, side-by-side competition in the foundation for NASCAR?-style
racing as it strives to continue to make stock car racing in the United States
highly competitive, affordable, and entertaining at approximately 2,000 events
in 12 racing divisions at more than 100 tracks throughout the United States
each year. NASCAR ,s web address is www.nascar.com.
Total Entertainment Network is the premier entertainment network for game
playing consumers on the Internet. TEN has online rights to more than 30 games
(over half of which are TEN exclusives) by leading software publishers
including 3D Realms Entertainment, Apogee, Blizzard, Bungie Software, Eidos
Interactive (formerly Domark), id Software, GT Interactive, Maxis, MicroProse,
Sierra Online/Papyrus, SSI and Westwood Studios. TEN received its initial
funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, with subsequent investors
including Ameritech; Goldman Sachs; Robertson, Stephens & Co.; Vertex
Management; Wasserstein Perella Ventures.
# # #
Sierra press releases are available on the Internet, via the Sierra Web at
[link lost in import]
For more information, please call Erica Kohnke of Papyrus at (617) 528-1104,
___________________________________________
Cheers!
Marc
Marc J. Nelson
Sim Racing Online / Sim Racing News / The Sim Project
http://members.aol.com/simracing
* No animals were harmed in the making of this e-mail.
