MEDIA VISION ANNOUNCES A SHAREWARE CONTEST FOR THE PRO AUDIOSPECTRUM 16 SOUND CARD Fremont, Calif., January 18, 1993 - Media Vision has today launched a development contest for its Pro AudioSpectrum 16 sound card. The contest, sponsored in conjunction with CompuServe, will be conducted over the data network and will run through July 15, 1993. There is no fee to enter the contest and all contest participants will receive a Media Vision T-shirt. Prizes for the contest include fifty $100 shopping sprees to be awarded to fifty developers who qualify as finalists, and grand prizes of $5,000, $2,000, and $1,000 online shopping sprees. An additional ten $100 shopping sprees will be awarded to the ten best entries received before March 31, 1993. All entries will be evaluated for a potential bundling contract with Media Vision and such entries may have the opportunity to be included on a Media Vision CD-ROM. All entries, shareware or freeware, that support 16 bit sound on the Pro AudioSpectrum 16 under DOS or Windows are welcome and equal consideration will be given to games, utilities, tools, business applications, music applications, and others. Developers can get a copy of the contest rules and entry form online by accessing CompuServe, (enter GO PASCONTEST and download PASCON.TXT from library #1, General Information) or the Media Vision BBS at (510)770-0968 or (510)770-0527 (in the PAS Contest area), or by calling (800)356-7886 (within the USA) or by calling (408)655-6014 ext211 (international). Applications will be judged by a panel of industry experts including Mike Calahan, editor, Shareware Magazine; Bundy Chanock, manager on-line services, PCWorld Magazine; Jon Erickson, editor, Dr. Dobb's Journal; David English, managing editor, Compute Magazine; Jim Rooney, publisher, MPC Digest; Barry Simon, contributing editor, PC Magazine and Windows Sources; Tom Yeager, director, The Multimedia Lab. Media Vision is making Developer kits available for $25.00 plus shipping and handling. These may be obtained by calling (800)356-7886 (within the USA) or by calling (408)655-6014 ext211 (international). Interested participants who are not CompuServe members may also obtain a free Introductory Membership including one month basic services and a $15 usage credit for extended and premium services which includes access to the contest area. To obtain this free Introductory Membership from Media Vision simply call either one of the phone numbers listed above. Media Vision's (MVIS:NASDAQ) mission is to popularize multimedia by offering multimedia solutions at affordable prices. Media Vision's products range from systems and printed circuit add-in cards to chips based on emerging multimedia standards for mainstream personal computers. The Pro AudioSpectrum 16 is the world's best selling 16 bit sound card. ______________________________________________________________ PRO AUDIOSPECTRUM 16 SHAREWARE CONTEST RULES: 1. The Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Shareware Contest is a skill based contest being conducted in a special area of the CompuServe Information Service. If you are not a CompuServe subscriber and would like to become one, Media Vision will provide you with a free Introductory Membership including one month free basic services and a $15 usage credit for extended and premium services which includes access to the contest area. Participation in this contest is open to residents of the United States and any other countries where contests such as this are not prohibited. Employees of CompuServe Incorporated, Media Vision Incorporated, H&R Block, CompuServe Information Providers, Computer Express, Contest Judges, SysOps, GameOps, their affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, and immediate families are ineligible to participate and win prizes. Players cannot participate using multiple User ID Numbers. This contest may be discontinued at any time at the sole discretion of Media Vision Incorporated. The contest is subject to all local, state, and federal regulations and is void where prohibited by law. All taxes are the sole responsibility of the winners. In the event of any misprinting or similar error in the execution of this contest Media Vision reserves the right to cancel this contest without prior notice. 2. HOW TO ENTER. The entry process consists of two steps. You must complete both steps for your entry to be considered: A: Fill out the entry form and mail to: Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Shareware contest 3185 Laurelview Ct. Fremont, CA 94538. B. Upload your Shareware Program in library #12, PASCONTEST ENTRIES, of the MIDI B Vendor forum. You can access this forum within CompuServe by typing: Go PASCONTEST The contest ends on July 15, 1993. All entry forms must be postmarked by midnight July 15, 1993 and all entry programs must be uploaded into the PASCONTEST ENTRIES area on CompuServe by midnight July 15, 1993. 3. DESCRIPTION OF CONTEST AND HOW TO PLAY. The purpose of the contest is to promote the development of 16 bit sound shareware and freeware applications for the Pro AudioSpectrum 16 sound card. You will need to upload your working and tested PAS16 applications to the PASCONTEST ENTRIES section of the MIDI B Vendor forum on CompuServe for evaluation by the judges. You can enter as many applications as you like, but only one prize will be awarded per person, family, or member number. Media Vision will use your CompuServe user ID number to verify the author name in the application and the author name on the contest entry form that you send in to us, so you'll want to make sure that you upload the program using your own CompuServe account. All entries will remain the property of owners and any program copyrights will remain intact with the uploader. Media Vision has no responsibility for the security of the programs. All applications must be supported by their authors. To insure that your entry has been debugged and that users are not experiencing any problems you should log on to CompuServe periodically and provide some techsupport for your application. Contestants will be allowed to modify, improve, and enhance their applications up to the deadline. 4. HOW THE APPLICATIONS WILL BE JUDGED The applications will be judged by panel of eight industry experts. All of whom have extensive knowledge of shareware and freeware applications. The decision of the judges is final and not reviewable by any other person, agency, or tribunal. Winners will be notified by U.S. certified mail on or about August 16, 1993 and their names will be published on-line in the PASCONTEST ENTRIES section of the MIDI B Vendor forum. For a list of prize winners, send a SASE to Media Vision Incorporated, Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Shareware Contest, 3185 Laurelview Ct., Fremont, CA 94538. 5. PRIZE STRUCTURE: - 1st prize - $5,000 On-line shopping spree - 2nd prize - $2,000 On-line shopping spree - 3rd prize - $1,000 On-line shopping spree - 50 finalists will receive a $100 On-line shopping spree - 10 "Early Bird" prizes consisting of a $100 On-line shopping spree will be awarded to the 10 best entries received before midnight March 31, 1993. - All entries will receive a Media Vision T-shirt. All entries will be evaluated for a possible bundling contract with Media Vision and such entries may have the opportunity to be included on a Media Vision CD-ROM. The judges will use the point structure described in section 6 to determine the 10 best entries for the Early bird prizes. Early bird prize recipients will also be eligible to win one of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd prizes. No prize may be exchanged, substituted, modified, or redeemed for cash in whole or in part. All shopping spree prizes are to be redeemed at Computer Express' online service through CompuServe's Electronic Mall. One prize per family, individual, household, or User ID Number. Prizes are not transferable. All prizes will be awarded and notification mailed to the recipient's address contained in CompuServe's online records. By acceptance of their prizes, recipients consent to publication of their names, likenesses, biographical information, statements concerning Media Vision or the contest, and/or User ID. without further compensation for advertising or promotional purposes. Prizes not claimed after 21 days of the date of notification, for any reason whatsoever, will be forfeited. Prize recipient may be required to execute an affidavit of eligibility and publicity release within 21 days of notification. Non-compliance within this time period will result in disqualification and an alternate recipient will be selected if possible. 6. DESCRIPTION OF JUDGING CRITERIA Program requirements: 1. Application must use 16 bit digital sound and must run on Pro AudioSpectrum 16 and Pro AudioSpectum 16 compatible sound cards. 2. Applications must be considered shareware or freeware. 3. The applications must run on the PC but can be either DOS or Windows based. 4. Applications must be reasonably bug free. Any application that crashes frequently or shows other such problems will not be considered. Scoring: All applications will be judged on a scale of 1 - 100, with 100 being the highest score possible. 1. Use of sound 40pts. Does application make full use of sound in a way that enhances the application or is it merely a distraction? Does the application use sound in a creative way? Does it employ special effects that take advantage of stereo or the enhanced capabilities of 16 bit sound? Other possibilities for increasing an application's use of sound include Multimedia help and stereo panning. 2. Appeal of the application 40pts. Is the application engaging? Does it captivate and inspire the imagination? Is this an application that the judges spend a long time playing with and do they want to download it for their own use or do they merely try it out and then delete it from their hard drives? Does it do the job it is supposed to do? If it's a utility does it really help the user get the job done? If it's a game is it really fun? If it's a music application or digital sampling synthesizer, does it help the user make really great music? 3. Ease of use 20 pts. Is the application designed in an ergonomically appealing manner? Are all the buttons and controls easy to find? Is the application intuitive? Can you use the program without a manual? Authors can increase their application's "Ease of use" score by providing frequent and high quality on-line support. Comments on weighting: The evaluation weighting was set up in such a way as to reward those developers who come up with an application that is fun and uses sound to enhance the application. It is also designed to be fair to all types of applications. For instance an entertainment application may rate highly in the appeal category, but if the sound is not integrated well into application and the user tends to want to shut the sound off, then the "use of sound" score will be low. On the other hand if the application uses an exciting sound track with awesome stereo sound effects, then the use of sound score will be high. A sound recording and playback utility will of course score very high on the use of sound scale, but it will need to be well designed and incorporate as many useful and exciting features as possible to get a good appeal rating. A good strategy to improve an application's ease is to use the Contest forum for feedback on the application. Updates and program enhancements to the applications are encouraged so upload your application early and let the people who download it help you make improvements. In the event of a tie, the judges will award the prize to the application that has been downloaded the greatest number of times. 7. Prize winners who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States will be required to provide Media Vision with their Social Security numbers by completing Federal Tax Form W-9 which will be mailed to all winners. Prizes valued at $150 or more will not be distributed until the completed Form W-9 is received by Media Vision. Form W-9 will be distributed with prizes valued at $149.99 or less. No responsibility is assumed for lost, misdirected, or late mail. The value of the prizes won in the Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Shareware Contest will be reported by Media Vision on Federal Tax Form 1099 for each individual awarded a total retail value of at least $600.00 in Media Vision prizes during tax year 1993. Prize winners who are citizens of other countries will be solely responsible for reporting of awarded prizes. __________________________________________________________________ Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Shareware Contest Entry Form This entry from will help to make sure that we properly evaluate your contest entry. Please fill out the form completely and mail to the address below before midnight July 15, 1993. Make sure that you have uploaded your program entry to the PASCONTEST forum on Compuserve. We cannot accept any programs by mail. Name:_______________________________________________________________ Address:____________________________________________________________ City: _________________ State: ______ Zip:_______ Country: ______ Phone:______________________________________________________________ Compuserve ID Number:_______________________________________________ Program name:_______________________________________________________ Program type:_______________________________________________________ Platform:___________________________________________________________ Date application first uploaded:____________________________________ Signature:__________________________________________________________ Send entry form to: Media Vision Pro AudioSpectrum 16 Shareware Contest 3185 Laurelview Ct. Fremont, CA 94538