WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (October 1995) - Maxis Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIS) announced it has signed a distribution and sales agreement with Calliope Media and will handle the interactive multimedia software company's first titles, "ScruTiny in the Great Round" and "Robert Winter's Crazy for Ragtime" available March '96.
Calliope, the interactive publishing company focused on producing innovative titles in the arts, entertainment and humanities, will rely on Maxis' sales and distribution capabilities but do their own packaging, promotion and other forms of marketing.
Calliope, a privately held, Santa Monica-based company, was founded by Jay Heifetz, a communications industry executive, and Robert Winter, well-known multimedia author, performer and UCLA music professor.
Maxis is a leading provider of consumer software for personal computers, offering products in the entertainment and home learning categories.
"Our goal is to have a limited number of affiliate partners who are focused on quality entertainment and Calliope perfectly fits that bill," said Douglas B. Litke, vice president business development, Maxis. "We have admired Robert Winter's previous work in multimedia and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to launch Calliope's new, one-of-a-kind titles into the marketplace."
"We are delighted to be joining in Maxis' affiliate label partner program and feel our CD-ROM titles bring an entirely new dimension to their current product categories," said Heifetz, CEO and co-founder, Calliope Media. "We plan to use multimedia to revolutionize the way people experience high quality interactive entertainment, and the Maxis relationship will give us the distribution capability to do so."
Winter originally launched his multimedia career with Voyager where his first efforts resulted in the critically acclaimed titles, Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony," Mozart's "Dissonant Quartet," Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" and Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony."
In "Ragtime," Winter combines his musical talent (he personally performs more than 60 rags) with a dynamic teaching style to create a new interactive CD-ROM title. Along another artistic path, "ScruTiny" is a captivating and hypnotic interactive experience which delves into the unconscious, blending painting, poetry, cinema, music and literature. Both titles resonate with Calliope's mission: to present a new perspective on how to experience CD-ROM titles.
Founded in 1987, Maxis is a home entertainment and learning software company best known for the Sim family of entertainment products. Best sellers and new entrees in the Maxis entertainment line include "SimCity," "SimCity 2000," "SimTown" and "SimTower."
Located in Santa Monica, Calif., Calliope Media publishes originally authored programs combining intellectually stimulating content with entertaining interactive design and focuses on titles in the arts, humanities and entertainment.
