ACCOLADE SHIPS FIRST EVER INTERACTIVE COMIC BOOK ACCOLADE - 20813 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Cupertino, California 95014 annouces the release of "ACCOLADE'S COMICS." The following is the text from their release information brochure. Cupertino, California, March 27, 1987 - Entertainment software publisher Accolade, Inc. today announced the availability of "Accolade's Comics," the first interactive comic book for the Commodore 64/128 and Apple II personal computers. Developed by Distinctive Software, Inc., Vancouver, Canada, "Accolade's Comics" is comprised of three disks and retails at a suggested price of $39.95 for Commodore and $44.95 for Apple through mass merchants and specialty stores. Featuring two distinct themes and dozens of major and minor story lines incorporating eight arcade-like games, "Accolade's Comics" is the story of a spy named Steve Keene whose mission is to foil evil plots for the Chief of Spystuff, Inc. Unlike text adventure games, "Accolade's Comics" offers the user the experience of reading a comic book on a computer screen, combining detailed graphics and humorous animation. The player determines the direction of the story by continually selecting from a seriers of possible answers to questions asked of Keene; some are dead ends, others lead the player into various themes and story lines. Because the user directs the plot, the story can turn out differently each time the game is played. The arcade-like games are incorporated to entertain the user and are accessed when Keene falls into traps, "inescapable" positions and embarrassing situations. Each of these games will be scored and recorded for posterity. The first theme revolves around the kidnapping of Professor Zoron Farad, a Nobel Prize winner. Keene has to locate the professor through clues collected at the Professor's laboratory. Eventually Keene finds the Professor at a castle in Ireland. The second theme revolves around a scheming, underworld figure named Zardo, who has developed a system by which fire hydrants reproduce. His goal is to get people to park in his parking garages instead of on the streets. Keene gets help from a secret agent named Kato to locate Zardo and to stop his operation. Accolade, Inc., a privately held company, is an independent developer and publisher of entertainment software for IBM, Apple, Atari and Commodore personal computers. In 1986, its first full year of sales, Accolade posted revenues of $5 million. The company currently markets 15 titles in 15 countries worldwide. ### 30 ###