(fwd) Johnny Mnemonic Web Scavenger Hunt Is On 05/19/95

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Subject: Johnny Mnemonic Web Scavenger Hunt Is On 05/19/95
Keywords: Bureau-MSP, NEWS
Date: 19 May 95 19:18:25 GMT
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1995 MAY 19 (NB) -- The hero of
cyberspace of the future is invading the Internet of the present,
Sony New Technology officials said. That's because Sony has developed
an online scavenger hunt, based on the upcoming TriStar Pictures
flick "Johnny Mnemonic."

Officials said since the film is based on William Gibson's cyberpunk
tale of an electronic scavenger hunt, they decided to sponsor a
real hunt in the very real cyberspace of today.

Clues are hidden throughout Sony Online's World Wide Web site (at
http://www.sony.com), and throughout the Internet. Other clues
are hidden in FTP (file transfer protocol) sites, university
online libraries, and shareware "dumping grounds." Also, the Johnny
Mnemonic site features a database of state-of-the-art visual effects
developed for the movie. The Johnny Mnemonic site is located at URL
(uniform resource locator) http://www.mnemonic.sony.com.

Henri Poole, president of Vivid Studios, the company that designed the
Web site, said the site was designed to closely mirror the film.
"Today, people hack all over the world and navigate the Internet.
When we read the script, we thought we can create a game that allows
people to do a lot of the things William Gibson talked about in the
movie."

Merchandising for the new film will be hot and heavy. Sony Imagesoft
will release a "Johnny Mnemonic" CD-ROM, which promises to look and
feel like a movie. Company officials said in the game, a player's
choices determine if Johnny triumphs -- or suffers a fatal overload.

The "Johnny Mnemonic" soundtrack features such artists as Bono and The
Edge, Rollins Band, Helmet, and Stabbing Westward. Plus you can clothe
and water yourself with a range of Johnny Mnemonic merchandise,
including T-shirts, baseball caps, and mugs.

Samantha Chapnick, marketing manager for Vivid, told Newsbytes the
interaction among all of the different products and services behind
the movie was deliberate. "It was designed to be a first-time thing
for Sony, to get all of the different divisions to be pushing one thing
at once."

(Bob Woods/19950519/Press Contacts: Matt Rothman, Sony Online, 212-
833-6126; Dennis Higgins, TriStar Pictures, 310-280-7547; Kevin Horn,
Sony Imagesoft, 310-449-2334; Kris Ferraro, Columbia Records, 310-449-
2500; Susan Bell Warner, Sony Signatures, 415-247-7491; Tom Atkin,
Sony Pictures Imageworks, 310-280-2304; Vivid Studios, 415-512-7200.
Public Contact: Internet World Wide Web, http://www.mnemonic.sony.com)