Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 37

BUSINESS OUTIOOK WEEK OF MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 1992 Page 15 Carmen Sandiego: From Computer to TV Screens By Cataline Ortiz jdHK Hf emrw "BfcffB we have to say." Eye-catching graphics and flip humor are hallmarks of the series. Carmen's sidekicks include Stanley Cupp, Leif Malone, Moms DeWerd, Shlomo Replay, Casey Ray Sirah iand Homer DeBrave. Some of Broderbund's 300 employees, including Carlston, are imodels for the gang. Their mug shots and descriptions come with the game to help the computer sleuths secure warrants and recover the loot. "We get letters from children all the time suggesting names for henchmen, and they even write their own descriptions for them," said David Ross, manager of the latest game, "Where in America's Past Is Carmen Sandiego." Through licensing agreements, Carmen is now on the lam not only on her TV show, but in books and puzzles by Western Publishing, and in a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

"The nice thing about this is and it's going to seem hokey it's rewarding to do something that kids can learn something from and still have a good time. That's what Carmen does," said Joyce Stein, publicity manager at Western Publishing. Carlston won't divulge where Carmen's adventures will take her next. million people tune in to the daily show at least once a week. That success is mirrored at Broderbund of Novato, Calif.

The developer and publisher of school and small-business software has made money every year since its 1980 founding. It earned $3.4 million in the quarter, ended Nov. 30, up 13 percent, as revenues rose 29 percent to $21.5 million. The company went, public last November at $11 a share and recently traded as high as $25.25 on the over-the-counter market. "They are the leader of what I call educational software for the home," said Seth Feinstein, senior analyst at Advest Inc.

in Los Angeles. Much of Broderbund's success comes from the award-winning Carmen series, which has sold more than 2 million copies since the first game was produced in 1985, he said. Broderbund has sold more than 13 million copies of all its software. Print Shop, a widely-used desktop publishing program for IBM-: compatible PCs, is the company's leading product with 4 million copies sold. However, the larcenous lady in the fedora and trenchcoat remains the star.

Carmen is the anti-heroine of five witty PC games that turn young- "The appeal of Carmen is that kids love the idea of traipsing all over the world, chasing Carmen Sandiego and tracking her said Doug Carlston, Broderbund's founder, chairman and chief executive. So you think learning about dates and boundary lines is boring? Not according to Carmen's fans or Carlston. He believes youngsters inherently like geography and that learning can and should be fun. "I think the problem is that geography, like far too many things, is presented as dry and dull and boring by people who must have personally found it that way. I don't think it has to be," he said.

Carmen debuted in "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?" She later starred in "Where in the U.S.A is Carmen Sandiego?" and similarly named adventures through Europe, time and America's past. The games may be educational, but Carlston won't say so. "We don't use the word educa-t tional anywhere on any of our products," said Carlston, who thinks the term translates into "boring" in kidspeak. He prefers "ex-plorational." "Part of that is we're trying to prevent the key market the kids themselves from writing us he said. "If we can't keep them interested, it doesn't matter what! THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AN FRANCISCO -Carmen Sandiego, the glamorous thief who purloined kids' hearts while teaching them history and geography, has stolen off the computer screen and onto television and she's making out like a bandit.

The computer-game star from Broderbund Software Inc. already enjoys a devoted following among ikids, parents and teachers. Now she's winning new fans as the computer character jumps to other media with books, puzzles, a home video game and her own TV game show. "There's everything there. mystery, there's allure, foreign travel, there's hide land seek.

Then you've got the game Igoing where you can show off how Ismart you are and, we hope, learn 'something," said Russ Martz, spokesman for public television station WQED in Pittsburgh, which produces the popular program with Boston's WGBH. The TV show, which debuted last fall, is now broadcast by 92 percent of the nation's 331 PBS transmitters, reaching 96 percent of the U.S. TV-viewing audience, according to WGBH. The station said about 5.4 Prices are lor the last day of the week, except tor trst day of trading, the low and the high. 26f Nov.

December Jan. 1991 1992 Source: Bloorrbery Financial Market; Broderbund Software, he. APCartFox sters into operatives of the ACME Detective Agency. Players pursue her and her gang across the globe and through time to recover such stolen landmarks as the Statue of Liberty or cultural treasures like the Magna Carta. Your IRA retirement.) If you wait until later to make your contribution, you lose, 'some of that advantage.

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