Science Sleuths was a series of interactive videos that were produced by Videodiscovery, Inc. from 1991 to 1996. The series was first published on LaserDisc with accompanying manuals. Certain titles were later converted to the CD-ROM format.
The original Science Sleuths series included 24 episodes for middle school. An elementary school series was added later. Science Sleuths was distributed with the Science Plus curriculum from Holt, Rinehart and Winston. In 2005, Discovery Education purchased Videodiscovery and its Science Sleuths series.
Science Sleuths was released in middle school and elementary school versions:
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as writing, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditional mass media, such as printed material or audio recordings, which feature little to no interaction between users. Popular examples of multimedia include video podcasts, audio slideshows, and animated videos. Multimedia also contains the principles and application of effective interactive communication, such as the building blocks of software, hardware, and other technologies.
The Compact Disc-Interactive is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA and CD-ROM and specified in the Green Book specifications, co-developed by Philips and Sony, to combine audio, text and graphics. The two companies initially expected to impact the education/training, point of sale, and home entertainment industries, but the CD-i is largely remembered today for its video games.
The LaserActive is a converged device and fourth-generation home video game console capable of playing LaserDiscs, Compact Discs, console games, and LD-G karaoke discs. It was released by Pioneer Corporation in 1993. In addition to LaserActive games, separately sold add-on modules accept Mega Drive/Genesis and PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 ROM cartridges and CD-ROMs.
Marc Canter is an American internet entrepreneur, speaker, technology evangelist and early pioneer of online software, and is often called the "godfather of multimedia". Canter is a CEO of Instigate, Inc. Marc is best known for being the co-founder and CEO of MacroMind, the company that became Macromedia.
Nightmare Ned is a 1997 computer game for Microsoft Windows that was developed alongside the animated series of the same name. The game was based on a concept by Sue and Terry Shakespeare. It was released on October 7, 1997.
Living Books is a series of interactive read-along adventures aimed at children aged 3–9. Created by Mark Schlichting, the series was mostly developed by Living Books for CD-ROM and published by Broderbund for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. Two decades after the original release, the series was re-released by Wanderful Interactive Storybooks for iOS and Android.
SoftKey International was a software company founded by Kevin O'Leary in 1986 in Toronto, Ontario. It was known as The Learning Company from 1995 to 1999 after acquiring The Learning Company and taking its name.
Gus Goes to Cybertown is a children's educational CD-ROM game released in 1993 by Modern Media Ventures. The main character is Gus, a talking and singing dog, who must find the three CyberBuds hiding in each of the town's five locations. Games are also hidden in each location, from spelling and number games to shape recognition and pattern matching games. Cybertown's park includes a timeline that shows Gus through time, from a Neanderthal to a futuristic spaceman. As the time changes, players can click on other items in the park to see them change as well. CyberBuds are revealed by interacting with various parts of each area. These characters will also provide tidbits of educational information. Upon completion of all in-game tasks, the player is treated to a final song on a "secret screen."
Mount Diablo High School is a public high school located in Concord, California, United States. It is the oldest school in the Mount Diablo Unified School District, founded in April 1901. The school currently serves western Concord, the unincorporated communities of Bay Point and Clyde and a portion of Pittsburg.
BBC Multimedia was a division of the BBC which dealt with the publishing of computer-game versions of well-known BBC television programmes.
Mattel Interactive was a video game publisher and software distributor.
Ching-chih Chen is an educator, administrator, consultant, and speaker in the field of digital information management and technology. After her 10-year administrative experience, and 49-year teaching, research, consulting and speaking activities, she became professor emeritus of Simmons College in June 2010, and president of Global Connection and Collaboration, Inc., a non-profit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.
William "Bill" Appleton is an American entrepreneur and technologist best known as the programmer of the first rich media authoring tool World Builder, the multimedia programming language SuperCard, a best-selling CD-ROM Titanic: Adventure Out of Time, the DreamFactory REST API platform, and Snapshot Org Management for Salesforce.
Disney's Animated Storybook is a point-and-click adventure interactive storybook video game series based on Walt Disney feature animations and Pixar films that were released throughout the 1990s. They were published by Disney Interactive for personal computers for children ages four to eight years old. Starting from 1994, most of the entries in the series were developed by Media Station. They have the same plots as their respective films, though abridged due to the limited medium.
The Sony Multimedia CD-ROM Player was a portable CD-ROM-based multimedia player produced by Sony and released in 1992. It was used to run reference software, such as electronic publications and encyclopedia. Before its release, both Sony representatives and the press referred to the device as the Sony Bookman; that name remained in use in later publications.
Early Learning House or simply the House Series is a collection of four main educational video games and two compilations for the Windows and Macintosh platforms, developed by Theatrix Interactive, Inc. and published by Edmark software. Each different game focuses on a particular major learning category with selectable skill settings for preschooler, kindergarten and elementary learners. Millie's Math House (1992) on mathematics, Bailey's Book House (1993) on language, Sammy's Science House (1994) on science, and Trudy's Time and Place House (1995) on history and geography. A spin-off, Stanley's Sticker Stories (1996), sees players create animated storybooks with the series' characters. Millie & Bailey Preschool and Millie & Bailey Kindergarten each contain the combined activities from two of the four software products. In addition the programs can be configured by an adult mode to suit students with special needs. Most of the activities in every game have two modes, one to allow learners to explore and try it out for themselves and the other for learners to follow specific tasks set by the game characters. Learners also have the option to print pictures of creative activities and record sounds in phonics activities. Later the games were re-developed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology and re-published by The Learning Company with newer graphics and additional activities.
Madeline is a series of educational point-and-click adventure video games which were developed during the mid-1990s for Windows and Mac systems. The games are an extension of the Madeline series of children's books by Ludwig Bemelmans, which describe the adventures of a young French girl. The video-game series was produced concurrently with a TV series of the same name, with characters and voice actors from the show.
Virtual Murder, renamed as Murder Mystery is a four-part murder mystery adventure video game series developed by Creative Multimedia Corporation. The games were released in 1993 and 1994 for Macintosh and Windows PCs.
KinderVentures is a series of classroom software and multisensory programs developed in the 1990's by Optical Data Interactive.
The Adventures of Ninja Nanny & Sherrloch Sheltie: No. 11 Downing Street is a 1993 game by Silicon Alley for Windows 3.0 systems, and is an interactive fiction title with multimedia elements integrated into the text. Despite its marketing as an "educational" game, Ninja Nanny became notable after its release for its unusual and nonsensical content.