Document text
IBM Brings You 3-D Castle Creator By Pam Gleichman Tribune Media Services IBM Brings You 3-D Castle Creator introduces you to the intrigue of castles by letting you create your own three-dimensional fortress. There are three main areas of 3-D Castle Creator: The Castle Machine, The Castle Workshop and the Castle Handbook. The Castle Machine is where the building, coloring and exploring take place. You select from three styles of pieces: Fancy Castle Pieces: Stocky Castle Pieces: and Motte and Bailey Castle Pieces. There are many different pieces to choose from within each style. You can add to one of four pre-made castles, add to a partially built castle, or begin a castle from scratch. Castles can be constructed, viewed and printed out from various angles and depths. And once the castle is completed, you can explore and walk around the castle. Castles can also be saved and reloaded. The Castle Workshop has lots of great designs ready to print, color and assemble into off-screen castles. There are also characters, heraldry, tapestries and more. The Castle Handbook gives historical background on castles, first-hand accounts of life in castles, and definitions for a lot of castle-related words. Both boys and girls enjoyed building castles, printing them out and assembling them. The program works well for the open-ended learner who likes to read and explore and doesn’t need to "win." Our testers loved exploring their castle room by room. IBM's 3-D Castle Creator is a great program for classrooms that are studying castles. Publisher : IBM, http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/software/products/castle/index.html , (800-508-1496). Category : Creativity. Age : 7 to 12. Installation : Easy. Use : Fairly easy. Graphics : Good. Written Materials : Written materials are included on the CD jacket. System Requirements : Windows 95, PC with Pentium 120 MHz processor, 16-MB RAM, 32-MB recommended, 35-MB free hard drive space, SVGA monitor, 640 X 480 high color (16 bit), quad-speed CD-ROM drive, mouse, printer. Tested Version : Windows 95. Cost : $14.95. Rating : Three stars. If your child is interested in castles and likes to build, 3-D Castle Creator is a good addition to your software library. DEAR PAM : I am looking for some good game sites for my children. Can you please recommend any? DEAR READER : There so many good gaming sites. Yahoo Games at http://games.yahoo.com has board games (backgammon, checkers, chess, etc.), card games (blackjack, gin, bridge, hearts, poker etc.), word games (crosswords), fantasy games (fantasy baseball, stock market challenge) and tile games (mah-jongg). You can play these games with other people on the Internet. All games are free and require no extra plug-ins. In addition to the games, there are game clubs that let you share advice and strategies with other gamers. There are also reviews, tips, cheats and demos of new games. To find other game sites, go to Dogpile, at http://www.dogpile.com , and do a search on "games" or "Internet games". The number of game sites available will amaze you. WEB SITE OF THE WEEK KIDS ALMANAC http://kids.infoplease.com The creators of the wonderful Information Please Almanac have introduced a version of this resource just for kids. It includes an online dictionary, encyclopedia, homework center, a "today in history," reference and a word of the day. Other categories include: People, Fun Facts, Sports, Life, United States, Science and World. This is an excellent starting place for students! RATING KEY : ***** — Outstanding; **** — Very Good; *** — Good; ** — Fair; * — Not Worth Purchasing. Pam Gleichman welcomes questions/comments from readers. Write to Pam at Tribune Media Services, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Send e-mail to pamgl(at)msn.com. � 1999 Tribune Media Services, Inc. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA