Media Kit: Press Releases

WIN PRIZES FOR WATCHING MOVIES

BOSTON, MA — February 16, 1999 — Gamesville.com, the Internet's premier game show site and entertainment destination, today announced the commencement of the second annual Crystal Ball™ competition, the free online game show in which contestants compete to predict the outcome of the Academy Awards® for a Grand Prize of one year of entertainment. The lucky winner will receive 52 movies from BigStar Entertainment, a 32-inch Toshiba color television, a four-head Toshiba VCR, a Sanyo full-size microwave, 52 bags of Orville Redenbacher's microwave popcorn and 104 32-ounce bottles of Snapple. Runner-up prizes will be provided by ET Online.

"Crystal Ball provides the perfect opportunity for our players to join the largest Academy Awards contest on the Internet — wasting their time while competing for awesome prizes!" said Steven Kane, president of nineCo, Inc., the Boston-based company which created and produces Gamesville.com. "Not everyone will admit it, but we're all interested in who will win the Academy Awards. Gamesville.com is the perfect place to place your guesses while keeping your movie obsession to yourself." Crystal Ball debuts today, February 16 and concludes on March 21 when contestants must submit their choices. The lucky prizewinners will be notified on March 25 after the Oscars® are awarded at the Academy Awards Ceremony on March 21.

Last year more than 47,000 people entered the contest.

Contestants pick winners for each of the following categories: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costumes, Best Director, Best Documentary Feature, Best Editing, Best Foreign Film, Best Makeup, Best Music (Original Comedy or Musical Score), Best Music (Original Dramatic Score), Best Music (Original Song), Best Picture, Best Animated Short, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects, Best Visual Effects, Best Screenplay (written directly for the screen), Best Screenplay (based on material previously produced or published). ET Online will help participating contestants by providing background information on all the Academy Awards® nominees.

"If there was an award for contests, Gamesville.com would win it! BigStar is proud to be the sponsor of Gamesville.com's Crystal Ball competition. It allows movie buffs to be involved in the Academy Awards — adding a whole new dimension of excitement to the ceremony," said David Friedensohn, CEO for BigStar Entertainment.

Will romance win the hearts of the Academy this year with "Shakespeare in Love" or will war stories in "The Thin Red Line" and "Saving Private Ryan" pull at their heartstrings? Queen Elizabeth would be pleased this year with Cate Blanchette and Judi Dench both nominated for their portrayals of the Queen herself in "Shakespeare in Love" and "Elizabeth." Is Tom Hanks a shoe-in for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for "Saving Private Ryan?" Crystal Ball is waiting for the masses to place their bets on who will win the coveted Oscars® for 1998 at http://www.gamesville.com.

Crystal Ball joins Gamesville.com's other games, which include:

• The Bingo Zone® World's Biggest Bingo Game^TM. Continuous free online bingo games which pay real cash prizes.
• CatchUp CoverAll^TM The unique, continuous, fast-paced, high stakes bingo-style game. $100 minimum prize. $1000 maximum prize!
• Sports Madness^TM World's Biggest Office Pool (No Office Required)^TM. Free, separate pools with many huge prizes for football, basketball and NASCAR auto racing.
• Picturama^TM Multimedia Celebrity Trivia Game. Continuous "guess the celebrity face" game, which pays real cash prizes.
• Pop Quiz^TM World's Easiest Trivia Game^TM. The Weekly Rock `n Roll Challenge.
• AceyDeucey^TM The Big-Ass Card Game^TM. Continuous massively multiplayer card game which pays real cash prizes.

About Gamesville.com®

Gamesville.com is the world's premiere game show site and the Web's premier entertainment destination (the site's slogan is "Wasting your time since 1996."). Dedicated to fun, easy-to-use interactive entertainment, Gamesville.com offers free massively-multiplayer game shows, which pay winners a multitude of cash and merchandise prizes. The site's "low-tech" approach — "Yesterday's Technology Today" — ensures users with the most basic technology can compete effectively with those with cutting edge equipment. Gamesville.com is home to such popular (proprietary) game shows as Gridiron Madness(tm), Acey Deucey^TM, Picturama^TM and The Bingo Zone®. MediaMetrix has ranked Gamesville.com among the Web's top sites in visit duration, with users staying for an average of over 30 minutes. The site has also won numerous awards including NetGuide's "Best Game Site" and "Most Innovative Advertising Model." For more information visit www.gamesville.com.

ACADEMY AWARDS®, OSCAR(S)®, OSCAR NIGHT® and OSCAR® design mark are the trademarks and service marks, and the OSCAR® statuette the copyrighted property, of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This Gamesville site is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Nominations List courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

nineCo and Gamesville are trademarks of nineCo, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.