Garry Trudeau’s wit goes interactive with Mindscape. His Doonesbury Flashbacks: 25 years of Serious Fun ($59.95, Windows CD-ROM, 1-415-897-9900) archives his cartoons. He’s even got a Web site (htpp://) containing cartoons, political news and, of course, merchandise info. Motivated, he says, by “fear, greed and vanity,” Trudeau’s hoping millions will visit his site to “unwind, have a few laughs and be automatically billed.”

Freebies on the Web

Christmas comes early on the World Wide Web. Progressive Networks Inc.’s ( audio.com) latest RealAudio Player provides real-time, near-FM quality sound over the Net; Atlantic Records (http:// ) is using it to preview Tori Amos’s new single two weeks early. The next version of White Pine Software’s () CU-SeeMe videoconferencing software will feature color video; a beta is now available. And Macromedia Inc. () has put out a browser add-on called Shockwave to play back sophisticated interactive presentations such as shooting galleries and multimedia comic books.

Armed- and wandering

Credit Doom with starting the trend – games in which the player sees through the eyes of a heavily armed wanderer in a well-rendered landscape. The latest entry, The Terminator: Future Shock, from Bethesda Softworks ($49.99, DOS CD-ROM, 1-301-926-8300), has crisp graphics and an ability to look in all directions that’s smoother and less vertiginous than that of other games. Bethesda’s real expertise is creating detailed universes, and that shows with Future Shock, but the general concept of these games may be getting a little strained.

– Newsweek magazine