Press Release: 1997-02-24: SegaSoft Awards Contest Bounty to America Online Avenger WinnerUs Creativity, Humor Cited by Creators of Web Vengeance Software

This is an unaltered copy of a press release, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: SegaSoft (archived)

REDWOOD CITY, CA (February 24, 1997) Praising an imaginative display of destruction and a flair for lobbing virtual rotten eggs, Gary Griffiths, president and COO of SegaSoft, Inc. awarded University of Santa Clara student Mike Bender $1,000 for creating the winning entry in SegaSoft's Web Vengeance Trash AOL contest.

Using Web Vengeance software from www.segasoft.com, Bender's entry expressed AOL subscribers ire and spelled out the online service's problem with the phrase OVER LOADS formed in bullets, pie and eggs. The oversized check he received was festooned appropriately with tomatoes, bullet holes and other Web Vengeance tools.

To acknowledge AOL's sense of humor and quick response to the attacks, Griffiths attempted to present a $1,000 check to the service as well.
Within days of the contest announcement, the online service quickly downloaded defense software from www.segasoft.com to protect its home page (though the rest of its website remained vulnerable). At the ceremony, a monitor displaying the AOL home page stood in, and participants were invited to toss real eggs, tomatoes and pie at an oversized projection of AOL's website afterward.

We're not sure whether this constitutes acceptance, but we consider the reward as AOL's just desserts for letting people fire pie slices at their site to feel better, said Griffiths.

Apparently Web Vengeance is helping people, because we've seen downloads of the beta software triple over the last two weeks, he added.

I had a blast using Web Vengeance, said Bender. The web can turn into the World Wide Wait when you're looking at badly designed sites. It's great to feel you're getting even.

Web Vengeance, available for free in beta at www.segasoft.com, lets users blow off steam by trashing websites with various weapons (on their desktops. No real damage is done). SegaSoft recently invited frustrated netizens to submit their most creative destructions of AOL's home page to win $1,000, and the beleagured online service quickly installed defense software from SegaSoft's website.

To deploy Web Vengeance, users must have a computer running Windows 95, equipped with any standard web browser and Direct X, which may be downloaded free from the SegaSoft site.

About SegaSoft
SegaSoft was founded in 1995 and develops interactive software and content for PC's and the Internet. SegaSoft is a joint venture of CSK International Headquarters, Inc. and Sega of America, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the $4 billion Sega Enterprises Ltd., a global leader in interactive digital entertainment media. SegaSoft is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., where it employs 130. For additional information you can visit SegaSoft's World Wide Web site at http://www.segasoft.com.