Jack Ryan Making Leap To Cd-Rom

Superscribe Tom Clancy and international affairs expert Dr. Steve Pieczenik have formed C.I. Entertainment, Inc., short for “Clancy Interactive,” a co-publishing arrangement with Viacom Inc.’s Simon & Schuster Interactive Unit bringing Clancy’s Jack Ryan closer to the CD-ROM screen, it was announced Monday.

The first title already under development will be “Tom Clancy’s First Contact: Derelict,” a space adventure with real-time, three-dimensional technology developed by Virtus Corp., based on an original Clancy concept, with material not based on an existing novel.

Simon & Schuster Interactive are banking not only on the Clancy name clout but on their past success marketing such titles as “Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Manual,” which has seen its sales take off in past years.

And the next Clancy adventure should also bode well for submarine fans and Pentagon wannabes.

“We’ll take Tom’s love of weaponry and put the user in the position of understanding submarine warfare in ways that have been possible through the linear video,” says Peter Yunich, president of Simon & Schuster Interactive.

“By the end of this program, you’ll be a fully competent submarine commander, with demonstrable skills using actual stimulation taken from commander training and submarine ports from around the world.”