Local firm kicks off with ill-advised movie mailout

If ever there was a week not to mass-mail a 1Mb email attachment, this was probably it ...

If ever there was a week not to mass-mail a 1Mb email attachment, this was probably it.

With many users and IT managers nervous about email attachments of any kind with variants on the 'Love Letter' virus still in circulation, attachments may be deleted unseen this week. Some corporate email gateways have also been set to block large messages as an antivirus stopgap too.

That hasn't dissuaded the new Auckland company Hypertainment and its PR company Palace Plus, which last night mailed a 988Kb QuickTime movie to more than 100 music, media and technology industry contacts - including some in other countries. At least one, Michael Edwards of the international record industry trade body, the IFPI, said that "in the light of the current virus attack I am not opening it and I advise anyone else not to."

The movie acts as a "teaser" for the test-launch of Hypertainment in conjunction with the local branch of Warner Music. Warner will sell a CD-Rom along with the audio CD of Shihad's The General Electric, containing a Macromedia Director application which will allow the owner to connect to a Website and view a video made by Hypertainment - in this case the widely-screened clip for the album's title track. The video is stored on the disk itself.

Players then answer questions based on clues in the video and collect points redeeemable for consumer goods, concert tickets and and trips. The Shihad product launch is set for June 2.