Games Industry Runs Away with Wired News' Seventh Annual Vaporware Awards.

Wired News (http://www.wired.com/), a daily news website that chronicles the Internet and technology and a unit of Terra Lycos , the global Internet Group, today announced the winners of its seventh annual "Wired News Vaporware Awards," (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61935,00.html). The Vaporware Awards 2003 celebrates all those eagerly anticipated gizmos that were put off, put away or quietly put down (and, of course, those that existed merely as a figment of someone's imagination).

The winners were chosen by Wired News' readers. A call for submissions (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61586,00.html) went out in December, and the number of responses was among the largest ever.

"The annual Wired News Vaporware Awards program is one of our most popular features, giving our loyal, opinionated readers a chance to vent on things they care deeply about," said Alison Macondray, Publisher and Executive Producer of Wired News.

According to the site: "Once again this year, the list of shame was dominated by games -- a reflection on the hyper-competitive industry, and its reliance on hype as a marketing strategy.

"Valve had a spectacular year -- from a vaporware point of view. Not only did it win with Half-Life 2, another of its MIA titles -- Team Fortress 2 -- came in at #4, and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero earned a dishonorable mention.

"But once again, 3D Realms takes the cake. Duke Nukem Forever would have won for the third year in a row -- it was nominated almost as many times as all the other nominations together. But Wired News decided it is so vaporous -- it is entering its sixth year in development -- it deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award."

   The winners are:    Lifetime Achievement Award: Duke Nukem Forever (3D Realms)    1. Half Life 2 (Valve)    2. Fallout 3 (Black Isle Studios)    3. Phantom Game Console (Infinium Labs)    4. Team Fortress 2 (Valve)    5. WiFi SD Card for Palm (SanDisk)    6. RealPC (FWB)    7. HDTV Tivo (Tivo)    8. Wrist PDA (Fossil)    9. Amiga OS 4.0 (Amiga)    10. RadioShark (Griffin Technology)   

Dishonorable mentions go to SCO for its as-yet-unseen Unix code that the company alleges was ripped off in Linux; Microsoft's secure computing initiative; Bush's WMDs; Valve's Counter-Strike: Condition Zero; and the Oqo mini-computer, which is so vaporous (it came in at #4 last year) that no one is looking forward to it any longer.

About Wired News

Launched in 1996, Wired News (http://www.wired.com/) is a daily source of exclusive, original news chronicling the impact of technology on people's daily lives. The site is winner of the 2003 "People's Choice" Webby Award in the Best Practices category, honoring overall excellence, and was a finalist in both the 2003 Online Journalism Awards for enterprise journalism, and in five categories of the 2003 Maggie Awards, including best overall site.

About Terra Lycos

Terra Lycos is a global Internet group, with a presence in 40 countries in 19 languages. The group, which resulted from Terra Networks, S.A's acquisition of Lycos, Inc. in October 2000, operates some of the most widely visited websites in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America, and is the largest access provider in Spain and Latin America.

Terra Lycos' network of Web sites includes Terra in 18 countries, Lycos in 22 countries, Angelfire.com, Atrea.com, Azeler.es, Educaterra.com, Gamesville.com, HotBot.com, Ifigenia.com, Invertia.com, Lycos Zone, Maptel.com, Matchmaker.com, Quote.com, RagingBull.com, Rumbo.com, Tripod.com, Uno-e.com and Wired News (Wired.com), among others.

Terra Lycos, with headquarters in Barcelona and operating centers in Madrid and Boston, as well as elsewhere, is listed on the Madrid stock exchange (ticker: TRR) and on the NASDAQ electronic market (ticker: TRLY).

Lycos(R) is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University. All other product or service marks mentioned herein are those of Terra Networks, S.A., Lycos, Inc. or their respective owners. All rights reserved.

   Contact:    Brian Payea    Terra Lycos    781-370-2885    brian.payea@corp.terralycos.com  

CONTACT: Brian Payea of Terra Lycos, +1-781-370-2885, brian.payea@corp.terralycos.com

Web site: http://www.wired.com/