One of the CD-i launch titles in Europe in 1992 was Tim & Bear at the Hospital. It was the first interactive cartoon made by Valkieser New Media (a dutch company in Hilversum). It was a base-case title (Digital Video was not introduced yet, that would be in 1993). After an opening scene you could choose who you wanted to follow: the boy 'Tim' or his teddybear 'Bear'. On different occasions they would meet again and you could choose again. On several places you could choose what to do: Go left or right, follow the nurse or sneak out, follow Bear or take a sideway. It was the very first time I saw something like this. Of course it was aimed at kids. Later, in 1997, 'De Zaak van Sam' did something similar with real life actors. Of course, it's a data-heavy task to develop different routines in a story. Tim & Bear at the Hospital was a success in 1992, so Valkieser decided to develop more episodes.
In 1994 Valkieser New Media released the follow up: Tim & Bear at the Airport. Just like its predecessor this title was fully translated (speech and text) in the dutch language, as well as in german and french. Actually, the original game was dutch and it was translated into english as well. Soon after this one, Tim & Bear at the harbour was released. The final episode was Tim & Bear at the Movies introduced in 1995. Translations of the earlier 'harbour' episode also saw a release in 1995.
Of course Valkieser New Media released more titles on CD-i, including 'Loving for a Lifetime', 'In the Wake of Captain Cook', the free gift 'Rosebud: The Director's Cut' and multimedia discs about Centurion (the Philips reorganization plan) and 'Het Land van Ooit'. They were active until 1997.
