Thursday, April 23, 1998

E3 is Coming! E3 is Coming!

It's that time of year again, the computer gaming industry's biggest show, the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). Again, everyone's favorite webmasters Mike Dixon (of Mac Gamers Ledge and Peter Cohen (of Tikkabik) will be the men of the scene, reporting back on all the dirt from a Mac users prospective.

Again, Mac Gamers Ledge, Tikkabik, and Networkable Mac Games will be combining forces on our own E3 page (I, unfortunately, have to hold the fort down here at home).

The Mac E3 Page

ClanLord In Early Testing

Noah Bast sent in a tip that Delta Tao, best known for their Eric's Solitare, Dark Castle conversion, Spaceward Ho, and others, are has released an early development version of their online role-playing game ClanLord.

According to Noah, there's "not much there yet, but it was stable while I was on. Warning though, it only took me about fifteen minutes to get killed five times..."

You can check out more about this game and download the early development version for the Clan Lord homepage

Ambrosia's Snaps Pro Updated to 1.1

Ambrosia's screen capture utility, Snapz Pro, has been updated to 1.1, adding the ability to convert to .GIF or .JPG on the fly! This utility is indespensible in saving a tremendous amount of time and effort for capturing images on the screen, and has been used extensively on this site when capturing control panels, etc. for my various help pages.

Snapz was borne out of the need to capture screenshots of games and other programs that typically lock out the Macintosh's built-in ability for making screenshots (command-shift-3). Snapz capabilities have been continuously updated ever since.

Snapz Pro homepage
Page detailing what's new in 1.1

'Networkable Mac Games' Maintenance

• The Links to the latest MacIPX Updaters have been updated (on the Connections and Configuring IPX pages). As far as I can tell, the 'MacIPX Ethernet' extension (the only update of concern for gamers) has remained unchanged from the previous update. So I assume the changes are to the other components (NetWarePrint, etc). But, the old link was broken, and the new one works! ;-)

Monday, April 20, 1998

Another Perspective on StarCraft

Long time reader Matthew Fleming contributed this impression of StarCraft:

Heh, I also saw and played it on a friend's computer.  I have to say it's
a lot more like a cross between Command & Conquer and Warcraft 2.  Even
the box life points deal below each unit looks exactly like C&C.  From
what I could gather from the game, the Alien race (the bio-gen thingie, I
forget the game's name) morphs thier guys into vehicles and buildings.
They can also infest a building, much like borg assimilation in Star Trek.
They also can only build on the bio-masses, which is sort of a limitation.
They have the ability to dig into the ground, tho, which provides a nice
surprise attack option.

I didn't gather much about the borg race, but they apparently have very
little numbers, but each unit packs a powerful punch.  They use mind
control to make themselves seem bigger and such too.  As stated on the web
site, they transport buildings and units from their homeworld.

The humans are real all around type guys.  They have decent forces and
numbers, but their game play seems more like Warcraft 2 (get as much stuff
and build as much as you can) than either of the other two.  They can use
this drug injection which sacrifices some HP, but makes them go aggro and
they can take on anything.  One interesting thing to note i whenever a
unit talks to you, you see them in a movie at the bottom of your screen.
Also, when you group a bunch of units together, when they report in, the
highest ranking guy is always the one who calls in (check it out, I
thought it was pretty neat).

I'll try to be more analytical next time I go over to his house, and
hopefully can come back with a euphoria of info.

-Matt

As a follow-up to my previous report, I went back to my friends house to check out the 'Zerg' species (the alien race Matt refers to) after he completed the human scenario. It looks like Blizzard has gone the extra mile to make the different species of StarCraft (there are three species to play in the game) more radically different from each other than they did with the Orcs and humans in Warcraft II. In Warcraft II, each race pretty much had an equivelent charecter from the opposing race (the spells were more what set the difference).

In StarCraft, the aliens are pretty much radically different from the humans in the way they build and what their capabilities are. For example, the humans can repair buildings and mechanical forces, but cannot heal humans. The aliens, on the other hand, can quickly heal themselves, but the organic 'buildings' cannot be repaired.

There is simply more variety and more to do in StarCraft. I personally cannot wait for the Mac version to come!

-Rick

'Networkable Mac Games' Maintenance

• Quake fans should download the latest QuakeFinder (now version 1.5.1), which was released over the weekend. QuakeFinder is used for finding Quake games over the internet. See the Quake entry on the NetGames page.
• StarGate users should note that version 1.1.1 was released over the weekend. StarGate is a handy little utility for exchanging files between Mac and PC over a serial connection. The link on the Networking 101 page has been updated (or download it here.)

US Robotics Firmware Update 1.2.6

Just a quick note that I noticed on Version Tracker that US Robotics has released another firmware update over the weekend. If you have a software upgradable USR modem, it would probably be advisable to get this latest update.

USR Firmware Update 1.2.6

Thursday, April 16, 1998

Well, some of you may have noticed that there hasn't been any news in, uhh, few days. Sorry for the unannounced hiatus, I just decided I needed to take a week off. I wanted to be able to finally finish some games that have been taking up space on my hard drive. Unfortunately, a week quickly turned into two weeks, and I have no idea where the time went! Thanks to all who emailed their concern.

Believe it or not, while I haven't kept up with the this news page, I have been quietly maintaining the rest of the site. As people emailed me broken links and updaters, I did my best to fix them.

Also, during these past two weeks, I had the opportunity to check out Starcraft, the third sequel in Blizzards warcraft series, on a friends PC. It was truely refreshing to see that the manual already had Mac installation and support printed in it. I'm hoping that means that that the Mac version is right around the corner (and not the year delay we've had to endure for a Mac version of Diablo).

So, what's the game like? Well, have you experienced the radical change and improvements from Warcraft I and II? Well, Starcraft is to Warcraft II as Warcraft II is to I. The engine improvements are that radical. There are too many improvements to the graphics to list here, but needless to say they certainly help suck you into the game. I was rather attached to the medieval/fantasy genre and I didn't think I'd like the futuristic/space genre. But, the ultra-modern style lends new abilities that would've been ridiculous in a medieval style. Things like most buildings are actually mobile ships that can be moved around (crystals (money) depleted from one field? Just move the base!). Again, there are so many changes I'm not going to try to list them all. The charecters seem smaller this time (this may be an illusion since the screen area is no much larger now), but there is much more detail in the movement and a more variety of characters on the map at a time. The storyline is much more integrating and enthralling then ever, even going as far as pausing in mid-game to add charactor dialog that furthers the story.

I didn't get to see much more than a few levels, but needless to say I cannot wait for the Mac version to be released. I'll be running out to pick this game up as soon as it hits the shelves!

'Networkable Mac Games' Maintenance

• Alien Attack has been updated to 2.0! (see the NetGames page for details)
• Updated links to Quake 1.09 Updaters under the Quake entry on the NetGames page.
• Updated the link to Zone Raiders demo (thanks Rich Pizor).
• Added links to Tikkibik 3D under games that support hard 3D acceleration.
• (Many others I can't remember anymore..)

4/1/98

IMG Sponsers Myth Giveaway and More!

Inside Mac Games and Bungie Software are sponsoring a Myth: The Fallen Lords Giveaway. One lucky winner will win a free autographed (by the Myth development team) copy of the highly-acclaimed real-time strategy game, Myth: The Fallen Lords. Up to 10 runners up will win free Myth T-Shirts and Soundtracks! To enter the contest, please visit the Inside Mac Games and fill out an entry form. (The contest opens March 30th and runs through April 5th. Only one entry per contestant will be accepted.)

Announcement Part 2:
Inside Mac Games announces the Best of IMG 1993-97 CD-ROM. This jam-packed CD-ROM contains ALL back issues of IMG dating from 1993 to 1997. In addition, the CD-ROM features some of the best demos, shareware games, and interviews from the past year. The Best of IMG 1993-97 CD-ROM is available for current and new IMG subscribers for a mere $9.95 (plus S&H). Non-subscribers can order the Best of IMG CD-ROM 93-97 for just $14.95 (plus S&H).

MGG gets search function!

The Mac Game Gate has been enchanted with the special ability to search through all of the MGGs pages and archives. Reviews, news, games, and links can all be found at the click of a button! To try it, go to the Mac Game Gate!

'Networkable Mac Games' Maintenance

Hovering in maintenance mode:

• Updated the links to the 6360-64xx-54xx Update 1.0, after Apple moved it to a different directory (Connections, Configuring IPX pages). This update is needed on these models to fix a MacIPX incompatibility.
• Fixed a broken link to HyperBattleship (on the Games of Yesteryear page).
• Fixed broken link to the Descent II version 1.2 Updater on the netgames page. (Thanks Jeff)
• The MacOS MUDding Resource Page has moved to a new home. If you have a Mac and you're into MUDs (Multi User Dungeons), this is THE for MUDing info, bar none. (Updated the link on the On-Line Games page)

3/24/98

QuakeWorld Coming to Mac!

"Westlake Interactive has begun the conversion of QuakeWorld to Macintosh. Due to the strong demand for a Mac version of Quakeworld, MacSoft and Westlake are going to jointly fund the conversion of Quakeworld to the Mac, as well as update the Mac version of Quake to the latest version of GL Quake (.97). Once completed, these updates will be available for free.

"The GLQuake update should come fairly soon. Due to Westlake's other time and resource commitments, a release schedule for QuakeWorld is unavailable at this time.

"We at Westlake want to personally thank MacSoft for making this possible. We think it will be a great thing for all Mac gamers."

This is HUGE news for us Mac Quake players! For everyone who has complained about playing Quake over the Internet, this is the cure! What QuakeWorld does is it uses fancy prediction and anticipation techniques that compensates for the lag inherent to the Internet. Trying a QuakeWorld-enabled game on the PC, it is surprising how smooth this fast action game can feel, even with 6 or 8 modem-based players!

TCPSerial is Missing!

A reader pointed out that TCPSerial 1.0.1 (listed on the Connections page) is missing or has been removed from the Info-Mac archives! TCPSerial is used to make games and gaming utilities such as Netlink Remote work over the Internet. I suppose the archivers have done some spring cleaning because I've noticed several things missing recently. Fortunately, I was able to procure a copy and I added it to my little ftp site (you can access it from my Connections page).

On a related note; I've received several reports that Netlink Remote no longer works with MacOS 8 (Netlink Remote is a utility that's used for playing Appletalk games over modems). TCPSerial is still usable standalone (rerouting modem packets over the Internet).

Pax Imperia II Updated to 1.0.6

This patch addresses the Mac to PC network problems as well as several combat related changes.

• Increased ship short range by 50 pixels
• Increased ship point range by 100 pixels
• Increased orbital point range by 150 pixels
• Mines will now switch targets
• Mines return to their starting position when they have no target to chase
• Fixed bug that orbitals were not firing at their complete range
• An idle mine will go the home position of a mine that was destroyed
• Increased mine movement speed
• Mines now take damage to kill, do not die in one shot.
• Fixed fleet controller in Universe window to color code damage bars
• Changed mines to be visible if a player doesn't have any ships in that combat

Please also keep in mind that SAVED GAMES AND CUSTOM SPECIES FROM EARLIER VERSIONS WILL NOT WORK AFTER THIS PATCH IS INSTALLED.

The Pax Imperia II Patches page. The NetGames entry is updated.

Carmageddon 3Dfx Patch Released

In case you missed it last week, Techworks has released a patch to enhance Carmageddon for their 3D card. Grab the patch here:

Carmageddon 3Dfx patch

Interesting Crossplatform Articles

The university I work for has upgraded its modem pool to 56kflex, so I've decided it's high time I upgrade to a 56k modem. I found a good article called The Modem Showdown that tells me everything I need to know. If you're in the same boat as I am, I suggest checking it out. (Interestingly, I discovered my universities decision to upgrade to 56kflex over X2 was not because of any research or performance comparison, but because 56kflex offered the cheapest price! Doh! ;-)

Anyway, I get quite few crossplatform questions. I figure I must be linked on some PC or networking page because many have nothing to do with gaming. ;-) While searching for my modem article, I also discovered some good articles from this months issue dealing with crossplatform issues: Mac Life Preservers covers software used to sharing disks and files on Macs and PCs, and Save Your Mac! is a complementary article that talks about file name extensions, and the like. I'll be adding these to the Networking 101 page for easy reference.