Inside Mac Games Volume 4 #9/IMG 40 Sep 1996.iso/More Goodies/Inside Games Update/Inside Games Update.rsrc/TEXT_138.txt

Text File | 1996-09-03 | 8KB | 139 lines

their new systems. Games with graphically violent scenes will also carry
warning labels.

AGE NO BARRIER TO CARTOON
Ahhh, to reminisce . . .cartoons that really delivered adventure, 2D
animations that were highly rememberable. And, the delightful aspect of
being a cartoon character is that you really don't age! Such is the case
with Jonny Quest, who is return to TV with an unusual triple debut. Called
The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, the adventure cartoon is returning on
Turner Network Television, TBS Superstation and Cartoon Network. There will
be 21 telecasts of the series each week. TNT's showings will be at 8 am
weekdays and 6:30 pm on Saturday.s TBS has the show scheduled for 4:35 pm
weekdays, and Cartoon Network will show Jonny Quest on weekdays at 8 pm and
12 am. The aim of Turner's companywide initiative is to revitalize classic
characters.

FILM FESTIVAL ATTRIBUTES
The Venice Film Festival has honored Dustin Hoffman with a Golden Lion
prize for life achievement. Hoffman also screened his new film, American
Buffalo, at the festival. He called his movie critic-proof and it is based
on playwright David Mamet's play of the same name. Hoffman plays a petty
criminal named Teach in the film. Also shown at the festival was a movie
produced by a group of actors who had no work. Filmed in 21 days, with a
budget of around $250,000, the film is called Swingers and was warmly
received by critics. John Favreau wrote the screenplay as well as plays a
leading role in the film, which is based upon his life as a struggling
actor and comedian in Los Angeles. Favreau's friends were cast as
themselves. The film has been picked up by Miramax and will also be shown
at the Toronto Film Festival. Vince Vaughn, the other lead actor in
Swingers, has just won a role in Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park
2."

ETERNAL STRUGGLE CONTINUES
The MOST successful interactive trading card game company to ever exist is
Wizards of the Coast. Millions throughout the world play Magic: The
Gathering and Vampire, to name just two of that company's release. Now,
Wizards of the Coast has announced that, in October, they will release The
Sabbat. This is the very first stand-alone expansion for Vampire: The
Eternal Struggle and reignites the ancient war against the Camarilla. This
set will enable players to create Sabbat decks to challenge Camarilla, or
to use the decks to enhance their existing Vampire decks.

Two new vampire clans, the Lasombra and Tzimisce, will be introduced with
this expansion set. Plus, there are new rules for voting and for combat
between Camarillaand Sabbat vampires. For those unfamiliar with this card
game, the Sabbat is a sect of vampires, quite malicious, who reject the
ancient laws of the undead waging a war of blood against their enemies, the
Kindred of the Camarilla. The Sabbat revel in the fact they are creatures
of the night. They also hold great contempt for humanity, as they believe
mortals to be nothing more than cattle. The Camarilla rule with a genteel
facade. The Sabbat rule with an iron fist.

The expansion set will come packaged in a 28-card booster format, each with
a rules addition booklet. There are a total of 400 cards in the set, which
features illustrations by John Bolton, Tim Bradstreet, Mike Dringenberg and
Rick Berry, and others. To date, more than 2 billion Magic: The Gathering
cards have been sold worldwide.

The company has also announced that they are now launching the Chinese
translation of Magic: The Gathering. This new version is releasing
immediately into the Taiwan and Hong Kong markets and will be available in
traditional Chinese characters. This launch comes rather quickly after the
sold-out release of the Japanese translation earlier this summer in Japan.
This is the eighth translation of the card game which was originally
released in 1993, selling out its initial 10 million cards in six weeks.
Other translations include French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and
German.

A HALF-BAKED NAME?
We have all been inundated, of late, by the pressings and meanderings and
IPOs of Yahoo! This Internet catalog is certainly one of the most popular
sites anywhere on the WWW and appears to be continually in a growth mode.
However, seems as though there's a particular baker who is none-too-pleased
with Yahoo!'s CEO, Tim Koogle, and the name of the cybercatalog company.
Miss King's Kitchens has asked a federal judge to make Yahoo! Inc., stop
using that name. Seems as though the bakery registered Yahoo as a trademark
in 1989, and the catalog company initiated that name in 1995. The bakery
filed a suit in April against Yahoo!, but that has not gone to trial as of
yet. The bakery's name is applied to their YA-HOO! cakes. Normally,
trademark laws indicate that the same word may be used by non-competing
products and services. In this case, the company logos are somewhat
similar, but the Internet company feels the case has no merit.



VR Golf '97 Preview
by Brad Jones, Demanding Duffer

I recently teed off on a preview version of the new VR Golf from VR Sports,
a division of Interplay Productions--it was simply fantastic. As soon as
the game started, I was struck by the depth of the game and the graphic
textures. Before starting the game, I felt I should preview the first hole,
by walking the course and through use of the game's fly-by features. During
the fly-by, a familiar voice started describing the hole and how best to
play it. It was none other than Pat O'Brien of CBS Sports and, suddenly, I
thought I was actually participating in a golf tournament on Sunday
afternoon TV. I then walked the hole, actually moving down as the hill
sloped, plus I could go in any direction I wished.

Now ready to tee off, an arch appeared on screen to trace my "ideal" shot.
I couldn't quite see where my shot landed. That turned out to be no
problem--with just a press of a button, I seamlessly switched to three
different camera angles and located my shot's resting place. A great
feature of this game is the absence of menus. This lets you spend less time
setting up for a shot and more time smacking Titleists. I got onto the
green in two, and my second shot was so good, I used all of the ten
playback options to relive the glory. (And, yes, if you happen to sink a
hole in one, you can save the playback to prove it to all of your friends
later.) But I blew my great drive with a three-putt. The letdown I felt was
expressed with E-Motion, a feature which utilizes real-life reactions of
the golfer on-screen, be it great joy or agonizing pain.

The next seventeen holes were total enjoyment--and my final score was
definitely NOT like real life (thank goodness). Based on my experience with
a pre-release version of this title, VR Golf is definitely an A+
offering--I highly recommend this title to anyone who enjoys the absolute
best in sports sims. (Brad Jones)



Normality
PC
RadicalGrungePopper

I approached this interactive graphic adventure game with some trepidation!
In spite of some of the coolest 3D graphics and animation, a
better-than-average voice-over for the lead character of Kent, this title
appears to be designed specifically for Gen-X'ers. Kent even seems to
physically resemble someone cast-out from Seattle's music scene.

WRONG! This game is extremely enjoyable, with some terrific puzzles that
will require a great deal of thought on your part to solve. Toss in a
unique storyline, some of the best cut scene animation ever produced,
delightful characters, and you have a game that will offer you hours of
adventuring pleasure. Some of the language and situations are not suitable
for children, so a family adventure Normality is not. Beyond that proviso,
however, I can only recommend adventure gamers gives this offering a try.
(Mudgeon)