We will be sending out e-mails to chosen testers as soon we get closer to the beta's release. While we haven't set the beta launch date yet, we expect to do so very soon. We will make an announcement on our site when these e-mails have been sent. Thank you for your patience. Please do not contact us regarding the status of your application.

MTO’s GT Advance aims to make embarrassing 2D sprite-a-thons like GBC Pocket GT a thing of the past, with a decent framerate, Super Nintendo quality graphics and enough cars to rival Gran Turismo. Over 40 of the things have been confirmed, drawn and stylised for the game, with models from seven top manufacturers including Honda, Mazda and Mitsubishi. There are 32 tracks to race them about on too, including dirt, street and racetrack courses. For those of you who have seen the Japanese version of the game, expect a small amount of Westernisation here.

GSUK: How has the Quake III engine been at handling big open levels?

PH: Well you're definitely there on the beach and the designers are very clever with the use of portals and constructing the level so that it doesn't drop to two frames a second, but it still delivers on what you want it to. In the D-Day segment, there are a couple of portals so that you can see a couple of D-Day beaches from where you are. When you're up in the pill box and looking down, to show the whole beach with all the guys on it as it was when you were storming it at the same resolution, wouldn't work. It's fun for me, because all my MOH experience has been on PlayStation and so it's really trippy to see some super, hyper-mature technology like Quake III.

• Online auction fraud rate dips
  
• Sharky Extreme looks at the Lian-Li PC-60 computer case
  
• Microsoft cancels Windows NT 4 Service Pack 7 - says Win2K service pack 2 will be released in the "near future"
  
• Office 95 users will not be able to upgrade to Office XP
  
• CPU Review checks out the SuSE 7.0 Professional build of Linux
  
• X-Hardware.net has launched and has a bunch of articles up
  
• Is Sprint's 2.4Mbit cell network fact or fantasy?
  
• Hardware Avenue reviews the Western Digital Caviar 200BB 20GB hard drive
  

• Intel price cuts confirmed - now we see actual dollar amounts
  
• Intel running short on 1GHz notebook chips
  
• Compaq has plans for Alpha processor through 2025
  
• VR-Zone overclocks a 1.33GHz Athlon to 1.6GHz with air cooling
  
• Dry ice and your CPU cooling mmm good (spotted on [H]ardOCP)
  
• Intel expected to report sharp drop in profits today (spotted on [H]ardOCP)
  
• GamePC looks at 6 Athlon coolers to see which ones can handle running Athlons at 1.5GHz

• Tom's Hardware revisits the Via KT266 chipset - run away, run away!
  
• X-bit Labs reviews the Transcend TS-ALR4 mainboard
  
• Extreme Overclocking checks out the Abit VH6-II motherbaord

• There are new Matrox G400/G450 Win2K drivers available from MURC
  
• WildAndyC tells you why buying a GeForce2MX 400 is a waste of time if you already have a regular GeForce2 MX
  
• Dan's Data reviews the Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 Kyro II based graphics card

• Creative has posted drivers for the SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 soundcards for Win9x/Me/NT/2K for people that have lost their installation CDs. I do not believe these are updated (spotted on NT Compatible)
  
• Acid Hardware reviews the RumbleFX headphones
  
• PC Extremes reviews the Rocco 5.1 digital audio speakers

• Logitech refreshes its trackball line

• Sharky Extreme's Weekly Memory Prices have been updated
  
• The Tech Zone's hardware price index has been updated

The time-traveling RPG Chrono Trigger was made as a collaboration between the powerhouse trio of Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy series), Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest) and Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z). It originally released in 1995 for the SNES, and sold a record-breaking 2,500,000+ units in Japan in its original release. The Final Fantasy Chronicles bundle includes new opening and closing cinematic sequences for Chrono Trigger, as well as several re-creations of memorable sequences, which answer lingering questions, and offer insight into the game's successor, Chrono Cross.

Final Fantasy IV, originally released on the SNES in 1991 as Final Fantasy II, introduced the Active Time Battle (ATB) system. Though FFIV was released for the PlayStation in Japan in 1997, this is the first time that it will be available for PlayStation in North America.

Stunt GP is very close to excellent, crossing the lure of remote control cars with the brutal gameplay and addictiveness of a Team 17 title. For all its charm though, it’s not without flaws. It’s easy enough to become proficient at race-winning, but pulling off the necessary stunts along the way can force things beyond the wrong side of easy.

Unlike its predecessors, Warcraft III was originally supposed to allow you to play one of five races: The Humans, the Orcs, the Night Elves, the Undead, and the Burning Legion (Daemons?). However, the team thought that Burning Legion should be an unstoppable force, and trying to balance them with the other races would have ended up with them loosing some of their almighty bow-down-before-me-or-I’ll-mash-you persona, so Blizzard instead created them as a Non-Player-Race, allowing them to be as powerful as the team wanted them to be. Remember those old critters you used to torment by clicking on until they explode? They’ve been replaced now, by aggressive animals and NPCs such as shop owners. Like Warcraft and Warcraft II however, each race is actually an alliance of smaller races (e.g.: Humans are actually Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, etc. Orcs would be Orcs, Trolls, Goblins etc.). Races will of course, each have their own unit types, causing the player to have to adjust his or her strategy to the race that they play.

In Soldier of Fortune 2 players once again assume the role of John Mullins, a military consultant working for the top-secret anti-terrorist group known as The Shop. In the game, players must tackle a wide-range of missions from hostage rescue and intelligence gathering, to search-and-destroy. Level design in Soldier of Fortune 2 is flexible enough to allow for multiple styles of play. Gamers can "hit 'em hard" with a frontal assault or use stealth weapons for a subtle approach.

Soldier of Fortune 2 brings unparalleled detail to PC gaming with vivid damage modeling and animations, accurate reproductions of actual weapons and missions taken from international hotspots including Prague, Colombia, Hong Kong and Kamchatka. In some cases mission maps or objectives are inspired by the experiences of the actual John Mullins, a former Special Forces officer and military "consultant."

"John's assistance has been invaluable in helping shape Soldier of Fortune 2," states Brian Raffel, vice president of Raven Software. "With his input we've designed a game that plays as a first person action game, but with a level of authenticity usually only found in military simulations or tactical shooters."

The backbone of Soldier of Fortune 2 is a highly integrated system of technologies. Environments in the game are created with the QUAKE III Arena engine, widely considered the most advanced 3D engine in gaming. Additionally, Soldier of Fortune 2's new GHOUL II technology brings the grittiness of combat to the PC like never before with incredibly detailed skeletal animations that enable lifelike character movements and per pixel hit locations for ultra realistic damage modeling. Finally, Soldier of Fortune 2 features an all-new ROAM Terrain System that allows players to ride and fight from armored trucks and helicopters.

Blizzard Entertainment is pleased to announce the addition of a second Battle.net Realm serving the Asia Pacific region. This second Realm nearly doubles the capacity [Blizzard] currently has in place to support [the] Asia Pacific customers.

Stomped has learned (nearly) the entire list of titles Interplay plans to show at this year's E3. Check out the list at http://www.stomped.com/shared/nsystem/comments/16840_1_page_1.php

Stomped chats with Rick Goodman, the founder and head of Stainless Steel Studios, as he chats about their upcoming centuries-spanning RTS game Empire Earth. Check out the exclusive interview at http://www.stomped.com/published/jcal987433444_1_1.html

BOL.com presents:

Game Girls without BOLokes!

BACKGROUND: Women’s Gaming

What do women want in their Games play? Funnily enough, they want just the same as men do – ie good games that are challenging!

While it was certainly true in the past that many more males played computer games than females, the gap has been closing for some time now.

The suggestion that video/computer games are “boys toys” is now so obviously just a myth, and bol.com recognise that there are plenty of women out there who love games and play games as well (or even better) than their male counterparts!

GAMES STATISTICS: the market

Ø the global games market is estimated at nearly £13 billion (US$18.7 billion), and the UK is the third largest market after the US and Japan
Ø total sales in the UK are worth almost £1.4 billion (US$2 billion)

WOMEN GAMERS: the facts

Surprisingly for such a potentially lucrative market, little research has been done in the UK on women gamers. However, research in the US can be used to give an indication of the size of the UK women gamers market:

Ø 43% of PC gamers and 35% of console gamers are women, and the average age of these women is 29
Ø in keeping with the rising number of women gamers, more women are buying games than ever: women purchase 48% of all console games and 50% of all computer games
Ø 50% of those who purchase games online in all game genres (action, adventure, and classic games among others) are women. Yet the gaming industry has been slow to respond to these changing demo-graphics and continues to gear most of it’s marketing campaigns and gaming websites towards males
Ø Female gamers are more likely than male gamers (53% v 46%) to play games online (though men are the majority of players of traditional game genres such as action, role playing and simulation games).

Free Event:

bol.com recognises the importance of women in the gaming market place and is very proud to sponsor the “Games Girls without BOLokes” event at The Playing Fields on 26th April 2001 6pm – 11pm. Further information is available from nick@playingfields.com

IRONY: Game Girls v Game Boys

Despite the myth that gaming is boys’ territory, it’s been discovered that most males are actually doing their best to keep women in the game as much as possible!

Ø 42% of a research sample of male gamers were found to prefer to play female characters in games over 75% of the time - most of their gaming hours.
Ø 19% of respondents argue that they enjoy playing female characters because the models can be faster, more agile, jump higher and can be smaller and harder to see (and thus frag) during game action.
Ø 16% of respondents said they likes to play female characters because other players treated them better and helped them out in–game!

SOURCES:

"Black & White is such a fantastic game, one of the best for a long time now. With the online feature set to explode soon to, this game is only going to get bigger. Especially after the mod community have hacked it to bits :) Can you imagine yourself as a titan? That'd be bloody weird, a 200 ft me...

Zone.com’s new game provides fun, free stress relief

Don’t go nuclear at work. Take a break, play a game. "Atomica," the Zone’s latest single-player game, equips office workers with the perfect formula for refocusing during the day: easy access to a mental break. Millions of Zone visitors have already discovered the benefit of taking a break from the daily grind and the site dispenses over 2 million cumulative hours of game play per day across its breadth of games. As evidence of America’s desire for a quick distraction at work, the Zone’s casual gaming audience peaks during work hours with the highest number of simultaneous players around the West Coast lunch hour.

The Zone’s newest game, "Atomica," detonates stubborn mid-day mental blocks with an injection of workplace fun. "Atomica" challenges players to move atoms of the same color across the board to form blocks of four. These blocks, or molecules, disappear when complete, clearing space on the board for the formation of new molecules. But watch out! Each time an atom is moved without forming a molecule, extra atoms appear, making the challenge of clearing the board increasing difficult.

A full game of "Atomica" is easily played in less than five minutes. Three skill levels provide a challenge for expert puzzlers, or a user-friendly introduction for players logging on for the first time. An optional time trial allows gamers on a time budget or in need of a more powerful mental distraction to play a shorter, more intense round as they attempt to solve the molecular brainteaser and race the clock. "Atomica" is brought to you by the creators of "Bejeweled," currently the Zone’s no. 1 game with over 1.5 million players a month, and is found exclusively on the Zone at http://zone.com/atomica.

Zone.com is the largest multiplayer gaming site on the Internet, with more than 18 million registered members around the world, more than 120,000 concurrent users at peak times, and more than 130 games available for play. The Zone offers free* membership and a wide variety of games, including free* card, board and puzzle games, free* matchmaking for popular CD-ROM games and premium games.

ARVADA, Colorado –April 12, 2001--Maximum Charisma Studios, developer of the upcoming online game, Fighting Legends, has announced the creation of an Advisory Board of top industry executives. Advisory Board members include:

Satish Bhutani, Former Executive Vice President of Namco America, President of Data East, and Corporate Vice President for Atari Games Corporation. Currently, Mr. Bhutani is the Director of New Business Development for Pycon Incorporated.

Brett Boal, Former VP/CIO on the Sony PlayStation launch team in the US, Europe, and Australia. Currently, Mr. Boal is Senior VP, CIO & Director of Operations for MoreBenefits.

Len Ciciretto, former Sr. Vice President of Sales for Sega of America, Vice President of GameWEEK Magazine and The Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association. Mr. Ciciretto is currently the President of Versus Books.

John Kennedy, Ernst and Young’s 1999 Pennsylvania entrepreneur of the year and the former CEO of CorNet International. Currently, Mr. Kennedy is CEO of PanamaTech and General Partner of Kendryx Enterprises, LP.

The Advisory Board has been assembled to recommend and assist Maximum Charisma’s management team in envisioning industry trends, fostering strong relationships with new partners and clients, and identifying new opportunities for business development. Board members will leverage their years of experience in cutting edge entertainment technology, customer relationship management, and general business practices to offer advice on a broad range of topics related to operations, business development, sales and marketing.

"These individuals immediately recognized the remarkable potential Maximum Charisma has to revolutionize the online gaming industry," said Sean Kennedy, President and CEO. "Our primary vision for this group of well-respected experts is to leverage their knowledge for the future direction of MCS. The Advisory Board will enable us to keep a pulse on the current and future needs of the marketplace, add value for our customers, and maintain a competitive advantage."

At E3 this year, Ensemble Studios will reveal and demonstrate publicly for the first time, a stunning new strategy game titled AGE OF MYTHOLOGY. The subject matter, gameplay, and technology of AGE OF MYTHOLOGY have been topics for endless speculation within the gaming community while development was carried on in secret for the past several years. Be among the first to see it and play it at E3 this year.

The setting for AGE OF MYTHOLOGY is long ago, when legend and myth are real. Three mighty cultures struggle for world dominance. Gods and their minions are meddling, attempting to favor one group over another. Players are the guiding spirits of one civilization, employing their heroes, their cultural resources, the favor of their gods, and rare mythical creatures to conquer the world.

AGE OF MYTHOLOGY is the next generation in real-time strategy game development from Ensemble Studios, the creators of Age of Empires and Age of Empires II. It features the full 3D software technology of Ensemble Studios' BANG! engine. Strategy games will now lead the technology curve, not lag. AGE OF MYTHOLOGY is stunning in 3D, maintaining the Ensemble Studios' signature of creating vivid realistic worlds.

At E3 the lead designer, Ian Fischer, and the senior designer at ES, Bruce Shelley, will conduct demonstrations of AGE OF MYTHOLOGY. The game will be available also on the show floor for hands-on play.

• More Games: Game for free! Arcade now comes bundled with tons of popular free Web-based, classic, board and card games. Deal a hand of poker, shoot the moon at hearts or demolish a city in Rampage. You’ll also be able to play popular new retail titles like Tribes 2, Serious Sam, Fallout Tactics, High Heat Baseball 2002 and Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns online through Arcade.
  
• Voice chat. Forget typing, and forget long-distance charges – talk to your buddies in real-time with your PC and a mike.
  
• Non-game chat. Want a little privacy? Create your own chat room and invite friends new and old to gab with you.
  
• New, improved PlayerSpy – create one-on-one chat rooms and keep track of message histories.
  
• Player Profiles – Get yourself a new game face with our Portrait Picker, and control how much info. you give to other players with our fully editable player profiles.

And that’s just the glaze on the GameSpy gaming donut. All of these feature join the arsenal of tools that have made GameSpy Arcade so popular: support for online gaming in over 200 dedicated server and peer-to peer titles; smart, fast game server browsing; integrated chat, instant messaging and buddy tracking; a powerful and convenient Download Manager for finding and snagging game demos and files; and a direct connection to the Webby Award winning GameSpy Network of gaming content sites. Arcade doesn’t just help you play games – it’s a mainline injection of “phat.” Best of all, it’s totally free.

While all has been quiet on the Sierra front of late, IGNPS2 learned that the newly formed Inevitable Studios is hard at work on a PlayStation 2 version of Starsiege: Tribes 2. Sierra is expected to make an announcement nearer to E3, and the PS2 game, known to be a relatively straight port of the PC title, could arrive as early as late 2001/early 2002. We believe that the game is possibly being considered for online play, too.

This time last year the CPL held a massive Quake 3 duel tournament in Dallas with prizes to the tune of $100,000 up for grabs. The winner alone took home $40,000 in cold hard cash, more than many of us earn in an entire year. Not bad for a weekend playing games in a luxury hotel.

This Easter the CPL's latest event had "just" $30,000 in prize money, and as it was based around the popular team game Counter-Strike, the winners had to split their $10,000 between five or more players. For many of the runners-up, their winnings wouldn't even have covered their travel and hotel expenses for the weekend.

Now the company is bundling all of those cinematics from Starcraft and the Brood War add-on together and remastering the whole lot for DVD, with a grand total of 36 minutes of "cinema-quality digital animation", along with a director's commentary audio track, cinematic trailers for all of their recent and forthcoming games (including Warcraft III) and a selection of original artwork and storyboards used in the making of the Starcraft cinematics. Sure to be a hit with hardcore Blizzard fanatics (and there's a lot of them out there), the DVD is available for $14.95 from Blizzard's online store.

Since [they] last looked at Conflict Zone, the game has come on leaps and bounds, and [they] were lucky enough to get hold of version 0.51 from Ubi Soft earlier this month.

Early signs are good – the manipulation of the media and unique resource system place an interesting spin on the classic real-time strategy formula, and most of the ICP and Ghost campaign missions are now in place. As you will remember, Conflict Zone is about the International Corps for Peace and their struggle to suppress the world’s lone terrorist organisation, Ghost, who would start a war to increase their pay packets.

The Sims has enjoyed the limelight at the top of the list regularly since its release in early 2000, and it had held on to number one continuously since New Year's. With Black & White at number one, The Sims: House Party at number two, The Sims in third place, and The Sims: Livin' Large in fifth, Electronic Arts has four of the top five best-selling games for the week of March 25-31. Fourth place went to Havas Interactive's team-based shooter Tribes 2, which was released by Sierra Studios.

Also notable in this latest list is GodGames' Serious Sam: The First Encounter, a value-priced first-person shooter developed by Croteam that has received very favorable reviews. The game took sixth place this week, moving up from ninth place the week before.

Best-selling games for the week of March 25-31, 2001:

Incidently Eurogamer has some news on the "serious" price hike of the game when it is to be relesaed in the UK:

When we contacted Take 2 last week .. our PR contact told us that "I still don't know .. the price point", adding that "as far as I knew it was £19.99, but it looks like it could go up". It too us an entire week to get confirmation of this, but we were finally told yesterday that the UK RRP for Serious Sam is indeed now £29.99, more than double the suggested American price for the very same game. This is particularly ironic as the game was developed right here in Europe by a small Croatian company called Croteam. Take 2 told us that "we can't comment on this" when asked to explain the price discrepancy.

"So the other day I got an email from a well-known Webmaster asking me some questions regarding Direct X 8.0 and it's intricacies. I replied to his email and said "Well, I'm an OpenGL head here, since we use all id Engines, so it's not like I have any experience of it to talk about it". Generally I do like to know a little something about that which I speak, although some of my friends might question that assertion a little.

"We are very excited about the upcoming release of Cossacks, " says Don McFatridge, President of Strategy First. " The game brings new meaning to epic-scale battle! The depth of gameplay and the sheer number of units a player can use in combat is simply amazing!"

"CDV Software Entertainment USA Inc. is extremely pleased to have Strategy First Inc. as our publishing partner for Cossacks in the North American market. We are confident their talented team will replicate their current success with Sudden Strike and promote Cossacks to the top of the charts!"” says Keith Rieger, President of CDV Software Entertainment USA Inc.

About Cossacks: European Wars:

Cossacks is a real-time strategy game based on historical events of XVI to XVIII Century Europe. More than 85 large-scale wars and battles, most notably, the Thirty Year War, the English Revolution, the Spanish Succession, and the Seven Year War come back to life in this magnificent tribute to European history.

Wars take place upon a 3D landscape where players are able to orchestrate grand battles between sixteen nations, with up to 8,000 units and over 80 different unit types. Each nation possesses military forces in the infantry, cavalry, artillery and navy, with their own unique economic, technical and military advantages and drawbacks. Thus, providing a vast choice of tactics and strategy in a realistic war against the enemy.

Single player campaigns recreate historical scenarios in which players must fulfill objectives from territory exploration to army formation, sometimes with limited forces. Multiplayer action over LAN and Internet allows for up to 8 players to challenge each other in Random Map and Historical Battle modes.

Cossacks will be distributed exclusively by Infogrames throughout North America and is scheduled for release in Mid-April 2001.

About CDV Software Entertainment AG - www.cdv.de
Established in 1989 in Karlsruhe, Germany, CDV Software Entertainment AG has expanded into one of the leading publishers and distributors of PC entertainment software in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Hit titles include Doom I/II, Duke Nukem 3D, Sudden Strike, and soon to be released Cossacks, Divine Divinity, Escape from Alcatraz, and Psychotoxic. CDV employs over 70 staff and has recently opened offices in the UK and USA. In April 2000, CDV successfully went public on the German Market "Neuer Markt" to fuel future growth.

About Strategy First www.strategyfirst.com

Outlive:
Plays a lot like Starcraft, but it also introduces some nice gameplay innovations. Be warned though; this one ain’t exactly brimming with eye-candy.

Perhaps more interesting is the fact that Infogrames will be showing a second Unreal title at E3 this year. The company would not comment on any details of the game, but it's suspected to be an Unreal title for either Microsoft's X-Box or Nintendo's Gamecube. Epic Games referred us back to Infogrames PR department when we contacted them.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 will offer the same fast-paced skateboarding that has addicted thousands, but with new effects and features, and an expanded multiplayer mode. The sequel features living environments that evolve, and players can choose to skate through realistic urban settings complete with pedestrians, cars, traffic accidents, natural disasters and changing weather conditions. Locales include Skater's Island in Middleton, RI; Rio; Los Angeles; Canada; Tokyo and Paris.

Riders Steve Caballero, Rune Glifberg, Eric Koston, Bucky Lasek, Rodney Mullen, Chad Muska, Andrew Reynolds, Geoff Rowley, Elissa Steamer and Jamie Thomas will return to the game, and Bam Margera of MTV Jackass fame is added to the roster. Players will also be able to create their own skaters with glasses, hair, armbands and tattoos.

We have become aware of the fact that an individual or group has initiated a server attack on both Battle.net and Blizzard's web site. As a result of this illegal activity, many of our customers are having difficulty logging on to the Battle.net game service and accessing Blizzard's web pages. We are in the midst of implementing a solution, but we wanted to let you know that the situation is a direct result of external attacks on our servers, and not a problem with Battle.net's stability.

The FBI and certain European law enforcement agencies have been notified, and we are working in conjunction with them to identify the individual. Attacks on our servers will not be tolerated, and Blizzard fully intends to prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.

If you have any information about the above activity, please email hacks@blizzard.com.

Thank you for your patience. We will post updates on the status of the servers as more information becomes available.

- Blizzard Entertainment

What sets Cossacks apart is its epic scope. There is a sprawling tech tree to research with literally hundreds of upgrades and technologies to discover, ranging from improved armour and weapons for your various troop types to reconnaissance balloons. There are no less than 16 seperate nationalities to play as, ranging from England and France to Saxony and the Ukraine, many of them with their own unique units and graphics. Perhaps most impressive though is the ability to have anything up to eight thousand soldiers in a single battle without any serious slow downs.

CAMBRIDGE, MA - Impressions Games(tm) and Sierra(tm) today announced Zeus Official Expansion: Poseidon, an add-on for their latest city-building hit: Zeus: Master of Olympus. Due on store shelves this summer, the game takes place in the world of Atlantis, ruled by Poseidon, brother to mighty Zeus.

Poseidon expands the scope of Impressions Games' city-building hit, Zeus: Master of Olympus to cover more of the ancient world. In Poseidon, players will build and rule the fabled cities of Atlantis, a kingdom of science and technology. They will mine the mysterious mineral "orichalc," establish colonies in ancient Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia, and trade with ancient civilizations. New industries, massive monuments, and characters unique to Atlantis expand the city-building experience presented in Zeus: Master of Olympus. Never-before seen gods, monsters, and heroes help tell the tale as players build Atlantis into a mighty kingdom. Players will also be able to create their own adventures in Greece or Atlantis with a powerful, yet easy-to-use Adventure Editor.

Designed with strategy gamers of all skill level in mind, Zeus: Master of Olympus makes it simple to get a city built and running smoothly. But running the city is only a part of mastering Zeus. Players have to contend with driven deities who can appear in the city to cause happiness or havoc. Famous heroes wander the countryside, and can be summoned when their help is needed. Players must defend their cities from hostile invaders, monsters, and other Greek cities. Mixing the historical with the mythological, Zeus is divided into quests and objectives that can be completed in about an hour, making it the ideal diversion for both moderate gamers and hardcore strategists alike.

Altec Lansing Teams Up With CPL

DALLAS, April 12, 2001 – Altec Lansing, the leading manufacturer of computer audio systems, today announced its sponsorship of the upcoming SPEAKEASY.net Cyberathlete Professional League Event, which is expected to draw more than 800 gamers from around the globe. As the official speaker sponsor for the CPL tournament, Altec Lansing will provide ACS56 gaming speaker systems to be awarded as prizes during the event.

“We’re proud to be part of the Cyberathlete Professional League’s gaming event,” said Jim Pedranti, VP Channel Sales for Altec Lansing. “We know how important quality audio is to the gaming experience.”

Additionally, CPL has selected for installation in its Dallas offices, the Altec Lansing ADA890 THX-certified speaker system, and recent recipient of both PC Magazine’s Editors’ Choice and Computer Gaming World’s 5-Star award. The Altec Lansing speakers will be featured in the CPL “deathmatch” area used for qualifying mini tournaments.

Founded in 1997, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL), and its divisions in Europe, Australia, Asia and South America, is the leading organizer of professional game tournaments and events, and has an estimated following of about 250,000 gamers worldwide, up from several hundred just a few years ago. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, CPL has created custom computer networks at local gaming competitions for more gamers than any other organization. The CPL events are widely covered via newspaper articles, radio, magazine features, television reports and documentaries.

Altec Lansing Technologies, Inc., based in Milford, PA, USA, is a leader in the design, manufacture, marketing and support of high quality multimedia personal computer and home entertainment sound systems, and a line of headsets, headphones and microphones for personal digital media. The company employs about 1,500 people worldwide.

With all the attention surrounding the recent release of Black & White, it's clear that there are many people out there who still have fond memories of the work of Peter Molyneux's old company, Bullfrog.

Whether they can be classified as a fan base or a support group is hard to say, for while the legendary Guildford developer has had more than its fair share of successes, the equally spectacular failures and near misses make up just as big a part of its legacy. Nonetheless, over the years no other gaming studio has put forth as many original titles or carved out their own niche so effectively.

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction will add several new features to Blizzard's popular action role-playing game Diablo II. In addition to the larger stash space and support for increased screen resolution, the expansion will feature two new character classes, a new fifth act, a new area to explore, and a wide variety of new monsters, items, and spells.

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Montreal, Quebec. April 10th, 2001 - Strategy First Inc. is pleased to announce that it has added another title to its 2001 line-up, by signing a North American publishing agreement with Microids for Empire of the Ants.

"Empire of the Ants brings a unique twist to the strategy genre by immersing players into the microscopic world of the Ant Kingdom!" says Steve Wall, V.P., Business Development for Strategy First. "The game has been very successful for Microids so far and we look forward to working with them on this title as well as others in the future."

"Empire of the Ants has already done extremely well in Europe and we are confident it will do just as well in the North American market, " says Elliot Grassiano, President of Microids. "With Strategy First as a publishing partner, we are confident that the game will capture the interest and imaginations of players throughout the US and Canada."

Empire of the Ants is a real-time strategy game based on the best-selling novel of the same name, written by Bernard Werber. Players take on the role of an up-and-coming ant commander that has been given the task to oversee the welfare and expansion of a colony of russet ants. Each player must build up their forces, guard their anthill, collect food and building materials, and maintain and grow their colony of ants.

For each mission, players are given specific objectives at the start of each level, which can vary from collecting of food units to killing the enemy. Multiplayer mode allows for up to 8 players over LAN or Internet to take part in multiplayer skirmishes with a wealth of options and play styles; such as allowing predators into the game area or selecting the Queen into play, who must then be defended.

The beautiful microscopic world of the ants comes to life with real-time 3D multiple camera angles and in and out zooms. The game features extraordinary AI that replicates the instincts of each insect and faithfully reproduces more than 60 different species of insect and animal to exploit and engage in battle.

With the public's recent fascination with things "great & small" from Microcosmos ™, Antz ™ to a Bug's Life ™, Empire of the Ants is sure to provide players with hours of entertainment!

Microsoft today announced that the official Web site for the Links 2001 Expansion Pack is now live at http://www.microsoft.com/games/linksexpansion/. The Links Expansion Pack is the most complete add-on pack ever created for the Links series, and will be available in late May 2001 for only US$19.95.

The official Links 2001 Expansion site provides detailed information on new courses, new PGA Tour players, and new course design kits for virtual golfers and aspiring course builders.

The Expansion Pack includes two new tour pros, Mike Weir and Keith Clearwater, on four new courses designed for play with Links 2001. New to the Links franchise, Weir and Clearwater join the Links 2001 pro line-up that already includes Sergio Garcia, Arnold Palmer, and Annika Sorenstam. Bighorn's Canyons Course (Palm Desert, CA) and Thanksgiving Point (near Salt Lake City, UT) are joined by newly upgraded versions of Pelican Hill (Newport Coast, CA) and Banff Springs (Alberta, Canada) in the Links 2001 Expansion Pack.

The Expansion Pack also includes two new Course Design Kits to help players create their own courses with the Arnold Palmer Course Designer (APCD). The Course Design Kits come with new planting sets; and hundreds of golf course objects, trees, shrubs, vegetation, and more, in desert and highland themes. Additionally, the Links 2001 Expansion Pack will contain the Links 2001 Course Converter that allows players to convert up to 36 Links LS courses for play with Links 2001 (courses must be previously owned).

Players must have Links 2001 (available separately) in order to run the Expansion Pack. The Expansion Pack is not compatible with previous versions of Links.

PEARL HARBOR:ZERO HOUR begins with a fully rendered, real-time re-enactment of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, including the sinking of the U.S.S. Arizona. Then, it's payback time. Choose from 14 aircraft, including famous planes such as the Corsair, P-51 Mustang and B-25 bomber.

Dogfight, dive-bomb and torpedo the Japanese forces in 10 missions ­ all drawn from the Pacific campaign battles of World War II, including Guadalcanal, The Battle of Midway, and Okinawa. Each mission has different objectives, such as protecting U.S. Forces from attack and destroying key Japanese forces.

PEARL HARBOR: ZERO HOUR also features training missions featuring the "Flying Tigers." This group of World War II volunteer pilots fought with the Chinese against Japanese forces before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

PEARL HARBOR AUDIOBOOK INCLUDED!
This PC game comes with the complete audiobook CD "Pearl Harbor" by Randall Wallace ­ the novelization of the highly anticipated motion picture starring Ben Affleck and Cuba Gooding, Jr. opening Memorial Day weekend. This audio book is a $24 value included in the box.

AVAILABILITY
PEARL HARBOR: ZERO HOUR will be available for the PC (Windows(R) ME, 98, 95) in mid-May at an estimated street price of $19.95.

ESRB Rating
PEARL HARBOR: ZERO HOUR will be rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). All advertising and promotional materials currently carry a "RP" or "Rating Pending" logo. More information on the ESRB and its rating system can be found at www.esrb.org.

Maybe not from the real headlines, but the story of Dominion Wars is taken directly from the "real" Dominion Wars from the last two seasons of the Deep Space Nine television series. You can command battles taken directly from the show, as well as a few battles mentioned only in dialogue. This is very cool if you're a fan of DS9. Think that the Dominion could have beat down Sisko and the Defiant? Or maybe the Klingons could have picked up the pace. It's up to you in Dominion Wars.

Intel has answered AMD with the release of the Pentium 4, which [they] feel is a very promising architectural change. That said, it hasn’t taken off, and benchmarks show it suffering at the hands of AMD. The reason that current programs don't show any real improvement is that they are coded to avoid using (previously slow) main system memory, and the Pentium 4's design relies upon the superior memory bandwidth and the speed of its main memory. It’s a slightly peculiar hypothesis, but it would explain why programs don’t take advantage of the memory bandwidth that the P4 has been built to use.

Networkleague takes pride in offering the first open - and free to join - worldwide online Quake-tournament ever with more than US$ 20.000 in cash prices.

Based on Networkleague’s unique online gaming technology the tournament will start with 4 regional qualifications, The French, The German, The UK and the US Battle. Any player can choose among these qualifications no matter which country he or she comes from.

The tournament will start in the beginning of May and each qualification session consists of three rounds:

Round 1, in which each participant shall play 20 matches (1-on-1), and the 20% of the players having the highest rating after this round will continue to

Round 2, in which each participant shall play 20 matches (1-on-1), and the 32 players having the highest rating after this round will continue to

The Regional Finals, in which the participants shall play against each other following a cup-system. The 4 regional winners will continue to

The Final, being a LAN-based play-off in London on Saturday the 2nd of June. All expenses will be paid for the finalists trip and accommodations in London.

Anyone can join the tournament - from novice to veteran. The Networkleague engine will track each match automatically, store stats, and continuously calculate ratings, accuracy etc. In the beginning of every round the players will be on the same level, meaning, that they will have the same tournament rating. In the end, the tournament rating will differentiate winners from losers.

The winner of Networkleague’s Tournament No. 1 will get a prize of 5.000 US$ and the 3 other finalist will get 3.000 US$, 2.000 US$ and 1.000 US$.
But it is not only the top-players who will get prizes. About half of the cash prizes will go to other than the super elite, e.g. to the most suicidal player, the most camping player, etc.

Microsoft today announced the release of the Dungeon Siege Fan Site Kit (FSK), a set of downloadable assets that will help fans to construct sites dedicated to the highly anticipated RPG title from Gas Powered Games. The FSK contains ten in-game screen shots, four screens of game concept art, 12 rendered character images, biographies of the development team, and logos. The kit may be downloaded from the official Dungeon Siege site:

“I had two surprises while working on this roundup and they were called Kanie and DP5-6H51. Kanie because they made a very good heatsink, even though its heavy, for the true overclocker and CoolerMaster DP5-6H51 because it shows that good performance can be achieved without much noise. GlobalWin, CoolerMaster and ThermalTake performed just as well as expected from manufacturers with such experience and tradition.”

• New spawn system
  
• New sounds
  
• New models
  
• New vgui pics
  
• New team (Spectators)
  
• New prone restriction (1 sec between prones)
  
• Modified Player Speeds (slower)
  
• Tweaked garand accuracy
  
• Fixed score system
  
• Thompson clip to 30 rounds
  
• New Breathing system
  
• New Music System
  
• Map Fade ins

• AI units can now turn their heads in the appropriate direction to yell or acknowledge orders

• Lots of updates and revisions to the multiplayer design doc and user interface

• We've modeled a human escape pod, with the seats facing the rear (just like real military transports) and lockers that actually open

• Just like the bullets, you can read the stenciling on the grenades

• As I began typing these words, Jason, Alex, Joseph, Michael, and a few Microsoft people filed into the Sin-O-MatiXXX video editing room and shut the door. Shortly thereafter we heard the telltale, high-pitched screams of a terrified Joe Staten. I approached with my video camera, hoping to score some good blackmail footage. Alas, all I saw was the group crowded around a TV, engrossed in a 4-player capture the flag game.

"PlayStation 2 presents a new haunt for Casper, and we are raising him to a whole new level by taking advantage of this next generation console," said Vincent Bitetti, chief executive officer of TDK Mediactive. "With incredible graphics and exciting environments, Casper will appeal to a wide age range. The adventurous story will attract younger gamers, and the game's fierce enemies, and challenging battles will draw in a more mature audience."
" 'Casper' features a very accessible two-joystick flight model that completely immerses the player from the moment they start the game," said Peter Gould, vice president of product development for TDK Mediactive. "The guys at Lucky Chicken Games have done a great job working with Ken Fox, Casper's producer at TDK Mediactive, to develop a game that lives up to the expectations of Casper fans everywhere."

The Yamaha speakers' DTS decoding, crisp bass, and flexible contols are great, but come at a cost of overall sound depth.

Which is why, when I first heard about the X-Port, I stammered with approval and muttered, what a bloody good idea! The X-Port, you see, allows you to save your PlayStation 2 save files onto your PC hard-disk, and swap and change them over the Internet.

The new Pentium 4 will likely invigorate the debate between processor aficionados over which company--Intel or Advanced Micro Devices--rules the performance roost. While more speed boosts sales, it is only one measure of performance, and on many standard applications, Athlon outpaces the Pentium 4. The Pentium 4, however, does better on video compression and many multimedia applications.

"On certain things like streaming media, the Pentium 4 does extremely well. On the standard benchmarks, the Athlon does extremely well," said MicroDesign Resources analyst Kevin Krewell. "I'm leaning more toward the Intel model as time goes on," Krewell added. With applications such as Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation program, "we're getting to the point where the (1GHz) processor can do it all."

Intel and AMD are slated to officially cut prices by 20 percent or more April 15 and 16, respectively, according to several sources.

"Well today at 3D GameForce, Raphael van Lierop, one of the new members of the crew wrote up his first article for the site called Deconstructing deity: The grey in Black & White. In the article he talks about how games are evolving and why god games like Black & White are becoming popular. Make sure you check it out!"

Stan Liu: "Nowadays, we all know how extremely dangerous it is to put the two words "interactive" and "movie" together into one sentence, especially in the presence of a publisher. It’s basically a premature death sentence. When I set out to create Fear Effect, my inspiration was quite different than any other game we’ve made before. I ultimately wanted Fear Effect to provoke emotional responses from the player. I did not want a game about how many zombies I’ve killed in three hours or where to find my next weapon upgrade. Instead, I wanted to create a game that will make the player laugh, scream and cry!"

Intel Becomes CPL World Sponsor
The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) announced today that Intel has become a worldwide sponsor of the league. Commencing at the SPEAKEASY.net event next week, Intel will have an exhibition booth displaying their latest Pentium 4 technology at all CPL US events.

"The Pentium processors have been used on all CPL tournament computers since October of 1997. We believe that new Pentium 4 processor represents the pinnacle of quality and performance, and we are proud to continue our tradition of exclusively endorsing Intel's cutting-edge technology" stated Angel Munoz, founder and president of the CPL.

ViewSonic Sponsors The CPL
Dallas, Texas - The Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) announced that ViewSonic has become the latest sponsor of the league. Other sponsors of the CPL include Intel, Microsoft, Logitech, NETGEAR, VisionTek, SPEAKEASY.net, Alienware, Monster Cable, Bawls, Mad Catz, and others. The upcoming SPEAKEASY.net $30,000 Counter-Strike Tournament, will use 50 ViewSonic top-of-the-line PF790 monitors.

The PF790's PerfectFlat screen technology eliminates curved surfaces and enhances visual quality by ensuring minimal glare and exciting, realistic images. With an ultra fine aperture grille pitch of 0.25mm at center and 0.27mm at corner, extremely high resolutions and fast refresh rates, the PF790 monitor is ideal for CPL's extreme game competitions.

In fact, you could almost call it Team Fortress in space, as you'll get to choose among three classes that will determine your abilities and be able to build turrets, force fields and repair robots and even reconnaissance droids. It sounds too good to be true. A lot of people criticised both Quake III and UT for completely abandoning the single-player story-driven experience, but Unreal 2 shows that you can have both. With Return To Castle Wolfenstein and Duke Nukem Forever also vying for our attention, this could be a very good year for FPS fans.

WarCraft III needs no introduction. We've done a couple previews already on FS, and just about all RTS fans have been eagerly awaiting this game since its announcement in late 1999. But for those of you who have just returned from an extended incarceration in a Turkish prison, we'll give you a quick rundown anyway. WarCraft III is the sequel to Blizzard's mega hit RTS, WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness. Cosmetically, the game has changed with the addition of a full 3D game engine, the first ever in a Blizzard software title. In terms of gameplay, WarCraft III borrows elements from the role playing genre, allowing players to use upgradeable heroes in the game.

1) There was a case where some players would enter into a game in observer mode and be unable to spawn (left-click) into the game. This is fixed.

2) The server refresh (on the JOIN screen) is handled better now and is faster.

3) The "Immersion TouchSense Feedback Mouse" fixes are in for that peripheral...making it function properly.

4) The "T2 Technical Information" link is added to the web link list on the NEWS page.

5) Deployable turrets now properly fire when placed underwater.

6) The Redjack bug is fixed. The problem occurred when our network packets were being asked to carry too much information at one time and some info was getting lost.

7) Players were getting their team assignments switched when cycling missions. This is fixed now and will not occur.

Have no fear, like the original, Crazy Taxi will not disappoint. It will retain all the enthralling features that made it a must-play game, including:

• Four different cabs and drivers, each with their own style and attitude
  
• Two expansive, interactive courses for extensive game play
  
• Nine mini-games to challenge various driving skills
  
• True driving dynamics
  
• Wild, mission-based game play infused with humor
  
• Rockin' soundtrack by hit bands Offspring and Bad Religion.
  

Mason is no stranger to composing. He has completed computer compositions for Trilobyte Inc., Westwood Studios and TSR. His music is featured in Trilobyte's Clandestiny computer gaming CD. He also composed for TSR's Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession computer gaming CD. Although composing for computer games opened up a new world for Mason, he did not feel his truest of artistic abilities had been satisfied. A guitarist by education, Mason has a B.A. in music from Rutgers University, 1986. He longed to return to his "rock roots", so in 1995, he began writing and recording songs that would become the rock backbone for The Lachesis Passage.

SmartOS is designed to run faster, and more stable than explorer. This is accomplished by having the actual size of SmartOS much smaller than explorer, thus taking up fewer resources. Smartalec also developed a featured dubbed "Smart Engine". Smart Engine is an adjustable resource allocation tool. Allowing you to decide the amount of resources needed per task on your computer. Also included in SmartOS, is a built in memory-freeing tool.

"One thing of interest during installation was the custom SPDIF & Line Out cabling which the Acoustic Edge used. The Line Out consisted of 1 9 Pin jack & cable which split into 3 other jacks - Center & Subwoofer, Rear Left & Right, Front Left & Right respectively. In a similar vein the SPDIF jack cable consisted of both SPDIF In & Out jacks. It's fairly nice & innovative design, certainly an efficient one. No more reaching around your PC to mess with inputs. You simply have 1 cable to deal with which can easily be placed around the side of your system."

In his most strongly worded attack yet on the computer games industry, Ashcroft said that children "are conditioned in video games to do things that are abhorrent to the human spirit", and that companies "may have to understand that there's a certain responsibility in the development of video games".

"Nothing is more frustrating than a machine going down and in today's information driven world, it is quite important that we minimize downtime, whether we use our computers for business or personal use. But what can you do without spending a fortune? Well check out 3D GameForce's latest review of the Removable Drive Drawer Mobile Rack (IDE / SCSI) from StarTech that may solve your problem."

Rules: Full Name and Email address required. One Submit per person

Winners will have 24Hours to respond to their email to claim your prize prize.

Feel free to contact fubar@moregaming.com if you have any questions.

"Years and years ago, I first picked up a Blizzard title and was in awe. The game was part of their role-playing family; one so addictive after the first time I played that I found it impossible to put down and continued playing for hours on end. Diablo, created by Condor/Blizzard North, was a revolutionary game that forever changed the market. Its unique blend of storyline, hack and slash action, online environment and character development sparked a new era in role-playing games, and lead to such titles as Everquest, Ultima Online and Baldur’s Gate.

Today, though, the same praise cannot to be given to Diablo II or to Warcraft III for that matter. These games, although still highly anticipated by gamers, are no longer the revolutionary products that first gave Blizzard its great name."

Heres a quote:

The first thing I did after buying Black and White was rip the box open with my mad godly powers (yes, its good to be immortal). After installing it and registering I decided to actually play the game, and that is where things got interesting. After the three-minute load time, a menu literally pops up for you to pick a name. I typed in Dargon (originality in all its forms) and then I chose a symbol. Symbols basically identify what you own.

I waited patiently for a couple seconds, expecting to have to tediously stand by for the game world to load, and was surprised when I was suddenly immersed in an amazingly colorful world. Immediately you are plunged into a storyline to destroy Nemesis, a God who thinks that he has the sole right to Godhood.

The first Wizardry game, Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, was published twenty years ago. Revolutionary in its day, it’s widely believed that Wizardry was the first game to introduce computer gamers to the first-person perspective view. For the first time, players saw through the eyes of their character as they navigated the game world. The series went on to spawn six more games, with fans eagerly anticipating the release of each one. Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant was released in 1992 (remade as Wizardry Gold in 1996), and since that time, anxious fans have been patiently awaiting the next chapter. Nearly a decade later, the wait is almost over.

If you were expecting a typical console RPG, think again. Summoner is a major departure, heavy laden with text and a deep, evolving storyline. The game centres on a young lad called Joseph, who has the power to summon ethereal demons to do his bidding. Unfortunately he’s denied himself the powers for a long time, because as a child, while inexperienced, he accidentally slaughtered his entire hometown. Which needless to say didn’t go down too well.

We are upgrading the database that runs the community and thus, must take it down for a few hours.

We are planning this outage for Thursday at 2am, Pacific Standard Time (late tonight), and expect that outage to be over at approximately 5am, Pacific Standard Time.

Hopefully this inconveniences the fewest number of you. This should be the last outage of this type for quite some time.

No one will be able to play "Tribes 2" at all during that time.

In the Expansion Pack, your mission is to chase down Baal into the Barbarian Highlands where you will kill him, and destroy the final soulstone, ridding mankind of evil. In addition to the current five classes (Necromancer, Paladin, Amazon, Barbarian, and Sorceress), there will be two new classes added, the Druid and the Assassin, each with their own skills and upgrades.

We are happy to announce that the signup for the US$ 20K online Quake 3 tournament will start on the 9th of April. Anybody may signup. On the same day details on the tournament structure will be released.

A New Level of Games Statistics Opens for Business

CSports.net have just launched the beta of their new computer games statistics resource. On the site you can find out all you ever wanted to know about how online computer games are played. Not only can you find out stats about yourself and other players but also about the games and the mods that are played. Cool stats such as

- Most popular games
- Most popular mods
- Most popular maps
- Most popular servers
- Players favourite Maps
- Players favourite servers
- Players ranking
- Players frags by day

are easy to find for 42 on-line games, with more games to come shortly as well as other new innovations are being added each week.

CSports.net currently holds stats for over 15 million online gamers.

Montreal, Quebec. April 3rd, 2001 - Strategy First Inc. announced today that it has entered a North American publishing agreement with Flying Lab Software for the release of Rails Across America, a real-time multiplayer strategy game in which players build railroad empires across North America.

"Strategy First is very excited about this partnership," says Don McFatridge, President of Strategy First. "Flying Lab is an up-and-coming developer and we are confident that their game will do well for us in the North American market."

"Rails Across America takes an exciting era of cutthroat competition and crams it into a dynamic two hour multiplayer slugfest," says Russell Williams, Executive Producer, Flying Lab. "We’re thrilled to be working with Strategy First. They’re enthusiastic about the genre and they have a great line of products."

Rails Across America depicts a network of hundreds of tracks with thousands of trains crossing the entire continent. Players focus on strategic decisions, such as where to expand, where to compete, and when to engage in a well-timed price war. Rather than simply operating individual trains, players must build and monitor the rail network, moving cargo from one destination to another. Similar to the “SimCity” model, the level of direct control is limited, but the subtleties that arise are immense, which makes it possible to control large numbers of trains.

While freeing players from managing the "train dispatcher" functions that are common in games such as Railroad Tycoon 2, Rails Across America allows them to focus on higher-level decisions. While many games use money as their sole victory condition, Rails Across America players will compete for ‘prestige’, which is earned by good railroad management and specific goals for different eras. Multifaceted victory points will mean players will be less likely to find economic loopholes by which to dominate the game.

Multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to interact with one another both cooperatively and competitively. They must react to competitive pressures and strike deals with their competitors to play one off against another.

For more information about Rails Across America, log onto www.flyinglab.com

*Rails Across America is scheduled for release in August 2001.

About Strategy First

Strategy First Inc. is a leading worldwide developer and publisher of entertainment software. Established in 1991 and headquartered in historic “Old Montreal”, Strategy First has become one of the largest publishers of PC CD-ROM games in Canada. After acquiring Micomeq, a game developer located in St. Jérôme, QC., and retaining talent from Midnight Software, an award-winning development team from Ottawa, ON., Strategy First is poised to become a major force in the gaming industry. Best known for its Man of War series and Disciples: Sacred Lands, the company has also earned critical acclaim for its work on such titles as Steel Panthers I and II and Age of Rifles for Strategic Simulations Inc. Strategy First has worked with other leading companies in the software and entertainment industry; most notably, A&E Network, Lucas Arts, Cinar Films, Empire Interactive, and Strategic Simulations Inc.

About Flying Lab Software

"...the AI is appalling. The path finding by the characters is so bad they usually find themselves running into walls, unable to navigate around through a door that’s right next to them. Enemies just charge at you and also suffer from bad path finding. I actually found myself luring hoards of Catteni into doorways only then to take them out from a distance as they all got stuck in a doorway. *sigh*"

The demo mission consists of picking up team of soldiers, machine gunners and LAW soldiers from a base further inland on the island and working your way up to hostile territory from where you will have to conquer the area and make your way down to the pick up zone where a UH60 will come and get you.

Entrants stand a chance of winning an original piece of concept art, and the few runners up get copies signed by the artists!

The competition sadly is limited to US citizens only.

"VIA's KT133A motherboard chipset has really taken off, just as we predicted it would, with every major manufacturer of motherboards from ASUS to IWill now offering an Athlon solution based upon it. With so many gamers looking to cash in on the recent price reductions in 'classic' SDRAM and the Athlon itself, the KT133A has become the most popular option for upgraders."

"If first impressions are critical, Konami got Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (MGS2) off to a dazzling start in May of 2000. At the world’s largest videogame tradeshow, E3, the media and gamers alike were treated to a sneak-peek of the title in the form of a dramatic Hollywood-style movie trailer shown through-out the three-day event. The buzz was almost instantaneous, and it sent shockwaves throughout the industry as the media machine went into overdrive. MGS2 would be heralded as a dawning of a new age of interactive entertainment."

SIMON & SCHUSTER INTERACTIVE SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH DAYDREAM SOFTWARE AB TO PUBLISH "SKI-DOO(R) X-TEAM RACING" IN NORTH AMERICA

A Multi-Player Snowmobile PC Game, Gamers Can Race Against Others via The Internet

NEW YORK, April 2, 2001 - Simon & Schuster Interactive announced today The Company has signed an agreement with Stockholm game developer, Daydream Software AB, to publish "Ski-Doo(R) X-Team Racing" in North America. Ski-Doo(R) X-Team Racing is a multi-player snowmobile racing game for the PC (Windows(R) ME, 98, 95), available in Fall 2001.

ABOUT "SKI-DOO(R) X-TEAM RACING"
Imagine cruising across snow covered fields at 50 mph in a 300 pound machine_ the wind whipping your hair, the shrieks of horror from skiers as you cruise past them, and then_ you hit the jump. You pull up and go airborne while you hang on for dear life. But it's not just you, there's 7 other racers heading for the finish line. This is X-TEAM RACING.

Gamers can choose from 15 courses to race on - from the easy to the ridiculously hard. Each can be played in single player mode or multi-player mode via a LAN (Local Area Network) or Internet (TCP/IP) connection.

Ski-Doo(R) X-Team Racing will be available in Fall 2001 for the PC (Windows ME, 98, 95).

ESRB Rating
Ski-Doo (R) X-Team Racing will be rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). All advertising and promotional materials currently carry a "RP" or "Rating Pending" logo. More information on the ESRB and its rating system can be found at www.esrb.org.

Simon & Schuster Interactive is the consumer software publishing unit of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Based in New York, S&SI publishes entertainment, education and reference titles across numerous platforms. The Company is the Codie Award winning publisher of the best-selling "Douglas Adams Starship Titanic" adventure, the best-selling parody "Deer Avenger" series, and numerous critically-acclaimed children's software titles.

Simon & Schuster, the publishing operation of Viacom Inc., is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed and multimedia formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Trade Publishing, Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, Simon & Schuster New Media, Simon & Schuster Online, Simon & Schuster U.K., and Simon & Schuster Australia. For more information about Simon & Schuster, visit our website at www.simonsays.com.

Viacom is the No. 1 platform in the world for advertisers, with preeminent positions in broadcast and cable television, radio, outdoor advertising, and online. With programming that appeals to audiences in every demographic category across virtually all media, the company is a leader in the creation, promotion, and distribution of entertainment, news, sports, and music. Viacom's well-known brands include CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, Paramount Pictures, Infinity Broadcasting, UPN, TNN, CMT, Showtime, Blockbuster, and Simon & Schuster. More information about Viacom and its businesses is available at www.viacom.com.

• 128x128 Badlands
  
• Designed for 4-6 Players