Gothenburg, Sweden - August 15, 2001 - MindArk AB announced today that preparations continue to progress smoothly for the upcoming Phase II beta test of its revolutionary Internet-based interactive entertainment enterprise, Project Entropia. The latest step to be completed is the selection of 500 new testers from among many thousands of applications received from around the world. The company stated that the process of notifying the new testers is under way, and reiterated its projection that Phase II will begin by the end of this month.

"We are overwhelmed by the level of interest in Project Entropia and by the tremendous number of Internet users who have applied to take part in our testing," stated Patric Sundstrom, MindArk's Marketing Manager. "This meant selecting the testers required a lot more work than we had originally anticipated, but at the same time, it has been very motivating for the entire development team to see how eager the global Internet community is to experience Project Entropia. Consequently, as we get ready to start Phase II in a couple of weeks, we are more focused, more enthusiastic and more motivated than ever before."

Project Entropia is an innovative new form of Internet-based interactive entertainment that will be made available to millions of Internet users around the world at no initial cost and with no subscription fees. In the roles of human colonists on the virtual planet Calypso, they will be able to meet and socialize, adventure into wilderness areas where they will face challenges from wild indigenous creatures and invading robots, take part in building a virtual society, and perhaps even acquire real-world wealth.

Applications for further phases of the Project Entropia beta test are still being accepted at
http://www.project-entropia.com/betatest/apply.asp?topic=betatest

Additional information about Project Entropia can be found on the official website at http://www.project-entropia.com/ .

MindArk (http://www.mindark.com) develops technology solutions that address the entertainment needs of millions of Internet users. With novel applications in the interactive entertainment sector and browser infrastructure, MindArk is a world leader in expanding the new universe.

With faster Pentium 4 CPUs coming out soon it comes like no surprise that we can buy now a 1.7GHz P4 for $225.47. AMD is playing nicely as well selling the fastest Athlon 1.4GHz for $116.00 and the 1GHz version for only $76.99.

Arcanum First Impressions
RPG Vault offeres their first impressions (not a review..) of the latest RPG from Troika, Arcanum.

Anarchy Online Interview
The guys at ZOCKS.de scored a quick interview (in English) with Sarah Dietzschold and Tor Andre Wigmostad about Anarchy Online since most readers weren't too happy with their automatic translation of their German review.

Troubleshooting Instability Article
The guys at Speedy3D have kicked up an article on how to troubleshoot the various computer crashes and general instability in one's computer.

Video Game Addiction Article
Gamitopia has slapped up a quick article on video game addiction, resorting to psychology for answers.

Toxic Arcanum
EuroGamer is reporting that one of the shipments in the UK of Troika's Arcanum came in truck full of toxic chemicals. Quite interesting..

As one great journey ends, another voyage brimming with excitement begins. We are absolutely thrilled to announce the commercial release of Shattered Galaxy on August 21,2001! You can expect to see Shattered Galaxy on shelves across North America starting on the 21st. We will be ready for the inception of the first heroes by commencing our servers beforehand. We have been working around the clock to ensure a smooth transition into commercialization.

During commercialization we will offer our customers several payment options regarding their subscriptions. Players worried about not having credit cards will be able to play and maintain an account through our non-credit card payment options, such as money orders. The subscription price for SG is $9.95/month (USD), but we also have a limited time offer of a 1 year subscription for only $59.95 (USD)! When you buy Shattered Galaxy, you will have a free month's subscription. Please check www.sgalaxy.com in the upcoming days for the latest information on the launch and for new FAQs.

Hello Pilots! I just got off of ICQ with Ciaran from SR. Just
a little info to pass along. Most of this you may have already
heard. The word is that a BETA of the patch will be out by the
end of August. That's as close to a date as I could get. It is
going to be a large download. About the same size as the last
one. The game will require Direct X7 only, not 8 like may have
previously been posted. They said that they wanted 8 because it
will allow play from behind a NAT Router for online games, but
they have a few issues with DX8 at the moment, so it may not
happen this time around. Most of the changes are with the code,
not resources. They said that they have not improved the flight
characteristics of the AI pilots, (they will still run into
walls) but he said that the new Auto Pilot uses basically the
same engine as the AI pilots, so that will give them some insite
into how they fly. There is a key control to toggle auto pilot
on and off. Auto pilot will fly towards a targeted building, or
attack a targeted ship. Also, the upgrade is supposed to help
the economy run better, plus you will be able to manufacture
stuff for yourself. And finally, the longterm goal for the game
is to have a permanent online internet game running. It won't
be Hardwar because of the ownership issue of the name, but it
will use the Hardwar engine.

THREE REALMS AND NEW SERVER ARCHITECTURE
READY TO GO IN MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE ROLE-PLAYING GAME

FAIRFAX, VA – AUGUST 20, 2001 – Mythic Entertainment, creator of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Dark Age of CamelotÔ, has entered into its fourth stage of Beta testing, leading toward a mid-October 2001 launch. This stage includes Hibernia – the third realm – and a series of major new additions and improvements. Dark Age of Camelot is developed by Mythic Entertainment and published by Abandon Entertainment, and will be distributed throughout North America by Vivendi Universal Interactive.

Dark Age of Camelot, Beta tested by over 2,500 gamers worldwide to date, has received consistently positive previews throughout the media including GameSpot, Games Domain, and IGN PC.

“Stage three of our Beta test was a complete success,” explained Mythic Entertainment President Mark Jacobs. “Now we’ll really turn up the heat and several thousand more people, who are already part of our Beta program, will find the doors of Camelot open and ready to admit them.”

Dark Age of Camelot: The Game

Camelot takes place after the death of King Arthur, and breaks new ground for online play with three realms in conflict – realms that used to be peaceful and united under Arthur’s rule. The players assume a character from one of the three realms: Midgard, Hibernia, or Albion. Each realm is based on the mythologies of Viking-era Scandinavia, ancient Ireland, and Arthurian Britain, respectively. While retaining and enhancing the traditional appeal of MMORPGs (monsters, treasure, loot – lots and lots of loot), Dark Age of Camelot adds the additional challenges of protecting the player’s realm’s powerful relics and to raid enemy territories to steal their relics and bring them home. Dark Age of Camelot is a next generation MMORPG and features 3D-accelerated graphics with movable camera, multiple class and race combinations, Player vs. Player and Player vs. Environment action, a robust trade skill system, and the most comprehensive player Guild system in any MMORPG.

Dark Age of Camelot: What’s New in Beta 4

The 5,000 new beta testing slots are being filled by existing Beta applicants who were selected from nearly 34,000 applications received during a one-week period in June when the Beta 3 testing was announced. No additional Beta applications are currently being accepted. Here’s what’s new in Beta 4:

New Server Architecture. The fourth Beta includes new server architecture in preparation for the game going “live.” The installation of the new architecture also results in an increase in available bandwidth speeding player downloads and updates.

New Chat Interface and New Account Creation process.

Improved Dynamic Colored Lighting System that adds more immersion and beauty to the game.

New Guild System that features selectable guild symbols that can be placed on guild members’ cloaks.

Improved Sound and Music support including regionalized soundtracks.

New Trade Skill System with thousands of items that players can create in the game for sale to both merchants and other players.

Jacobs continued, “This stage of Beta testing promises to be our most exciting to date. With all the new features that we are adding to the game, our Beta testers will have their hands full testing them all. Plus, the best is yet to come.”

After the recent announcement regarding Sierra's strategic reorganization, many are aware that Dynamix has been closed and the development of TRIBES has been relocated to Sierra's Bellevue studio. Long time veteran of the gaming industry, Producer Rod Fung, will be heading up TRIBES development and moving the franchise forward. Rod has been with Sierra for over eleven years, most notably producing the award-winning SWAT titles for the company. Rod will be assembling a TRIBES development team consisting of experienced game developers, including talent from the original TRIBES 2 team.

The transition will be seamless and transparent for our TRIBES fans. Both TRIBES and TRIBES 2 are currently among the top five online action games and fans can expect the same level of dedication that they have received in the past. The Bellevue based development team has long-term visions and plans for the TRIBES games and is dedicated to continuing traditions of the franchise.

More immediately, work continues on an upcoming TRIBES 2 patch and a playable demo. The authentication servers are up, the IRC servers will continue as they are and the forums on TRIBES2.com are strong and thriving.

Please stay tuned for what is to come as Sierra focuses on continuing and growing the TRIBES franchise and its community.

WHERE: Neverwinter Vault Chat http://nwvault.ign.com/chat/
(IRC clients connect to: chat1.ign.com in channel #neverwinter)

WHEN: Thursday, August 23rd, 2001
5:00 pm Pacific Time
6:00 pm Mountain Time
8:00 pm Eastern Time

Microsoft is strongly encouraging retailers to pre-sell the Xbox in $499 bundle packs, pre-packed with Microsoft-published software and peripherals. While bundling isn’t a requirement to sell the Xbox, The Times says that Microsoft will provide additional marketing money to retailers who do.
Some analysts say that the move is a risky one for MS, especially since Nintendo isn’t providing any incentive to bundle the already-cheaper GameCube…though Microsoft says they’re just responding to retailer requests. “When we came up with the program, we wanted it to be what's best for retailers," said Microsoft spokesman James Bernard. "This is based on what retailers told us they wanted."

Don't worry—you'll be seeing more of Max in the future. Dimension Films and Collision Entertainment are teaming up to make a feature film based on 'Max Payne,' and further adventures of this character are already in the works.

“Our decision to delay the release of Dungeon Siege is one of the toughest we’ve had to make, but we firmly believe that this is the right choice given that one of the most critical steps in creating an RPG is the tuning and balancing stage, we’ve made a promise to build a game that delivers an over-the-top experience, and we’ll do whatever it takes to deliver on that promise."

The new release date is projected in 2002. Get more official updates at their Official website, www.microsoft.com/games/dungeonsiege/

The two demo sequences we've seen of the game have shown how id is translating the essence of the original Doom game into the new graphics engine. Doom, always reminiscent of Aliens with its mix of sci-fi and horror, is a space marine game in which there's no shortage of humanoid zombies and other nasty monsters to shoot. Already, the preview sequences have shown how several familiar faces will appear in the new game, including a pink demon, an imp, and a human zombie with a whip arm--any of which look capable of dealing you a gruesome end in a dark lonely corridor. One dramatic scene we saw took place in a white-tiled bathroom. A pink demon strode up to a bloated cadaver in the center of the room and tore a bloody chunk out of its stomach, revealing its entrails and spreading a pool of blood across the floor. The sequence was cinematic in quality, smoothly and believably animated. But it's tough to say what the engine will look like from a standard first-person view. The original Doom was characterized by hordes of monsters on the screen at once, and this may not be feasible with this complex graphics engine. Having many 3D enemies on the screen at once is much more taxing for PC hardware than moving animated 2D sprites around.

Action Vault: For those who may not know much about it, can you give us a summary of Unreal II and its storyline?

Mike Verdu: The game takes place in the same universe as the original Unreal, but the player takes the role of a new character - a peace officer responsible for patrolling a sector of space in the early stages of colonization. The player character makes his rounds in a small starship called the Atlantis, assisted by a crew of three: Aida, the first officer, Isaak, the ship's engineer, and Ne'Ban, the alien pilot.

The Atlantis is 69 days out on a routine patrol when all hell breaks loose in the sector. Multiple alien races and human factions begin fighting violently with each other, in space and on planet surfaces. The player must find out why the war started, attempt to stop the fighting, and protect the civilians who are caught in the crossfire. These often conflicting objectives will lead the player into many furious battles with different opponents. I can't really talk about the story beyond the basic set-up; we're trying to keep the details under wraps until the game ships. The only way people will find out about the major story points is by playing the game.

GRAPEVINE, TX – August 15, 2001 - On-line fighter pilots and combat enthusiasts alike will cheer their way into battle here-after at half the price of their prior war games when they enter the realm of Aces High, HiTech Creations' award-winning multi-player WWII combat simulator played over the Internet.

With an ever growing subscriber base, now at a global population of regularly engaged members, HiTech Creations has "staked a claim on its success by positioning Aces High for continued expansion, and is pleased to announce a major reduction in the subscription price," according to Dale Addink, CEO.

According to Addink, " Aces High has always gotten rave reviews, though touted in the on-line entertainment industry as a 'premium game at a premium price.' Now due to successful adoption rates, we can reposition the game as the premium product at a competitive price. And that's good news for our customers and for the industry at large."

Addink notes that, "While we primarily promote the game as a flight-simulation, the scope of the game goes well beyond airplanes--attracting players from all over the world. It is the only online combat simulation today that combines air, land, and sea units that players control in a constant virtual battle." Players who participate form communities, or squadrons," and virtually engage in Aces High combat from as far as Japan, Finland, the UK, and of course all over Canada and the US."

Aces High was named ONLINE FLIGHT SIM OF THE YEAR in The Best of 2000 by Internet Game authority SimHQ.com, who stated in their review, "Aces High, has attracted a lot of attention for its flight model, looks, and for being the first out of the gates with a true air / land / sea battle… naval vessels in an arena already brimming with fighters, bombers, tanks, and land vehicles … If you want to see a company going 120% for its customers and a product that has come a long ways in a short time, check out Aces High. It's simply great."

Effective August 15, the new monthly subscription fee to wage war in the ultimate on-line combat simulation is only $14.95 per month for unlimited usage, compared to its previous premium rate of $29.95. "The other unique selling point to Aces High, unlike many other subscription games, is that Aces High does not require you to purchase software or upgrades -- and instead gives each new customer two FREE weeks to try the game before subscribing," adds Addink, who's resume also details authorship of previously successful interactive games.

The principals at Aces High promise more innovations and good news to come from the already popular Internet success story, where work really is "a game," notes VP, Doug Balmos.

Aces High is available as a free download. Free 8-person multi-player support is incorporated in the front-end. For massively multiplayer flying, a monthly subscription is required after a free two-week trial period.

Speakeasy.net and the Cyberathlete Amateur League (CAL) are pleased to announce a partnership which will solidify CAL as one of the largest online leagues in North America, while maximizing the power of the Speakeasy.net service.

Speakeasy.net and CAL are deploying geographically distributed servers in 11 U.S. markets. The cities are: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. All servers are installed and running in the very same racks that terminate Speakeasy.net DSL and Broadband services, giving all players with Speakeasy.net DSL service local network access.

The teams in CAL's Half-Life Counter-Strike and Quake III divisions will be offered exclusive use of these new servers for official matches. These new Speakeasy.net servers will be launched next month.

The Cyberathlete Amateur League, a division of NewWorld.com, Inc., is one of the nation's fastest growing online gaming leagues. Players from across the United States can compete in a semi-professional environment, with regular seasons and opportunities to qualify to participate in live tournaments, with as much as $150,000 in cash prizes, held by the Cyberathlete Professional League. For more information on the Cyberathlete Amateur League, visit www.caleague.com

Founded in 1994, Speakeasy.net is a privately held, national Broadband Service Provider specializing in DSL. Focused on building a comprehensive broadband experience, Speakeasy.net fuses existing Internet utility and content with its pioneering of value-added services that define the broadband frontier. For the complete Speakeasy.net story, please visit http://www.speakeasy.net/inside.

One problem with memory is that it's easily erased by turning off the computer. IBM is working on a chip that won't forget and may bring a new age when computers turn on instantly and cellphones virtually never run out of power. Called MRAM (magnetic random access memory), the chips don't require electricity to retain information, instead they use magnetic polarity to create ones and zeros.

Fifteen countries/regions will hold individual tournaments via the MSN Gaming Zone, LAN events, or local partners in August and September 2001. Each country/region will crown a national champion who will receive prize money and represent their home country or region in the world finals. Each of the finalists will be sent to compete in the world finals in Redmond, Washington on October 24, 2001, which will be hosted by Ensemble Studios' legendary game designer Bruce Shelley, among others. The overall value of all cash prizes is over $100,000, with the winner of the competition taking home $50,000.

Age of Empires is one of the most successful strategy game franchises in history, having sold over eight million units worldwide. The series, developed by Ensemble Studios, has received numerous awards including AIAS Strategy Game of the Year awards for Age of Empires, Age of Empires II: Age of Kings, and The Conquerors Expansion; as well as the prestigious AIAS PC Game of the Year for Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion challenges gamers to wage war on an epic scale with all-new civilizations, unique units and technologies, and campaigns based on infamous conquerors such as Attila the Hun, El Cid and Montezuma.

CPL Europe released a couple of additional information about the 27.500 € CPL Berlin on the official event website http://berlin.cpleurope.com

The winner of the 25.000 € Counter Strike tournament with 40 teams will go home with 10.000 € and teams up to the 8th place can win cash prizes. The top 5 Clans from London will be autoberthed and therefore have a reserved spot.

The tournament sponsored by ELSA and Intel will be run in the ICC which is directly above the IFA, one of the world leading consumer entertainment exhibitions and include a 150 player Lan area.

William Haskins, along with the rest of the GodGames family, have moved on from the gaming industry. The good news is, we're moving, together, into a new and exciting venture: SubstanceTV.

SubstanceTV is a DVD-based videomagazine that will be devoted to high-quality interactive feature stories, and a wealth of short films, documentaries, music videos, movie and game trailers, and more.

It's an idea whose time has come, and we're proud to be creating a product that will go beyond the limitations of mass media and network programming to explore the people, ideas, and events that bring real meaning to life...

Hence, the name 'Substance'.

We won't officially announce the company for another week, but I'm sending you this email today because we've pre-launched our website and are using
this time to bring our friends and family the opportunity to be among the first to subscribe.

Like any pioneering effort, SubstanceTV is wrought with countless obstacles, skeptics, and endless possibilities. The GodGames founders have put up their
personal money to make this venture a reality, but ultimately we are relying on getting our message out and building our subscriber base.

A 10-issue subscription for 2002 is only $14.95, and we will distribute an Introductory Issue to all new subscribers in November of this year. If you change your mind after seeing the Introductory Issue, your subscription price will be credited back to your card at your request.

Reviews:

Previews:

Interviews:

I caught pictures of the list of feats and skills in the demonstrated build of Neverwinter Nights, and got a few new views of the Toolset, including a shot of the forest area from the editor. Sadly, the lighting in the exhibit hall was very bright, and almost drowned out the powerful projector BioWare brought with them. Watching Derek play the role of the cleric, I was able to see the game from a new angle. The quick chat system seemed simple and effective, and the radial menu system was very sharp and looked easy to navigate. As before, there was a row of function keys at the bottom of the screen, where an object or action could be assigned to, and the function key is simply pressed to perform that action.

The media is always quick to blame video games as the cause of violent incidents worldwide. In the past ten years, games like Doom, Quake, Half-Life, and Warcraft have been the center of government probes to explain murders and mass killings. While not completely neglecting other factors, the general media always seem to place the blame spotlight on games in the six o'clock news. Why are governments holding hearings on the effects of computer games on violence when they can focus on other societal issues that surround violent incidents?

Reviews:

Previews:

Screenies:

[Ulairi] Are you showing us complete final models? Or what the overall race will look like in-game so we can give feedback?

[Charles Jacobi] No, nothing we have released to date should be considered final. Here is rough idea of the process. At the moment we are modelling, texturing and animating the characters and then putting them into our graphics engine. From there we move on to other characters while we collect internal and in some cases the external comments on them. Just prior to the being of beta, we will take the collective responses and do a second pass on all the characters. During beta we will continue to polish until we have arrived at a suitable version for release.

[Ulairi] Will you guys be able to up the polygon count later? Or are you stuck?

[Charles Jacobi] A final poly count cannot be established until we are a point in beta when we have the opportunity to test the graphics engine under more realistic circumstances with lots of real players running about with varied customized characters. Any game developer will tell you that the whole poly count issue in a 3D game is like trying to hit a moving target when you are early in development. We are not stuck to the current counts but correcting a model does take time so we hope to limit the number of times we do go through the revision process.

[Ulairi] Since you guys are going for a real nice world, (With all that foliage, detail, etc) does that hurt the amount of polygons the races can have?

[Charles Jacobi] Not necessarily. We are being conservative, but I can say that the same goes for the world developers.

Reviews:

Screenshots:

Interviews:

The Dynastack DS2216 has a number of useful features that are often only found in more expensive switches. First of all the switch has sixteen 10/100Mbps ports. This unit sports neat "power buttons" on the front of the unit to allow for greater control and configuration. This will allow you to power and control each connection to the switch on each individual port. In addition, port 8 on this unit can be used as an uplink to another hub or switch, which can be extremely useful if one is trying to connect to an existing network.