Montreal, Quebec. March 18th, 2002 - Strategy First and PAN Vision announced today that they have signed a distribution agreement in which PAN Vision acquires the rights to distribute Disciples II and Trainz throughout the Scandinavian territories.

"We enjoyed working with PAN Vision for some of our previous titles, " said Stewart Braybrook, Executive of European Operations for Strategy First, " and now we look forward to working with them again; this time for Disciples II and Trainz. Both of these titles have done exceptionally well in North America. We are pleased to finally be able to bring these exciting titles to a worldwide audience."

Developed by a small development studio named Saturn+, Jazz and Faust is an adventure title that allows you to play from multiple perspectives. At the beginning of the story, you are asked to select a character; Jazz takes the role of a smuggler and the life of an underground criminal, while Faust is the sea captain of a notable ship, the 'Invisible'. These characters will both progress through the storyline, meeting up on occasion, but each view's the story from a different perspective. While Faust is off completing an objective, Jazz may be simply wandering about in another part of the world.

"According to a report from CeBit's newsletter, Microsoft lodged a complaint with the event's organisers, forcing them to admit that yes, Sony were breaking regulations. As a result the publisher had to remove all 27 PlayStation 2 consoles from their stand at the weekend, leaving the Xbox as the only major console on show for the remaining four days of CeBit."

"All the classic arcade machines on display (around 25) will be on freeplay, so please wash your hands and treat them with the respect such Old Masters deserve. There will also be a game emulation station showing the other arcade games we wanted but didn't have space for. There will be a comprehensive collection of machines and games that tell the international 30 year console story; many of these will be playable. And there will be advertised special interest events throughout the duration of the show (five months each in London and Edinburgh) where particular subjects will be explored in greater detail. So some of the stuff which is too precious and temperamental to have on all the time will be playable then."

"Its familiar shape rose out from all the cardboard and polystyrene - a black brick of a thing with appealing circular silver buttons on the front and a garish lime-green button on its top....The colour, apparently, is supposed to conjure up images of magic and outer space, personally I reckon the head designer went on a lager and mint choc-chip ice cream binge, which has haunted him every since, but regardless here's the spec..."

"The joypad, very much like the dual-shock PS pad has a built-in rumble pad. It can be turned off though if the recoil gets a little too wearing, but trust me, if its on you'll know when you're firing a big gun. Satisfying, yes, I think that's the word for it."

Speaking of Ladder. GFraizer a Blizzard Entertainment Webmaster and Battle.net Sytems Administrator has posted the top 1000 players in the beta Ladder located here.

Cipher is a complete technology solution for developers working on the current and next wave of gaming hardware. Designed specifically to address spiralling development times and costs, Cipher delivers an integrated development environment that provides all of the core systems required to deliver cutting edge games in the quickest possible time and at a minimum of cost.

Amongst the host of new features for Cipher 1.2 are:

New Advanced Animation System (fully skinned characters with facial animation)
Support for Mathengine’s Karma physics
New Lens Flare and Sun Glare effects
New Shader Commands
New Particle System Commands
New Shader remapping
Updated Sound and Music Support
Updated Multiplayer Support
Updated Tools
New Console Commands

Vince Farquharson, Development Director for Synaptic Soup commented “With Cipher 1.2, Synaptic Soup is continuing its commitment to provide the most comprehensive and cost effective middleware solution available to developers. With its powerful feature set, flexible licensing options, no royalties to pay and now the additional features of version 1.2, there has never been a better time to join the growing number of Cipher licensees.”

About Synaptic Soup
Synaptic Soup is a developer of videogames and videogames’ technology. The company was founded in May 2000 and is dedicated to bringing the highest quality games to the mass market and the best technology to the development community. Synaptic Soup’s premier product is Cipher, a one-stop middleware solution for developers creating current and next-generation titles.

By popular demand, the Daily Victim has returned to GameSpy.com after a short hiatus. Posted every weekday with a special color version each weekend, The Daily Victim has been a staple of GameSpy content ever since ... who are we kidding? It's always been on the fringe, and we kinda like it there.

Daily Victim is a parody of Internet gaming culture. Each day a new "victim" is featured. Users can rank each one based on an extrememly scientific ten-point scale ranging from "Not Funny" to "Keeper." The highest ranked victim each week goes on to reappear in a special color weekend edition, usually part of an ongoing storyline.

The comic is written and created by Dave "Fargo" Kosak. Giving it a new spin is the all-new artist, Lemuel "HotSoup" Pew, who replaces Penny-Arcade's venerable Gabriel as the illustrator.

Discreet's gmax will allow users to create and import their own 3D content into the game and extend the incredible capabilities of the Trainz Surveyor even further. Trainz already allows users to create spectacular layouts, but now with gmax they can be populated with objects and locomotives created by people from all over the world and then linked and swapped freely over the net.

When asked about the meaning of this new partnership and what it will offer players of the game, representatives of Strategy First, Auran and Discreet had this to say;

"We are very excited about this new venture, " says Steve Wall, V.P. Business Development, Strategy First. "Trainz will be one of the first games of its kind on the market that will include the gmax game pack. I am confident that budding artists, modelers and any train or gaming fan will be blown away by the game and what gmax can offer."

"gmax provides the potential for the current Trainz community to virtually reconstruct every significant railroad structure in the world and offer it for download over the internet, " says Greg Lane, CEO, Auran. "The added value gmax brings to Trainz is fantastic!"

“Trainz game pack has a custom user interface, splash screen and some nice tutorials explaining precisely how to get your models into the game; it’s really easy,” said Paul Perreault, gmax product manager, Discreet. "This game pack is clear evidence of Discreet's commitment to help game developers reduce their time-to-market and publishers find new ways to provide greater value to consumers."

"As 3D versions of decadent scrolling beat ‘em ups go, SOE isn’t terribly special, but it has done well on the basis of its association with the Rockstar brand. Developer VIS Entertainment has had no qualms about dashing a bit of the old ultra-violence all over the gaming world’s collective face, but it’s done so with none of the polish and glamour of the immense, definitive videogame that is Grand Theft Auto 3."

“Core to the appeal of heroic fantasy is the ability to make your mark on the world around you,” said Stuart Moulder, general manager of Microsoft Game Studios. “‘Asheron’s Call 2’ delivers this with an engine that allows players to genuinely affect the landscape and story of the world, combined with graphics that rival some first-person shooters. We expect ‘Asheron’s Call 2’ to elevate online gaming, and our players in the process.”

In “Asheron’s Call 2,” players will be challenged to rebuild a world that has been devastated by a great disaster. Their actions will help determine where and how the world is restored. In their quest to rebuild the world, players also must deal with ongoing events, including such world-shaking calamities as blizzards, volcanoes and hordes of invading forces, as the story unfolds. Players can align with one of three kingdoms and battle both monsters and opposing players to capture and control precious resources — and ultimately, survive.

“Designing ‘Asheron’s Call 2’ is especially exciting because it is a living process,” said Jeff Anderson, CEO of Turbine Entertainment. “Once we’ve completed the boxed game, our technology allows us to easily deliver new features and content regularly. The beauty of an online game design is that we have an ongoing creative outlet — and commitment to our players — to keep the game challenging and alive month after month.”