 Battlefront.Com Storms the Web
A new web-based game publishing company entitled Battlefront.com launches today. The new company was formed to provide wargame and military history enthusiasts with first-class computer games and an interactive wargaming community. In addition, Battlefront.com is announcing the availability of seven products at its web site.
Battlefront.com is a one-year-old startup founded by gaming veterans including Charles Moylan of Big Time Software, creator of the Achtung Spitfire and Over the Reich, and Stephen Grammont, president of Frontal Assaultware and creator of Onslaught, an abstract war simulation.
Grammont (president of Battlefront) and Moylan (vice president) have created the company to bring fun, high-quality, and affordable wargames to a community of gamers that has been abandoned by mainstream game publishing companies.
"Someone has to take a stand against the rampant commercialism plaguing the gaming industry today. The collective talent, experience, and love of wargaming behind Battlefront.com puts us in a unique position to rise to this challenge," says Grammont.
According to Grammont, the Web will be key to Battlefront.com's strategy. "The Web offers us an amazing opportunity to bring quality wargames and other military-minded products to the gaming community without compromising creative design, historical accuracy, or intellectual challenge just to suit the mass-market," says Grammont.
By publishing games direct and selling its titles exclusively via the Web, Battlefront.com has created a viable sales channel for small, independent wargame developers that don't have the marketing budget to muscle their way onto retail shelves. Consequently, Battlefront.com will bring to market exciting, creative games that might otherwise never make it into gamers' hands including products from such well-known and respected gamers as Art of War Publishing, Boku Strategy Games, Big Time Software, Frontal Assaultware, and Major I.L. Holdridge.
The company currently has the following titles available for sale: Military Ref. Library Vol. 1, Achtung Spitfire, Over The Reich, Flight Commander 2, and Onslaught
Battlefront.com also has two new mac games in the works, Combat Mission and TacOps Classic 2.0.
Combat Mission is a 1-2 player, turn based 3D simulation of WWII tactical warfare. It combines unparalleled game depth and ease of use with a true 3D environment. The move to the 3rd dimension is not just to look cool, rather it improves the accuracy of the simulation. Think of the world around us - it's all 3D. True 3D LOS, 3D spotting, 3D terrain, and 3D trajectories are a lot more realistic than 2D approximations, so that is what CM delivers! [Deniz]
 IMG Expands Macworld Game Coverage
IMG is extremely excited to announce our new affiliation with Macworld Online. Macintosh games have been exploding the last few months, and IMG has been there every step of the way in providing our readers with the best in Macintosh gaming news and events. Coupled with Macworld's extensive resources, IMG will be expanding Macworld's coverage of Macintosh games on the Macworld and iMacworld web sites.
"Macworld Online couldn't be more delighted about adding IMG's gaming expertise to our growing lineup of contributors," said Mac Publishing Director of Online Content Matthew Rothenberg. "This new relationship promises to sharpen our focus on the vital gaming segment of the Mac market, which has grown by leaps and bounds since the introduction of the iMac. IMG's online gaming coverage has consistently led the industry, and we're excited to be working with Tuncer Deniz to ensure that we're at the vanguard of this booming market." [Deniz]
Logicware Update on Mac Quake II Status
It appears to be a great irony that Mac Gamers are still waiting for Quake 2 even though we are already playing Quake 3. Ok, it's not really Quake 3, just a networking test version - but you get my point. What's with the wait?
Nate Trost of Logicware (who is doing the Q2 port) has been kind enough to keep the Mac community up-to-date with latest developments by posting on the Usenet group comp.sys.mac.games. No mention of a release date of course. When asked about the latest news he said:
"Still crunching bugs, although we're getting to the end.
The ultimate hold-up will probably be the availability of the 1.0 OpenGL distribution. We can't ship until that's done, but hopefully it won't be long now."
With OpenGL and MesaQuake-using gamers already fragging each other with Q3Test, is there still a market for Quake 2? Well people have to remember that Quake 2 still has one big advantage - it still has solo play for the network-impared (such as myself!). [Simon]
IMG's E3 Page Debuts
IMG's at E3? But of course! IMG's very own Editor-in-Chief Tuncer Deniz,
along with Senior News Editor Michael Eilers and Senior Editor Robn Kester will be on hand to bring you the latest from the Electronics and Entertainment Expo from May 12-15th.
This year promises to be an incredible show. We've got appointments with all the major publishers, and we plan on hitting practically every publisher at E3 to get the scoop on any Macintosh games they might be developing.
Be sure to check our E3 page often, we plan on bringing timely updates with news and pictures directly from the show. In addition, we'll be taking tons of video which we plan on putting on the next issue of Inside Mac Games (which will ship shortly after the E3 show).
 Simon and Schuster Launches E3 Lineup
Simon & Schuster Interactive today announced its 1999 E3 lineup which contains interactive entertainment, "Girl Games," and education titles for every member of the family:
Deer Avenger II: The Return of Bambo - Bambo returns in the sequel to the PC Data Top 10 hit. Written by Late Night with Conan O'Brien writer Brian McCann, Bambo is back and falling in love with - Jane Doe?!? More details will be announced at E3. Published in conjunction with Havas Interactive. Distributed by Havas Interactive.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine / The Next Generation Companions - The ultimate viewing companion for fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on CD-ROM. These CD-ROMs (to be sold separately) will allow Trekkers, for the first time, can see video trailers, read detailed summaries of each episode, and read and search the scripts from each episode in their entirety.
 Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen - Simon & Schuster Interactive will release the ultimate Star Trek game based on the acclaimed Deep Space Nine series - "Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen." Due to ship this fall simultaneously for the Mac and PC, "The Fallen" combines the graphically rich Unreal engine and elements of Unreal Tournament with brand-new, custom designed engine enhancements to bring DS9 to life in ways gamers have only dreamed about - until now. Published in conjunction with GT Interactive.
Sabrina, The Teenage Witch 2 - Starring Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman, Emily Hart as Amanda and Nick Bakay as the wise-cracking cat Salem, this sequel to the best-selling girl game "Spellbound" will be the first action-adventure game developed specifically for girls ages 8-12. Published in conjunction with Knowledge Adventure. Distributed by Havas Interactive.
Wimzie's House -- Two new interactive titles based on "Wimzie's House," the highly-rated, award-winning PBS pre-school series, produced by CINAR Corporation will be coming this fall. "Play Along with Wimzie" and "A Surprise for Horace" will debut on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM for both PC and Mac platforms (estimated street $19.95, sold separately).
Miss Spider -- Simon & Schuster Interactive announced today will bring David Kirk's popular Miss Spider Book series to CD-ROM this fall which contains eight engaging games (PC/MAC Hybrid) geared for children ages 3-7.
New Millennium Children's Encyclopedia - The New Millenium Encyclopedia line will further expand with the addition of the "Simon & Schuster New Millennium Children's Encyclopedia." Combining five complete, best-selling reference books into one CD-ROM, children (ages 8-12) now have virtual one-stop shopping for billions of useful tidbits, making the learning process vastly more efficient. Midnight Play -- The internationally-acclaimed CD-ROM Midnight Play (PC/MAC hybrid) will be coming to North America this fall. Winner of 10 Japanese and European awards for multimedia development, Midnight Play is the first truly interactive electronic picture book for children. A multimedia version of a work by Kveta Pacovska, Midnight Play is a world renowned picture book artist and author from the Czech Republic.
Richard Scarry Busytown 2000 - Revised and upgraded from the best-selling Richard Scarry title, Busytown 2000 will be compatible with Windows 98 and Mac. Busytown 2000 emphasizes the Richard Scarry concept of "learning by doing." Available this fall.
Looks like this Mac-friendly company has a huge lineup ready to go! Yet another big publishing house backs the Mac. [Deniz]
Q3Test Server for Mac OS X Debuts
Omni Development has released Q3Test Dedicated Server for those brave and hardy souls running Mac OS X Server. With the software you'll be able to host Quake 3 Arena games, but not play them as of yet. The company also said the Quake 3 Client will be released shortly for Mac OS X Server.
Q3 Test Dedicated Server was ported to Mac OS X Server with id Software's blessing, and as such, all bug reports should be directed to quake3@omnigroup.com. [Deniz]
 Q3Test for Mac OS X Server
 MesaQuake Updated to b10
The MesaQuake driver has been updated to b10 and includes the following fixes:
• No longer need to set r_ignoreoffset 1! Marks on wall should be much better with r_ignoreoffset 0.
• Minor performance improvements.
• Fixed a bug with q3's lowest texture detail.
• The Mesa warning can be disabled from the configuration file.
Many people were annoyed when Q3Test was released requiring OpenGL drivers - mainly because 3dfx developers for the Mac have yet to release OpenGL drivers for their products. This meant that Q3test could only be played by people using Rage Pro and 128 cards - or so it seemed. Almost immediately people started talking about Mesa, a library which mimics OpenGL routines for Voodoo cards and it wasn't long before MesaQuake was released - designed specifically to run Q3test.
After earlier compatibility issues, the MesaQuake libraries now appear to work beautifully with Voodoo1 and Voodoo2 cards for the Mac - so if you have a card and have been wary of trying out Mesa, you needn't be worried by stability concerns. [Simon]
 USB Overdrive Updated
USB Overdrive is a universal USB driver that handles all USB mice, trackballs, joysticks and gamepads from any manufacturer and lets you configure them either globally or on an application-specific basis. It reads all kinds of wheels, buttons, switches and controls and supports scrolling, keyboard emulation, launching and complex macros as well as all the usual stuff like clicking, control-clicking and so forth. The USB Overdrive can easily handle several USB devices at once.
Version 1.1 includes the following:
- Added a cool Auto Scroll feature that doesn't require a mouse wheel to enable scrolling.
- New application-specific mouse speed settings can override the Mouse control panel.
- Clicking a joystick or mouse button in the USB Overdrive control panel now selects the appropriate button in the device controls list. - Added or improved support for Logitech and Kensington wheel mice, CH Products and Saitek joysticks and gamepads, and the P.I. Engineering Ymouse adapter.
- Automatic joystick calibration now handles all kinds of poorly calibrated devices.
- Added support for two additional mouse buttons and an option to choose which button is assigned to the mouse wheel.
- The Options menu now displays the list of captured devices and provides some basic information about them.
- Fixed a bunch of minor problems.
Now you can go grab that PC joystick or mouse you've been drooling over and run it on your USB-capable Mac. Why should they have all the fun? [Deniz]
USB Overdrive 1.1 (500k)
Brad Oliver Joins Westlake Interactive
IMG's Editor-in-Chief Tuncer Deniz recently visited Austin-based Westlake Interactive and was surprised to learn that Brad Oliver (of MacMAME fame) will soon be joining the Westlake ranks. According to Mark Adams, President of Westlake, Oliver will be working on an "unannounced new port".
Mr. Deniz tried to bribe Suellen Adams, Mark Adams' wife and Westlake's Business Manager, into revealing this new "unannounced game" but was unsuccessful. But according to Westlake, the game will be announced shortly, as soon as the contracts are signed.
How will this affect MacMAME? We'll keep you posted on further developments. [Deniz]
MacMAME Updated to .35 b12
The rapidly evolving MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) has had yet another revision, and of course the Mac version of this cross-platform emulator has been updated. Here is a list of changes along with the name of the programmer responsible:
• In sync with DOS 0.35 beta 12. [Brad Oliver]
• The RAVE code has been significantly improved. It will also take advantage of speedups in RAVE 1.6. [Stephen Luce]
• Many bugfixes: the info text in the front-end will use proportional scrollbars under Appearance, the 32-bit icons appear properly in all situations, and the front-end sizes the game list evenly. [John Butler]
• A bug in the CWPro 4 optimizer (different from the others we've found so far) has been identified. It affected the drawing of the text planes in the System16 drivers (e.g. Shinobi). A workaround is in place until CWPro5 arrives. See the file "Build Issues" that comes with the source distribution for the details. [John Butler]
• Analog controls are working again, and mice can be configured via the InputSprocket dialog. Also, InputSprocket was inadvertantly required in b11- this is fixed. [Brad Oliver]
• A workaround is in place for a bug in 8.6 whereby the menubar would not properly restore its colors for games which use most of the colors in the palette. Details of the workaround are in the file "Build Issues" that comes with the source distribution. [Brad Oliver]
• Memory card files are stored in the "Scores" folder for now. This may change in the future. [Brad Oliver]
As you can see Brad Oliver's name is next to many critical changes in this release; we can only wish him the best with his new position at Westlake Interactive, but we do have to wonder how MacMAME will fare without him. [Eilers]
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