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| Friday, April 30, 1999 |
 Bleem! Scores Another Courtroom Victory
The latest news from the folks at Bleem!, a highly anticipated PC-based Sony PlayStation emulator, is quite positive. It seems that they have won yet another court battle with Sony to halt the shipment of Bleem! to customers. Full details on the happenings are available from the website.
What does this 2nd victory for Bleem! mean to us Mac gamers? Most importantly it means that the legal path for ALL emulator software is being set, battle by battle. It also means that the Mac version can be taken care of once the whole mess is over. With Connectix once again fighting for their own emulator, the Connectix Virtual Game Station, Bleem!'s own future seems bright. Not only that, but court victories for Bleem! make the decisions against Connectix for practically the same emulation approach seem unreasonable.
IMG will continue to cover this emulation issue as it develops, after all, these next few months could be the moments that set the emulation market on its head, or set it free to finally do what it wanted to do in the first place... get more games in the hands of gamers. [Kester]
Pennsylvania Senator Wants Games Rated for Violence
In more news about pending legislation to regulate video game sales to minors, GameCenter has an interview with Pennsylvania state senator Jack Wagner.
Here is an excerpt:
"There needs to be a uniform national rating system," Wagner told GameCenter. "Some of the shootings and killings we've seen in the last few years seem to have a direct correlation to the violent video games we are seeing. These games to some degrees hypnotize young people. I've gone into video game parlors and seen the young people drawn like magnets to the games."
While you may chuckle at his quaint phrasings ("video game parlor?") rest assured that Senator Wagner is quite serious about his legislation. Read the full article and then stop by our IMG Discussion Forums and let us know how you feel about the issues involved. [Eilers]
 Quake3Test for Mac Updated, Linux Server Released
Quake3test for Mac has been updated to version 1.0.3. iD software has also released the Quake3test server to the Linux platform and Win32 platforms. The update promises improved speed, improved memory checking, and improved sound latency. They are calling this "Phase II" of the test. With the release of the test, many ftp sites have sprouted to ensure that everyone has a chance to try out this killer game. If you get Quake3test and have no one to play with, head on over to one of the four Quake 3 servers iD has running; 192.246.40.37:27960 -- Map 1, 192.246.40.37:27961 -- Map 1, 192.246.40.37:27962 -- Map 1, 192.246.40.37:27963 -- Map 2. Note that map number two is mean only for people with high speed connections and will end up being a LAN map. Keep it real and have fun fragging. Oh, and make sure you thank anyone with "[iD] in their name for bringing this amazing game to the Mac. [Lawrence-Richards]
Myth II Tournament Pits Mac vs PC
We can argue and debate all we want about the Mac being better than the PC, but once in a while a time when we can take the battle-field under the flag of Apple and wipe our opposition off the face of the Earth. The first time this happened was the Bungie organized Platform Wars tournament for Myth which saw hundreds of individuals fighting it out until one Mac player and one PC player remained. I am pleased to say that the Mac player (Panamon) was successful in defeating his PC opponent.
Well, in the spirit of friendly competitiveness, the time has come again with a tournament named Culloden Hill for Myth 2 - hosted by Soulblighter.com and sanctioned by Bungie (including prizes of T-shirts, soundtracks and figurines!). But this time the tournament is for Orders, not for individuals. Sixty-four orders will register, thirty-two from each Platform. They will then compete against their own kind until one Mac Order stands against one PC Order.
So if you have Myth 2 and are part of an Order, contact your order-mates and sign up now! Fame and fortune await you. [ed note: beware this site with anything less that Netscape navigator 4.5! Lots of DHTML by someone new to the craft :-)] We won the last round, let's do it again! [Simon]
 'Clusterball' Rolls Onto the Mac
Our colleagues over at the Mac Game Gate have posted an interview with Matti Larsson, of Daydream Software, the company behind upcoming adventure game Traitor's Gate. The content focuses on their upcoming futuristic multiplayer racer Clusterball, which is described as "a fantasy action sports game where you fly around in a landscape, gather balls behind your vessel and fly through a ring in the arena to score." There are also some tidbits about the inner workings of Daydream and Larsson's involvement in the Swedish Secret Service.
Looking forward to this 3D-accelerated game? Head on over and take a look. A product brief is also available from the official Clusterball Web site in PDF format. [Daranciang]
IMOL Relocation to Benefit New Online Gaming Company
For the Mac flight sim fan, Warbirds and the more recent Dawn of Aces titles from Interactive Magic Online have remained popular in a world of limited choices. The online gaming experience these offer has essentially been the only thing of its kind, and development on the Mac side has been held together by a fiercely loyal core of Mac pilots and programmers.
The relocation of Interactive Magic On Line from Grapevine, Texas to North Carolina has resulted in the resignation of most of it's staff-specifically, everyone in the Texas office. The departure is said to be amicable, and most have expressed their intent to sign on with Playnet Inc. a new online gaming company there. Playnet is said to be in negotiation with IMOL regarding the future of their Mac titles. A possible scenario might see the venture either creating their own product, maintaining the Mac DOA and WB sims under license, or some combination thereof.
Though not by any means as large a demographic as the "PC" side of flight sims, the Mac segment has survived tremendous adversity to get where it is today. Expectations are high that special things will result from the new company. [Kindt]
 Ultra-Realistic Flight Sim X-Plane Updated
X-Plane 5.0b3, an update to this comprehensive, authentic flight simulator was recently released. It fixes a few minor bugs. In related news, the developer is asking for feedback on which Glasair "skin" should be the final one integrated into the game. Surf on over and cast your vote. [Daranciang]
 X-Plane Updater from 5.0b2 (2.7 MB)
5.0b3 installer (32.2 MB)
Westlake Interactive Updates Project Page
Westlake Interactvie has posted a project update on the titles this porting powerhouse is working on; here is the chart, direct from their web page:
| Project |
Current Status |
Estimated Ship Date* |
| Railroad Tycoon II |
Shipping! |
Now |
| Falcon 4.0 |
Final Beta |
Any day |
| Total Annihiliation |
Alpha |
Mid to late July |
| Unreal Tournament |
First Playable |
N/A (soon after PC) |
| Madden NFL 2000 |
Early development |
Sept-Oct 1999 |
| Civilization: Call To Power |
Early development |
Oct 1999 |
*Estimated ship dates are tentative and may change at any time. Ship date is the day the final version of the game leaves Westlake for the publisher, not when the game is in stores.
The Unreal Tournament news is reassuring, to say the least; as for Civ: CTP, this title has rocketed to the top of the PC sales charts despite tepid reviews, selling 200,000 copies so far—here's hoping it is just as successful on the Mac! [Deniz]
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| In Other News |
Video Game Violence: IMG reviewer and columnist Dan Radmacher rethinks this timely topic
MacWEEK Speaks: columnist Tony Smith has some interesting thoughts on the signifigance of Quake3Test's debut on the Mac.
Another Unreal Tournament Preview: Next Generation Online has a detailed article about Unreal Tournament, coming to the Mac this Spring.
Virtual PC Update: This minor update doesn't add any new features, just fixes bugs with Powerbooks and some Y2K problems.
New VillageTronic Drivers: VillageTronic has released new drivers for their NextGen MP850 graphics acceleration card.
Railroad Tycoon II Site: if you want an in-depth look at this upcoming game, visit the Station.
NoBeige previews new iMacs: they've got the scoop on the new, faster iMacs and when they will be available.
Even Columnists Like Games: Tom Lovino of the great Mac website About This Particular Macintosh confesses that he uses his Mac for games. Hey, is that so wrong?
UnrealFinder Updated: this utility for finding online servers for Unreal slaughterfests is now at 1.0.2 and requires Unreal version 2.2.0.
Get Games 4 your Mac: The Games 4 Mac Campaign website has ben updated with a new campaign to convince UbiSoft to bring the racing game Speed Busters to the Mac. Stop by and sign up, and sign their many other petitions while you are at it!
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