May 15th - Giants: Citizen Kabuto Wows Us! By far the most impressive title we've seen so far at this year's E3 show was Interplay's Giants: Citizen Kabuto. Our jaws literally dropped to the ground when we saw this title up and running. It features not only some of the best graphics we've seen anywhere, but the gameplay itself is, well, gigantic. We cornered two of the developers (incredibly, the team making Giants is comprised of only six people), and asked them about a Mac version. The bad news news is that a Mac version isn't in the works. The good news, however, is that they are extremely interested in doing a Mac version. One of the developers in fact almost guaranteed that Giants would be ported to the Mac. The mention of OpenGL support on the Mac raised a few eyebrows among the development team. What is Giants: Citizen Kabuto? Battle ensues on a massive fragment of shattered planet consisting of 30 separate islands. From the outside, this fragment appears as a radiantly colored waterfall, however within this beautiful waterfall lies chaos. Gamers will play three very original creatures, the Sea Reapers, the Meccaryn and the giant, Kabuto. All are fighting for control of the beautiful world. During confrontation, each character's strengths and weaknesses will come to the forefront. Kabuto can crush victims with their bare hands, Meccaryns have technological might, space travel and weapons to their advantage and the Sea Reapers can travel the seas and control devastating elemental powers. Advanced visual effects such as motion blur, gorgeous animated skies and endless landscapes make this game a total knockout - and the developer casually mentioned that it runs well on a 266 Mhz machine with a VooDoo 1. Six time Emmy nominee Mark Snow has signed on to compose the music for Giants: Citizen Kabuto™. Snow, who is best known for his theme and music scores for 'The X-Files,' 'Millennium' and 'La Femme Nikita' enters into the interactive entertainment industry for the first time. A trailer of Giants: Citizen Kabuto that contains Mark Snow's music can be viewed here. Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2, Screenshot 3, Screenshot 4, Screenshot 5, Screenshot 6, Screenshot 7, Screenshot 8, Screenshot 9, Screenshot 10, Screenshot 11, Screenshot 12 May 15th - Messiah Mac? Dear God, Please! Right next to Giants: Citizen Kabuto was Messiah, a game by Shinny Entertainment whose previous title, MDK, made it to the Mac. Messiah is also nothing short of spectacular. Once again we questioned one of the developers on a Mac version, and the spokesman said they were definately interested in doing a Mac version. He also had nothing but great words for Apple, and the iMac. This is another title we expect will see the light of day on the Mac. Once again, it looks like the existence of OpenGL on the Mac OS is going to open the door to titles that we thought were a lost cause. Messiah takes place in the not too distant future, where the earth has become every cyberpunk author's worst nightmare. Bob, a cherub, has been chosen to cleanse the earth of evil and restore everything to its proper order. Unfortunately, the forces of evil are firmly entrenched and will do everything possible to stop him. Utterly defenseless, Bob's main power is the ability to possess and control the body of any living being he comes across. Using their bodies as weapons, armor, and hiding places, Bob has to battle and sneak his way through 14 giant levels. "The AI is unlike anything you've ever experienced before," says programmer Michael 'Saxs' Persson. "In other games, enemies are locked into specific environments, so it's easy to script out all of their actions. They're limited to 'knowing' a specific location in the world. In Messiah, Bob can possess a character and take them halfway across the world and then return them to their own control. Now, in a new situation and environment, that character has to act intelligently. Add to that the fact that your enemies learn how you play, and the game gets pretty eerily smart at some points in setting traps for you," he mused. Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2, Screenshot 3, Screenshot 4, Screenshot 5, Screenshot 6, Screenshot 7 May 15th - Dragon's Lair 3D Coming to Mac Blue Byte Software today announced they have acquired the world-wide rights to publish the arcade classic Dragon’s Lair, in a luxurious 3-D format. Originally launched in 1983, ‘Dirk The Daring’ made his debut in the Arcades to huge acclaim. The Story: You control the actions of Dirk the Daring, a valiant knight on a quest to rescue ‘Daphney’, a fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. Fight your way through the castle of the dark wizard who has enchanted it with treacherous monsters and obstacles. Dragon’s Lair® original makers, Don Bluth (Anastasia™), Gary Goldman (Anastasia™ ), John Pomeroy (Fantasia II™ and Atlantis™ )and Rick Dyer are also the creators of Space Ace and Dragon’s Lair II. Under the Dragon’s Lair LLC label, this talented team will work together once again to create new and original characters for Dragon’s Lair 3D™ and are already planning a few surprises. Don Bluth revealed today that one of the new characters will be the ‘Steal Monkeys’; made of steel, these fellows are cunning thieves and will have strong magnets instead of hands that grab anything and everything! Blue Byte Software expects to release Dragon‘s Lair 3D™ in time for Christmas 2000 and will be available for PC CD-ROM & Macintosh in a simultaneous release (dual CD). May 15th - LucasArts Shows Off Pod Racer, More to Come. The folks at LucasArts greeted us with open arms, having not seen then at the last few E3's (hmm, I wonder why?) It seems once again the Mac is an important platform for LucasArts and one of the first titles we'll be seeing from the company is Star Wars: Racer. As it turns out, Brad Post, who previously ported X-Wing and Tie Fighter to the Mac is working on the Mac conversion of Star Wars: Racer. Star Wars: Racer dares players to take control of sleek and blindingly fast Podracers in a series of electrifying and dangerous races throughout the Star Wars galaxy. Inspired by Anakin Skywalker’s epic race against the nefarious Sebulba in the motion picture’s Boonta Eve Classic, the game challenges players to compete in the perilous outlaw sport of Podracing, where the object is to win at all costs. Each Podracer is propelled by two massive jet engines and controlled from the cockpit of a pod that hovers behind, connected by 15-foot cables. Speed is the name of the game in Star Wars: Racer as the lightning quick vehicles are capable of reaching simulated speeds of up to 600 miles per hour, while skimming a mere 4 feet above the ground. Star Wars: Racer allows players to contend as Anakin, reigning champion Sebulba, or more than 22 other Podracer pilots in the ultra-competitive multi-race Galactic Circuit, or jump right into single race mode. Each beautifully detailed Podracing vehicle can be upgraded with a variety of parts to increase acceleration, cool engine boosters, and enhance maneuverability. Star Wars: Racer is scheduled to ship sometime in Septemer. In addition to Racer, LucasArts (and sister division LucasLearning) was showing off Star Wars: Episode 1 Insider's Guide, Star Wars: Episode One The Gungan Frontier, Star Wars: Episode One Pit Droids, and Yoda's Challenge Activity Center. More on these later. As for the future, LucasArts is going to take a wait and see approach. If Star Wars: Racer do well, we very well could see games like Indiana Jonse and the Infernal Machine, Star War Episode One: The Phantom Menace, and Force Commander on the Mac. Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2, Screenshot 3, Screenshot 4, Screenshot 5, Screenshot 6, Screenshot 7, Screenshot 8, Screenshot 9 Pharoah Coming to Mac Today we learned that Impressions will be releasing Pharaoh this Fall for the Mac and PC. The developers told us Pharaoh should be a simultaneous release and are extremely exited about bringing this title over to the Mac. Pharaoh is a strategic city-building game set in Egypt roughly 2900 to 700 BC. Grow Egyptian villages into thriving metropolises and watch the economy and inhabitants of this exotic land come to life. Interact with your citizens. Observe their culture and habits. Raise their hopes or raze their homes. Manage your city poorly and watch it burn, be pillaged or collapse in economic ruin. Manage it well and ultimately the greatest Egyptian structures will be built in your honor. Your rule will span generations, until your dynasty, your royal bloodline produces a Pharaoh! Pharaoh includes many features never seen before in a City Building series game, including a farming model based on the flooding of the Nile, naval warfare, giant monuments that are assembled over time, a unique dynastic progression, and variable difficulty levels. Uses 16-bit color graphics, large maps for seamless gameplay, and a proven interface. Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2, Screenshot 3, Screenshot 4, Screenshot 6 May 15th - Pictures from Day Two at E3 We've got even more pictures from the show floor from Day Two including pictures of the Apple Booth, Bungie, Bleem, belly dancers, Blizzard, Sierra, and much more. May 14th - We Came, We Saw, We Drooled: There were of course many games on the show floor with no Mac version available, but that didn't stop us from asking. Among the tantalizing hints and half-swallowed promises we heard were hints that Homeworld (an amazing fleet-level space combat sim is the next title Sierra is considering bringing to the Mac - IF they were doing any more Mac titles, something they refused to discuss. Other intriguing possibilities included Drakkan, a third-person adventure game featuring an astounding custom engine and flight on the back of a dragon, and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, which also knocked us out visually, but won't come to the Mac unless Total Annihilation sells well first. May 14th - Simon and Schuster show DS9: The Fallen and Deer Avenger 2 Simon and Schuster, recently returning to the Macintosh fold with Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic, have 2 Mac titles in the pipeline: Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen and Deer Avenger 2. Based on a heavily-modified version of the Unreal (and perhaps Unreal Tournament) engine, DS9: The Fallen was a very impressive title. Viewed from the increasingly popular third-person angle, this game boasted an interactive camera view that, while still in development, was among one of the best we've seen so far. They managed to solve one of the more puzzling problems of that perspective in an innovative fashion; your character (Worf, Kira or Sisko) becomes transparent whenever the camera moves to a position where the figure would be blocking your view. Even though the game was in early stages, we were quite impressed with the polish and detail of the demo levels and extremely impressed with the dedicated team working on the game. They seem truly obsessed with creating a complex, branching solo play experience that comes as close as possible to replicating the darker, more dangerous Trek environment of DS9. More importantly, they are doing the Mac port in-house, which means a near-simultaneous release for this eye-popping game. Deer Avenger 2 seemed to be coming along nicely; this sequel to the deer hunting simulation parody Deer Avenger sets Bambo on a quest to avenge the death of his girl(doe?)friend. Featuring urban environments (such as offices) and a whole new cast of characters, this brutally politically incorrect game pokes fun at hunting sims and just about anything else you can imagine. The ironic thing is, these parodies sell just as well as the hunting sims they lampoon! May 14th - Ceasar III Demo Due Monday! Impressions Games had a surprise for us: the demo for their Roman-era empire-building title Ceasar III will be available on their website Monday. Yet another addition to the suddenly crowded genre, this addition to the successful series looks to be a real eye-pleaser. The final version is soon to follow, perhaps at Macworld in August. May 14th - Pictures from E3: Day One Check out our pictures from day one of the E3 show! Check out the crowds, the "new" Lara Croft, IMG "doing lunch" with Westlake Interactive, Tuncer going ape, Madden 2000 shots, and more! May 14th - Command & Conquer 2 on the Mac? The first booth we hit was Electronic Arts to check out Madden 2000. But what caught our eye was Command & Conquer 2: Tiberian Sun. When asked about a Mac version, one of the producers said they were excited about Apple's recent success and said the iMac was a fantastic machine. Although the producer would not confirm a Mac version, he did say that it is a possibility. Stay tuned! May 14th - MacSoft Shows off Unreal Tournament MacSoft showed off Unreal Tournament at E3, and is only weeks behind the PC version, which means the title should be released nearly simultaneously when it is released this summer. Nate Birkholz ws there to give us a demo of the very first Mac OS build of the game, and it ran and played as well has we have come to expect from the excellent team at Westlake Interactive. Especially impressive is the 'bot' AI; now they taunt you as well as whacking you from across a distant room with a single headshot. The new weapons are really amazing and insanely powerful - the screenshots do them no justice. Unreal Tournament pits players against the hardest criminals in the galaxy in a multitude of new contests and settings. The goal is to become the Unreal Grand Master, testing your skills against, or fighting alongside, teams of the best human and simulated human opponents (‘bots’) ever seen in a 3D action game. Unreal Tournament offers new styles of multiplayer action, including deathmatch and team-oriented modes of play, as well as an enhanced version of Unreal’s critically acclaimed Botmatch, which allows players to compete against lifelike computer-controlled enemies in deathmatch play. In addition, Unreal Tournament’s enhanced artificial intelligence allows players to lead a squad of computer-controlled allies against teams of human or computer-controlled opponents, taking the team-oriented game play experience to a new level. In addition to Unreal Tournament, MacSoft has Total Annihilation (which was looking very good, aimed at a July release date), Rainbow Six, Age of Empires, and Civilization: Call to Power in the pipeline. MacSoft also told us that they would be announcing new products at MacWorld this summer. May 14th - Bungie Previews Oni Bungie Software had Oni running on both PC and Macs at E3. While the game had been previewed at past shows, the demo of Oni at this year's show showed a ton of polish, incredible graphics, and intense action. Our jaws dropped when we saw some of Konoko's action moves, including pile-drivers, head-throws, neck-snapping and finishing moves (i.e. flying pile-driver). The 3D environments, modeled by actual architects, are absolutely immense - one level designer bragged that he had modeled an entire 15-story building floor-by-floor. Although the game was quite playable and fast, this title propably won't make the holiday season and may slip to early 2000. Of course the release will be simultaneous on both platforms. Oni is a third-person 3D action/adventure that mixes hand-to-hand combat with gunplay. Inspired by anime classics like Ghost in the Shell and action thrillers like La Femme Nikita, Oni is being developed and published by Bungie Software. Set in the year 2032, you play Konoko, an elite agent on a quest to infiltrate and destroy a ruthless crime syndicate. You'll guide Konoko through 17 real-world levels designed by architects, including a monstrous underground research facility and a towering 15-story police station. As the game progresses you'll discover terrible secrets of the underworld, the frailty of your own identity, and, most important, that there_s no one you can trust. Oni (the Japanese word for ghost or demon) features innovative full contact action, complex, beautifully rendered environments, a cast of hundreds of unique characters, and a compelling, anime-inspired story. May 14th - Diablo II Mac Version Officially Announced Blizzard Entertainment previewed Diablo II, the much-anticipated sequel to 1997’s highly acclaimed role-playing game, Diablo. The company also confirmed plans to develop a Macintosh version of the game and support for Glide 3 and OpenGL. Blizzard for the first time showed all five of Diablo II’s character classes: the Amazon, the Paladin, the Necromancer, the Sorceress and the Barbarian. Most recently, Blizzard completed design and animation for the Barbarian, a male warrior armed with supernormal strengths and combat abilities. The Barbarian, as with each character class, can develop 30 unique, class-specific skills and spells, including Crushing Blow, Howl and Stun. Additionally, Act III is now finished, making the PC version of the game nearly 70 percent complete. In all, Diablo II will encompass three Acts and a finale. Act I takes place in and around the Monastery of the Sisters of the Sightless Eye, and Act II is set in and around the desert-trading center of Lut Gholein. In Act III, characters will explore Kurast, an ancient civilization overgrown by the surrounding tropical jungle. Blizzard also unveiled Diablo II’s perspective scaling and parallax, a new display option within the game’s suite of 3D-accelerator support features. Scaling and parallax effects add a near-perfect perspective to the 3D-accelerated isometric view. Most striking when running through terrain populated with trees or around buildings, this feature provides a more realistic and immersive visual experience for players with supported 3D accelerators. In Diablo II, players return to a dark world plagued by evil forces. After possessing the body of the hero who defeated him, Diablo resumes his nefarious scheme to shackle humanity into unholy slavery by joining forces with the other Prime Evils, Mephisto and Baal. Players face a new series of quests to rid the world of Diablo and his vile brethren forever. When Diablo released in 1997, it was an instant hit among gamers and debuted as the number-one selling game its first month in stores. The game has sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide and was the number-one selling computer role-playing game in 1997. Diablo II is being developed by the Blizzard North design team and is expected to release later this year in Windows®95/98/NT format. A Macintosh version of the game is slated for completion during the first half of 2000 (although a few Blizzard employees said the Mac version might be less than 2 months behind the PC version). May 6th - Simon & Schuster's E3 Line-Up Simon & Schuster Interactive today announced its 1999 E3 lineup which contains interactive entertainment, "Girl Games," and education titles for every member of the family. 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. 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. 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 it 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 Millenium 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. May 6th - IMG's E3 Page Debuts E3 is just around the corner! It's the biggest gaming show of the all and anybody who is anybody in the gaming industry will be at the show. 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 E3. 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 in often to this page, 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). What is E3? More than 1,900 PC and video game titles will be introduced at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the world's leading showcase for the interactive entertainment industry. E3 1999 will occupy more than 536,000 net square feet of exhibit space at the Los Angeles Convention Center, enough to hold 14 jumbo jets wing-to-wing. On average, E3 1999 attendees will discover one brand-new interactive title for every nine steps they take on the show floor. A total of 400 exhibitors will display the latest interactive products that millions of Americans will be bringing home this holiday season. Back to the IMG E3 Page One