Where’s That Web Site?
Dear IMG: I just downloaded a sample copy of your magazine from the Internet and it was great. What I was wondering is if your web site is up yet? — Mark Headley via Internet

• Well, the IMG web site should be making its debut sometime in March. The URL will likely be: http://www.IMGmagazine.com.

X-COM Got The Ax
Dear IMG: Do you have any more info on who is porting X-COM? Microprose insists that the game is not being ported to the Macintosh. Since Master of Orion came out from Take 2, I have lost faith in their marketing/online support in regards to Mac information. — Slipshot via AOL

Dear IMG: Hi. I am a big fan of both X-COM games on the (gak) PC, and I was pleased to find that IMG lists X-COM as a possible release for January. I know it is mainly rumors, but I can be hopeful...do you have any more info on a date, price etc.? — PforSlayer via AOL

• We contacted Microprose and sure enough, X-COM for the Macintosh has been cancelled. However, Microprose says Transport Tycoon should be out for the Mac soon.

Ask and You Shall Receive
Dear IMG: As one of those deeply involved in the Mac gaming lobby, I am happy to say that the Macintosh gaming world has scored yet another great victory! On February 8, Blizzard Entertainment posted an official announcement in comp.sys.mac.games.announce, stating that the mega-popular PC title ‘Warcraft 2’ will be released for the Macintosh later this year. 

Ever since Warcraft 2 was released for the PC in late 1995, scores of Mac gamers in the newsgroup heirarchy comp.sys.mac.games have bombarded Blizzard with an email campaign demanding the release of a Macintosh version. Although many of the top-rated PC games are eventually ported to the MacOS these days, only a handful of titles have ever been demanded by the Macintosh gamers with such ferocity. In the last several weeks, Blizzard replied to the Macintosh gamers’ requests with the very flat denial of “There are currently no plans to port Warcraft 2 over to the Mac.” 

Rather than discourage the Mac gamers, Blizzard’s obvious non-commitment simply encouraged Mac strategy gamers to intensify their efforts. On comp.sys.mac.games.strategic alone, not one day went without a post echoing the apparent battle-cry “Demand Warcraft 2 for the Mac!” 

Finally, on this second week of February, Blizzard Entertainment officially announced that the game will be arriving for the Macintosh platform. It’s true that by the time Mac gamers get their hands on this fine game, several months will have passed since the release of the IBM-PC version. That’s beside the point. The lesson here is that the Macintosh gaming lobby DOES work! A strong Mac gaming lobby helps to coax game companies to port their games to the MacOS...considering that they didn’t plan on porting it in the first place. As for the game developers who would have released a Macintosh version anyways, a strong Mac gaming lobby helps to convince those companies to minimize the delay between the release of the PC version and the Macintosh version. In the best case scenario, the game developers have enough faith and respect for the Mac market that they are willing to release their titles simultaneously for both Mac and PC. 

Mac gamers, don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. If the game companies can’t hear you, then your silence will tempt them to think that the Mac gaming market is not worth supporting. We really don’t want to give them one more silly (and unfounded) reason to think that the Mac gaming market is not worth supporting, do we? — Marton Carungay via eWorld

Pesky Little Demo
Dear IMG: Your IMG December CD-ROM has the Al Uncer Racing Demo. However, when I ran the program on Power Macintosh 7500, the game froze in the middle. Do you know what is happening? Is there any plan to release a fixed version? — Hiroshi Noma via Internet

• Try copying the demo to your hard drive first and then running the demo. Also, make sure you turn off any unnecessary control panels and extensions before you run the demo. Finally, make sure you run the game in 256 color mode.

Rebel Assault II = Family Therapy
Dear IMG: After reading your preview of Rebel Assault II, I craved some action and brought myself to purchase it, on the contrary of my otherwise mundane lifestyle. After setting it up, I began to blast away some Empire ships. The sudden ruckus of the game caught the attention of my father, who “always has to much to do than to waste time on computer games.”

He reluctantly put on the headphones, grabbed the mouse, and began to shoot some ships. “Incredible!” he kept muddering, (which he was actually yelling to talk above the music in the headphones.) His yelps and laughter caught the attention of my mother, who was cleaning house at the time.

My mother is one who is scared to play Pacman, or any electronic game no matter how simple. After watching my father play, she suddenly replied, “I would like to try that!” So I hooked her up to her very first time playing a computer game.
I don’t know when the last time I have ever heard her laugh so hard! She became pretty good at shooting her laser, and we all stood around and laughed at her attempts to fly the ship.

We now are pooling our money to buy a joystick to add to our “family bonding” time. Thanks for the great review! — Jennifer Rydin via AOL

International (Only) Tennis Open
Dear IMG: I have been waiting years for someone to come out with a decent tennis sim for the Mac. Finally, when someone does finding a copy is impossible. I tell you this game is hard to get. I have phoned Philips Media on three different occasions and each time they tell me that it is not available for the Mac. Where can one possibly get a copy, any ideas??? — Don Wing via Internet

• Good question. We don’t know where in the United States you can find International Tennis Open. For some reason, it is only available in Europe. Believe it or not, a loyal IMG subscriber from France bought us a copy of the game and mailed it to us. Got any friends in Europe? 

DOOM vs Marathon
Dear IMG: A few thoughts on Doom 2 and Marathon: Having and enjoying both games, both in your reviews, others’ reviews, & letters, I was consistently struck with the comparative adulation of Marathon & the lukewarm liking (at best!) of Doom 2. Such things are, of course, a matter of taste. However the basis of these opinions, as stated, did bother me.

When comparing the two, Doom 2 lost-out in graphics, sound, & overall complexity of conception. It was as if the technical wizardry was the be-all of what constitutes a great game. As even more complex games come out, Marathon 2, for instance, it seemed to reinforce what I would think is a minor matter. In music, is the fastest, loudest guitar player the best? Are the longest, most convoluted novels the best literature. Are movies rated by how astounding the special effects are? Lord help us!

I also suspect that ol’ anti-PC bias, as if we become better by scoffing at what was a true PC-phenomenon! Its simplicity is its perfection! It has a purity to it that is undeniable: run-shoot-kill-escape. Its “pointlessness”, as a SimCity 2000 fanatic friend of mine said is its virtue.

Also, curiously, I have read not a word in the technically-oriented reviews of what immediately struck me as wonderful influences, in comics: Jack Kirby & rich Corben.

The Kirby influence is the strongest: the walls, the metallic rooms, the rapid switching to the pits of hell, the cyclopean towers & to anyone whose ever seen a picture of Jack Kirby, take another look at the machine-gun toting Sargent!
 
Lastly, there is a breathtaking richness to the over 1000 homemade levels online. Some are moody & cerebral, like the Cabol series, & some are incredibly wacky , like the Made-of-metal series. If you would post more of the best online, perhaps some  might see the light we Doom 2 fans have for some time! — Eric Margolis via AOL

Straight From Bungie
Dear IMG: While looking in my Mac Warehouse catalog, I noticed a “Marathon Hint Book” which _appears_ to have  Tuncer Deniz’s name on it.  Of course this means that Tuncer wrote it. However, it says in the blurb, “hints straight from the labs of Bungie!”  Does Tuncer Deniz work for Bungie, is it just false advertising, or what? — Ethan Montgomery via CompuServe 

• No, I don’t work for Bungie. But we do live in the same city, Chicago. So naturally, when I wrote the book I spent a lot of time at Bungie HQ and learned a lot from the vid-masters themselves and incorporated many of their techniques and hints into the book. So, yea, you could say some of the hints are, “straight from the labs of Bungie!”

The Book, Part 2
Dear IMG: I have your Marathon: The Official Strategy Guide and I was wondering if you were going to write one for Marathon 2. I ask because I am stuck on a level in it. — Joe Baranowski via AOL

• Yes, there will be a Marathon 2 strategy guide available but it’ll be part of Bungie’s new product: Marathon Infinity. It’ll be an electronic guide with lots of screen shots, quicktime movies, etc.

Working the Gobs
Dear IMG: Do you know how to play the add ons, Gobs, etc. with Dark Forces? — SteveQuas via AOL

• Simply drag and drop the GOB file you want to play onto the Dark Forces application. Dark Forces will then load that scenario.

Drag and Clip
Dear IMG: It would be nice if the IMG app handled drag and drop/ clipping: I occasionally stumble over, e.g. URLs, or snippits from Mudgeon, I’d like to tuck way using a desktop clipping for further research. Keep up the great work, I’ve been with you guys since something like issue 4, and you just keep getting better! — Brad Miller via Internet

Dear IMG: My number one request for IMG right now is to make the text able to be copied and pasted.  Here’s why...

There are more and more long world web site addresses being listed in IMG.  The great thing about the Mac is normally, you don’t have to worry about writing down these long addresses, just copy and paste it into my browser, or a simpletext document.  But IMG doesn’t appear to allow the copy command to work, or highlighting any text for that matter. Can this be fixed? — Sam Hall via AOL

• You can now select and copy text directly from the magazine. If you have the clipping extension installed (part of System 7.5), you can also save the text clip to your hard drive by selecting text and then dragging it to your hard drive.

The Best Computer for...
Dear IMG: As I eagerly dove into my December issue I found Karen Kaye’s article about Mac Gamers finally being recognized.  It got me thinking about the latest issue of MacWorld (February) that I had read.  In it there is a great article rating the best computer for several different types of users.  The one type of use not mentioned was computer gaming. 

It is a wonder to me that no real attention was given to that side of the Mac. Not even as an aside [as in, “ ...and for those times when the boss isn’t looking over your shoulder or the deadline has been met this sucker really flies on A-10 and Marathon!”]!?! —Dan “Lindy” Lindberg via AOL

Letters to IMG. If you have a question, problem, comment, suggestion, or idea, just drop us a line. All letters become property of Inside Mac Games. We reserve the right to edit any letters.