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July 2000 News:
 
07-24-00
 
Macs at LAN parties!
I've put together a page explaining everything you need to know about setting up your Mac at a LAN party. If playing games head-to-head against 60 other people for 48 hours straight sounds appealing, then you may want to check out the LAN party scene.
LAN Parties!
 
Diablo 2 Clan update:
Now that Diablo 2 has begun shipping for Mac, our Diablo 2 Clan is coming alive. At last count we were up to about 210 members. Are you playing lots of Mac Diablo 2? If so, come and join us! If you have questions about our clan you can ask our members on the message board.
M.A.C. Diablo 2 Clan
Message Board
 
MGOSP (Mac Gaming Open Source Project):
I was recently sent news of a new association dedicated to Mac games. MGOSP (Mac Gaming Open Source Project) is an association of companies, developers, designers, scenarists, and testers dedicated to promoting and developing games for the Macintosh. It's nice to see new people supporting Mac gaming. The main page on their site has a good summary of exactly what they're about. Go on, click, click, click!
MGOSP
 
07-19-00
 
MacWorld hysteria!
This morning's keynote by Steve Jobs was truly awesome! I feel like some one took a dump truck full of hardware and software and dumped it on me. Not to mention the many other announcements following the keynote on the showroom floor. Here's a quick recap of today's announcements:
 
Hardware:
1. Dual processor G4s with standard 1000BT ethernet.
2. New iMac line with new features, colors, and a lower price point.
3. Power Mac G4 Cube.
4. New Display offerings from Apple.
5. New "Pro" keyboard and mouse accross Apple's desktop line.
6. ATI's Mac Edition Radeon GPU (32MB DDR RAM, PCI or AGP)
Software:
1. Halo for Mac confirmed.
2. Rouge Spear for Mac confirmed.
3. Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption confirmed.
4. Microsoft to form new Mac porting house for games.
5. iMovie 2.
6. Mac OS X to ship public beta in September.
7. Warcraft III for Mac confirmed.
 
I think it's safe to say this is the biggest MacWorld to date where new hardware and software are concerned. Rather than post details on the above, I'll refer you to IMG who has done an excellent job of covering these announcements.
Inside Mac Games
 
07-10-00
 
mac-gamer.com update:
I'm sorry I haven't been updating that much recently. I have been extremely busy with the Diablo 2 clan. I keep getting new sign ups every day. I should be updating more regularly now.
 
As you can see I've redesigned the site. The old layout was getting old and needed a face lift. This new layout is much more organized and "snazzy" looking.
 
My initial vision of an online Mac gaming community is becoming more realized recently. The Diablo 2 Clan has brought a HUGE influx of "regulars" to this site. In order to help me to acheive my goal of uniting Mac gamers and to give others a chance to get involved in the Mac gaming scene, I am offering various positions to people who are interested. These positions include everything from moderating message board forums to spear-heading a clan site! Please see the "Jobs" link on the left for more information.
 
Thanks for your support!
-Jakeman
 
Over 200 Clan Members!
Our Mac Diablo 2 Clan has grown beyond all expectations. We now have over 200 members! I'm getting new sign ups every day! Now that Mac Diablo 2 has been declared gold master we will all be playing together very soon! If you are going to play a lot of Diablo 2 when it comes out for Mac then you may want to join us!
M.A.C. Diablo 2 Clan
 
Mac 4 x 4 preview site:
4 x 4 Evolution is an off road driving sim coming out for Mac soon. It boasts impressive graphical realizm and nice game play. One of our friends in the internet Mac gaming community has recently uploaded a 4 x 4 Evolution preview site. Here are the details that I received:
 
Yeah, all mac users out there. I've got a 4x4 Evolution
preview page! Come on over and take a look. I've got discussions
going and information on the game coming out for the macintosh.
So, if you want or like 4x4 Evolution, and your a mac user, come by my preview page and take a look. I've got a discussion going on the forum, and I've got screenshots and info on the game.
 
4 x 4 Evolution promises to be an awesome game! Anyone interested in off road driving sims should check out this site for more details.
4 x 4 Evolution
Mac Gaming Freaks
 
Mac drivers for Razor mouse delayed:
For those that don't know, the Razor Boomslang mouse is the ultimate gaming mouse. It boasts ridiculously high dpi resolutions and a wide spread surface area making for liquid smooth mouse movement in games. I've been querying Razor about a release date for their Mac drivers for the Boomslang. Originally they told me March 2000. Then it was late May 2000. After that I was told June 2000. Once June passed I contacted them again regarding this issue. They are not committing to any official release date for the Mac drivers now. Here is their official reply to my query:
 
Unfortunately, we've gone through a slew of bids and proposals from good companies who want the project but can't fill our entire needs. It seems that no one so far has been able to replicate our "On the Fly" sensitivity adjustment for the Mac OS. Several have tried and failed, and that puts us back to ground zero. We will continue to review other software development companies until we find one that can supply our needs. We are not quoting dates for completion any longer. Please watch our site for news and driver updates.
 
This is not the reply I had hoped for. Like they said, all you can do is check their site for updates.
Razor Zone
 
Coldstone Game Engine update:
To preface this news bite, I'll give you the basic story behind the Coldstone Game Engine. The Coldstone Game Engine is an RPG developing kit just for us Macintosh developers. It makes the game making process easy. I've seen some screen shots of the actual program in action and I was impressed. I was recently sent this update from the manufacturer of the Coldstone Game Engine, Beenox Inc:
 
It's been a long time since the last version of the Coldstone Game Engine has been posted. It's because we decided not to release any more versions of the Coldstone Game Engine until the final release so we could focus on the final delivery. The product is almost finished now. We are working on the final user manual as well as a complete step-by-step tutorial to create your first complete Macintosh game in one day! Some new cool addons and game editing tools made by Beenox will also be included in the final package. All these tools will also be available as stand-alone freeware applications from the Beenox web site. A cool new Macintosh role-playing game (made with the Coldstone Game Engine) should also ship at the same time featuring breath taking 3D rendered graphics and high quality music.
 
Also expect some great surprises for all Mac gamers out there with the final release...
 
The full release notes of the Coldstone Game Engine since the last beta release are miles long and they will be posted to the web site next week.
 
We receive emails each days asking about the windows version of Coldstone. It will come. However, we will not work on it before the final release of the Macintosh version. We will focus on porting the engine first to give the possibility to Macintosh user to compile their games on both platforms.
 
Things are going well and we feel confident that we will be able to deliver the final version to your door by the end of this summer. Macintosh gaming shall rules.
 
This is going to be something we will all be looking forward to. Not only does it make it easier for people to program Mac games, it will give us Mac gamers more quality RPGs to play.
Beenox Inc