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November 2000 News:
 
11-23-00
 
Elite Force and Monopoly added to GameRanger.
I was just sent word that GameRanger, an online Mac gaming service, is now supporting Elite Force and Monopoly for online play. Here's the announcement:
 
Perth, Western Australia -- November 23, 2000 -- Scott Kevill today announced the addition of two new game titles to GameRanger, the Macintosh multiplayer online gaming service. In addition to the 46 previous titles, gamers can now play Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force and Monopoly.
 
Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force is the ultimate, sci-fi first-person shooter using the Quake III Arena engine. The first game based on Star Trek Voyager universe, Elite Force pits players against a multitude of Star Trek enemies, including the relentless Borg and never-before-seen aliens, in intense single-player and multiplayer combat missions.
 
Monopoly is the World's Most Popular Board Game Brought to Life! Play the classic Property Trading Game from Parker Brothers like never before! Follow all the action as fully animated 3-D Monopoly game tokens respond to dice rolls and energetically move around the board. Create your own custom game board with clip art images or imported graphics for a totally unique gaming experience.
 
GameRanger, the Macintosh multiplayer online gaming service, was first introduced for public beta testing in July 1999 with support for 11 game titles, and had already received many rave reviews, including an award of "Best Internet Gaming Achievement" by Macworld Magazine in their 1999 Hall of Fame. GameRanger now has over 35,000 members and support for 48 popular game titles.
 
The GameRanger client is a free download off the internet. I'm looking forward to some Elite Force with my Mac brethren once I get my copy of the game. :)
GameRanger
 
11-20-00
 
Links LS 2000 chat and demo release on GameRanger.
I was just sent this announcement by Scott Kevill, creator of GameRanger, an online Mac gaming service. There is to be an online chat session with MacSoft followed by the Links LS 2000 demo release. Here's the details:
 
MacSoft, the Mac publishers of Links LS 2000, and Green Dragon Creations, the Mac developers, will be making a special guest appearance on GameRanger on this Tuesday night (November 21) at 6pm PST / 9pm EST to promote the launch of the latest Mac version of the best-selling golf simulation of all time. There will be a moderated Q&A chat, prize giveaways, and the exclusive release of the demo of Links LS 2000. There's even a chance to play the guests at their own game!
 
MacSoft has brought numerous games to the Mac platform in the past. Now you have a chance to talk to the people at MacSoft first hand! I may also be showing up for this one. Look for "Jakeman" (that's me!).
GameRanger
MacSoft
 
11-16-00
 
New items on battle.net realms.
The realm status forum at Blizzard has been updated with this:
 
Some items that were previously unavailable in Diablo II realm games will now appear in games.
 
I would assume this means that the much talked about War Club, Grim Helm, Holy Water Sprinkler, and Lance will be dropping now. Whether there will be other items besides these remains to be seen.
Blizzard Entertainment
Realm Status Forum
 
11-09-00
 
Radeon Finally Arrives!
I finally received my Mac Radeon Tuesday afternoon. After having a chance to play with the Radeon a bit I can honestly say that this card is totally awesome! All of my games, including Quake 3, UT, Diablo 2, Heavy Metal FAKK2, and Deus Ex, are running beautifully. Quake 3 shows the most improvement of any of these games. With a little tweaking I've been able to get Quake 3 running at just over 60fps on 1024 x 768 32bit (60fps being the "liquid barrier" as I call it). It's been total slaughter in all the online Q3 games I've played in so far.
 
Installation was easy. 1) drop side door on G4 case. 2) remove existing graphics card and put the Radeon in its place (one screw involved). 3) start up computer and install Radeon software. 4) restart. That's it! The software that came with my Radeon included ATI's new unified driver that works on both the Radeon and all flavors of the Rage 128. It also installed a new version of OpenGL (v1.1.5). After installation I had absolutely no issues with any of my existing games on my computer. It was true plug and play. Everything immediately took advantage of the increased capabilities of the Radeon card.
 
If I get time I may perform some in depth benchmarking of this card and post the results. In the mean time, IMG and Mac Ledge have reviews of this card that you can look over.
IMG Radeon Review
Mac Ledge Radeon Review
ATI
 
Update on Mac Razer Boomslang Drivers.
I recently contacted Razerzone regarding the status of Mac drivers for their popular Razer Boomslang gaming mouse. This was their response:
 
We are in the process of getting a Mac driver together. At this time we still do not have a release date. The best thing to use in the mean time is the USB overdrive.
 
I was almost expecting this answer. For a while last spring I was checking in on a regular basis regarding their Mac driver status. They kept pushing back the ETA until they finally told me that they were no longer giving ETAs on their Mac drivers. At that time they assured me that they were working to find some one to write Mac drivers.
 
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. USB Overdrive is a generic USB device controller that is compatible with most all USB input devices. The disadvantage to using USB Overdrive with the Boomslang is that the insane resolutions of the mouse will not be taken advantage of.
Razerzone
USB Overdrive
 
11-05-00
 
No Gaming Championship at MWSF?
I recently contacted Double Exposure, Inc to inquire about the possibility of a gaming championship at MWSF 2001. Their answer was not encouraging:
 
At this time, the gaming companies seem to be in disarray, and it does
not appear that there will be a gaming championship. Double Exposure is
still standing by for any further developments.
 
For those that don't know, Double Exposure is the company that has hosted gaming championships at MacWorld in the past. There have been gaming championships held at all of the previous MacWorlds I've been to. The last MacWorld in New York was the first expo in a while not to have a gaming championship. It seems the upcoming San Francisco MacWorld will follow this same trend. I'll keep you updated if more information comes my way.
Double Exposure
MacWorld
 
11-01-00
 
Yiminee Software Chat & Cribbage Release.
I was just sent this news from Scott Kevill of GameRanger. There is to be a special chat session held with Yiminee Software on Thursday November 2. There will also be a new cribbage game released. Here are the details:
 
Perth, Western Australia -- November 1, 2000 -- Scott Kevill today announced that at 6pm PST / 9pm EST, Thursday November 2, GameRanger will host a chat with Yiminee Software, the developers of the popular, classic Mac card game, A**hole, and a new, previously unannounced game, Yiminee Cribbage. At the conclusion of the chat, Yiminee Cribbage will be released on GameRanger for all to play. Game developers, Greg and Sean Munro of Yiminee Software will be making a special guest appearance on GameRanger on this Thursday night (November 2) at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST to chat about themselves and their new game.
 
Yiminee Cribbage includes all of these features and more:
- Networking support for 2 to 4 players via GameRanger
- 16-bit graphics with support for alpha channels
- Sounds, sounds, and more sounds
- Plug-in architecture (make your own characters!)
- Detailed statistics
- Enough insults to make your whole family cry

More information about Yiminee Software and Yiminee Cribbage can be found at
http://www.yiminee.com.
 
For those that don't know, GameRanger is a free online gaming service for Mac. The client is available for free from their web site.
GameRanger
Yiminee Software