"Fuel for Gamers"

Week of January 7th, 2001

Six Flags Gobbles Sea World

Freedom Force Up On The Web
Outforce Is In
Konung Is Here
Best Selling Title in the UK
New Title Under Development At Interplay
Mac Gamers Can Expect Latest Myst
NVIDIA Now Supports Macs
Avernum Update Ready to Roll
Armored Task Force En Route Soon
Farrell Joins Stainless Steel
Avernum Update Ready to Roll
Strategy First Marches With Napoleon
First Project from Synaptic Soup

Getting Super Sound
Website Gloms Onto Elton John Catalog
New MP3 Jukebox
Eleven Devices Go For WMA

Get Your DC Broadbanded


More For Game Boy Advance

Just Around the Corner—Massive Hype
Insight Into Digital Games
No Flash In The Pan
Mumbo Jumbo Formed by Ritual

NextGen Console Focus for Newly Named Division
JoWooD and Bugbear Take You Racing
Mumbo Jumbo Formed by Ritual

Gamecube To Get RPG

Revenge, Via Boats and Cars
First Game to Feature 5.1 Sound
PS2 Hard Driving Plans
Four Million Plus
PS2 Sales To Go Online

Packin’ CPU Power
Mac Developers to Get Maya 3
PhotoEditing & Creative Design
New FireWire Hub Happens
PocketZip Offers Pre–Recorded Content
USB & FireWire In Your Pocket
DVD Is Available Medium for Mac Gamers
Biofeedback Implanted Into Games
Digital Entertainment System Unveiled
eSystems’ ASaP Takes You Data Mining
XML’ers Have New Studio
MultiGen–Paradigm Listens
NVIDIA Now Supports Macs
Power to the Notebook
A Dream — Stream Machine
Looking At You With StereoEyes
Home Networking Ease Plugged
Burn With Mac OS

Daydream’s Come True
Freedom Force Up On The Web
Golf Tourney Starts Up
Upgraded Last Kingdom
Juno Served With TRO By NetZero
Pogo.com Isn’t Excited
RealNetworks’ Takes On More
High–Tech Trivia Game Set By Sony

Bringing RealPlayer to Wireless

Xbox To Get Tournament?
Lego My Xbox
Xbox Design Unveiled by Gates
Ripcord Enters Xbox Realm?

SPECIAL CONTESTS FOR GAMERS GAZETTE READERS **ONLY**

#1 — Certainly one of the most enthralling and exciting combat flight sims we’ve played of late has to be Microsoft’s CRIMSON SKIES offering... and the game is tough, as well! For those who believe they can master this alternate universe, the time is NOW to enter this special, Gamers Gazette only, giveaway! Yep, you can win a copy of this game simply by sending an email to contest HQ and enter the words Crimson Skies Screamer in the email subject header. You don’t have to enter any additional text in the body of your email. This contest will run through January 15th, 2001. GAME ON!

GAME ON, folks!

Six Flags Gobbles Sea World There’s a 232–acre marine wildlife park situated in Ohio called Sea World of Ohio. And the park has attracted the attention of Six Flags, for the company has decided to acquire this location based entertainment site for some $110 million in cash. Certainly this will be a grand adjunct to Six Flags’ neighboring Ohio amusement park. Six Flags has been on a roll of late, for only last December the company glommed on the Seattle–based Enchanted Village, a water–themed and childrens’ ride amusement facility. Return to newsletter index.

Freedom Force Up On The Web The tactical RPG known as Freedom Force now has its own website. To be published by Crave Entertainment for PC gamers, you&3146;ll find all manner of game info as well as character profiles, downloads and a message board. Additionally, expect to find both video and static screens of the game as it continues its development process. Return to newsletter index.

Outforce Is In Set in the 25th century, Outforce for the PC CD–ROM, a real–time strat from Strategy First Inc. and developed by O3 Games, is now available for $19.99. Outforce takes you to deep into outer space, to a universe run by two rival civilizations, where you must fight for survival. After much warring, the three leaders from each party try to make peace, when without warning, their space station disappears. Nobody knows where these leaders have gone, and so the military goes into attack mode. You’ll command one of three races with more than 120 units, there’s a free–floating camera with a variable zoom you can use, and the physic’s system realistically portrays elastic collisions, weightlessness, gravity pressure waves and push and pull forces. Outforce supports multiplayer gaming over LAN and Internet, and is distributed by Infogrames. Return to newsletter index.

Best Selling Title in the UK The smash–TV hit Who Wants to be a Millionaire’s digital brother, the game, is the best selling game in Britain. The title has been at the top of the ELSPA’s Chart–Track for the past 12 weeks, which certainly has to be grand news for Eidos as they may now see enough revenue from sold–thru SKUs to help them not only weather, but actually surplant, their doldrums of the past year due to titles that were less than enthusiastic, sales–wise. Imagine... here’s Regis and company actually outselling Pokemon Yellow, for heaven’s sake. More than 700,000 copies of WWtbaM have sold in this third–leading game market in the world. Return to newsletter index.

New Title Under Development At Interplay The name of the game is Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising. Being coded for the PC by Rage Software and to be published by Interplay Entertainment, this is a RTS which will find the ship known as Antaeus wreaking havoc throughout the world. Your task is to build, research and plan your defenses. The title is expected to bow into retail during Q2 of this year. Return to newsletter index.

Avernum Update Ready to Roll If you’ve been playing that great fantasy RPG on your Windows machine, note that Avernum has now been updated by Spiderweb Software. This update, now release v1.0.2, repairs a few of the game’s troublesome areas — thankfully, these were not devastating bugs. A patch for your current game is also available, all at this direct link. This FRPG finds you banished to the underworld wherein you initiate your quest to escape and plan your revenge upon the cruel empire that placed you there. Avernum is from the folk that brought gamers Nethergate and the Exile series. Return to newsletter index.

Armored Task Force En Route Soon The milsim experts at Shrapnel Games have yet another agreement under their web belts... this time it’s with ProSIM for their Armored Task Force title for PC gamers. The release of the game is expected in the early fall and will offer players a true modern warfare sim. Return to newsletter index.

Konung Is Here Ever wonder what seventh century Scandinavia was like? Try Strategy First’s Legends of the North: Konung for the PC CD–ROM for $19.99. Here you’ll manage every aspect of this real–time strat, from the resources to settlements, construction and real–time battles that are set in a fantasy land where you’ll work with three cultures, the Vikings, Byzantines and the Slavics. This title combines history and classical myth and the legends of the Chronicles. Return to newsletter index.

Mac Gamers Can Expect Latest Myst Looks as though Myst III: Exile is actually going to make it to the Macintosh. Chat from The Learning Company indicates that such a version will become available at the same time as the Windows version in early April of this year. Under development by Presto Studios, and packing sales of more than ten million units across the globe in its previous iterations, this game could become another big hit with broad sales, thanks to its xplatform release. Return to newsletter index.

NVIDIA Now Supports Macs GeForce2 MX is the very first graphics chip from the NVIDIA Corporation for Mac systems. They will become the standard graphics processors in Apple Computer’s Mac G4s. Return to newsletter index.

Farrell Joins Stainless Steel Known as "The Old Campaigner", Stainless Steel Studios has managed to glom onto strat developer supreme, Gordon Farrell, as the newest member of their team. He’ll be working with the Empire Earth Scenario Design Team. He’s best known for his The Persian Wars six–campaign, 27 scenario inclusion for Microsoft’s Age of Empires title. He also happens to be a playwright and screenwriter, as well. The studio was found in 1998 by Rick Goodman, lead designer and creator of Microsoft's Age of Empires smash–hit. Their Empire Earth title, which will cover some 500,000 years of human history, is going to be published by Sierra Studios. Return to newsletter index.

Avernum Update Ready to Roll If you’ve been playing that great fantasy RPG on your Windows machine, note that Avernum has now been updated by Spiderweb Software. This update, now release v1.0.2, repairs a few of the game’s troublesome areas — thankfully, these were not devastating bugs. A patch for your current game is also available, all at this direct link. This FRPG finds you banished to the underworld wherein you initiate your quest to escape and plan your revenge upon the cruel empire that placed you there. Avernum is from the folk that brought gamers Nethergate and the Exile series. Return to newsletter index.

Strategy First Marches With Napoleon Marching to a game store near you in the first quarter of this year will be Breakaway Games’ Waterloo: Napoleon’s Last Battle which is based on Sid Meier’s Gettysburg engine. In a North American publishing agreement just announced, Strategy First Inc. will be publishing this real–time historical title that reflects the look and feel of the 19th century Napoleonic era complete with 25 scenarios, Orders of Battle, authentic troop types such as hussars, cuiassiers, dragoons and old and young guard, and many famous landmarks. Waterloo: Napoleon’s Last Battle will be distributed by Infogrames. Details. Return to newsletter index.

First Project from Synaptic Soup Take former Bullfrog folk and the brains behind the game Evolva, bring them together, and you have the makings of Synaptic Soup, a game development studio. And they just pulled the wraps from their first project which is a game entitled Crazy Car Championship which is being built using the company’s Cipher game engine. This means that there’ll be xplatform support as well as full support for online multiplayer gaming. You’ll end up building your own vehicles, with some truly unique design capabilities, and then you’ll compete on islands. But not just any, ordinary, water–encircling island... these’ll be flying islands! Return to newsletter index.

Getting Super Sound For the PC and home theater market, there’s nothing quite audio realism to bring entertainment truly to all of one’s senses. Altec Lansing Technologies hopes they will be adding to the enthusiasm for such products as they debut their line of all–digital sound systems that’ll roll out this spring. Their products use Direct Digital Amplification (DDX) as well as a new micro–driver speak technology. The amps and speakers are combined within compact enclosures and deliver true, high–fidelity sound. These systems are for PC entertainment and home theater systems and play all types of digital media, including MP3s, DVDs, digital TV and streaming audio. Signals remain digital from source to speaker, removing the quality losses associated with digital–to–analog conversions. No external amp is needed, for all amplification occurs at the speaker. Two system classes will ship and each one offers the option of two, four or vie satellites and a subwoofer. First is the All–Digital Personal system for use with a PC. The All–Digital Classic is designed for use in a standard home theater environment and will be compatible with all set–tops, TVs, MP3 devices, gaming stations, stereo systems and DVD players. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Website Gloms Onto Elton John Catalog With various websites dedicated to the alleged art of easily–accessible MP3 files, some sites are opting for a more legal manner in which to offer their customers music. Take, for example, Musicnotes.com — this site has just acquired the digital rights from Warner Bros. for their Elton John sheet music catalog which features 26 different Elton John classics, including hits such as "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Daniel", "Candle in the Wind" and others. The entire Musicnotes multi–genre catalog includes a broad range of interactive sheet music, from George Gershwin to James Taylor to ’N Sync. Details. Return to newsletter index.

New MP3 Jukebox There’s a brand new platform that can store more’n 10,000 songs from your own music collection onto its internal hard drive — however, this new product also packs a built–in CD recorder. We speak of the AudioReQuest–II MP3 Home Stereo product from ReQuest Multimedia. This is the first, non–PC appliance that can create both MP3 and audio CDs. You play your audio CDs just once and AudioReQuest remembers the music so you don’t have to reinsert your CD again when you want to listen to the tunes. There’s a remote control and you can search your entire music collection by song title, artist and album, and you can create your own play lists. You can also connect your portable USB–based MP3 players for downloading your favorite songs directly to this new unit. Talk about easing the delightful chore of creating your own CD mixes! The ARQ–II can record, also, from audiocassettes, LPs and the radio. The unit includes Ethernet, USB and parallel ports for PC, MP3 player and Internet connection and you can control the unit remotely through your PC, as well. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Eleven Devices Go For WMA There were a whole slew of MP3 players that debuted at CES and, wonder of wonders, more’n 11 decided to go with the Microsoft Windows Media Format (WMA). Such products range from portable audio players and CD players all the way to appliances that can link home stereo systems to your digital music libraries and playlists stored on your PC. Appealing to content providers is the fact that they can encode their music in the WMA format through use of the optional and built–in digital rights management technology. All of the devices support playback of content in WMA 7 and in the recent Windows Media Audio 8 Beta format. This latter technology enables near–CD–quallity audio to be delivered in files that are as small as 48Kbps. CD–quality music can be delivered in files as small as 64Kbps. Companies releasing product within this format include e.Digital Corp.; Frontier Labs; Intel Corp.; Rio, a Sonicblue company; SongPro.com; and THOMSON multimedia. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Get Your DC Broadbanded Nothing like catching up to the future... with DSL and cable modems and the all–pervasive Ethernet, these elements have been missing in past video game systems. No longer, folks... especially not so with Sega of America. The company has just released their new broadband adapter for the Dreamcast and now DC’ers can enjoy the fruits of extravagant bandwidth. Return to newsletter index.

More For Game Boy Advance The fighting game Tekken as already garnered impressive sales. And now word is that a new title called Tekken Advanced is under development by Namco for the upcoming Game Boy Advance handheld. Additionally, Namco has two other titles ready to roll for the GBA — Pan–Man Advanced and Museum Advanced. More details to follow... Return to newsletter index.

Just Around the Corner—Massive Hype Well, folks, the major event for those folk involved in the digital entertainment industry is now "just around the corner". That’d be the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), set for May. Already the rumor mill is jumping... we expect "big things" from system manufacturers Nintendo and Microsoft as they prep their game system assaults... word is that perhaps 10 or 11 Xbox playable demos will be part of the Microsoft offering. And rest assured, Nintendo will do all in their power to pull visitors to their massive booth, as well. Return to newsletter index.

Event To Offer Insight Into Digital Games Some $10 billion in sales — just within the U.S. alone — is expected to be garnered over the next five years, this according to the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA). To assist others with this realization, the IDSA, in conjunction with the University of Southern California Annenberg Center, is going to present "Entertainment in the Interactive Age", a two–day event that’ll explore the always fluid content and technology of interactive video and computer games. Plus, this event is going to explore the impact such games have on entertainment, media and culture. The dates for the presentation are January 29th and 30th at the Davidson Conference Center at UCLA in Los Angeles. Best news is that this conference is free and open to the public, with registration on a first–come, first–served basis. Details. Return to newsletter index.

No Flash In The Pan Coming to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco from February 19th through the 21st is Macromedia’s flashforward2001 conference. This expo and film festival highlights the best design and development using Macromedia’s Flash. You’ll find more’n 50 sessions for Flash users, and the Flash Film Festival Wards ceremony is just part of the excitement. There are also a variety of programs offered attendees by Macromedia Flash experts. To register right away, as well as save $200 before January 16, visit the registration site. Return to newsletter index.

Mumbo Jumbo Formed by Ritual Entertainment They say two heads are always better’n one... and so Ritual Entertainment has now divided and has created a new entity known as Mumbo Jumbo. This new extension to the company will concentrate on computer and console platform games and is situated in Irvine, CA. Ritual, headed up by Robert Atkins, will investigate and work on innovative titles, also for the PC and nextgen systems. Mumbo Jumbo is going to be run by Ron Dimant and they’ll be working on such goodies at Myth III as well as ports to the Macintosh for Baldur’s Gate II, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Icewind Dale and Sacrifice, all to be branded with the MacPlay logo. Details. Return to newsletter index.

NextGen Console Focus for Newly Named Division With Gores Technology Group acquiring The Learning Company’s Entertainment Division, a new name for this entity was certainly in order. And such has been developed, with this division to be called hereforth GAME Studio. Their charter is to be a third’party publisher and an internal developer of console and PC digital entertainment titles. They’ll remain based in Novato, CA. Expect them to continue their work on such franchise efforts as Myst, Chessmaster, Championship Surfer and The Legend of Alon D’ar for such platforms as the Xbox and PlayStation 2. Other titles the company plans to publish include: The Moon Project (Windows) April; Myst III: Exile (Windows /Macintosh) April; Destroyer Command (Windows) May; Silent Hunter II (Windows) May; Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor (Windows) May; Larry Bond’s Harpoon4 (Windows) July; Flanker Attack (Windows) July; Solar (Windows) September; Warlords IV (Windows) September; Championship Surfer (PS2) September; and Legend of Alon D’ar (PS2) November. Details.

JoWooD and Bugbear Take You Racing Octagon Entertainment did a good deed, indeed, when they introduced Bugbear Entertainment of Helsinki to JoWooD of Austria. As a result Bugbear and JoWooD signed a software development and publishing agreement to bring Historic Rally Trophy to the PC and next gen consoles worldwide by the end of this year. You’ll be able to preview Historic Rally Trophy, which is developed with a new 3D engine and has 14 racing classics, at E3 this year. Details.

Mumbo Jumbo Formed by Ritual Entertainment They say two heads are always better’n one... and so Ritual Entertainment has now divided and has created a new entity known as Mumbo Jumbo. This new extension to the company will concentrate on computer and console platform games and is situated in Irvine, CA. Ritual, headed up by Robert Atkins, will investigate and work on innovative titles, also for the PC and nextgen systems. Mumbo Jumbo is going to be run by Ron Dimant and they’ll be working on such goodies at Myth III as well as ports to the Macintosh for Baldur's Gate II, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Icewind Dale and Sacrifice, all to be branded with the MacPlay logo. Details. Details.

Gamecube To Get RPG With chat intensifying regarding all of the upcoming console game systems, the Gamecube is certainly among the systems finding ways to obtain recognition as new titles are announced for the system. And this time the plan is the rumor of a new role–playing game (RPG) for this system, to be developed by Camelot. These are the same folk who built such franchise offerings as Mario Tennis and have already engaged themselves in a Game Boy Advance game called Golden Sun. RPGs are a big game genre in Japan, and should the development continue along the quality lines the developer has provided in the past, should become a popular title on the Gamecube — with ease! Return to newsletter index.

Revenge, Via Boats and Cars Nothing so grand as a game that combines the best of remote racing elements and mixes them all together in a new title for the PlayStation 2. Now shipping to retail is Acclaim Entertainment’s RC Revenge Pro. Yep, this RC title has you controlling cars and boats through movie-themed worlds and you can race against others through such environments as villages, lagoons, valleys and more. Weapons you can command include water balloons, oil slicks, even lightning bolts. There’s a track editor included so you can create your own racing tracks and then save them to your memory card. You’ll also be able to accomplish power slides and really tight turns, thanks to an incorporated hand brake feature. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Four Million Plus Looks as though Enix has a true hit on their hands... more’n four million Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden have now been sold by the company. This makes this title one of the best–selling games ever released in Japan for Sony’s PSone game platform. Known in the U.S. as the Dragon Warrior series, the localized version for North American consumption is expected to debut later this year. Return to newsletter index.

PS2 Hard Driving Plans Seagate Technology has been selected by Sony to manufacture two drives for their new console unit, the PlayStation 2. One will be an open–slot connected hard drive and one an internal device. We simply hope that Seagate doesn’t become too confused over which drive goes to which console manufacturer — as you already know, the company was selected by Microsoft to provide the hard drives for the Xbox. Return to newsletter index.

First Game to Feature 5.1 Sound The rumors are true... the very first title for the PlayStation 2 that’ll feature the awesome Dolby Digital 5.1 sound will be The Bouncer from Square wherein you become a bouncer in a bar who must rescue friends from rotten kidnappers. The sound technology was licensed by Square from Dolby Digital Laboratories and will debut this spring in the U.S. The title has already rolled–out in Japan. Return to newsletter index.

PS2 Sales To Go Online Remember the furor with which many gamers attacked both brick and mortar stores as well as online retailers in their rush to glom onto the PS2 when that Sony system debuted late last year? P’raps Sony got a message, of sorts, and they are going to soon debut a new website that’ll enable direct sales of the PS2 to consumers. Expected to debut by February, some rumors indicate this d2c site could actually start operations later this week. However, as the company still cannot meet demand for their nextgen system, this could well simply add to the frustration of PS2 seekers as, even though orders will be accepted, who knows when they’ll receive their units. Return to newsletter index.

Packin’ CPU Power Featuring an integrated graphics chipset, the new AMD Duron CPU pumping along at a merry 850MHz has now debuted. Designed specifically for what is termed the "value PC" market, companies such as Compaq and Hewlett–Packard are already onboard to include this processor in upcoming machines aimed at this market. With PC prices already tumbling, thanks to a real recession in PC purchasing, the pricing of this processor should assist signed–on companies in manufacturing machines that are less of a wallet–squeezer than in the past. Return to newsletter index.

Mac Developers to Get Maya 3 Word is out that the 3D animation and fx package from Alias|Wavefront, Maya Complete 3, will be shipping for Mac OS X next quarter. Beta phase is expected within the next month, and this rebuild will aid Mac graphics artists bridge the gap 'tween 2D and 3D. Free demos of the new app can be viewed at Macworld in San Francisco, from January 9th through 12th. Details. Return to newsletter index.

PhotoEditing & Creative Design from ArcSoft For both Mac and PC users, there’s a new graphics experience awaiting you with the intro of PhotoImpressions 3 from ArcSoft. There’s an upgraded user interface as well as better navigation as well as multiple image layer manipulation and support for online photo communities. Plus, you’ll also find expanded printing impressions. With the ability to more easily work with layers with high–end photo editor complexities, such as the automatic creation of a new layer whenever you add text to an image, the upgraded app comes with a complete set of photo–editing and retouching tools. Other sfx tools include sketch, ripple, wrinkle, splash, mosaic, 3D grid, ribbon, magic mirror and photo embossing. Details. Return to newsletter index.

New FireWire Hub Happens Although calling a hub "stylish" might be pushing the marketing envelope, that is what Belkin Components calls their latest FireWire 6–Port hub, their F5U526. The hub connects multiple FireWire peripherals through a single port and adds six 400Mbps ports to your Mac or Win–based computer. Nice features with such hubs is the fact that your valuable desk space is conserved through such use. You can stack these hubs anyway you wish, with as many as 63 devices connected in this manner. So you can access your peripherals quickly, the hub also features one port on the front, plus the five on the interior of the connector bay. Additionally, the ports are arranged in a radial manner, you can feed your FireWire cables to a single point of focus. You can acquire and edit AV content and then return the edited movie back to your DV camcorder, VCR of CD/DVD using one connection. Also supported by the hub is Hot Swapping and Plug–and–Play capabilities. You can also connect to other Belkin FireWire devices as well, such as even more hubs, hard disk drives and so on. Details. Return to newsletter index.

XML’ers Have New Studio Adding XML structure display, code generation and various performance enhancements is the new release of Breeze XML Studio Release 2.2 from The Breeze Factor. This app converts XML structure to Java classes — this is called data binding. This new version offers a more detailed view of the actual DTD structure, giving you a more complete view of the constructs specified by the DTD. You can edit default values, add typing info as well as more constraints that will be validated in the generated code. Complex content models, including nested choices and sequences, are all part of the app’s advanced code generation techniques. Also incorporated is a SAX 2 compliant parser within the runtime framework. Details. Return to newsletter index.

eSystems’ ASaP Takes You Data Mining You will be able to mine more information from information banks that are located inside and outside of your business thanks to eSystems’ ASaP multi&3150;dimensional database software, which is compatible with Panasonic’s 4.7/9.4GB DVD–RAM drive. ASaP supports more than 200 document formats that include sound, video, web, office documents and images which you can browse and access online, and you can query against a single data bank or across multiple data banks. You can modify search fields and indexes any time — you don't need to re–index the database — because of ASaP’s instant structured search capabilities. The Panasonic DVD–RAM which is available as an internal drive with a SCSI–2 interface or an ATAPI interface sells for $549. This drive is a natural for the ASaP data mining application because of its random access capabilities, which enables you to move to the information that you need instantly.According to IDC specialists, competition for faster access tools for information collection, retrieval and analysis and the capability to work with test, video sound and image collections will cause the DCT market to increase from $1.4 billion in 1999 to almost $4.4 billion in 2004. ASaP is available at prices beginning at $10,000. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Iomega’s PocketZip Offers Pre–Recorded Content In a cooperative effort due out this month, Iomega’s 40MB PocketZip disks will be distributed with pre–recorded content such as; best–selling books from John Grisham and Danielle Steele; music from Charlie Daniels Band and Al Green; classic radio shows and digital magazines. The recipients of this content, on I–Jam’s new License Plate (or LP) format using Iomega’s PocketZips, include some Tower Records, Wherehouse Records, Musicland and Borders stores as well as MediaBay.com on the Internet. I–Jam will package these items in CD jewel cases with pricing at $19.98 for music and $29.99 for books. . Details. Return to newsletter index.

USB & FireWire In Your Pocket For all of you "mobile pros", there's a new CD–RW drive that can actually fit in your pocket, with dimensions of 6x6x6–inches. This is the new 10 to 30GB PocketDrive from LaCie, which includes both USB and FireWire connectors. As the drive is hot–plug capable, you can connect or reconnect to your computer without having to shutdown or reboot your system. The system interface is automatically detected and the connection is configured for operation, meaning the drives "mount" as soon as the connection is made. Rewrite is at 4X, read is at 24X, and there are two IEEE 1394 ports so you can daisy-chain with other FireWire devices. Details. Return to newsletter index.

DVD Is Available Medium for Mac Gamers With the ability to store as much as 10GB of data, one company has decided to develop DVD as a way to get into Mac gamers wallets. Greenleaf Technologies’ new system of game distribution can pack as many as 20 encrypted games onto a single DVD disc. Partnering so far with Greenleaf are game publishers Electronic Arts and Hasbro Interactive as well as manufacturers such as Dell and Sony. Sure, these combo DVDs will probably cost as much as 3x what you pay now for a single CD–ROM game, but then again, you’re getting 10x the entertainment! Return to newsletter index.

Biofeedback Implanted Into Games Yep, if you’ve had the chance to play Pong and some other Hasbro games for video systems, imagine how they’ll entice you imagination now that Hasbro Interactive plans to place into this digital mix biofeedback. The company has signed a new licensening agreement with East3 Ltd. And so you’ll actually be managing your games through use of your brain waves, via a special helmet. The actual technology finds your brain wave activity measured. This data is then speedily sent to a base station, whose software then takes these readings and translates them into game control actions. Expect at least two Hasbro games to initially support this technology, with East3 receiving royalties based on the number of games sold. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Digital Entertainment System Unveiled There’s a new integrated, digital entertainment app making its way to viewings by the attendees at CES. From Lumenati comes their Universal Media Player software, part of an app that simplifies the downloading, storage, playback and management of music and video from broadband Internet and local sources. The company’s open–architecture systems reference design is known as Metal and can be used as a home media center for all storage needs and provides digital media service to all types of entertainment appliances attached to a home network. You can glom onto a Beta release of Lumenati Software at their website. Return to newsletter index.

MultiGen–Paradigm Listens to Customers and Releases Upgrades MultiGen–Paradigm, known for their real–time 3D solutions, has incorporated the advice of their customers into upgrades to MultiGen Creator 2.4.1 and Vega 3.6 running on Microsoft Windows NT and SGI platforms. MultiGen Creator 2.4.1, which is a software toolset that creates real–time 3D content for visual simulation, interactive games, urban simulation and other visualization applications, includes all of the improvements made in earlier patch releases, product improvements and fixes since the release of version 2.4 in September of 2000. MultiGen Creator 2.4.1 for Windows offers the option of MultiGen SEDRIS Exporter which converts OpenFlight files created from MultiGen Creator to the SEDRIS Transmittal File format. Vega 3.6 delivers more realistic functionality, light source compatibility, improved special effects and enhanced sensor simulation capabilities on both the NT and IRIX platforms.Vega 3.6 supports DI–GUY version 4.2 from Boston Dynamics, Inc., Evans and Sutherland’s SimFusion sensor API and frame–based texture sub–loading on Windows NT. Details. Return to newsletter index.

NVIDIA Now Supports Macs GeForce2 MX is the very first graphics chip from the NVIDIA Corporation for Mac systems. They will become the standard graphics processors in Apple Computerొs Mac G4s. Return to newsletter index.

Power to the Notebook Those of you needing more power to your notebook PCs, rest assured that Semtech Corp. has come to your rescue with SC1471 PowerStep II. With today’s need to reduce power consumption and heat dissipation in notebook PCs, as the processor currents increase, Semtech Corp. took the ball and ran until they reached the solution. The SC1471 PowerStep II is specifically for the high–performance Pentium III processor that features Intel SpeedStep technology, which supplies on–the–fly core voltage changes resulting in maximum battery life for your notebook. Additionally, SC1471 supports enhanced Intel Mobile Voltage Positioning, which helps to cut back the power consumption by decreasing the core voltage as the load current increases, which extends battery life and cuts back system design costs by the reduction of the maximum thermal envelope. When the SC1471 is combined with the SC1405C SmartDriver together they supply a core voltage over the 0.600V to 1.75V range at processor currents up to 25 amps. Return to newsletter index.

A Dream — Stream Machine Delivers Affordable MPEG Recording Stream Machine and National Semiconductor should put a smile on your face when you hear about their combined efforts to deliver a platform for consumer recording that is much less expensive than the current recordable DVD designs, which can cost as much as $4000. This product from Stream Machine, the Duo Reference Design, which sells for around $400, provides a full–duplex audio and video platform that provides DVD playback and system control by combining MPEG2 video and audio recording technology, and the DVD decoding of National Semiconductor&3146;s Mediamatics DVD–on&3150;a–chip technology. There’s more if you’re interested — Details. Return to newsletter index.

Here’s Looking At You With StereoEyes Now you can view images on your PC in Stereo3D with StereoEyes from StereoGraphics Corp. with most of the current graphics cards. Whether you’ve got a Windows or Linux operating system, StereoEyes does the job enabling you to see in the manner that we use our eyes, each from a different perspective, which assists with depth perception. Previous to StereoEyes, professionals such as scientists and engineers needed to have a special graphics card and software that was stereo enabled in order to observe objects stereoscopically on their PCs. The StereoEyes package consists of StereoEyes eyewear, an infrared emitter, StereoEnabler and Stereo3D software drivers. Return to newsletter index.

Home Networking Ease Plugged With CES underway, no wonder numerous product release are flooding the news wires. FOr example, SONICblue is demo’ing their new HomeFree Powerline home networking solution. The product is based on Intellon’s PowerPacket powerline technology. This enables you to share your broadband Internet connections as well as get into MP3 goodies, video, and the playing of various online multiplayer games. PCs and all of those soon–to–debut network–capable consumer appliances are connected at 10Mbps, all using your home’s existing electrical wiring. All you do is install your HomeFree product into your PC, plug the system into an electrical wall outlet, and you’re on your way. Other PCs are connected to other wall outlets in any room in your domicile. You won’t need any wires or additional equipment. The technology allows one broadband Internet connection to be share by all of your family’s PCs, whether DSL or cable, it matters not. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Burn With Mac OS There’s a new app for burning your CDs if you are a Mac user.. this is Click ’N Burn from Stomp. Offering an easy–to–use labeling solution, you can design and print your own pro-quality CD labels and jewel case inserts as well, all with the included CD Stomper Starter Kit. You can create audio CDs from any combo of MP3, AIFF, SDII, WAV or CD audio tracks and receive perfect disc–at–once copies. There’s native support for SCSI, ATAPI, USB, and FireWire CD burners. Plus, Click ’N Burn can record and edit live audio and hybrid CD-ROMs can also be created. The silence gap ’tween audio tracks can also be adjusted and you can burn your CDs in the background, as well. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Daydream’s Come True With Distribution of Clusterball RealNetworks has plans to become the exclusive electronic distributor for the English–language version of Clusterball, a non–violent online game in which you fly a ship through an open landscape and then pick up balls from specific tracks. As you pick up the balls they form a visable chain behind the ship, which enables others to see the value of your chain on a radar screen and in the game’s environment. And as you collect Clusterballs your ship is weighted down. You don’t make any points until you fly your ship and Clusterballs through a designated goal in the Clusterball arena. You can take on other challenges by using equipment that you find in warehouses that you can use to interfere with other players. Since Clusterball first appeared on the Internet in July more than 200,000 gamers have played the game. RealNetworks is renowned with more than 160 million registered users of RealPlayer and more than 50 million folk using RealJukebox. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Freedom Force Up On The Web The tactical RPG known as Freedom Force now has its own website. To be published by Crave Entertainment for PC gamers, you’ll find all manner of game info as well as character profiles, downloads and a message board. Additionally, expect to find both video and static screens of the game as it continues its development process. Return to newsletter index.

Ten Email Games Unveiled Over at Flipside.com there are some new email games you can enjoy with you friends. These include a number of classics and other titles such as: 4 in a Row, BattleFleets, Bet Your Buddy, Big Darn Word, Checkers, Chess, Reversi, Super Sunday Showdown and Tee–Time. What could make these titles rather popular, especially for the ever–increasing casual gamer audience, is the fact no browser is required and you can still chat with your opponent as you play the game — nice! Details. Return to newsletter index.

Golf Tourney Starts Up For all digital duffers, you can enter a grand golf tournament from Friendly Software that’ll run through February 16th. This is the company’s Innisbrook/Continental Open and you can enter at this direct link at the course called Heather. Of course, you can either download the software or no charge, or opt for the CD which runs $9.99. Innisbrook is located in Palm Harbor, Florida, and the grand prize in this online tourney is a vacation at this resort. This will offer the winner everything from airfare and lodging to golf play at the Copperhead golf course at this resort. Oh, yes, there are other prizes as well, including, naturally, free golf play! Return to newsletter index.

Upgraded Last Kingdom There’s a whole slew of enhancements to the MMOG Last Kingdom, from Netamin. The game itself is free for your download, packing in at some 40MB in size. You can also glom onto the game on CD, should you prefer, simply by requesting such at the company’s online site. Once you have the game, your online play is via a $9.95 per month subscription. Some of the new elements in the upgrade include the ability to exchange your attributes with other players, those all–important game guides being online, new locations, and competitions. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Juno Served With TRO By NetZero Ahhhh, more patent infringement hostility... late last December, NetZero filed suit against Juno regarding their floating advertising widow called the Juno Guide. The allegation was that the guide infringed NetZero’s exclusive license of U.S. patent No. 6,157,946. NetZero requested the court to halt Juno’s use of this patented technology. NetZero has now been awarded a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) against Juno Online Services. The patent applies to a process that enables an ISP to display advertisements or messages through a window that is separate from the browser. Uh-oh, seem to recall NUMEROUS companies using such a process to bring advertising to online users! Where will this finally end? Will NetZero own all such use? Stay tuned... Details. Return to newsletter index.

Pogo.com Isn’t Excited Not good news for Pogo.com. Excite@Home is terminating their agreement to acquire Pogo.com, which provides online casino, card and board games. However Pogo.com will still be the provider of games to Excite users, and Excite@Home keeps their 10 percent equity stake in Pogo.com. Return to newsletter index.

RealNetworks’ Takes On More RealNetworks’ Real.com Games site, which currently gets up to 70,000 downloads each day of 45 currently released games in five genres, has taken on more. In a distribution agreement, RealNetworks is working with 10 game developers and publishers — And Now!, Church of Electronic Entertainment, Daydream Software, GameHouse, Midas Interactive, Ninai Games Inc., Small Rockets, Ltd., WEB Corp., Wizbang Software Productions, and Zombie — to provide more fully downloadable games that are designed specifically for Real.com. Additionally, Intel is sponsoring several new games that will offer richer environments that compliment the latest Intel Pentium 4 Processor. Details. Return to newsletter index.

High–Tech Trivia Game Set By Sony Already one of their most popular online games is JEOPARDY Online — we speak of Sony Online Entertainment and their line–up of online games at The Station. Now the company is expanding their title selection with JEOPARDY Online Techno-Files, wherein you must exhibit mastery of hi–tech, science–fiction and technology themes. The Station already packs ’em in with some 8.9 million registered users, and another popular, casual game is Wheel of Fortune. For FRPG fans, there’s the immensely successful EverQuest game. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Alliance To Bring RealPlayer to Wireless These two companies have been doing more'n talking... Texas Instruments and RealNetworks are combining forces to provide net–based multimedia solutions for nextgen wireless and digital audio device. This means that users of TI DSP–based devices such as audio players, mobile handsets and PDAs will be able to glom onto everything from news and sports highlights, music and entertainment/weather updates via RealNetworks formats. TI will integrate RealNetwork’s RealPlayer technology into their DSPs, including their Open Multimedia Applications Platform architecture and 4gen Internet audio DSP, the DA250. Expect this support to be ready by Q2 of this year. Details. Return to newsletter index.

Xbox To Get Tournament? From Epic come whisperings that Unreal Tournament might make it to Microsoft’s new game system. Although no solid development plans have yet been made, but certainly this possibility remains on the minds of those at Epic. Should such occur, expect a complete game redesign to take advantage of the Xbox’s features. Return to newsletter index.

Lego My Xbox Now committed to Microsoft’s Xbox is Lego Games, although no word has yet been received on the exact titles from the game publisher that’ll reach this nextgen system that’ll debut this fall. You can also expect to find some Lego titles resident on the company’s MSN Network, as well. Return to newsletter index.

Xbox Design Unveiled by Gates The Consumer Electronics Show is certainly one venue at this time of year that enables many in the digital entertainment and system manufacturing arena to present their newest and most able wares. Such is also a grand stage to continue to whet folks’ appetites about what’s upcoming. Bill Gates certainly managed such as he delivered his keynote, showing off his company’s soon–to–debut Xbox console. He also featured two Xbox games, one being WWF Smackdown 2 from THQ and JAKKS Pacific Inc. Expected to launch this fall, there are already more’n 200 game companies around the world creating titles for this system’s launch.
   The black Xbox packs the signature green Xbox jewel positioned in the center of the unit and is emblazoned with a large "X". There are four game controller ports to accommodate such items as headsets for voice–activated titles to game pads. The included game controller offers an 8–way D–pad as well as left and right analog sticks, left and right shoulder triggers, six analog buttons that are pressure–sensitive, two slots for other peripheral inclusion (as well as memory cards), and a rumble force–feedback feature. The DVD tray is a front loader and you can easily hook up the unit to TVs and home theater systems via the multisignal AV connector. For those online gaming needs, there’s an Ethernet port and the graphics are powered by a NVIDIA GPU, while the Xbox itself is powered by a 733MHz CPU from Intel... that’s certainly more powerful than the processors currently driving other console units, for sure. Bound to delight gamers is the fact that a 8GB hard drive is also part of the unit, meaning you can actually store huge amounts of info on this game system.
   Some of the games expected to debut with the Xbox include Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee which will be published by Microsoft; Argonaut’s Malice (they’re the company who created Croc and Croc 2), WWF Raw is War and Activision’s Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2x. Details.Return to newsletter index.