AC-MACINTOSH FORUM (26 March 2000, 6:49 EST/About) A bit delayed announcement. If you visited the forums the last couple of days, you have probably noticed a new forum. It is the AC-Macintosh forum, for discussions related to (what else) the port of Alpha Centauri to the Mac. The moderator is Baston, the webmaster of our CTP for Mac subsection. Some PBEM games have already started to form, check them out! -MarkG
CIVILOPEDIA BACK IN BUSINESS (28 March 2000, 10:27 EST) The Civilization III Civilopedia has been re-launched, but this time as part of Gamers-Lounge.com; still affiliated with SNGaming, Dustin Bainbridge has given the Civilopedia some cosmetic changes and a promise to be better then ever. The site had been down for several weeks due to the unexpected closing of ZeroBearing.com, which had previously hosted SNG and the Civilopedia in turn.
PC DATA: MARCH 12-18, 2000 (29 March 2000, 20:22 EST) For the week March 12-18, 2000, those listed below are the Top 10 Selling PC Computer Games based on sales data gathered by PCData from 17 retail chains, comprising more than 60% of the U.S. market. The top five titles remain unchanged from last week, but there was a shake-up in the lower half of the list. Anyone still have their Legos?
1) Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? | Disney Interactive 2) The Sims | Electronic Arts 3) Roller Coaster Tycoon | Hasbro Interactive 4) Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun Firestorm | Electronic Arts 5) Age of Empires II: Age of Kings | Microsoft 6) Lego Island | Lego Media 7) Roller Coaster Tycoon: Corkscrew Follies | Hasbro Interactive 8) Starcraft | Havas 9) Unreal Tournament | GT Interactive 10) Half-Life | Havas
SMAC-X FOR MAC SOON! (26 March 2000, 6:19 EST/SMACX) Apsyr Media, published of Alpha Centarui for the Macintosh, announced the porting to the mac platform of the Alien Crossfire expansion pack. The port will be again be made by Westlake Interactive, while a release date is not known at the moment. You can pre-order SMAC-X for the Mac for $19.95 at http://www.aspyr.com and have the chance to win a copy of SMAC X autographed by Sid Meier or a SMAC X t-shirt(see recent news item). In related news, another patch for SMAC for Mac is in development. "Many of these bug fixes will appear in the Mac versions before the PC version!" says Brad Oliver of Westlake(btw, check out his recent interview to us). Thanks Ashman who posted about this in our new AC-Macintosh forum -MarkG
FUTURE OF GAMING SITES (27 March 2000, 9:33 EST) Since Apolyton easily falls under that category , an interesting read is an article simply entitled Future Of Gaming Sites at 3dgameforce.com, written by Brian Bugh.
According to him, the future looks bright.
"Gaming sites were created for a variety of reasons", Bugh writes. "Not only do they provide information, but they provide links that magazines have a hard time with. The closest a magazine can come to providing information about a specific company or specific person in the industry is limited by space in the magazine's pages. Sites are only limited by the amount of host space they have. They provide a closer link between the companies that make the products and the gamers that run them.
Sites not only give gamers a chance to see what companies are doing, but it gives companies a chance to see what their users are liking and disliking. When games get reviewed, it shows the company what they need to improve, and what the gamers like. Message boards on the sites, and reader mail provide even more information for the program creators. This is much harder to achieve with a printed magazine".
To read the entire article, click on the link above today. Thanks to our wonderful hosts, GameStats, for the reference to this column in their Daily News update. -DanQ
SILVER CTRY. CONQUEST PREVIEW (26 March 2000, 19:58 EST/Civ2)
Scenario author Jesús Balsinde today is unveiling his latest creation for the CivII world: the Of Celts and Iberians -- Conquest of the Silver Country scenario.
"Phoenicians and Greeks have long told the world stories about the Iberian peninsula, a mysterious land of unimaginable wealth populated by proud Iberians and indomitable Celts. Until the 3rd century BC, foreigners have come to the peninsula in peace. All this is about to change. Armies from Carthage and Rome will enter Iberia with an unmistakable purpose. Will the brave Celts and Iberians be able to contain the imperialistic hunger of the most formidable war machines the world has known".
Balsinde promises that, quote, "this scenaro is going to be challenging and engrossing as like any other". According to trusted sources, Conquest Of Silver Country has been set for an imminent release.
If you are a CivII scenario/MOD/map author etc., contact us if you would like to arrange for a preview of your latest works in progress. -DanQ
HOSTED SITES
CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS March 28, 2000 The Clash Disasters Model has been updated and Toubabo Koomi has done a nice job summarizing the current thinking on this topic. It's sure to spark a lively discussion, so join in now! http://clash.apolyton.net
OTHER SITES
MJ's Civilization Empire SMAC Section: 3/31/2000 - Guess what? The long awaited design update is finally underway!! First I've made this a frames page. It's not over yet because I plan to modify the navigation of this page, to make it an easier to use site. I also have a few more ideas to make this site look good.
3/30/2000 - Okay I'm going to try to rush out the beta for my SMACX2 modpack soon. Note this mod will not be complete, it will contain incomplete faction graphics (missing symbols). The mod will be playable. I'm also planning a few new factions for the mod in addition to the twenty that are already in it. I have a airpower faction planned, plus a naval faction(another sea faction, that I'm trying to make different from the Pirates). An alien sea faction. And an agricultural faction. Note that these factions will not be included in the beta, I haven't even started them yet.
3/29/2000 - The Base icon section is ready, click here to enter.
3/27/2000 BASE ICON SECTION PLANNED - A lot of people(myself included) have been asking for new base icons for use with their custom factions. So I decided to open up a base icon section on my site. It will include faction.pcx files that have new base icons. So that they will be available for anyone wanting to make a modpack. Anyone that has new base icons that wants to display their work email me. The base icons I currently have downloaded: Pyramidal Bases Bleached utopian The smiley faction bases(similar to bleached utopian.) The Damned dark castle bases Conical Bases Cardassian Union faction bases. Seeker faction bases If anyone wants to help me, or has city graphics they want to submit, email me, or post in the forum.
3/26/2000 - Some new links have been added. - SMACX2 modpack development proceeding. - It's file update time again, as many scenarios and mods from throughout the net will be posted. - That design upgrade is coming, I don't know when, but it's coming.
Civ2 Section: 3/26/2000 - Well this site hasn't been updated lately, and because of school, SMAC is the only game I really have time for now. So my scenario plans for Civ2 are effectively dead. It's not all over for Civ2 though, I might continue making the units for the Star Trek vs Star Wars scenario, and post them on this site. I still have some Star Trek units on my computer, and I might post them here sometime in the future.http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/ Chateau/2658/CivEmpire/
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, an interesting read is an article simply entitled 