Also on this issue:  FreeCiv for Windows , M.A.D. in CTP2
REALAUDIO VERSION
Click To Listen To Audio Broadcast Of This Newsletter Listen to this week's news instead of reading it! Click the speaker to begin.
(Left-Click To Stream; Right-Click 1.8MB D'load)

FIFTH BEST ALL-TIME GAME SERIES
(6 July 2000, 10:09 EST) According to Daily Radar's 100 Greatest Games Of All Time feature, Civilization II and Alpha Centauri are equals and together make up the fifth best game series of all time.

According to the writeup on the placement:

"High Point: [CivII] is pretty much the high point of strategy gaming in general, but [SMAC] is just as good.
Low Point: All of the games suffer from a weak endgame. If you're good, you know you're going to win late in the game but have four more hours of playin' to do".

Who did CivII/SMAC lose out to in the running? Quake/Doom series (4th), Zelda series (3rd), Metal Gear franchise (2nd), and Super Mario Bros (1st).

Our thanks to Firaxis Games who scooped this story first. -DanQ

CTP TOURNAMENT @ GAMELEAGUE
(9 July 2000, 3:32 EST) I'll just quote the GameLeague news article
In just the last five days there have been 32 Call to Power games reported on the Call to Power ladder. Since so much interest has been shown in the game during the last five days we will have our first Call to Power tourney starting Wednesday July 19th. Players will have one week to play each game and there will be three to four players per game. Signups will start Wednesday July 11th. If are not already playing Call to Power this is a great time to start.
Head over to GAMELEAGUE now! -MarkG

Apolyton
News

1-10/July
2000


8TH DINO DIARY
LONG TIME NO DIARY
(3 July 2000, 17:58 EST) Long time no diary. Today, Firaxis posted the long awaited Dino Diary #8.

To start things off, Mike Ely -- who wrote the previous installment -- talked about the crew going to see Disney's Dino movie at the end of May when it debuted on the big screen. In addition to talking about the visual effects, Ely gave the team's take on the talking dinosaurs, quote:

"We won't weigh in on the debate of whether Disney should have made the dinos talk or not, but we will promise no talking dinos in our game. And no Jar-Jar either".

And now, onto the game:

"The clearest path to fun with this dino game of ours is to have lots of dinos, lots of different combos, lovingly crafted and shaped by the player, battling it out for world domination".

You'll find more discussion on this in the Diary itself.

Finally, pages 5-8 dealt with a conversation Sid had with a "store person" in Atlanta in mid-May, while visiting the city for the annual E3 conference, and the aftermath in how he and his wife got to see Disney's aforementioned movie before its official release! -DanQ


SENIOR PROGRAMMER FOR BHG
(10 July 2000, 10:26 EST) Surprise, surprise! Someone working for Firaxis left the company to join Big Huge Games! This time it was Jason Bestimt who joined BHG as Senior Programmer. Jason had be working on both Dinosaurs and Civilization 3 up to now.
Comments forum thread -MarkG


TOP AL&PD LINKS FOR JUNE
(10 July 2000, 12:18 EST) The only notable change in the charts of the Apolyton Links&Products Directory is the jump on the 6th position of our Civ3 section(thanks!). Meanwhile, our Civ2 section kept the 1st position while increasing the incredible difference from the Spanish Site from 0,2 to 0,3! :) Also, the Grosse deutsche Civ2-Seite got closer to the top, regaining the 3rd spot. Here's the full listing of our charts

Top 10 Links
1(1). 9.60(9.52) Apolyton Civilization Site: Civ2 Section
2(2). 9.57(9.50) The Spanish Civilization II Site
3(4). 9.41(9.23) Grosse deutsche Civ2-Seite
4(3). 9.18(9.25) Colonization Home Page
5(5). 9.00(9.00) Civilization II - One City Challenge Strategy Guide
6(-). 9.00(-) Apolyton Civilization Site: Civ3 Section
7(6). 9.00(8.92) Civilization II Scenario League
8(7). 8.69(8.60) Civilization II Historical Scenarios
9(9). 8.50(8.67) Civilization III Civilopedia
10(8). 8.43(8.50) CIV LAND

Top 5 Games
1(1). 10.00(10.00) Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack
2(2). 10.00(10.00) Civilization II Gold(Mac)
3(3). 9.33(9.33) Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
4(4). 9.00(9.00) Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri(Mac)
5(5). 8.79(8.67) Civilization: Call to Power(PC)

Top 5 Books
1(1). 8.50(7.50) Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri : Power of the Mind Worms
2(4). 5.50(5.50) Civilization II: Test of Time: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
3(2). 4.50(4.50) Civilization: Call to Power Official Strategy Guide
4(3). 1.50(1.50) Civilization II Strategies & Secrets

Again, we ask for your ratings in order to collect as many opinions as possible. Currently, AL&PD has 158(148 last month) links and 512(446 last month) reviews. -MarkG


Also on this issue:  FreeCiv for Windows , M.A.D. in CTP2

APOLYTON FRONT PAGE | NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Apolyton&Friends News 21-30/June/00

Apolyton Civilization Site -- Copyright © Daniel Quick
All trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.