(28 December 1999, 20:30 EST/Civ3) Our CivIII General/Suggestions forum has been buzzing with activity over the past week on the heels of our article reporting that Strategy Gaming Online had listed Civilization III as a candidate for a Q3 2000 release.
Firaxis' Jeffrey Morris today answered the question and put the speculation to rest, quote: "It seems like some people think Civ III is about to enter testing. Not even REMOTELY close".
See the thread here and here for more information.
["(*I sense an Apolyton Civ III news item in the making...*)" --- you got it Jeff! 
] -DanQ
AT NUMBER THIRTY-NINE...
(28 December 1999, 19:45 EST/CtP) ... it's Civilization: Call To Power! Its number of weeks on WorldCharts' Top 100 Gaming Listing (38) nearly reflects its position; it peaked at #11 in weeks past. Currently at the top of the chart is Ensemble Studio's Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings.
WorldCharts is regarded by many as reflecting "what's hot, and what's not" in public perception at any given time. -DanQ
HOLDING ONTO #18
(28 December 1999, 19:25 EST/Civ2ToT) According to WorldCharts' Top 100 Game Listing, regarded worldwide for its track record of reflecting public perception of what's hot and what's not, Civilization II: Test of Time is still alive and kicking with the gaming masses, 20 weeks on the listing and counting. Vote today and let's unseed Age of Empires 2! 
-DanQ
LOOK WHO'S NUMBER SIX
(28 December 1999, 19:23 EST/SMACX) According to WorldCharts' Top 100 Game Listing, regarded worldwide for its track record of reflecting public perception of what's hot and what's not, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, along with the expansion pack Alien Crossfire, is sixth in the weekly voting for the gaming industry's Top 100 titles. The SMAC/SMAC-X duo has been on the listing for an impressive 45 weeks given this year's stiff competition from across the board. It did hold the #1 spot in at least one previous week, according to documentation, and is a "Smash Single"! Vote today and let's unseed Age of Empires 2! -DanQ
GAMESPOT UK REVIEW
(28 December 1999, 10:45 EST/SMACX) GameSpot UK posted their favourable review of Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire a little over a month ago, but reviewer Elliot Chin is definitely impressed to this day with what the expansion pack has brought to the gameplay of SMAC.
"Usually, expansion packs for such games simply add new scenarios (as with the Civilization II packs) without really expanding the gameplay, but Alien Crossfire adds a great deal to the original game. While Alien Crossfire's core game is still very much the same as its predecessor's, the new factions, technologies, and projects increase that core game's depth.
Because it makes no drastic changes, players who didn't like Alpha Centauri in the first place will find nothing in Alien Crossfire that will change their minds. However, fans of the original game will want to get the expansion pack for its interesting alien factions and new technologies".
In the end, Chin gave the game a 8.3/10 score. -DanQ
NEW SECTION LOGO
(27 December 1999, 19:04 EST/Dino) The logo of our Dinosaurs section has been redesigned to have a more dinosaurs-related "feeling". We hope that you like it... -MarkG
Civ II Gold Compatible with Mac OS 9
(27 December 1999, 14:44 EST/Civ2Mac) Brian Nesse of MacSoft reports the following: "I have run Civ II Gold on three OS 9 machines (a 233 G3, an iMac, and a "Lombard" notebook) with no problems." See the Mac Forum -macuser
PERHAPS A MILLENNIUM GIFT?
(26 December 1999, 19:31 EST/SMACX) Well, obviously, Firaxis didn't give us the Christmas gift we've been waiting for, a patch for SMACX. Perhaps a millennim gift, Firaxis? :) -MarkG
TO HEADLINE OR NOT TO HEADLINE?
(26 December 1999, 17:17 EST/About) On our front page, you now have a choice between seeing it with or without the headlines. The second choice is certainly more usefull for 640x480 users, but perhaps for some of the 800x600 too. Some people said it was still too cluttered after the second redesign. So...
Probably the best thing about this is that your browser will remember your choice, so if you choose the no headline page, you will be automatically brought to it when you enter http://apolyton.net
Comments? -MarkG
MERRY CHRISTMAS
(24 December 1999, 21:11 EST/About) On behalf of Markos, myself, and the rest of the Apolyton CS staff, we extend Christmas greetings to you and your family from ours. We too will be spending tomorrow with loved ones, and are officially taking the day off from work around the site.
But don't worry, it's only temporary!
We will be "back in the swing of things" on Sunday (26th).
Merry Christmas! -DanQ
COLUMN #86; BY SKORPION59
(24 December 1999, 21:05 EST/Misc) Because tomorrow is Christmas Day, "The Column" has been posted a day earlier; in the latest installment of this series, written by Skorpion59, the article is in response to last week's writeup by Blackclove on C:CTP's shortcomings.
Once you have read it, click here to comment on it publicly. -DanQ
SMAC: ONE OF C|NET'S TOP FIVE
(24 December 1999, 20:22 EST/SMAC) Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri has been named by C|Net as one of the five best games of 1999, as first reported by SidGames, in an article posted on C|Net's website on Wednesday.
The other winners are Unreal Tournament, Soul Calibur, Madden NFL 2000, and World Driver Championship. -DanQ
THE APOLYTON CLOCK
(24 December 1999, 20:08 EST/About) Perhaps a minor thing, but from now on almost everywhere in our forums(forum summary, thread summaries and threads) you can see the current "Apolyton Time"(EST actually). Just reload to see that it is indeed the actual time. Now we can all together celebrate the coming of the millenium, watching the Apolyton Clock showing "January 1, 2000 00:00:00" 
-MarkG
ANCIENT NOBLE UNIT
(23 December 1999, 20:10 EST/CtP) An extra christmas gif :) another unit graphic from Tom Davies. The Ancient Noble is meant as an alternative to the Noble supplied in the Apolyton pack and WesW's Medieval Pack. It is fully animated with shadows and has movement, attack and death scenes.Check it out! -MarkG
FRONT PAGE REDESIGN, FULL NEWS PAGE
(22 December 1999, 21:25 EST/About) After visitor feedback about our new look of the front page, we redesigned it again to look better on 800x600 resolutions. Specifically, we wanted to give those visitors as many headlines as possible with one look.
Beyond that, we have a created a Full News page with all the news of all sections and hosted sites(those that use the news script). Hope you like it. -MarkG
REAL TIME OR TURN BASED?
(22 December 1999, 20:04 EST/Dino) One of the more popular topics of our Dino forum, and the next topic to be covered in Sid's diaries on the official site, is whether or not a strategy game based on dinosaurs should be real time or turn based. Thus, we made our first poll for this new section. Vote and give your comments on this thread -MarkG
FILES FOR THE CHRISTMAS
(22 December 1999, 18:40 EST/CtP) Our christmas "gift" for you is 8 new ctp files. Our apologies to those of the creators who waited for some time. The new files are History of Iceland(historical scenario pack), Alternative Targeting Cursor(by Atahualpa), Leaders Randomizer(program that randomizes the leaders' personalities), Lucky's Presidential Mod(38 diplomatic pictures of US presidents!), Nostradamus(put Nostradamus as your leader), Early Spy Unit(new unit from Tom Davies) and CTPBase 1.0(Access database for almost all CTP customizable files). Merry Christmas everybody! :) -MarkG
GAMESPOT UK'S TOP 100 GAMES
(22 December 1999, 15:49 EST/Misc) Gamespot UK has started a count down for their massive holiday feature on the Top 100 Games of the Millennium. For the scepticals(like me), it is a very good thing that Gamespot UK clears out that this their own opinion(and proudly Brit-centric as they mention). Scepticism which I think is right when you see Lemmings in the 94th position :) Anyway, the people are going to have their say in the "Readers' Top 100" which Gamespot will start soon. In the meantime, positions 100 to 91 have been revealed, the rest will folow in the coming days. Share your comments on this thread -MarkG
GAMESPY TALKS CIVIII
(21 December 1999, 20:52 EST/Civ3) From the staff at GameSpy comes the two Strategy titles that they believe gamers should watch for in 2000. One of the games is none other than Civilization III.
No new information was given about the game, but the writeup did make one profound statement:
"Suffice it to say that anything with Sid Meier's name on it bears watching in the new year".
Indeed! -DanQ
GAMER-X RANT
(21 December 1999, 19:24 EST/Dino) GameCenter's Gamer-X posted his latest rant on GameCenter's website. This edition is about --- you guessed it --- Sid Meier's Dinosaurs.
He states, quote:
"Turns out I was right: Firaxis on Friday announced that the next big Sid Meier game is about dinosaurs. I guess Sid's been watching Jurassic Park a lot. I'm intrigued by this dinosaur game, but we'll have to wait for details. This is just great; now Firaxis has me waiting for both Civilization III and dinosaurs".
-DanQ
FORUM "RANKS" APPLIED
(21 December 1999, 18:07 EST/About) The new set of forum titles was applied today. The system is based on post count and goes like this
Settler 1-30
Chieftain 31-100
Warlord 101-300
Prince 301-1000
King 1001-3000
Emperor 3001-10000
Deity 10001+
We hope it's not abused :) -MarkG
Iran by Stefan Härtel
(21 December 1999, 11:39 EST/CSC) New scenario in Ancient:
Iran by Stefan Härtel.
(Scenario #16 in this section, #119 in the site) -AllardHS
CIV2 DATABASE SURVEY
(21 December 1999, 11:31 EST/Civ2) Sven, our civ2 db manager, is doing a survey about our file database. Please answer on this thread. -MarkG
Q3 2000...?
(20 December 1999, 20:17 EST/Civ3) In its listing updated at the end of November, Strategy Gaming Online has Civilization III slated for a Q3 2000 release.
Will this come to pass? It's still up in the air, but based on earlier indications from both Firaxis and Hasbro Interactive, the latter of which has been confirmed as the outfit who will develop it, it appears to be a definite possibility.
Stay tuned for more updates as they become available. -DanQ
ANALYSIS FROM GAMECENTER
(20 December 1999, 20:11 EST/Dino) Like many other PC gaming websites, GameCenter has posted an article about Firaxis' latest game in the making, Sid Meier's Dinosaurs, in recent days. But in addition, writer Andrew S. Bub offers his take on the announcement. Here are some excerpts:
"A dinosaur strategy game? Were it any other developer, this news would be met with mild curiosity and, likely, much derision. But Sid Meier has the most impressive track record of any game designer in this business.
... the one thing that is guaranteed with a Meier release (aside from his name being part of the title) is that it will mix hard science and realism with addictive gameplay. The concept may seem like a long shot, but it is very possible we have just seen a new classic in its infancy. That's not hyperbole, just history repeating itself".
Sounds good!
-DanQ
PATCH BEFORE CHRISTMAS?
(20 December 1999, 19:44 EST/SMACX) Jeff Morris says "Chances are, yes". He added that "The patch contains all the fixes listed in Tim's thread". Sometimes, you only need to ask, and Lee Johnson did :) -MarkG
GERMAN TOT PATCH v1.1
(19 December 1999, 14:28 EST/Civ2ToT) MicroProse's German outfit released patch v1.1 for Civilization II: Test of Time on November 11th. The patch is not widely known as being available because it is as of yet not listed on the official CivII website. We thank Reto Spöhl for bringing it to our attention.
To download the file from Apolyton (2.9MB), click here. -DanQ
EVOLUTION, THE GAME
(19 December 1999, 8:53 EST/Dino) Timothy Weij mentioned to us a game which seems similar to what Sid&Co is up to. It's called Evolution, described on it's official site as an "intense, challenging strategy game", where you "begin as one of the earliest amphibians to crawl out onto land, competing against up to five computer or human (networked) opponents to evolve the first intelligent species (and that doesn't have to mean homo sapiens!)". Published in early '98, it seems that it got some pretty good reviews. A 17mb demo is available, check it out! -MarkG
CTP PORT FOR "BEOS": GOLD!
(18 December 1999, 23:23 EST/CtP) According to WildCard Designs, their BeOS port of Civilization: Call To Power has gone gold (dated December 3rd).
"Gold" is a term which publishers use to state that the game is being sent to manufacturers for production, and shortly thereafter shipping! At present we do not have any more precise information on when BeOSer's can expect to see the game in stores, but keep us bookmarked for updates.
Our thanks to Kevin Ar18 of our forums for the note. -DanQ
COLUMN #85; BY BLACKCLOVE
(18 December 1999, 23:15 EST/Misc) Today's column comes from Blackclove, entitled "Scenario Making: While CivII Succeeded While More Modern Games May Fail".
Enjoy! If you have any comments to make on the piece, feel free to discuss them here. -DanQ
MING'S NEW ROLES
(18 December 1999, 15:43 EST/About) Effectively immediately Ming, who has been moderator of Apolyton's Off-Topic forum since late October, will expand his role in Apolyton's forums by replacing DanQ and MarkG as sole moderator on all of the site's CivII forums, save CivII-Mac, which will continue to be served by MacUser.
Ming's new forum title has also been modified accordingly --- he is now "CivII & Off-Topic Moderator". -DanQ
2000 NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
(17 December 1999, 23:19 EST/About) We are proud to report that Apolyton's Newsletter, "Apolyton Announcements", has surpassed the 2000-subscriber mark. It was only on January 12th, 1999, that the newsletter recorded its 1000 subscriber.
"Apolyton Announcements" culminates a week of Civilization-related news, available free of charge sent via electronic mail. For more information, and how to subscribe, visit any one of Apolyton's gaming sections. -DanQ
APOLYTON EXPANDS COVERAGE -- DINOSAURS!
(17 December 1999, 23:03 EST/About) Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS), considered by some within the online Civilization-community to be one of the definitive fansites dedicated to the series, is today announcing its intention to add Firaxis Games' recently announced Sid Meier's Dinosaurs to its extensive gaming coverage.
"We have been anxiously awaiting this day [December 17th] for a couple of weeks now -- that is, when we would learn what Sid's latest project was all about", commented excited ACS Co-Owner/Webmaster Dan Quick. "We, like most other Civ fans online, have been glued to Firaxis' website since it announced "Sid's Next Big Thing". While there is still much to learn about what this game has in store, including the prominent question of whether the game will be set in a TB [Turn-Based] or RT [Real-Time] environment, it is already catching the intention of gamers within the community".
Apolyton, to date, has covered only TBS games in the time-honoured tradition of the Civilization series. Despite the possiblity of Dinosaurs evolving into an RTS, Quick said that Firaxis' confirmation that the game would make up the third and final title in the company's 'Sweep of Time' trilogy affirmed it a place in Apolyton's lineup.
"Civilization fans are expecting the game to a TBS, and understandably so. However, this will likely not be a determining factor on the game's success in the long run. Firaxis has proven themselves worthy of producing quality titles under both banners".
While some still stand by the contention that deep divisions remain embedded in the Civilization community with purely "SMAC" [Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri] fans and "C:CTP" [Civilization: Call To Power] fans strongly advocating one game over the other, Quick believes that Dinosaurs, or whatever the game's final tile is, will be judged on its own merits.
"Dinosaurs is shaping up to be a whole new ball game, as is Sid Meier's Civilization III. After witnessing the positive reception given Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire [SMAC expansion pack], Civilization fans will have much to celebrate well into the new century".
While unconfirmed in any official capacity, Apolyton is touting its Dinosaurs section, accessible from http://apolyton.net/dino, as the first fansite for the game on the Internet. Its layout is somewhat different than the other sections the site already has, and Quick promised that it is a "definite preview of things to come".
Apolyton has also setup a forum for the game, also being proclaimed the first of its kind online, for fans to discuss the upcoming title. -DanQ
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
(17 December 1999, 22:22 EST/Dino) We have obtained a copy of Firaxis' press release announcing Sid Meier's Dinosaurs. While the PR offers no more specifics on the game than what is to be found on its official website, it does add that Dinosaurs will be published by Electronic Arts while Hasbro Interactive will be Sid Meier's Civilization III's publisher. -DanQ
NBM'S SMAC BOOK IS HERE
(17 December 1999, 22:13 EST/SMAC) NBM Publishing out of New York, New York USA has published "Power of Mind Words", a 48 full-colour comic book inspired by a game none other than Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, just in time for the Christmas season.
From NBM's website, you can read up on the novel, its authors, and even enjoy a six-page preview of the book. It is currently retailing for $8.95US which can be purchased online for your convenience.
Our thanks to Dennis Kalinichenko for letting us know of its release. -DanQ
DINOSAURS SECTION!
(17 December 1999, 21:04 EST/Dino) Although we're not very sure about the actual name yet, our Sid Meier's Dinosaurs section is up and running. We've only got all the news we've posting these last couple of weeks and some information from the official site, but it's something :)
About the name, the official site is not very clear about it and Gamespot says that Firaxis will announce the official title sometime next year. -MarkG
SID MEIER'S DINOSAURS!
(17 December 1999, 19:44 EST/Dino) 
Yeap, it is a dinosaurs game after all. Read Sid's first diaries and a note from Mike Ely, on firaxis' dinosaurs page. See also our new forum -MarkG
CHECK BACK TOMORROW...
(16 December 1999, 20:39 EST/Dino) I think that now we can be 100% certain that Firaxis will announce tomorrow the first details for Sid's next game. The latest Firaxis newsletter has just arrived in our mailbox, and among other things it says: "Something BIG is evolving at www.firaxis.com. Check back tomorrow to get the full story!". Seems like we're at the end of the evolving stage :) -MarkG
IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS....
(16 December 1999, 19:19 EST/HAC) Yes, friends, the Christmas season approaches, and with it much to come from HAC! We have found one Agent for our Hodadian Awards for 2000; we seek two more. More Pride of the World awards are on the way. And best of all, we will celebrate Christmas (and HAC's first birthday) by opening the Third Scenario Design Contest. We look to the future... stay tuned to this station for more :) -reismark
SUGGESTIONS FOR A CIV3 BETA TEST?
(16 December 1999, 14:26 EST/Civ3) Rasputin00 started a thread about play testing and suggested an open puclic beta test for civ3. Jeffrey Morris(of Firaxis of course! :)) replied to the thread saying that he is currently "investigating how to do an 'open' public beta right now for both Civ III and Sid's game (versus a 'closed' or 'screened' public beta, like with SMAC)". Adding that "There are a lot of things to figure out and prepare for, so it's not set in stone yet. Personally, I think getting as many eyes on our games as early as possible is the best way to ensure a hit game. However, the logistics of making the volumous feedback this type of testing would generate meaningful is a daunting task.". Give your thoughts about this on the same thread in the civ3-general forum. -MarkG
MAC PORT COMING DECEMBER 31(PROBABLY)
(16 December 1999, 13:28 EST/SMAC) Westlake Interactive updated their Project Status. The mac version of SMAC appears as "near beta", with an estimated release date of December 31. Of course, the mac port of CTP is supposed to be coming "any day now" for the last couple of weeks, according to the same page. Anyway, keep your eye on that page. Btw, you can pre-porder it on Aspyr Media's site for $49.95 -MarkG
AWESOME AIPS!
(16 December 1999, 7:29 EST/CtP) It seems that ctp mod creators are following the civ2 tradition, with their... awesome works! :) It would take a couple of pages two include all the changes of the Awesome Aips mod, so better take a look at the readme. There are three versions for ctpers with no mods, for those with CD's mod and the ones with the Apolyton Pack. A definitve download, just 285KB! -MarkG
10 MILLION PAGEVIEWS!
(15 December 1999, 17:22 EST/About) This past week Apolyton CS surpassed 10 million pageviews(hits that is ) since its creation in July, 1998.
On behalf of the Apolyton CS administration, we thank you for your loyalty and patronage over the past 16 months. We look forward to many more! -DanQ
JUST MADE IT
(15 December 1999, 17:17 EST/Civ2ToT) CheckOut's Strategy Top 20 rounds out with Civilization II: Test of Time, just behind Age of Empires' expansion pack The Rise of Rome. Given the competitive year 1999 has proven to be in the Strategy genre, this is an pleasantly unexpected showing. -DanQ
DISAPPOINTMENT FROM PCDATA
(15 December 1999, 17:14 EST/SMACX) SMAC-X is not in PCData's Top 20 Hit List for the month of November, 1999. Newer releases dominate the chart, such as Microsoft's Age of Empires II: Age of Kings (#2), but others such as Maxis' SimCity 3000 remain strong in sales (#10).
Let's wait for December's numbers... -DanQ
SECOND RUNNER-UP
(15 December 1999, 17:00 EST/SMAC) It was a close race, but GameSpy awarded their Strategy Game Of The Year Award to Homeworld over Alpha Centauri, which placed second runner-up behind Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. Despite any initial disappointment, SMAC fans can take pride in "their" game making it as far in the judging as it did.
Our thanks to John Keefer III for the note. -DanQ
SIXTH ON CHECKOUT'S TOP CHART
(15 December 1999, 16:48 EST/SMAC) CheckOut has awarded Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri the #6 spot on their Strategy Top 20 listing. It was beaten out by Force 21, Homeworld, Starcraft, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, and Age of Empires II: Age of Kings (five through one respectively). SMAC failed, however, to place in CheckOut's Top 100 Gaming listing from across all genres in the PC gaming industry.
Sid Meier's Gettysburg! also placed on the listing at #11. -DanQ
CHECKOUT GIVES IT A "3"
(15 December 1999, 16:29 EST/Civ2ToT) A review for Civilization II: Test of Time has popped up on
CheckOut. Reviewer Jonathan Sutyak writes that while the appearance of ToT is sweeter than previous versions of CivII, it only goes so far.
"...some [units] have so much more detail that they look completely different. So the graphical improvements are a nice touch, but they are not spectacular. The extension of the original game and the other two new games do add some replay value but not enough to give the game a great review. These [council, throne room, animated diplomacy screens] missing items are not a big deal but it is still a disappoinment that they are not here. However, there is one major item missing: the map editor". -DanQ
MEDIEVAL MOD V2.0
(15 December 1999, 7:53 EST/CtP) An update(without a lot of work behind it) for Wes Whitaker's Medieval Mod. Major 2.0 Changes: "adjusted the values of most pre-Genetic Age units. added a new ship, new advance, new Spy, and included changes to many other aspects of gameplay. Air combat has been modified". See first the v2 ReadMe -MarkG
ANCHOR FORUM HACK
(14 December 1999, 18:43 EST/About) A new hack was added in our forum scripts. It's called the "anchor hack" and allows a user to be:
jumped to the right message/location in the thread when he has edited/posted a message
jumped to the right page AND the right location/message when he has edited/posted a message that's in a second or x-th page of a multipaged thread.
jumped to his new topic instead of the forum-index page when his has posted a topic
Hope you'll find it usefull -MarkG
DECEMBER 17TH!
(14 December 1999, 18:06 EST/Dino) It seems like the December 17th date on the initial "egg" image on the Sid's Next Big Game page meant something. We copy from a Firaxis press release sent to Gamestats
"From Colonization to Civilization to anticipation. Sid Meier has defined computer gaming for over a decade. Now Sid is unleashing his latest masterpiece on an eager gaming public, and one word sums it up - BIG. Sid's long awaited "Secret Project" is scheduled to be revealed on December 17th and FIRAXIS Games is giving gamers some clues at www.firaxis.com. Gamers should check back frequently, as the site will EVOLVE throughout the week"
Keep your eyes on that page! -MarkG
MOST DISAPPOINTING STAFF
(14 December 1999, 17:24 EST/CtP) The Gamespot staff disapointed me sadly today, as I saw(source: Sidgames that they are having a vote for the "most disappointing game of 1999" and included CTP! I was negatively surprised when I saw that the visitor is given only 5 choices(does this mean that every other game released that year was decent?). Which made me wonder how on earth a ctp fan like me can support one of his favorite games. Votes against another game? What kind of fair vote is that?
I was even more surprised when I found out that CTP was mentioned by only 2 of the 7 gamespot staff members whose opinions appear on the feature. One of them said that he played CTP once, during an evening, and other said characterized Activision's try as "moderately successfull". If that's how one of the 5 worst games of 1999 is chosen, I think I can do the job of a gamespot reviewer! Where do I have to sign? :)
Anyway, I voted against Indiana Jones, and I think so should you :) I mean, I played the demo for half an hour, couldn't get pass the first stage, closed it and sat in front my computer thinking on what was wrong with the game ;) Vote here -MarkG
NEWS FRONT PAGE LAYOUT, NEWS SCRIPT
(14 December 1999, 8:17 EST/About) You obviously noticed it, but Apolyton's "face" for the last 15 months is history as of yesterday. We're preparing to welcome the new millenium with a new one! :)
We've also installed a cgi script to speed up the process of news posting and save time. More improvements and greater "facial" changes are planned, just wait and see! -MarkG
NARCK THE FORUM HELPER
(14 December 1999, 8:15 EST/About) After helping out in various occasions, we decided to give him a proper title and put his name on the team page, as we should. He wanted to be named Forum Elf, but I think we saved him from several jokes not agreeing :) Narck has been keeping the forums' Age Faq and Birthday Calendar, and is currently running the "Winter Apolytoner" and "Forum Titles" votes(which you should check if you haven't so far). -MarkG
THAT THING IS TURNING INTO AN EYE!
(14 December 1999, 7:21 EST/Dino) 
Yeap, one more change on Firaxis' Sid's Next Big Game page. What does it look like? See on our right. Thanks to Zulu Elephant who saw it and posted about it -MarkG
SMAC NOMINATED, BUT NOT ENOUGH
(14 December 1999, 4:38 EST/SMAC) The Strategy Shrine site is organizing it's annual TSS Strategy Game Awards and accepting nominations. SMAC is so far the only civ game released this year that was nominated in some of the categories. SMACers should leave the nasty anti-ctp remarks for a while :) and nominate SMAC for the remaining categories. Send your nominations on this address: vegard.strategyshrine@gamereactor.net! -MarkG
NOMINATE CTP!
(14 December 1999, 4:35 EST/CtP) The Strategy Shrine site is organizing it's annual TSS Strategy Game Awards and accepting nominations. Send your nominations(for CTP of course!) on this address: vegard.strategyshrine@gamereactor.net, but first look at the categories! And yes, a similar news item has been posted in the civ2 section :) -MarkG
NOMINATE TOT!
(14 December 1999, 4:35 EST/Civ2ToT) The Strategy Shrine site is organizing it's annual TSS Strategy Game Awards and accepting nominations. Send your nominations(for ToT of course!) on this address: vegard.strategyshrine@gamereactor.net, but first look at the categories! -MarkG
WHERE IS THIS GOING TO?
(13 December 1999, 17:18 EST/Dino) Firaxis continues to change the page for "Sid's Next Big Game". The egg has goten smaller and people on the forums are guessing that eventually it will change to an... eye. One way or another, I'm geting tired... :) Thanks to Atahualpa for finding this out first. -MarkG
