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APOLYTON ON WORLD COMMUNITY GRID
(7 December 2004, 18:47 | Misc | 243 comments) An Apolyton team has been created for the World Community Grid. This system is produced by IBM and United Devices to harness the idle processor cycles of people`s computers to do research that "benefits humanity." It is very similar to SETI@home, except the topic is Human Proteom Folding.
The Human Proteome Folding project will provide scientists with data that predicts the shape of a very large number of human proteins. These predictions will give scientists the clues they need to identify the biological functions of individual proteins within the human body. With an understanding of how each protein affects human health, scientists can develop new cures for human diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, SARS, and malaria.
The system only takes advantage of unused CPU cycles and is designed to not slow down computer performance. Asher has created a Apolyton team to combine statistics of members of the community. To join, first you must download, install, and register and then you may join the Apolyton team here. - MarkG
WAR OF THE WORLDS: DECEMBER BANG COMING UP
(6 December 2004, 12:25 | Alt | 75 comments) The November TradeWars game is more or less over, with the evil SPQR corporation claiming a victory of Apolyton Co.
The December game is now being discussed with two mixed good/evil teams being formed. Sign up! - MarkG
MOBILE CIV3 SCREENSHOTS
(6 December 2004, 06:49 | Civ3) A few months ago, the South Korea-based mobile games developer Com2uS secured a license to create mobile games based on Civilization III. Recently, Gamespot published four screenshots of the upcoming game, which has as working title simply Civilization III. Although the website of Com2uS still mentions that no release date has been set, Gamespot claims it will be released in the first quarter of 2005. - Locutus
`ACSR WEEKLY`: DECEMBER 5TH, 2004
(5 December 2004, 22:57 | Misc) The December 5th, 2004 edition of Apolyton Civilization Site Radio`s "ACSR Weekly" is now available for broadcasting live on-demand.
Encoded in RealAudio format, total length is 14m:19s. - DanQ
SOREN ON CIV4: GOODBYE POLLUTION, HELLO HEALTH
(4 December 2004, 05:33 | Civ4 | 126 comments) More early Christmas presents for Civ fans: Soren Johnson, lead designer for Civilization IV, has responded in our Civ4 forum to concerns by some fans that the removal of "unfun game elements" would endanger game balance. Soren had the following to say:
There seems to have been a lot of consternation about the "get rid of unfun elements" quote. Perhaps I should clarify. We have identified the game pieces of Civ which have caused the most user annoyances (pollution, corruption, etc.). Instead of trying to band-aid these problems, we are mostly tossing them out and implementing better systems that will require less micro-management, provide better high-level control, and still create interesting gameplay challenges. Pollution, for example, is being replaced by a more comprehensive "Health" system which has a large variety of positive and negative influences. There is no need to go into detail yet - even though I am sure you can imagine some of the factors - the important point is that we aren`t just chucking the whole thing.
The take-home here is that we understand that cleaning-up pollution is not fun. We can fix that!
For further discussion on how this health system may or may not work, you can of course visit our Civilization 4 forum. - Locutus
CIV4 SCREENSHOTS AND INFO
(3 December 2004, 04:54 | Civ4 | 126 comments) The folks over at PC Gamer (website) have an early Christmas present for Civilization fans: the January 2005 issue of their magazine, which is expected to be in the news stands in a week or two, will feature an article called "The Top 10 Games of 2005". This feature includes a full page with information and four screenshots of Civilization IV. New information that can be learned from the article:
- The 3D engine will allow you to zoom smoothly from a global view all the way down to a single city.
- Individual units will gain experience and acquire new upgrades such as bonuses against specific enemy types and the ability to use enemy roads.
- No more spearmen defeating tanks.
- Besides incorporating new technologies, the tech tree has been changed to allow radically different research paths to the same high-level technologies. Now you won’t have to follow a strict research path to be competitive later in the game – a design that opens up a whole new world of possibilities.
- Advanced modders will be able to control the AI.
- [The game] has been designed from the outset to include the multiplayer mode. You will be able to team up in co-op mode against the AI or other teams of players, and a random-map generator ensures an equal start.
Along with the article, a number of images is also included, namely 4 screenshots of the game and some unit art. These are the first publically available images of the game. Low-quality scans of two of the screenshots can be viewed
online at
Civilization Fanatics Center. The release date for
Civilization IV is, as the title of the feature indicates, listed to be somewhere in 2005. You are of course welcome to discuss this article in our
Civilization 4 forum. Thanks goes out to Trip and
Civilization Fanatics Center for the news tip.
Update: all screenshots have been taken offline at the request of PC Gamer. If you're interested in them, you can buy the magazine when it hits the news stands in a few weeks time.
- Locutus
