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A `TRAGEDY` FOR THE FRANCHISE
(8 September 2005, 22:43 | MoO3) Master of Orion III spelled an ignominious end to Master of Orion, one of the best turn-based "4X" (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) strategy series ever made, writes GameSpy`s Allen "Delsyn" Rausch at the start of his preview of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords [see story]. GalCivII is the sequel to GalCiv from developer Stardock Systems, released just a month after MoO3 but made Rausch almost forget that MoO3 ever existed.
At that time [of GalCiv`s release], I, like many other turn-based strategy fans, was reeling from the tragedy [that was MoO3], he further slamed the third title in the MoO franchise.
News that Stardock may be preparing to purchase the MoO franchise from publisher Atari, who marketed MoO3 under their old label Infogrames, was brokered by Apolyton Civilization Site at the end of last month [see story]. - DanQ
MADE A MISTAKE, `WG` SAYS
(29 July 2005, 16:16 | MoO3) In retrospect, Wargamer (WG) has publicly chastised itself for naming Master of Orion III one of their picks for the "Best of Show" at the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly referred to as E3.
For [our] audience, we choose to recognize the games that get us excited and offer the most potential, regardless of their state completion, the WG staff explain. Sometimes we take risks, picking titles which are still a year out and may or may not turn into great games. But historically speaking, we’ve picked some terrific titles (if you discount [MoO3]).
WG made the comments in the introduction to their thirteen "Best of Show" picks for the 2005 E3 convention held in Los Angeles, California this past May. MoO3 was released in 2003. - DanQ
ORIGINAL UP ON REVISED `TOP 100` INDEX
(27 July 2005, 18:21 | MoO3) Gaming site IGN has re-compiled their "Top 100 Games" list they originally published more than two years ago. Master of Orion III`s grandfather, Master of Orion, has moved from 98th on the first [see story] to 90th position on the new chart. The description as to why MoO made the list has changed as well.
While Civilization offered gamers a chance to live out their dreams of world domination, the truly ambitious gamers turned to another great title in the [developer] MicroPROSE [MPS] catalog... [MoO] took the 4X style of gameplay (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) to the stars, letting players build up a mighty galactic empire. [..] There have been other space empire games since, but none better.
MoO was published by MPS to which Master of Orion III publisher Infogrames (now Atari) acquired the rights to through its purchase of Hasbro Interactive in January, 2001. Hasbro had previously purchased MPS. - DanQ
AMONG DOWNLOADABLE, PLAYABLE TITLES IN NEW SERVICE
(5 July 2005, 22:58 | MoO3) A "Games-On-Demand" or GD service has been added to Signapore-based StarHub`s line-up, and Master of Orion II and Master of Orion III are among the titles in the available line-up. Subscribers of SH`s "MaxOnline" service will be able to download, install, and play these and other games for a single monthly subscription fee without having to by each title outright. Notable other titles among the current 140-long list are RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 and Magic the Gathering.
Copies of these full-featured games available to subscribers to this service are complete, with no restrictions on either available options or timeframe. Manual downloads in Adobe Acrobat or PDF format are also available. A copy of the press release from SH and its technology partner, Yummy Interactive Inc., has been posted to Yahoo! Finance's Singapore portal. - DanQ
NOT LISTED, BUT PREDECESSOR IS
(19 March 2005, 23:51 | MoO3) In the April 2005 of PC Gamer magazine, Master of Orion III did not make the list of "50 Best Games of All Time". The second installment in the series, Battle at Antares, did not place on the chart either but the original MoO did -- it placed forty-fourth. Civilization II took third followed by Half-Life in second and DOOM in first.
Thanks to snoopy369 for the news tip. - DanQ
MULTIPLAYER MODE VULNERABLE: REPORT
(30 November 2004, 23:29 | MoO3) Two vulnerabilities in Master of Orion III have been discovered that can be exploited by a remote attacker to crash the game in multiplayer mode, initiating a Denial of Service (DoS). One of the two that player Luigi Auriemma reports is in regards to nicknames where service on a game server can be disrupted by sending long nicknames over multiple connections. He says that MoO3 version 1.2.5 is affected, and others may be also. As the profile on this at SecuriTeam.com (ST) notes, no fix has yet been made or is available from developer Quicksilver Software (QS) or publisher Atari (Infogrames). A link to a copy of the exploitable code is provided on ST.
As well, Auriemma cautions as documented on Secunia that to minimize the likelihood of the DoS from occuring only trusted parties should have access to the game server. In labelling this problem `Moderately Critical`, the corresponding rating code at the site describes the security flaw as allow[ing] system compromises but requir[ing] user interaction. Neither QS or Atari have publicly commented on this matter to date. - DanQ
