Was Pippin at the E3 trade show?
Rick Worley
From: Jeff Hegedus,jheg...@usc.edu,Internet
Subject: Mac Games - E3 Report
To: CompSysMacGames
Note I am only posting this here, because supposedly certain internet servers
have not gotten the new groups yet. Please do not respond to this post here,
this group is officially dead......look to comp.sys.mac.games.misc...
Here is my brief and incomplete Mac Games wrap-up on the E3 (the
Electronics Entertainment Expo) in Los Angeles.
(For the full story, look to Tuncers Report in the next issue of IMG)
(Disclaimer: all software (especially mac software) is subject to the
possibility of becoming vaporware - so dont blame me if any of the
following never see the light of day.....)
Where to begin:
Spectrum Holobyte:
First: great news from Spectrum Holobyte - its seems they will not
completely ignore the mac market - at the show they announced:
Star Trek TNG: A Final Unity for Mac CD-Rom - this is a huge game
universe - contains gorgeous renderings of the Next Generation sets - the
actual voices of the cast - the game looks to be a winner, with weeks of
potential game play.
Star Trek - Generations for the Mac CD-Rom. This is a much smaller
game than Final Unity. Basically you hang out in the stealer
cartography room in the enterprise searching for the evil Doctor Soren
from the movie - once you have found which planet he is on, you beam down
and the game switches to a 1st person - 3d texture-mapped hunt for the
doctor (similar to Wolf 3D, or Marathon, but NOWHERE as advanced). To
early to tell if this will be a good title, but there is potential....
Domark:
Domark was there showing a couple of Mac titles. No sign of Flying
Nightmares 2 (which was present at the winter CES) but the word was that
it probably wont be out until X-mas earliest. (I think an educated guess
would be early 1996). Check out their web page for some spectacular
screen shots.
Confirmed Kill was being shown, and it looked good. They were showing
the PC version, but they promised the Mac version will soon follow the PC
release.
They are also going to release a 3D polygon based driving / racing game
for the Mac on CD-Rom. The name of it escapes me....
The PC version of Absolute Zero was also being shown. I didnt pay much
attention to it, since I was consumed by Confirmed Kill.
Viacom / Simon and Schuster:
Well Star Trek Deep Space Nine (DSN) The Hunt is officially dead, but
a new, and much improved DSN game is on its way for the Mac CD-Rom. It
will be an adventure game.
There is also a Klingon on simulator coming for the Mac CD-Rom. It
teaches you how to speak Klingon on and also teaches you the Klingon on
culture...in a game-like environment.
Finally the Star Trek Omnipedia is immense. If you are a Trek fan and
enjoyed the Interactive Technical Manual...then you will be very pleased
with this product (no word on how many CDs it will ship on)
Graphic Sim Corporation:
GSC was showing Hornet 2.0 on two systems, each sporting 3 monitors.
This product is gorgeous! Most of the details on this game have been
released & can be found on GSCs web page, so I wont waste space.
They also had a CH Flight Stick Throttle there. It seemed nice - but I
dont regret buying my Thrustmaster Throttle.
(Warning: this next piece of news is for the MATURE ONLY...if you are
one of those who always posts: Where the $%$$ is Marathon? or Why wont
GSC release 2.0 NOW? please dont read on......That said, GSC told me
that there next project will be a flight sim, it will be a prop-based sim.
and it will be a combat sim. They are not saying anything else, dont bug
GSC, they wont tell you anything. There is absolutely NO scheduled
release for this project. But it makes me wonder: what era: WWII or
WWI? If it is WWII, will it be the war in Europe or the Pacific? Only
time will tell.....)
Novalogic:
As already announced, Novalogic will be bringing their fantastic
Comanche helicopter sim to the mac.
LucasArts:
While the LucasArts booth did not have Dark Forces for Mac running,
the Apple booth did, and it looks great. Seemed to be complete as well.
Hopefully it will ship in May....
Rebel Assault II: While there are no current plans to bring this to the
Mac. Considering Lucas Arts recent history. As long as sales for Dark
Forces are good, I think it is a safe bet that this product will appear on
the Mac. This game is really exciting, gone are the drawn
characters...Rebel Assault II features: Live Actors in actual Star Wars
costumes. The engine is a vast improvement over the original Rebel
engine. The game looks fantastic...almost like a movie, the sequence they
were showing of B-Wing Pilots being ambushed by Tie Fighters almost looked
like it could have been used in the movies. It will even feature the
Millennium Falcon.....
LucasArts also announced that they will be opening an official web-page
this summer....
Lion - ID:
The Apple booth was running MacDoom II, it looks good. Not much to say
that hasnt already been reported on the MacDoom page...I will buy this
when it is released....
Apple:
Apple was showing the Pippen, running Rebel Assault...
Sanctuary Woods - Presto Studios:
Buried in Time - The Journeyman Project 2: This game looks very
good. The renderings are breathtaking. They were also giving out demo
copies of Buried in Time so hopefully the demo
will appear in IMG so you will see what I am talking about...
Bungle:
Bungle was showing Marathon, they are at work on their next game...stay
tuned...we MIGHT see it before X-Mas 95....
Looking Glass / Virgin / Trilobyte:
Looking Glass was showing Flight Unlimited. If you have seen the screen
shots, then you know how gorgeous this sim looks. It is almost done for
the PC, when that is finished, Mark Adams himself will be doing the
PowerPC only version. (Look for a combat sim based on the Flight
Unlimited Engine in 96)
Trilobyte: these guys are AMAZING...they have gotten the 11th Hour to
run in THOUSANDSof colors, full screen at 30 frames per second using only
software! (Incidentally, the president, and main programmer for Trilobyte
wrote Pole Position for Atari while still in High School). Trilobyte
confirmed that the guy who wrote the Mac version of the 7th Guest has
left, but they said there will still be a Mac version of The 11th Hour.
To quote the programmer: Once the PC version is finished...we can port
this to the Mac in a week. Well see....
Virgin is also going to release a CD-Rom version of Monopoly which will
play over the Internet, the Rendered animation of the pieces jumping and
hopping around the board was very good....
Activision/Infocom:
Planetfall will be released to the Mac, the graphics look very good.
The hot game that they were showing was Mechwarrior II: The Clans.
They have no current plans to bring this game to the Mac, but they have
considered it. This game is spectacular...I would advise anyone who would
like to see this appear on the Mac to drop Activision a line and tell them
so:
Activision/Infocom
P.O. Box 67001
Los Angeles, CA 90067
MacPlay/Interplay:
BlackThorn is coming to the Mac.
A CD-Rom game based on Michael Crichtons CONGO is also in the pipe.
Look for Stonekeep by X-Mas, but judging by the delay of this game, the
Mac version might take longer.
As already known, Descent is also coming to the mac.
Star Trek Judgment Rights is also in the pipe.
Frankenstein: Through the eyes of a Monster looked almost finished.
Is that it? Is there more? Yes, there is, but I am simply writing
this from the top of my head and I have run out of steam. To get the
complete story, wait for Tuncers report in the next issue of IMG.....