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As IMG reported yesterday afternoon, Deimos Rising is scheduled to ship today, so we posted a preview.

What's Deimos Rising? It's the sequel to the popular shareware shoot-'em-up, Mars Rising, from Ambrosia Software. Here's a snippet from Andy Largent's preview:

If Mars Rising is the DOOM of vertical-scrolling titles, then you can call Deimos Rising the equivalent of Quake 3: Arena. Every graphical piece and user interface screen in the game has been revamped for a very polished look. Your ship and those of your enemies are all very nicely pre-rendered, along with whiz-bang goodies like particle effects and translucent animations. The game is rendered in full 16-bit color as well.

In addition to making the graphics look better, the team seems to have a good sense of when to make use of their effects. The particles are used a little more judiciously in Deimos Rising, with the overall effect of explosions being less distracting, though just as impressive. Also be on the lookout for many little niceties like tracks left by enemy tanks, craters from your bombs, and smoke coming out of the wrecks of your enemies.

MGF: Deimos Rising 1.0 (34 MB)

Ambrosia Software: Deimos Rising

IMG Preview: Deimos Rising

Ambrosia Software

Deimos Rising

GameDeveloper.net has an interesting interview with the president of Spiderweb Software, Jeff Vogel. The interview covers everything from games as art to how to start off as a game developer.

When asked about gearing online RPGs toward role-playing, Vogel said:

Role-playing is fun, but overrated. I think Planescape: Torment was one of the greatest PPGs ever, but it bombed. On the other hand, Baldur's Gate sold a trillion copies. Why? Because role-playing is fun, to a point. Eventually, pretty much every RPG fan just wants to hit things.

If there's no air in a room, small creatures who don't breathe much will die just as soon as big creatures.

If the computer game industry is in trouble, it will hurt everyone. But, last I checked, our industry is still making phenomenal amounts of money. So I'm going to wait to offer opinions on this problem until I am convinced that there is a problem.

Spiderweb Software

GameDeveloper.net: Jeff Vogel Interview

Spiderweb Software

Geneforge

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Black & White, coming to the Mac from GraphSim and Feral Interactive, has won this year's Gold Award from the EMMA (Electronic Multimedia Awards) Foundation:

The game is stunningly innovative in many ways, and raises the bar on "God games." Black & White’s unique gameplay and excellent attention to detail makes for a superior interactive experience.

Myst III: Exile from Ubi Soft also won EMMAs for technical excellence. The first award recognized the 3D media in Myst III:

It's for sure the most impressive virtual reality performance in the 3D category. Technology and imagination go together and are the essence of the game product.

The Superb cinematic use of well-mixed sound serves both to support the game and further enhance the user experience.

GraphSim Entertainment

Feral Interactive

Ubi Soft

EMMA Foundation

IMG Review - Myst III: Exile

Feral Interactive

Lionhead Studios

Black & White

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a report entitled "Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children." This report focuses on the marketing of R-rated movies, M-rated games, and music labeled with explicit content. The report praised efforts by the game industry to restrict marketing of M-rated games to teens and other youth:

For the electronic game industry, the Commission found continued positive steps to limit ad placements for M-rated games in popular teen media. The Commission found little advertising on popular teen television programs. However, in its review of marketing documents for 14 violent M-rated games, the Commission found that all planned at least some ad placements in media venues popular with teens; two expressly targeted an under-17 audience. The Commission also found continued placements of advertising for M-rated games in youth-oriented magazines and popular teen Web sites.

The FTC also found "commendable progress" in the marketing of movies, but was critical of the marketing of music.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a group voluntarily set up by the game industry to rate games. They established the M rating for games that may only be suitable for persons aged 17 and older.

Entertainment Software Rating Board

FTC: Marketing of Violent Entertainment to Children

Apple released Mac OS 9.2.2 yesterday afternoon, and its updated ATI and Nvidia drives appear to correct a number of issues for many games having trouble under 9.2.1. Reports are filtering in from all over the net that games like Diablo II, Unreal Tournament, and Baldur's Gate II run better and without certain glitches. The update is available through your Software Update control panel and as a download from Apple's support web site.

Rob Barris of Blizzard was one of the first to post about the update in our forums. He notes that while there still seems to be some room for Nvidia enhancements, overall 9.2.2 is well worth the download for Diablo II players. Here's a part of his post:

[Mac OS 9.2.2] contains updated Nvidia and ATI video drivers along with other enhancements. Our testing has shown a nice boost in frame rates on both ATI and Nvidia hardware in OpenGL mode....

late edit - it appears that the Nvidia drivers are not measuring up here in speed comparisons with earlier beta versions - we are looking into this. More on this as soon as I find out.

It appears the graphical anomalies that have plagued certain players of Baldur's Gate II might also be fixed in the update. A forum poster at MacBaldur notes that his previous issues with the game's 3D mode and ATI hardware are now resolved. A similar report about UT and resolved Nvidia issues has also appeared in our forum.

After installing the update, give your favorite Mac OS 9 game a spin and see if it has received a boost. If you're having problems still, be sure to drop a note in our forum for help.

Apple: Mac OS 9.2.2 Update

IMG Forum: OS 9.2.2 Fixes UT Incompatibility

IMG Forum: Diablo 2 & LOD: try MacOS 9.2.2

MacBaldu Forum: OS 9.2.2 Fixes ATI Graphics

The Stupid Giants Giveaway Contest has officially come to a close. I received many entries, some of which were vastly entertaining. Unfortunately, as much as I would've liked to give a free copy to everyone who entered, MacPlay saw fit to grace me with only one extra copy.

That being said, congratulations to Andrew Ballou, who correctly answered all three questions and turned up in the random drawing. His copy of Giants: Citizen Kabuto will be mailed to him by my normally lazy self as soon as I wrangle a mailing address from him.

For those who were wondering, here are the three questions I asked, along with the correct answers:

Q: What is the name of Sir Launcelot's servant?

A: Concorde.

Q: What word do the Knights Who Say "Ni" abhor?

A: "It."

Q: What's the third question asked of Sir Robin by the Bridgekeeper?

A: What is the capital of Assyria?

IMG Reviews - Giants: Citizen Kabuto

MacPlay - Giants: Citizen Kabuto

MacPlay

Planet Moon Studios

Omni Group

Giants: Citizen Kabuto

Buy Giants: Citizen Kabuto

The Coldstone progress log at Ambrosia Software has once again been updated with more information. A joint project between Ambrosia and Beenox, Coldstone is a powerful RPG construction kit that will give gamers myriad tools with which to build various adventures.

Most recently added to the progress log are links to several screenshots related to the creation of the recently released Trinity plugin for the Coldstone-created Pillars of Garendall. The shots, which are said to be examples of the final user interface in Coldstone, show various tools such as level builders, sound manipulators, and plugin load calls.

In related news, Beenox has also announced their intention to release Cosmic Memory, a title also created through Coldstone:

Cosmic Memory is a classic mind game with freaking cool animation and fx entirely made with Coldstone in 5 days (you'll be surprised). This game has nothing to do with PoG (it's nowhere close to a RPG). For those who plan to purchase the Coldstone CD, the full game project is included and you can modify the game at will!

Ambrosia Software: Coldstone Progress Log

Beenox: Coldstone

Ambrosia Software

Beenox

Pillars of Garendall

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Contraband Entertainment's Chris Jacobson recently posted a message in the forums at MacBaldur outlining further details on the upcoming beta patch for Baldur's Gate II. He notes that the patch is nearly ready, and outlines various issues, either fixed or not, and gives reasons for the ones that haven't been fixed.

The issues that have been fixed include:

• Spellbook Full assertions.
  
• Rest Encounters fixed.
  
• Moving items in inventory/containers assertion MAYBE fixed (not sped up; deeper, potentially unsolvable issues with that).
  

• OS X 3D speed - sorry, this looks like it's a problem in OS X Open GL.
  
• OS X 32 bit speed - at the moment, run it in 16 bit. Hopefully Apple will fix this issue in OS X Carbon.
  
• OS X Multiplay - only happens for some users, myself not being one of them.
  
• Inventory screen slowdowns - haven't been able to work this one out yet.
  

• REAL Name
  
  
• Forum Name
  
  
• Email address
  
  
• Your Mac model + RAM
  
  
• Versions of Mac OS 8/9, OS X you are running
  
  
• Version of DrawSprocket - NECESSARY on 8/9
  
  
• Problems you are experiencing in BG2
  
  
• Your written agreement that neither I, Contraband Entertainment, or MacPlay will be held responsible for any damage caused by your use the BG2 patch.
  

MacPlay: Baldur's Gate II

IMG Review: Baldur's Gate II

MacBaldur Forum: BG2 Patch Beta - Almost Ready, Reapply

MacPlay

BioWare

Baldur's Gate II

Buy Baldur's Gate II

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