Click to enlarge

Inside Mac Games has posted a review of the Altec Lansing 4100 speakers. The Altec Lansing 4100s sport four satellites and a subwoofer. Each satellite is outfitted with two 1-inch microdrivers. The subwoofer also uses dual drivers, packing two 5.25 inch woofers. The entire system packs an impressive 107 watts RMS (continuous power) and 140 watts peak.

Here's a clip from the review:

The Altec Lansing 4100s come with a full-featured wired remote that sports volume, bass, treble and speaker mode options for 4.1 and two channel mirrored mode. The only things the remote lacked were a headphone jack and a “fade” control so one could adjust the front and back speaker volumes. Since the Altec Lansing 4100s are 4.1 speakers, they can be used for 4.1 sound with the SoundBlaster Live or two channel mirrored mode with non-4.1 sound sources. Two channel mirroring takes any stereo sound source and plays it stereo on both front speakers and back speakers.

IMG Review: Altec Lansing 4100

Altec Lansing

4100

In addition to releasing the F1 Championship Season 2000 demo today, Feral Interactive updated its web site with news on some of their upcoming titles including Creature Isle, the Black & White Platinum Pack, and Worms Blast.

First up is Creature Isle, the add-on to the popular God sim, Black & White. According to Feral, the add-on has gone gold and will be shipping worldwide on November 29th. The company also announced that it will be bundling the original Black & White and the Creature Isle add-on in a bundle called the Black & White Platinum Pack, which will also be released in late November.

Here's a brief description of Creature Isle:

Bring your Black & White Creature to a completely new land, where he'll face Trials, foes and tests like never before. If he's got it in him, and if you're good enough as well, he'll make it into the fabled, coveted Brotherhood. From that moment on, he'll be different. He'll have more power. He'll be an elite, and whether you keep playing with him on the Creature Isle or take him on-line, everyone will know what he has become.

Use your Creature to find and train a new Creature pet of his own. You'll both have to rear him and decide what you wish to teach him, and what sort of Creature he'll grow up to be. And if you look after him well, you'll be rewarded.

Feral Interactive

Lionhead Studios

Black & White: Creature Isle

RPG Codex recently got a chance to sit down with shareware developer and legend, Jeff Vogel. For those unfamiliar with Vogel, he is the founder of shareware publisher/developer Spiderweb Software, who brought us such recent hits as Avernum 3 and Genoforge. The interview covers many topics with Vogel, including the inspiration for his games and his future plans.

Here's a snippet:

Can you tell us a little history about yourself? Why you decided to found Spiderweb Software? What your goals are with Spiderweb?

I wrote my first game, Exile, on the Macintosh in 1994. I was desperately sick of grad school, so I wrote the game to stay sane. I released it as shareware, and was surprised and gratified to find that it sold quite well. Not long after that, I quit grad school and began writing games full time.

My primary purpose for founding Spiderweb and my motive for continuing it is to make as much money as possible before everything falls apart. I would like to say I do it because of "love of writing games", but, sadly, I have found that I can't buy groceries with "love of writing games" checks.

Spider Web Interview

Spiderweb Software

Click to enlarge

Apple has posted their latest game article, this time taking a look at Cornered Rat Software's upcomingWorld War II Online. In WWII Online, players pick to be either part of the Allies or the Axis and then enter a persistent online world in an accurately constructed recreation of World War II era Europe. The game even allows players to fly plains, drive tanks, etc.

Here's a preview of Apple's article:

Unlike most first-person shooters, the emphasis in WW II Online is on realism and cooperation, not simply shoot-it-if-it-moves. You won’t discover any magic weapons or special power-ups that will help you tackle enemy forces, and if you decide to be a loose cannon and do whatever you want, you’ll find many other angry players encouraging you to defect to the other side.

And the world of World War II Online: Mac Edition is perpetual, which means that the war keeps raging after you log off, so you may be surprised by the current situation if you wait a while before playing again.

IMG Previews World War II Online

Apple Features WWII Online

Strategy First

Cornered Rat Software

World War II Online

e.p.i.c. interactive, the company responsible for Mac titles such as Birdie Shoot and Gorky 17, has recently released a new puzzle title. Titled BoXiKoN, this game first appeared back in 1989, and has found its way to the Mac along with some enhancements.

Taking a cue from Tetris, BoXiKoN uses the same basic shapes, but allows players to place their pieces at will rather than drop them, although it imposes a time limit:

BoXiKoN is a fun and addictive puzzle game of strategy and logic. This is a
fresh addition to the classic 'Action Puzzle' genre which includes games
like Zoop, Klax, Puyo Puyo or Columns. BoXiKoN has a large emphasis on
planning, organization and selection and less on arcade style quick
reactions.

e.p.i.c. interactive - Projects

Newcomer CodeBlender Software recently announced the impending arrival of their current work-in-progress. Titled DeepTrouble, this game is described as an action underwater title where players must do battle with alien colonies and vehicles:

DeepTrouble is an exciting 3D action game taking place under water where the player fights alien colonies. The game consists of 10 levels of varying difficulty, many different alien vehicles with different skills and other challenges.

CodeBlender - DeepTrouble

Though Unreal Tournament 2003 (UT2003) definitely made a dent in the world of FPS gaming, players shouldn't forget that Unreal II: The Awakening is hot on its heels. Taking a look at the single-player title, Unreal Ops has recently published a preview that takes a close look at 16 different instruments of mayhem currently in the game.

Bearing more resemblance to the weapons of the original Unreal rather than UT2003, many of the weapons feature bizarre original features, such as the Flamethrower:

The secondary fire is pretty revolutionary as far as first person shooters go.  The alt fire lets you spray the Napalm without setting it afire.  This works well if you want to lay a trap.  For example you could spray it on the ground by a key choke point and then draw your enemy into the area and use your CAR to ignite the flame.  It is times like that you wish you could hear what they were thinking.  This feature is also great for adding considerable damage to the Boss Monsters.  You can spray it on them and then switch to a powerful weapon for double damage.

As far as the Mac version goes, we're still waiting to hear official word. Considering that UT2003 is currently in the works by Epic, we're pretty confident that U2, which runs off the same engine, will also be brought to our platform.

Unreal Ops - Unreal II Weapons Preview

Epic Games

Unreal II

Feral Interactive has released a demo of their upcoming Formula 1 game entitled F1 Championship Season 2000. The demo weighs in at 42 MB and is available for download from our sister site, Macgamefiles.com. The full product is scheduled to be released on November 22nd.

Here's a brief description of F1 CS 2000 as well as the minimum System Requirements:

Re-live the gladiatorial battles between Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard or tear up the record books and take an outsider to World Championship glory. With in-depth behind the scenes technical support from the Orange Arrows and Benetton Formula One teams never before has the game player been able to enter the world of Formula One racing in such detail and authenticity.

F1 Championship prides itself on being the first Formula 1 game to feature the tracks and teams of the 2000 FI season. It certainly is the first ever Formula 1 simulation to be available on the Mac.

Find out here about all the precision, beauty, and speed of the world's leading open-wheel motorsport.

OpenGL 1.2.1

To download the demo, head over to Macgamefiles.com. IMG recently released a beta of the full version of the game and we'll be posting a preview of it shortly. In the meantime, enjoy the demo.

Don't forget that the F1 Championship Season 2000 demo will be included in the upcoming MacGames CD Volume 10. Be sure to subscribe today to get the latest MacGames CD

Feral Interactive
Electronic Arts
F1 Championship Season 2000 Demo
Buy F1 Championship Season 2000

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Mac Games News for Tuesday, November 12, 2002
• Mac OS X 10.2.2 Fixes OpenGL Issues	2:50 PM
• The Slacker’s Guide to Shareware - Part 6	1:08 PM
• MacGamer Reviews Bugdom 2	12:53 PM
• Bombsquad 1.0 Released	9:37 AM
• iConquer 1.0 Released	9:37 AM
• PC Dragon's Lair 3D Completed	9:37 AM
• The Third Reich Released, Servers Sought	9:37 AM
• Virtual Programming Announces New Games	9:37 AM
View all of the Mac games news for Tuesday, November 12, 2002 on one page

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