F R E E P L A Y ! Issue # 5 - Sept 16, 1996 Stop playing with yourself! (games that is) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/4874 Sections ======== Editorial - Oh well Hot Links - None this issue Gaming News - None this issue Updates - CyberArts Backgammon, Iron Wolves Previews - The Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Review Games - Multiplayer games you can play now over the net Details - How to subscribe, back issues, disclaimer, legal junk ===================================================================== Editorial ========= Sorry, but this will be a SHORT issue compared to the last four. If I screwed up or forgot something, please bear with me. This issue is a rush job. I have been on the 'net a total of 30 minutes in the last two weeks. This is due to major problems I am having getting thru the busy signals to my ISP (internet service provider). I can't wait any longer for him to add more modems, so I am in the middle of switching providers. Haven't decided who to switch to yet. No Hot Links, Gaming News, Play By Email Games, or Mac specific games, this week, BUT I did manage to get some multiplayer JAVA games in this issue. ====================================================================== Updates ======= CyberArts Bacgammon http://www.cyberarts.com/ ------------------------- Beta 2 Now Available. This is a major release of the Backgammon Client operating with a totally new Games Grid server that supercedes Beta 1. It cannot be used to log into the server used during Beta 1. That server will be disconnected soon. Improvements include: new features, online help, and various reliability improvements (please see the installed 'ReadMe' file for more details). Iron Wolves - Multiplayer 3D action game http://www.on-line.co.uk/iw.html -------------------------------- Iron Wolves has been updated to version 1.06 Iron Wolves is a graphical 3D multiplayer real-time WWII Submarine simulator. Currently in Free test Iron Wolves is a developing naval sim in which you will be able to command a U-Boat, Corvette, Destroyer or Merchantman. ====================================================================== Previews - The Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Review ======== Comanche 3 http://www.novalogic.com/c3.htm ------------------------------- This all new version of the best selling helicopter simulation will outfly, outmaneuver and overtake all other helicopter simulations! COMING OCTOBER '96! F-22 Lightning 2 http://www.novalogic.com/f22.htm -------------------------------- Take control of the Air Force's newest air superiority weapon - the F-22. Engage in missions around the world and face deadly adversaries in the most graphically satisfying flight / combat simulation ever created. F-22 has complete multiplayer capability for co-operative and head-to-head missions over modem, serial link, or in eight-player network play." Requirements: CD-ROM, DOS and Windows (tm) 95 Compatible, 486/DX4 min, Pentium recommended, SVGA, 8+ MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM, SoundBlaster compat ===================================================================== Multiplayer games you can play now over the net ----------------------------------------------- HIND (helicopter simulation) http://www.imagicgames.com/hind.dir/hind.html --------------------------------------------- Strap Yourself Into the Cockpit of the Hind, Comrade. You've felt the exhilaration of flying the Apache. Now you can double the adrenaline rush by climbing into the cockpit of a vintage Russian Hind. There's even a multiplayer feature, so up to eight players in two teams can compete via network or modem. Allowing for the ultimate mission: head-to-head combat with the Apache! Requirements: IBM PC,486SX/33 MHz, DOS 5.0, 8 MB RAM, SVGA, Supports most popular soundcards, Supports most popular joysticks. Windows 95 version coming soon. Fire Fight http://www.epicgames.com/f_fight.htm ------------------------------------ Fire Fight is a native Windows 95 game developed by chaos works and published by Epic MegaGames, Inc. Fire Fight is available now direct through Epic MegaGames and it is also available in retail through Electronic Arts, Inc. The shareware version contains: 4 single-player levels from two of the Fire Fight worlds. 1 special multi-player map. Optional Hi Res data files Requirements: Windows 95, 90 MHz Pentium, 40 MB of free HD Space, SVGA video card with 2 megs of Ram, SoundBlaster 16 or compatible Necrodome http://www.ravensoft.com/necro.html ----------------------------------- Necrodome is a POV(point of view) car combat simulation that can be played single player or Multi-Player. For even more fun team-up with a friend on one vehicle and go against the rest of your friends on their's. Features: Single or Multi-Player, Multi-Player has two different options, Players in different cars, or on the same car as driver/gunner and one in the turret, Network/Modem play, Over 30 Arenas, Unique 3-D rendered cinematics, Ability to leave your car and explore or do combat on foot Requirements: Pentium 60 or better, Windows 95, Directx 2.0(downloadable) Microsoft Monster Truck Madness http://www.microsoft.com/games/monster/default.htm -------------------------------------------------- You've stepped into the world of monster trucks! Now you can race the vehicle you wish you had while sitting in rush-hour traffic. Monster Truck Madness provides an exhilarating off-road driving experience by offering various racing modes across rugged and challenging terrain. Monster Truck Madness is the most radical and outrageous racing simulation available! Monster Truck Madness drivers can select their vehicles from 12 different real-life monster truck models and modify handling characteristics by making adjustments in the Garage. To play Microsoft Monster Truck Madness, you need: Pentium, 8+ MB RAM, Windows 95, 20 MB hard disk space Microsoft HellBender http://www.microsoft.com/games/hellbender/default.htm ------------------------------------------------------ In Hellbender you'll find: The X-Files' Gillian Anderson as the voice of E.V.E., your onboard computer. Blaze through mind-searing graphics when supported by Direct3D technology with a 3-D graphics card. Perform intense aeronautic maneuvers with full freedom of movement and complete cockpit views. DirectPlay multiplayer mayhem for rabid dogfights over LAN, modem or Internet. Real-time light sources, electrifying environmental FX and a Bion-blitzing armory. System Requirements: To download the trial version you need 14mb of free space to install directX and 25mb to install Hellbender and you should have room for at least a 20mb swap file. To play the Microsoft Hellbender Trial Version, you will need: Pentium 75 with local SVGA bus video, 256-color display, Microsoft Windows 95, 4X CD-ROM drive to play from a disc, 8 MB of memory (RAM), 40 MB of available hard disk space to play Hellbender from your hard disk, 15 MB of available hard disk space to play from a compact disc, Sound board plus speakers or headphones to hear audio 14.4 Kbps modem for head-to-head play, DirectX 2.0 Dark Sun: Crimson Sands -- Promo Site http://www.ten.net/DSO/ ------------------------------------- Dark Sun: Crimson Sands (also known as Dark Sun Online, or DSO) is the latest in SSI's series of AD&D computer games based on TSR's Dark Sun world. Dark Sun Online is now in open beta testing. This Lab is for individuals tough enough to download the 30 meg file, post bug reports, and help make DSO the best possible place for role-players across the Internet. Eventually Dark Sun Online will be distributed via CDs, but if you're really determined to get in during the beta test phase, you can download the monster 30MB file. Greed: A New Multi-Player 3-D Game http://www.softdisk.com/sd/greed/ --------------------------------- In the YADC( yet another Doom clone) game type is Greed. Butcher several hunters in 8 player network play or go head to head via modem or serial cable. REQUIRES: 486, 8 MB RAM, 11.3 MB Hard Disk Storage, SoundBlaster Compatible Sound Card DragonSpire's Home Page http://www.eden.com/~cat/ ------------------------- A graphic MUD type game. DragonSpire runs from a Windows client. Nice graphics, not much to do but explore at this stage of development. Steel & Sorcery Online http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/7568/index.html ---------------------------------------------------- Welcome to Kenya, a mystical land filled with heroes, villains, and adventure. Interact with real people in this exciting and new online RPG. This online RPG is currently in beta testing, and probably will be for quite a while. If you would like to join in the beta testing, hair-pulling, cursing, etc, please e-mail David Ikeda at prgrmmr9@sccoast.net. To get a free copy, follow this link: ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/incoming/Ssolb50.zip. The Medievia Home Page http://medievia.com:8080/index.html ----------------------------------- Medievia is a MUD game you must telnet to play. WELCOME to MEDIEVIA IV! Enter a world with over four million rooms to explore. Fly on Dragonback to distant realms and do battle with a great variety of beasts. Buy a wagon and transport trade goods from one city to another, and make your fortune. Tremble in the path of a tornado, hide from the firestorms and learn to use other varying weather patterns to your advantage. This and much more is all part of the ever-growing, ever-advancing, world of Medievia. Biferalli's Gamer Server http://sungiuda.deis.unical.it/java/HTML/index.html --------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the First On-Line Virtual Tavern. Have A Good Time With Our Java Interactive Real-Time MultiPlayer Card Game Serve Rqmts: Netscape 2.0+ JavaGammon http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~leesmith/JavaGammon.html -------------------------------------------------------- JavaGammon is a multiplayer Backgammon JAVA applet with great graphics. You need a JAVA capable WWW browser such as Netscape 2.0+ or Internet Explorer 3.0 JAVA Othello http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~dae4e/java/jothello/ ------------------------------------------------ Multiplayer Java Othello applet. Play and chat is possible with other players logged into the server. Some of the other players are computer programs. Some of them use a parallel computing system to evaluate their moves so are quite challenging. JavaGO(beta) http://www2.tcc.net/~igors/java/go.html --------------------------------------- JavaGo - is a Java applet that will let you play Go with anybody on Internet or on any other TCP/IP network. Program works right from your web browser. Also it works on any computer platform as long as browser you use supports Java. Applet was tested on Netscape 3.0, MS Explorer 3.0 and HotJava browsers. JOGS - Java Open Go Server http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~longy/go.html ------------------------------------ JOGS is an Internet multiplayer game. It features two versions of GO. WEiQi is the standard version of GO. Five-Stone is a five-in-a-row variation. You'll have 3 options to play the game. Start a new game. (Wait for another player joining the game) Join a game. (The game begins after your joining) Watch a game. (You are a viewer of that game) Mad Magma http://www.magmacom.com/java/ ----------------------------- It is the year 1997. Mad-dog anti-tech fanatics roam the earth in souped up gas-guzzlers, running down everything in their paths. The ozone layer doesn't stand a chance. The game has been tested on Netscape 2.01 (32 bit version) on a Windows 95 machine and on an NT machine and under Sun's applet viewer. For hard-core fanatics, the game plays much faster using the applet viewer. Requirements: Netscape 2.01+,28.8 modem, Pentium, 16 megs RAM, ====================================================================== Details,details,details... ========================== All product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Mention of a product in this publication does not necessarily imply endorsement of the product. How to subscribe: Send email to freeplay@hotmail.com with SUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT line. How to write to FreePlay: Send your suggestions, comments, contributions to freeplay@hotmail.com How to get back issues: Back issues can be found at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/4874 If possible get them there to preserve the sanity of the editor. You may request them thru email to freeplay@hotmail.com only if you do not have www access of any kind. One issue per email request please. Disclaimer: All opinions stated in this newsletter are strictly my own. Who the heck else would want them? This document is copyright 1996 by Mark Shnayer. Re-distribution of it by any means is both permitted and encouraged provided that such action is for strictly non-commercial purposes, the content remains whole, unedited and otherwise unmodified and this statement remains intact. Though not strictly required, you are asked to inform the author of any such distribution. Please send requests for permission to publish this commercially to freeplay@hotmail.com