Daily News Spin — August 20, 2001 (Monday)

USA Today on GOD and SubstanceTV

Another lovefest, though a bit milder. It does manage to quote David Laprad from Avault.

''Several gaming publications criticized the Gathering for its wild press junkets, but I believe they were simply trying to liven up what has become a very stale cocktail party,'' says David Laprad, editor of The Adrenaline Vault, a popular game Web site. ''I believe people who attend E3 in 2002 will be openly disappointed'' without the lot, he says.

Sure, because who doesn't like free food and beer? You won't find us criticizing GOD's "Promised Lot." We enjoyed the free beer and bratwurst at Fishtank's booth too and the free drinks and food at the impromptu Old Man Murray party, which later included a free unscheduled wrestling match between Seanbaby and someone plucked from the crowd. Quality entertainment!

Homeworld 2 up in the air?

Relic News has some interesting information about the status of Homeworld 2. It hasn't been cancelled, but Relic and Sierra are reviewing the contracts. That doesn't sound good.

Homeworld 2 has not been cancelled by Sierra. However, Relic and Sierra are reviewing the contracts related to the Homeworld License. This review is completely seperate from Sierra's recent issues and has been ongoing since around the time of E3.

If the contract's signed, what's to review that would take this long? Sounds like at least one party is unhappy.

In related news, Evil Avatar has posted some PC Data sales figures for Homeworld:

Homeworld (original): 128,241
Homeworld Cataclysm: 63,715
Homeworld Game of the Year Edition: 77,844

Not bad, but they must be concerned about Cataclysm doing so poorly. By most accounts, it's the best Homeworld experience.

Big name sports stars sell games

IE Magazine has a look at how sports games are being marketed.

989 Sports uses quotes and interviews with its cover athletes on its website and offers autographed sports memorabilia as prizes for online-based contests in order to generate awareness for each new sports title. Utilizing its cover athletes in so many different ways has allowed 989 Sports to become a top publisher of sports titles for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. With other well-established sports simulation publishers marketing competing titles to the same core base of sports fans, the sports simulation category continues to be extremely competitive. Thus, it becomes the reputation and appeal of the cover athlete that helps a game franchise stand out from the competition. For example, this year NFL GameDay 2002 (featuring Donovan McNabb) will compete against EA Sports� Madden NFL 2002, which once again incorporates John Madden expertise and appearance into many elements of the game.

The great thing about professional athletes is that they're versatile. Besides sports titles, many could be used to promote games about crime too!

Sierra reaffirms support for Tribes 2

A press release from Sierra detailing their Tribes 2 plans.

After the recent announcement regarding Sierra's strategic reorganization, many are aware that Dynamix has been closed and the development of TRIBES has been relocated to Sierra's Bellevue studio. Long time veteran of the gaming industry, Producer Rod Fung, will be heading up TRIBES development and moving the franchise forward. Rod has been with Sierra for over eleven years, most notably producing the award-winning SWAT titles for the company. Rod will be assembling a TRIBES development team consisting of experienced game developers, including talent from the original TRIBES 2 team.

The transition will be seamless and transparent for our TRIBES fans. Both TRIBES and TRIBES 2 are currently among the top five online action games and fans can expect the same level of dedication that they have received in the past. The Bellevue based development team has long-term visions and plans for the TRIBES games and is dedicated to continuing traditions of the franchise.

More immediately, work continues on an upcoming TRIBES 2 patch and a playable demo. The authentication servers are up, the IRC servers will continue as they are and the forums on TRIBES2.com are strong and thriving.

So we have a guy who's already got his hands full with one franchise, SWAT, taking on Tribes as well? Er, we meant TRIBES. We forgot that Sierra's plagued with capitalitis.

3am

More on the firing of Ziff's CEO. This article takes a look at some of the financial dealings behind the Ziff publishing empire. Thanks Stefan!

Blizzard's patched Diablo II to version 1.09. Lots of changes. The details are here.

The Register reports on a Japanese study that indicates that computer games make us stupid. This study is all over the web on different news sites. The mass media loves this type of thing. It's like chumming the waters off the coast of Florida with blood.

Zax: The Alien Hunter and World War III : Black Gold from Jowood have gone gold. The latter game is from Reality Pumps studio, the people behind the Earth 2150 series. Zax looks to be a sci-fi version of Gauntlet.

GameSpy takes a look at the Classic Gaming Expo.

This year's CGE exclusives included the Atari 2600 version of Elevator Action, which was nearly completed by Atari back in the early '80s but cancelled before it made its way to store shelves. A limited number of cartridge copies of Elevator Action were sold at CGE2K1, complete with reproduction boxes and instruction manuals.

Ah, Elevator Action. That was a fun game.

A woman spent two weeks digging a hole between her apartment and the next and then crawled through and stole four computer games and a video. She said she hoped to sell them because she needed the money.

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