Daily News Spin — February 21, 2001 (Wednesday)

New top ten list from PC Data

Again, it's the same as last week and the week before that and the week before that, and on and on ad infinitum. We have some games with characters who like to bank it off the wall instead of using a restroom, some rollercoaster stuff, and it's just BORING! Go somewhere else to read it.

NASCAR Racing 4 from Havas did chart at the number four position. That's all that's new.

"Do you smell what the Rock is cooking?"

THQ and JAKKS Pacific have launched WWF, an Internet-only strategy game based on World Wrestling Federation, of all things. This game was developed at Genetic Anomalies, makers of Chron X and Star Trek Conquest Online, and THQ's Internet entertainment studio.

Get ready to compete in the ultimate online, turn-based, strategy WWF simulation. Manage the preeminent WWF Superstar, create a detailed playbook of moves and counter-moves and lay the smack down on unruly opponents. Utilizing Collectible Bits technology, players can buy and trade virtual cards at any time with other WWF With Authority! players from around the world.

We like Chron X. We didn't like Star Trek Conquest Online. Looks like WWF is the rubber match.

And the winner is....

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced the finalists for the fourth annual Interactive Achievement Awards which will be handed out in San Jose, Calif. on March 22.

PC Game of the Year finalists are:

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
Asheron's Call
Baldur's Gate II
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Deus Ex
Diablo II
Disney's Magic Artist 3D
EverQuest: Ruins of Kunark
FIFA 2001
Links 2001
MechWarrior 4
No One Lives Forever
RollerCoaster Tycoon: Loopy Landscapes
Sacrifice

Where's Flying Heroes? There must be some mistake! Actually, that list looks better than it normally does. The AIAS nominations in the past have lent themselves to the PC Accelerator treatment, meaning that you could remove one letter from AIAS and get a more accurate idea of the kind of thinking behind the awards.

WAP! There it is

Nokia and Eidos have announced that they'll develop games for wireless phones, with the first game slated to be a version of Gangsters. From the press release:

"Nokia strongly believes that mobility will bring unprecedented value to on-line entertainment. This represents a huge business potential for game publishers, such as Eidos. For instance, Datamonitor recently estimated that four out of five mobile phone users will play mobile games by 2005. In revenue terms this will mean a multi-billion dollar business," said Graham Stafford, senior manager, business development, Nokia.

Outside of multiplayer games, wouldn't a Gameboy Advance make more sense for hand-held gaming if that's what you're after? At least it won't ring while you're in the middle of a game.

Another playable race announced for Star Wars Galaxies

The official Star Wars Galaxies site has announced another of the playable races, the Rodian, for this MMORPG under development by Sony Online. Our knowledge of the Star Wars mythos is rather limited, but from the sketches of the Rodian they appear to be like the mercenary that tried to nab Han Solo in the Cantina in the original Star Wars movie, that green-skinned fellow.

There's also been a bit of a controversy over the decision to not allow players to play as Imperial Stormtroopers. We're not sure why anyone would want to be one of these fellows. As we recall from the movies, they can't shoot straight and their armor is worthless. Playing one of these would be like putting on a red Star Trek shirt and volunteering for an away team mission.

Bill Roper interview

Our interview with Blizzard's Bill Roper is now up. Bill talks about Warcraft 3, the Diablo 2 expansion, the new Warcraft novel, and a few other things. Here's the link.

3am

Technology marches on. The Germans have invented a self-cooling beer keg. We're thinking of getting one to put next to the PC — not because we want to have a ready supply of beer handy, but to cool down those CPUs that have a tendency to overheat. That's the only reason why we would even consider it. Really. Thank goodness for scientific progress like this!

Also, we've been discussing science-fiction books in our forums lately (as well as games, of course), so here's a link to SF Site's picks for the best SF books of 2000 for any who are interested.

Click here to read yesterday's news