Daily News Spin — April 17, 2001 (Tuesday)

Black & White spyware concerns answered

Lionhead has responded to spyware accusations in an article in The Register with a letter from one one of the Lionhead team.

In the single player game we make requests for weather data (if this is enabled) containing your user registration details so that the server can look up your city and weather associated with your city.

Additionally, every 3 minutes we send a UDP packet containing 8 bytes - packet length, packet type (i.e. a ping packet type = 4225) and your registration ID (if you have registered, otherwise just a hash of your name with a high bit set). The originating IP is also available through winsock.

If you have any friends in your friend list, then additionally every 3 minutes a request containing length, type (user list request=4227) and a list of your friends' registration IDs is sent to the server. If the server thinks that any of your friends are online then it will return their IP address so that you can chat to them.

Ok, we understand the weather and the friends list stuff, buy why does the game send the registration ID or name hash? What's the purpose of that?

We think games shouldn't send any information over the Internet without the player's consent during a single-player game, or at least make it clear to the player that the information will be sent.

Snowball cutting staff again

Snowball (IGN and the Vault Network) is cutting one-third of its staff, according to The Register.

Snowball, the San Francisco-based affiliate ad network, is sacking 55 people, a third of its staff. The cost-cutting move comes on the same day as the company revealed that NASDAQ intends to delist its stock for falling below the minimum bid price of $1 a share.

Snowball has already undergone some staff cuts and no longer uses freelancers. It doesn't look good.

Gone for a minute and...

Tom posts another 60 Second Review, this one for Adventure Pinball. He's sneaky, that Tom.

Pro gaming in decline?

Eurogamer looks at professional gaming, which seems to have bumped into a few icebergs.

One of the biggest problems facing pro-gaming at the moment though is the lack of suitable games. That might sound odd, given that there are at least half a dozen first person shooters out there which are specifically designed for multiplayer gaming, but few of these are appropriate for competitions.

....Counter-Strike no doubt seemed like a good idea at the time. More people play it online than every other first person shooter combined, and its real-world weapons and settings should make it easier for non-gamers to understand. But although it is massively popular with the hardcore, for the casual observer it is all pretty baffling, not to mention downright dull most of the time, lacking the immediacy and simplicity of a head-to-head Quake duel. It is also a team sport, which means that the once impressive cash prizes now have to be split between five times as many people.

It's an interesting read. We've always thought that the idea that computer games could be spectator sports was a bit wacky.

Soldier of Fortune 2 announced

No big surprise here. From the press release:

In Soldier of Fortune 2 players once again assume the role of John Mullins, a military consultant working for the top-secret anti-terrorist group known as The Shop. In the game, players must tackle a wide-range of missions from hostage rescue and intelligence gathering, to search-and-destroy. Level design in Soldier of Fortune 2 is flexible enough to allow for multiple styles of play. Gamers can "hit 'em hard" with a frontal assault or use stealth weapons for a subtle approach.

We talked to Raven's Brian Raffel a few days ago. Brian told us that real-life secret agenty badass John Mullin has been consulting on this sequel from the get-go, so expect even more realism.

EverQuest expansion to be Shadows of Luclin?

Lum's is reporting on a rumor that the next expansion for EverQuest will be called Shadows of Luclin. This expansion will be set on Norrath's moon and will feature a new race, the Eaters of Green Cheese, AKA Green Bay Packers fans. Ok, we're kidding about that race. There will be a new one, but they very well might be Bears fans for all we know.

Revenue up, losses down for Interplay

Interplay announced its fourth quarter financials, reporting a 13 percent increase in net revenues with $30.8 million with operating losses of $3.8 million. Last year for the same quarter they lost $4.6 million.

Strifeshadow beta signups

Strifeshadow, an online-only RTS game being developed by Ethermoon, is looking for some beta testers. Here's the link to the signup.

Age of Mythology

It's yesterday's news, but Ensemble has announced their next game, tentatively entitled Age of Mythology. From the press release:

The setting for AGE OF MYTHOLOGY is long ago, when legend and myth are real. Three mighty cultures struggle for world dominance. Gods and their minions are meddling, attempting to favor one group over another. Players are the guiding spirits of one civilization, employing their heroes, their cultural resources, the favor of their gods, and rare mythical creatures to conquer the world.

AGE OF MYTHOLOGY is the next generation in real-time strategy game development from Ensemble Studios, the creators of Age of Empires and Age of Empires II. It features the full 3D software technology of Ensemble Studios' BANG! engine. Strategy games will now lead the technology curve, not lag. AGE OF MYTHOLOGY is stunning in 3D, maintaining the Ensemble Studios' signature of creating vivid realistic worlds.

Sounds good. We look forward to a few fantasy elements and the new 3D engine, although our chief fantasy would be farmers who are smart enough to replant the fields on their own.

Here's a link at Blue's to a scanned image of the CGW cover. Sheesh, now we're getting warez versions of magazines.

3am

"This book was written with the world's finest word processor, a Waterman fountain cartridge pen. To write the first draft of such a long book by hand put me in touch with the language as I haven't been for years. I even wrote one night (during a power outage) by candlelight. One rarely finds such opportunites in the twenty-first century, and they are to be savored."

That's Stephen King from an afterword in his latest 600 page book, Dreamcatcher. King wrote the book while recovering from being nearly killed when he was struck by a car while taking a walk. During his physical rehabilitation, he had trouble using a word processor, so he wrote by longhand.

Unfortunately, as Mark discovered today, you can't update a website or turn in a GameSpin column when experiencing a power outage. All the Waterman fountain pens in the world scribbling beneath the shy candlelight can't upload an HTML file to a server or send an email on its way.

Click here to read yesterday's news