Daily News Spin — July 4, 2001 (Wednesday)

Old Man Murray's Alice

The old man has done it again. This time Murray's come up with a new moneymaking scheme that actually works. The Chet/Erik Collective has created the International Game Registry.

Did you ever wish you were a famous video game author, but, for various reasons, felt you couldn't be? Maybe you think you're not smart enough, or not creative enough, or just not not lazy enough. Whatever the reason, one thing's for sure: you're not alone. In fact, here are the names of some other people who used to be just like you:

American McGee
John Romero
Jane Jensen
Roberta Williams

Pretty good company, huh? It might surprise you to learn that they're no more qualified to make a game than you are - yet they've all got games with their names in the title!

Yea, verily. Read all about it and register your game here!

Greentalk

Jeff Green, the newish editor in chief of Computer Gaming World, has been interviewed by The Armchair Empire.

What�s the one thing you don�t want people to know about what goes on behind the scenes at CGW?

We work in the nude, every day.

Good interview. There's a few yucks and also some more serious comments from Jeff. Oh, and we're sure Jeff wants to wish all Canadians a Happy Canada Day. He's fond of you, as this Q&A from the above interview shows:

The "Canadian Corner" ran for a number of issues. Do you think any of the readers felt alienated? And do Americans understand Canadians?

The Canadian Corner was just a pretty silly joke that escalated beyond all reason. We actually started getting way, way more email about that than anything have to do with gaming. Yeah, I think some readers got genuinely alienated, but it was hard for us to feel too much sympathy � it was really just silly, and I think we made it pretty clear we were just kidding. I mean, our insults were dumb. On purpose. Still, if anyone emailed me personally who was really upset, I tried to email them back to apologize and make it clear we weren�t serious. Do Americans understand Canadians? I think we just think of them as our kind of disheveled, pathetic, retarded little brother. (Another joke!).

Stormwatch

Let's of stuff going on with Ion Storm. Now that Anachronox is done, it looks like the Dallas office is done too. Shacknews is reporting that John Romero has registered a couple of URLs, mentallion.com Industries and monkeystone.com, both listed as Mentallion Industries and Monkey Stone Games, respectively.

Meanwhile, Shacknews is reporting that the new issue of PC Gamer has word that the Ion Austin offices may be renamed Manifesto. If so, then the Ion Storm legacy will be three games, Daikatana, Deus Ex, and Anachronox, and a blimpful of hot air.

Still, they've got Digital Anvil beat so far. DA blew through an impressive wad of Microsoft's money in no time flat and then was promptly consumed by Microsoft, and so far has produced only Starlancer. If the walls could talk at DA we'd probably hear some very interesting tales about how DA managed to spend so much money so quickly. What really expensive pet project could the money have been spent on? Hmmm.

Of course if the walls could talk at Ion Storm in Dallas, they'd say, "Hey, who's that chick with the hot rack?" Then another wall would answer, "That's Killcreek, you dumbass wall." "Really? That's Killcreek? She looks different." Yeah, she had her boobs done."

Maybe talking walls isn't such a good idea. If the walls could talk, they'd probably bore us.

Mudpie in your eye

MSNBC has an article about the new game from one of the creators of Myst, codenamed Mudpie. According to Rand Miller, it will be the most expensive game ever made. It's also a broadband-only, massively multiplayer game.

An early version of Mudpie walks the player through a vast maze of tunnels to the underground civilization known as D�ni, the deserted city that also serves as the backdrop for Myst titles. Rather than shoot at each other, players explore the underground world, which covers several square miles and is rendered in breathtaking 3-D animation.

Players will be able to build their own neighborhoods, where they can control entry and shield their children from shady characters. In addition, Mudpie will include short games, like a form of hide-and-seek, within the game. And, of course, Mudpie will be built around a story (advanced by Cyan Worlds staff members, who will converse with players over the Internet) that Miller believes will draw people back again and again.

Was the success of Myst the result of brilliant game design or of just being in the right place at the right time? The fate of Mudpie may be hidden in the answer to that question. How's that for a riddle?

Timeline closing

So what's Timeline, you ask? There's the problem. Michael Crichton's game development studio is closing, no doubt due to anemic sales of the one game they produced, Timeline, and also to Crichton's realization that he probably doesn't have a clue about how to make a game. Timeline was an adventure game and you know how those sell these days. The non-gamers who come in and try to make a game typically latch onto the adventure genre because they understand that -- tell a story interrupted by puzzles. Seems easy, and with their Hollywood know-how, they'll show us yokels a real game. Yeah, right.

Next!

Quarter to Three goes to hell

The reason for our coverage blackout that began Friday and is ending now is the Diablo II expansion. Damn Blizzard for interrupting our work! Now that we have a druid in hell getting ready to polish off Diablo later tonight -- he's getting a steam and a rubdown right now in preparation -- we're putting some news up.

Then, after Diablo, it's Baal. Then after Baal it's Bhaal in the Baldur's Gate 2 expansion. Then after Bhaal it's probably divorce court. Then after divorce court it's even more time for gaming! Woo-hoo!

3am

The Lucasarts Galatic Battlegrounds website is open for business if you care to check it out. We weren't impressed with the game at E3, but it's still early. It can still come together nicely.

IGN has a nice look at the superheroes that will be in Irrational Games' Freedom Force.

Lum the Mad (Scott Jennings) has taken a job with Mythic Entertainment (Dark Age of Camelot) and will no longer be ranting about MMORPGs on his site, though we're sure he'll be swearing under his breath still about them. Lum the Mad will continue on as a site, however, though with different writers.

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