Daily News Spin — July 4, 2001 (Wednesday)

Pre-Majestic Majestic

Well, not Majestic, but something that sounds a lot like Majestic has sprung up on the Web around the film A.I.

The A.I. mini-Web�the sphere, as the Net is called in 2�42�hooks you in rather devious, startling ways. You hit the Back button on your browser and are bombarded by threats. You receive e-mail with secret white-on-white text. You're constantly prompted to log in to this or that site�if you can just guess the password.

The story's on MSN. They claim that the puzzles are impossible for one person to solve, so there's a group of several thousand fans working on it. There's also a story on ABCNews. Thanks Tim and Gordon!

MCV reporting Interplay still may sell

The on again, off again sale of Interplay may be on again, according to MCV.

On Monday, July 2, Interplay said it was still in discussions with a third party to sell the company.

This effectively contradicts what Titus, which owns 33.5% of Interplay, said less than two weeks ago. (Titus could convert its Series A Preferred Stock and own approximately 46.5% of Interplay.) On June 22 we reported that Titus had issued a statement that it was no longer selling its stake in Interplay, effectively ruling out a sale of the company. Prior to that, in late May, Interplay confirmed it was seeking a buyer. The rumored suitors were Hong Kong-based PCCW and THQ.

Someone just nudge us awake when it actually happens, please.

Warthog goes WAP

Wireless seems to be the rage, though playing games on a cell phone seems a bit odd when you can grab a Game Boy Advance for cheap and play much more interesting games. Regardless, like a jungle animal smelling dinner, Warthog is going after the wireless market according to this MforMobile story:

Warthog, publisher of the popular StarLancer video game, is in the final stages of developing the first of three games for users of WAP-enabled phones.

The game will be the first of two games based on the Scott Adams style of game. Adams was a cult developer of text-based adventure games in the 70s. Steven Law, operations director at Warthog, said:

"These games will work well on text-based mobile devices, but there will also be some images on the WAP handsets."

3am

To our fellow Americans, happy Fourth! We hope you contain any serious explosions and flying body parts within your computer games.

We see that the release date for Empire Earth has been set for November 15th.

Core is disputing that some of their videogames will be Xbox titles, despite a report on IGN to that effect. This upcoming videogame war is like some mafia turf war, with big Dons and little Capos all lining up behind their respective families.

The free expansion for the Icewind Dale Heart of Winter expansion is now available for download. You can grab the 71 meg Trials of the Luremaster (it's not about fishing) at Fileplanet, among other places.

Angelina Jolie was upstaged at the London premiere of Tomb Raider by a model who played Lara three years ago. "Jolie, 24, looked more like a librarian than a star, it [the Mirror] added."

Click here to read Monday's news