
From freeplay@snet.net Tue Oct  8 14:05:52 1996
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 17:47:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: FreePlay Editor <freeplay@snet.net>
To: freeplay@marit.cypronet.com
Subject: FreePlay  Issue #7 - Oct 7, 1996 (part one of two)

F R E E  P L A Y ! 
Multiplayer Internet Gaming Newsletter
Issue # 7 - Oct 7, 1996
"Meet interesting people on the Internet,
then build big tanks and show the bastards who's boss"
Home Page - http://freeplay.home.ml.org

Editor   - Mark Shnayer(freeplay@snet.net)
Reporter - Scott Grattan(scotti@wic.net)

Sections
------
Announcement - Welcome aboard Scott Grattan
Editorial  -Random Thoughts
Gaming News  - Blizzard Entertainment News
 	- MERIDIAN 59 CHARTER CLUB MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM 
 	- Microsoft Updates Game Technology
 	- TEN commercial launch, beta test over :(
 	- Accolade ships Star Control 3 
Updates - Game patches, updated beta tests
Previews - The Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Review
Utilities - To make multiplayer gaming a heck of lot easier
PBEM Games - Play By Email Games
Quake stuff - WEB pages, utilities, links, patches
Online Games - Multiplayer Internet Games you can play NOW
Humor   - Top 10 Signs you've been playing Quake too much...
Details  - How to subscribe, back issues, legal junk

******************************************************************

Announcement - Welcome aboard Scott Grattan
-------------------------------------------
We welcome aboard Scott Grattan as a regular writer for FreePlay.
He has a clear, concise, writing style and should make a great addition
to future editions of this newsletter.  
DO YOU RUN A WWW gaming page? Tell us! 
We will review your page in the Hot Links section of this
newsletter. Over four hundred (and growing by five or more a day)
subscribers, in fifteen countries, specifically interested in
multiplayer gaming read this newsletter. Also, many game company folks 
(such as Papyrus and Electronic Arts) are subscribers.

FreePlay is looking for more regular or even not so regular contributors.
Are you interested?  We need regular writers/reviewers for: Play By Email
Games, Macintosh games, War Game/Strategy Reviewers I can pretty much
handle the rest.

Your mission should you decide to accept it :) is to provide a one to two
paragraph review on a WWW gaming site or game on any of those topics I
listed above.
Or even just send us any WWW gaming links if you want! You will get
credit for any links you send our way if we use them.

As always, the FreePlay newsletter is a work in progress. Sections will
come and go depending on material available.
******************************************************************

Editorial - Random Thoughts
---------------------------
OUR BIGGEST ISSUE YET! FreePlay Newsletter is being mailed in TWO PARTS
due to size limitations with JUNO readers (64k). 
To JUNO readers, for best results set your FONT to Arial 11 point(Options/Change Font/Arial).

The game Quake will NOT be a regular feature of this newsletter. I just
happen to be hooked (OK, addicted...) on it for now.

Beta Tests come and go. Meridian 59 is out of beta and is now a
commercial product. TEN (Total Entertainment Network) has also gone
commercial. TEN claims many exclusive on multiplayer games.
What they MEAN is no OTHER GAMING SERVICE(like Mplayer) will be able to
offer network play of that particular game. But, many of the games they
claim exclusive rights to, are IPX capable. The KALI software which
allows you to chat and hook up directly with other players is always an
option. TEN can't do a thing about it.
KALI is SOFTWARE that emulates IPX over a TCP/IP connection that enables
users to hook up to each other directly (rather than thru a game server)
over the internet, not an online service (correct me if I am wrong!).
There are always alternatives.
Kali is located at http://www.internexus.net/kali/ Thanks to one of my
readers who wrote to me asking how come I didn't review Kali. I wrote
back to him saying that I try not to repeat anything already reviewed
in previous newsletters. But, it turned out to give me an idea for the
editorial. :) Anyway, hey!, for every free beta test ending, there are
always more to come. Battle.net (http://www.blizzard.com) is testing
now. It will be FREE always. The only advantage I see to beta testing
it,  is to see what it is like before the rest of the gamers.
Or, If they are offering to...then getting Diablo (full version) 
before it hits the stores.
When Blizzard Entertainment releases Diablo and Starcraft it will
include software to link to the battle.net servers to play for free.
Rumors abound on Usenet message groups that it will only be free the
first two months of your signup to battle.net. I haven't been able to
confirm that.
******************************************************************

Gaming News
-----------

Blizzard Entertainment News
http://www.blizzard.com/
------------------------
Did any of my subscribers make it to the beta test signup Saturday night,
October 6th? (Sunday 3:00 AM for me). I didn't try to get on the WWW page. 
Review follows by scotti@wic.net (Scott Grattan).
It's coming.
The long awaited answer to gamers dreams all over the world is coming, and it's
closer than you know.   Battle.net is Blizzard's response to the request
for a gaming network that will allow players from all over the world to
work together, or against each other.  Battle.net goes into Beta
testing starting at midnight, October 6th, and will be tested by the
first 1,000 people to sign up.  Currently, two titles are scheduled to
make use of battle.net:  Diablo and Starcraft.  Diablo promises to be
the 21st Century version of Dungeons & Dragons.  Through battle.net, it
will be possible to link up with other players, and explore catacombs
together in search of adventure.  Starcraft will be Warcraft-like, in
that you must gather your resources to build up your forces to dominate
against other races.
Battle.net : http://www.blizzard.com/bnet/bnet.htm 
Starcraft : http://www.blizzad.com/star/star.htm 
has several screen shots and description of the game
Diablo : http://www.blizzard.com/diablo/diablo.htm has several screen
shots and a downloadable intro (11M) which is worth the time!
(FreePlay:downloadable demo in the online games section of this newsletter)


MERIDIAN 59 CHARTER CLUB MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM announced by 3DO.
http://www.3do.com
------------------
As a Meridian 59 beta player, you will be automatically enrolled in the
Meridian 59 Charter Member Club when you activate an account before
midnight PST on October 31, 1996.  You will not be charged a membership
fee.  You can purchase your copy of Meridian 59 at one of many retail
stores (see our web site for locations www.3do.com/meridian/) or by
calling 3DO Direct at 1-800-336-3506.
As a Charter Club member, you will receive free play time from the date
you register your account through midnight PST on December 31, 1996, a
10% discount on Meridian 59 merchandise sold through 3DO Direct, the
opportunity to serve as a beta tester for future 3DO Internet Content,
and receive a personal Charter Club Membership Card.


Microsoft Updates Game Technology by Michael Desmond (September 25, 1996)
- Microsoft today released version 3.0 of its DirectX collection of
application programming interfaces (API) for game and multimedia
developers. The new version, which arrives just four months after the
release of DirectX 2.0, provides enhanced tools and capabilities for
developers to include in Windows 95-based titles. For users, the updated
tools should eventually provide better multi-player game play, enhanced
graphics and audio performance, and support for digital input devices
using Universal Serial Bus (USB) connections.
While Dallas says that DirectX 3.0 should be available in games in the
holiday season, many developers and analysts feel the lead time will be
longer. 


Total Entertainment Network (TEN)
http://www.ten.net
---------------------------------
Sept 23,1996 - TEN goes commercial - offers special introductory pricing
to first 25,000 members Total Entertainment Network(TEN) commercially
launched its service today with special introductory pricing for the
first 25,000 members.
TEN, has closed a successful open public beta for the past six months
with more than 25,000 beta users convening to play hit PC games.
Games currently available on TEN include: Duke Nukem 3D, Dark Sun:
Crimson Sands, Panzer General, Command & Conquer, Necrodome, Warcraft.
Many other games are on their way.  The first 25,000 charter members who
sign up before Dec. 31, 1996, will receive TEN's special introductory
prices through Dec. 31, 1997. To reward its beta users, TEN is offering
them an entire month of play for free beginning Sept. 23.
TEN recommends a Pentium 90 with Windows 95, 16 MB RAM, 28.8k baud modem
and 2X speed CD ROM. The minimum requirements for using the TEN network
are 486/66DX2, Windows 95, 8 MB RAM and a 14.4 baud modem.


Accolade Ships Star Control 3 
Source: Business Wire 
SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via Individual Inc. -- 
Accolade, Inc., a leading publisher of interactive entertainment
software, today announced it has begun shipping Star Control 3 for PC CD
ROM computers.
Anticipated to be one of this year's great science-fiction adventure
games, Star Control 3 is the most recent in the series of celebrated
Star Control products.
"Star Control 3 continues Accolade's strong lineage of sequels and
fulfills the high demand for the continuation of the Star Control
series," said Jim Barnett, CEO of Accolade. "Star Control 3 takes Star
Control to the next level with lifelike aliens, 3D starships and a
giant universe." In this epic adventure, Star Control 3 tests players
logic, diplomacy, and battle skills. Many of the mysteries introduced
within previous Star Control games are revealed and new mysteries are
introduced. As commander, the player's duty is to forge alliances and
defend territories while moving to prevent a catastrophic future where
the universe ceases to exist.
Developed by Legend Entertainment, Star Control 3 requires a 486/66 MHz
IBM PC or compatible, 8 Mb RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive, and a VESA compatible
SVGA video card. It is Windows '95 and DOS compatible, and is available
at an estimated street price of $49.95. For more information about
Accolade and its products, please see the World Wide Web at 
http://www.accolade.com.
******************************************************************

Updates
--------

Internet Gaming Zone
http://www.zone.com
--------------------
Welcome to the Internet Gaming Zone.
Engage in challenging competition with other players around the world!
The Zone offers you classic games such as Hearts, Bridge, Spades, Chess,
Checkers, Go, and Reversi. And now, you can also find opponents for Hellbender, 
Close Combat, and Monster Truck Madness!  
To start playing trial versions of these games, download the
Hellbender or Monster Truck Madness Trial Versions for                 
FREE! 
 Both shareware and registered version are supported as follows:
Close Combat: Retail only Hellbender - shareware and retail supported
Monster Truck Madness: Shareware and retail supported.
Warning: You MUST be using Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 with ActiveX
in order to go to the pages that will match you to other game players
for Hellbender, Close Combat, and Monster Truck Madness.  
I knew it! Here goes Microsoft screwing  up a perfectly good gaming site, 
by trying to force you to use Microsofts' browser software.


Hoyle Internet Blackjack Beta Test
http://smc.sierra.com/bjintercept.htm
-------------------------------------
Beta Test Announcement: Friday,September 27, 1996 Hoyle Internet
Blackjack and SIGS have been updated!  New versions of the Sierra
Internet Gaming System(version 2.0.0.9) and Hoyle Internet Blackjack
(version 1.1.0.4) are now available.
The Sierra Internet Gaming System is being developed by Sierra to allow 
true, real-time, multi-player gaming capability over the
Internet; Hoyle Blackjack is the first of many Sierra games to take
advantage of this new technology. If you are a Windows 95 user,and have
a true ppp 32 bit connection, we would like to invite you to participate
in this BETA test. To get a full copy of this pre-release software
you'll need to download a 2.3-megabyte self-extracting .ZIP file.


The Chessmaster Network
http://www.chessmasternetwork.com/home.html
--------------------------------------------
Greetings From Chessmaster Online!
It's here!! The NEW version of Chessmaster Online has just 
been released and is ready to download. 
Now you can enjoy these fabulous features:
* View other players' games in progress.
* See the personal profile of all players online.
* Select more time controls. 
* Improved chat functions. 
* Save games in PGN (Post Game Notation) format.
* And MORE!! 


SubSpace for Win95 1.15
http://www.vie.com/sniper/
--------------------------
Original review in Issue #2 and #4, this game software is being
constantly updated.
SubSpace version v1.15 is available.
Last time I will mention this game unless its a major upgrade or
SubSpace goes to commercial release.


Death Rally v1.1 update
http://www.apogee1.com
--------------------
Mentioned in the last issue in the Preview section, it actually should
have been in the Games section. I suffer from C.R.S.  I guess, and
neglected the fact that the shareware version was available for download.
Death Rally is top-down view racing game with great graphics.
If I remember right, the downloadable 6.9 meg shareware demo is not
multiplayer capable. 
What's new/Fixed in v1.1 of Death Rally:
* Support for Sound Blaster cards over IRQ 7 has been added.
* Fixed problem with player rankings being listed incorrectly in
  some rare circumstances.
* Name of main game executable changed from DR.EXE to RALLY.EXE
  to avoid certain conflicts with Windows95.
* Various minor bugs fixed.


DaggerFall patch
http://www.allgames.com/main/dagger.htm
----------------------------------------
Patch Fixes
Games saved with the patch cannot be run in version 1.0 that
was first shipped. Games saved with version 1.0 can be loaded
into this patched version.
Many ,many fixes in this patch release.
******************************************************************

Hot Links
---------

Multiplayer Online Games Directory
http://www.tc.umn.edu/nlhome/m041/fran0264/mpog/
------------------------------------------------
(Quote from home page)
The current trend in computer gaming is to make games for multiple
players, and even have them solely based off the internet. Currently
there are many Multiplayer Online Games (MPOG) in free beta testing,
and tons more in development. I have searched the web to find all the
Multiplayer Online Games, and I have compiled this directory of links,
reviews, prices and screenshots of many of the playable games on the
Net. (FreePlay: This is a great WWW page, nice graphics. Maybe I will
ask him to redesign MY web page :). He covers many of the games we cover
in the newsletter but with screenshots, ratings, and links to get you to
the game site. Vote in the Game of the Month section. Stop by and tell
Dave that FreePlay sent you!)


Sim Racing News
http://www.math.ohio-state.edu/~harmon/simnews/
-----------------------------------------------
Welcome to Sim Racing News, the on-line magazine for fans of computer
auto racing. The inaugural issue (May 1996) was released on April 23rd
and can be found below in two formats, WWW and ZIP. WWW is for those
lucky souls who can peruse the magazine on-line without worrying about
bills - ZIP is for those like myself who have telephone charges to worry
about! 


Unofficial Battle Isle 3 Multiplayer League
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/4322/bi3lea.htm
----------------------------------------------------
Battle Isle 3 - Multiplayer World Championship
Hi out there! After playing several one-player games I tried to find
some human opponents in strategic-games related newsgroups. There were
some! We started one-on-one matches and recently a real multiplayer map
with six human players. More battles will take place. This page was
constructed to bring a small tick of coordination in the upcoming
battles. So, if you're looking for opponents check back in this place.
You'll find some! Just contact one or more of the players in that list,
"setup" a new game or join in a "waiting game".
(freeplay: For a complete review of this game if your interested
point your Web browser to the following WWW page)
Battle Isle 3: Shadow of the Empire - Games Domain Review
http://gamesdomain.co.za/gdreview/zones/reviews/pc/may96/bi3.html
******************************************************************

Utilities
---------

Magic: The Gathering
http://www.psnw.com/~ray/ccg.html
---------------------------------
NetMagic Beta v0.99.3b FREEWARE
Requires: Windows [3.1 or '95]
Winsock software for internet connection SLIP/PPP
*** Trumpet users must have version 1.1 or later.
Play Magic: The Gathering on the Internet!!!
Enter your favorite deck and duel against opponents around the world. 
All you need to know is the IP address of the person you want to play. 
Download it today and come to #mtg on Internet Relay Chat 
[IRC not required to use NetMagic, but hey!  what a great way to meet other players]


IGM(IRC Game Machine) Central
http://www.tyrell.net/~duensing/igm.html
----------------------------------------
IRC Game Machine is a Windows IRC client that replaces your existing
WSIRC or mIRC program. Instead of just having to learn several "bot"
commands having to deal with scrolling text, IGM offers a graphical
view of the games being played, and allows you to use your mouse as
well as the keyboard to play the games on IRC.  In addition to allowing
you to "chat" on the regular IRC channels, the current beta test
version of IGM will "play" the following game channels with full
graphics and mouse support: 
#acro - An "Expand the Acronym" game.
#boggle - The "find the hidden word" game from Parker Bros.
#chaos - A game of "shouting answers".
#riskybus - A "Jeopardy!" game clone.
#blackjack - The casino staple (only on EFnet)
#poker - Standard 5 card draw poker with other players
#wordsquare - A crossword type game, similar to Scrabble(Registered users only)
******************************************************************

Quake
---------

Quake shareware/registered updated
ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake/quake106.zip
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.06 Shareware release of Quake as of 10/2/1996
Download the patch if you already have Quake 1.01.
It will update both shareware and registered version.


Rift - A Quake Network Tool
http://www.phoenix.net/~ishmal/rift/
------------------------------------
The most-asked question about Quake on the Internet right now is: 
"Do you know any good server addresses?
RIFT gives the user an up-to-date, current look at the Quake servers
running RIGHT NOW on the Internet. 
Highlights of Features:
Launches Quake! 
Gets server lists from Stomped.Com and ][ronman
Script insertion - Creates a script for Quake to provide an INTERNAL server list
HTML page creation - can insert a Quake server list into any HTML page you want. 
Host name pre-lookup - All desired host names are looked up when Rift starts up
Reverse DNS host name lookup - For those servers that are listed only as IP addresses
Quake server query - Rift does a Quake server Query much like some other programs
Players on a quake server are shown 
Server settings are shown 
Ping - Rift can ping any listed server, providing an idea how playable a server might be. 
Small footprint - Does not modify Quake in any way. 


Quake Server Explorer
http://www.execpc.com/DiskAndDesk/qse/
--------------------------------------
Quake Server Explorer is the original GUI server picker for windows 95.
It's the only one to take full advantage of the world's best Quake
Server Listing, ][ronMan's.
][ronMan's list is essentially all you need to play Quake. It lists ping
times from 6 computers across the USA, and averages the totals into an
average ping response time. It also lists the Locations and server
flags, which is important in choosing the best Quake server to play on.
Not all lists have that. Stomped.com's Server List originates in
Minnesota, which is where the ping time is calculated on Stomped's List.

QSE 3.7 Features:
New player and server support!
Player search and server addition utilities! Find any player on the
internet! Advanced sorting capabilities, including ascending and
descending of any field! Tree View as well as the List View!, New
Toolbar!, Detailed status information! New server information and
properties like teamplay flags and gravity settings. New formatting and
filtering, such as not showing full or empty servers! Auto-reloading,
to keep the information fresh, and also to keep your internet
connection alive! Complete Web Browser Built In! Graphical Explorer
interface with status information Launching Quake via QLAUNCH.EXE or
Q95.BAT! Fast load time. Inputting the top 20 servers into quake for fast
server changing Saving of servers to text file or html No ping, because
it takes forever to ping 120 servers. : )


The All in One Quake Pages
http://www.sys.uea.ac.uk/~u9412476/quake.html
---------------------------------------------
These pages are not meant to be pretty, with flashy graphics or fancy
Java applets. They are meant to show you the latest quake news, FAST.
******************************************************************
(part two of two on its way to you)

