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Date: Jan 08 2000 19:45:25 EST
From: "Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)" <civilization@apolyton.net>
Subject: Apolyton&Friends News 1-7/January/00


Greetings everyone,
these are the news of the week(1-7/January)

On Apolyton, the big news is the Alien Crossfire patch.
Also this week was raining awards. Check the civ2, smac and ctp sections for more details
Finally, the rules for the 3rd Scenario Design Contest have been announced

In the "Friends" part of the newsletter, news from Civ Master Deity
League. If you have a civ2, ctp or smac site and want your news included
here, mail Dustin Dunn at dustind@home.com

And now, in detail
=========The news from Apolyton=========

----------------------------
**Dinosaurs Section

2001 RELEASE PREDICTION
[3 January 2000, 12:20 EST] Sid Meier's Dinosaurs is now listed on
Strategy Gaming Online's Release Date page for 2001 availability, the
first known gaming website to make such a prediction.
Given the game was announced less than a month ago, and many details must
still being worked out, it is still too early to call...


----------------------------
**Civilization II Section
TOP 40 GAMES OF THE MILLENNIUM
[6 January 2000, 12:44 EST] Seems like everyone is making a Top XX list...
:) Gamecenter came up with a Top 40 list, which of course includes Civ2.
Dont start asking about the rank, cause there is none. GC (quite correctly
if you ask me, you can't exactly compare a 1980 and a 1999 game), saved
themselves from the "why game X isn't in a better position than game Y"
question and didn't make any rankings, except from the first one. Which is
the bext game of the millenium???
Pacman, says Gamecenter!
Btw, the Apolyton Top 4 Games of the Millenium is(in chronological order):
Civ1, Civ2, SMAC and... CTP
Thanks to Guynemer for posting about it in our forums, where you can give
your comments about GC's and... our's list :)

COLUMN #89; BY TIMOTHY PINTELLO
[5 January 2000, 23:22 EST] This week's article is by Timothy Pintello,
who discusses the hits and misses of C:CTP from his perspective.
On Saturday, look for Darthveda's latest composition.

NEW DATABASE FILES!
[4 January 2000, 14:48 EST by Sven:
Here is the first database update for this year bringing us to 345 files.
We have nine new files and one update of an old file. You scenario wizards
out there may be interested in the GIFXtractor, allowing you to edit the
graphics hidden in CIV's DLL files.
Check out these files:
Albion
Aliens on Mars
Galaxy
GIF Xtractor beta 3
Age of Imperialism - 1902
Israel 2k
The Fall of the Kraeikian Empire
oRGys Star Wars Scenario
The War of Cuba
World War I and beyond (updated)

GCA 1999 AWARDS
[4 January 2000, 12:34 EST] An email from the Editor of Gamer's Voice
informed us today of their first annual Gamer's Choice Awards. Up to and
including January 16th, 2000, GV will be accepted nominations for a number
of titles up for grabs including Strategy Game Of The Year, Action Game Of
The Year and --- of course --- Game Of The Year. The top five nominees in
each category will be up for voting upon during the week of January 17th.
Make the right choices and send in your nominations today!

SHUT OUT
[2 January 2000, 13:12 EST] The Strategy Shine's "1999 Strategy Game
Awards" have been announced for all categories. In every category that
Civilization II: Test of Time was a contendor, ToT was defeated in the
voting (made by members of the gaming public).
Here's a rundown of just how well, or poorly as the case may be,
CivII:ToT fended against the competition for the titles it was shooting
for (guess one can't win them all). In bold is the category heading,
followed by the number of votes CivII:ToT received with its placing, and
in brackets to the right of that is the number of votes the winning entry
accumulated.
Best Multiplayer: 4, 7th (39)
Best Singleplayer: 22, 4h (38)
Best Gameplay: 1, 6th (51)
Strategy Game Of The Year: 3, 9th -- tie (36)
On a related note of interest, in the SGOTY category ToT tied with
Civilization: Call To Power for ninth spot.
Thanks to everyone who voted for CivII:ToT.

DUNE: THE BATTLE FOR ARRAKIS SCENARIO AVAILABLE FOR MAC
[2 January 2000, 10:09 EST] Dune: The Battle for Arrakis by David Emery
has been converted to Mac formate and posted on the ACS Mac page. Go to
the New Scenarios link under Customization on the Main Mac page. Also
check out new updates to Using PC Mod files page and download a copy of
clip2gif for converting your own PC files!

COLUMN #88: APOLYTON VERSION 2
[1 January 2000, 5:55 EST] In the first column of the year, MarkG takes a
look at the changes of the last month, and the plans for the next.
Comments are welcome

THE COLUMN: SUBMIT AN ARTICLE


----------------------------
**Civilization III Section

PUSHED BACK
[3 January 2000, 12:14 EST] Strategy Gaming Online has pushed their
anticipated release date of Civilization III back to the fourth quarter of
2000. This is unconfirmed and, given recent statements by Firaxis
representatives, may not be a realistic timeframe still.


----------------------------
**Alpha Centauri Section

ALIEN CROSSFIRE PATCH, NOW!
[7 January 2000, 17:07 EST] Tim Train finally announced on our forums the
release of the patch for Alien Crossfire. There are lots of fixes, as
expected, visit the Firaxis page for the full list and to download, or
download it now from our server. Size is 3.69MB. Gives us your impressions
in the forums?file_id=19

GCA 1999 AWARDS
[4 January 2000, 12:35 EST] An email from the Editor of Gamer's Voice
informed us today of their first annual Gamer's Choice Awards. Up to and
including January 16th, 2000, GV will be accepted nominations for a number
of titles up for grabs including Strategy Game Of The Year, Action Game Of
The Year and --- of course --- Game Of The Year. The top five nominees in
each category will be up for voting upon during the week of January 17th.
Make the right choices and send in your nominations today!

GAMESPOT'S TOP STRATEGY GAMES
[2 January 2000, 13:43 EST] As indicated on GameSpot US' Top 10 Strategy
Game listing, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is tied for fourth with a 9.1 out
of a possible 10 (based on the site's review). The other games with this
same score, to date, are Age of Empires II: Age of Kings, Heroes of Might
& Magic III, Seven Kingdoms II, and Worms Armaggedon.
This and other GameSpot Top Game Lists only reflect titles released within
the past year.

MAC PORT IN BETA
[2 January 2000, 13:38 EST] According to Westlake Interactive, their port
of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri went beta on December 27th, and is
anticipated to be on store shelves halfway through this month.
According to Westlake's 'key' on Project Status reports, a beta
indicator means that "all game code is converted and running on the Mac,
and all features of the game are implemented. This is when we start
tracking and fixing bugs, and have our testers play the game extensively
to find any new bugs".
In addition, Westlake's news item on the announcement reports that "both
single player and network games [are] fully supported".
In the coming weeks if you spot SMAC for the Mac in a local computer
store or on a gaming website realitor mark down the location/URL, price,
and then let us know!

SHUT OUT
[2 January 2000, 12:27 EST] The Strategy Shine's "1999 Strategy Game
Awards" have been announced for all categories. In every category that Sid
Meier's Alpha Centauri was a contendor, SMAC was defeated in the voting
(made by members of the gaming public).
Here's a rundown of just how well, or poorly as the case may be, SMAC
fended against the competition for the titles it was shooting for (guess
one can't win them all). In bold is the category heading, followed by the
number of votes SMAC received with its placing, and in brackets to the
right of that is the number of votes the winning entry accumulated.
Most Original/Innovative Game: 17, 2nd (106)
Best Game Interface: 51, 2nd (56)
Best In-Game Video Sequence: 22, 2nd (93)
Best Multiplayer: 10, 6th (39)
Best Singleplayer: 18, 5h (38)
Best Gameplay: 12, 4th -- tie (51)
Best Intro: 29, 3rd (32)
Best Storyline: 21, 4th (51)
Strategy Game Of The Year: 12, 4th (36)
Thanks to everyone who voted for SMAC.


----------------------------
**Civilization: Call to Power Section

GCA 1999 AWARDS
[4 January 2000, 12:33 EST] An email from the Editor of Gamer's Voice
informed us today of their first annual Gamer's Choice Awards. Up to and
including January 16th, 2000, GV will be accepted nominations for a number
of titles up for grabs including Strategy Game Of The Year, Action Game Of
The Year and --- of course --- Game Of The Year. The top five nominees in
each category will be up for voting upon during the week of January 17th.
Make the right choices and send in your nominations today!

SHUT OUT
[2 January 2000, 13:26 EST] The Strategy Shine's "1999 Strategy Game
Awards" have been announced for all categories. In every category that
Civilization: Call To Power was a contendor, C:CTP was defeated in the
voting (made by members of the gaming public).
Here's a rundown of just how well, or poorly as the case may be, C:CTP
fended against the competition for the titles it was shooting for (guess
one can't win them all). In bold is the category heading, followed by the
number of votes C:CTP received with its placing, and in brackets to the
right of that is the number of votes the winning entry accumulated.
Best Game Interface: 7, 3rd (56)
Best Sound Effects: 3, 6th (37)
Best Music: 17, 5th (40)
Best Visual Effects: 12, 3rd (100)
Best Graphics: 4, 5th (85)
Best Overall AI: 7, 6th (35)
Best Multiplayer: 14, 5th (39)
Best Singleplayer: 4, 8h (38)
Best Gameplay: 4, 5th (51)
Best Intro: 6, 7th (32)
Best Storyline: 21, 4th (51)
Although C:CTP was nominated in 2 more categories than Sid Meier's Alpha
Centauri, C:CTP was not in the race for Strategy Game Of The Year
alongside SMAC and Civilization II: Test of Time.
Thanks to everyone who voted for C:CTP.


----------------------------
**About Apolyton Section

SEARCHABLE ABOUT SECTION
[7 January 2000, 21:32 EST] In every page(almost anyway) of the About
section, you can now find a small search engine. Although the section has
only 40 pages, it could be usefull at times. Also, at the bottom of each
page you can find the "More Apolyton" drop down menu, which can send you
to every section and hosted site of Apolyton. Any comments are as always
welcome.

OVER 1100 DONATIONS IN GOE
[5 January 2000, 20:10 EST] This year's Games of Encouragement Charity
Drive ended with great results! JT of Gamestats reports 1182 donations
from 67 donors and 101 sites linking to GOE. Donators are not just simple
gamers, but also companies, such as 3DFX, EA, Westwood Studios,
Activision, Matrox, and many more. Still, the most beautifull donation was
from an anonymous couple. Visit the GOE site now! :)

WINTER '99 APOLYTONER
[3 January 2000, 20:17 EST] After several weeks of discussion and voting,
the votes to honor the people who contribute to the forums and the
community the most over that last months have ended. The "Winter '99
Apolytoners" for each section of the forums are:
Civ3: Yin26
Civ2: Paul
CtP: Celestial Dawn
AC: Velociryx
S&D: Sahib
OT: Alexander's Horse
Velociryx was voted as the overall "Winter '99 Apolytoner" in the Final
round. All winners have as of today a special title under their forum name
for the next three months. Congratulations to everyone!

NEW APOLYTON LOGO
[2 January 2000, 20:25 EST] The main logo of Apolyton, the one used in our
first section(the civ2 one of course), has now changed to something a bit
more 3d. You first saw it in the About section, it is also now on our
front page and forums. Other sections(civ2, etc) will be affected as our
continuous update... continues :) Comments are always welcome

APOLYTON SURVIVES Y2K :)
[1 January 2000, 13:14 EST] Well, like the rest of world, we survived Y2K.
We've had only one minor problem, as the script that prints the current
date and time on the forums(not the forum script, this was y2k complaint
for some time now) was showing that we live in the year 19100 :) It's
fixed now. However, it's not a very good fix(I'm no perl guru you know),
we are probably going to have a Y3K problem... ;)


----------------------------
**Spanish Civ II Site(hosted site)

[Jan 7] Links page (again) updated - 2 new sites


----------------------------
**Clash of Civilizations(hosted site)

January 6, 2000: The Interface and Disease Models have both been updated,
while Toubabo Koomi's new Natural Disasters Model makes it's first
appearance! Be sure to check out the new Interface Demo, courtesy of
Darren McGuicken. It's a winner!

January 4, 2000: The Clash Demo Version 4 for Windows page has been
updated! A New Instruction Manual is now available for download or online
viewing, while Download Instructions #1 feature a new problem resolution
section.

Various Issues 01.05
1.BlueWaldo is diligently working on Tribes. So I'll be taking care of the
rest of the league. Therefore, direct your comments to me.
2.We will be beginning the practice of deleting users that have not
accessed their accounts in 60 days.
3.I strongly encourage everyone to get ICQ. It is an excellent
communications tool and it is very useful when another GameLeague member
needs to contact you. Some players even use ICQ as a method of finding
opponents (as opposed to the Zone).
4.I sadly report that there is still no activity in our SMAC and CTP
ladders. If you have these games please join these ladders and submit a
few wins. After we see that there is a substantial amount of activity we
will begin hosting tournaments and other events for those games.
5.Today is my birthday. So I'd really appreciate if you would fulfill
Issues 3 and 4 for me. :)

Team Swiss Update 01.05
It is likely that instead of playing on a medium map, a small map will be
used. This would cause more war and therefore make the games shorter. Send
me a note if you disagree with this potential change. If there is not
enough protest to this, then the change will be made official. Don't
forget to find team-mates. The forums are an excellent resource for this.

Team Swiss 01.02
Check out the tourneys page about the new Team Swiss tourney. A combined
600 point prize will be offered.


----------------------------
**Hodadian Award Central(hosted site)

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY HAC!!!
[6 January 2000, 14:04 EST] Yes, it's true, gentlemen, you've lived one
year with the menace to society known as Hodadian Award Central. We did a
bunch of things our first year: we presented our inaugural Hodadian
Awards, directed the flow of the 2nd Scenario Design Contest, and handed
out a bunch of POTW's. We have bigger plans for Year 2, which include our
all-new design contest, Modpack Mania!, plus the expansion of our site to
include some other "turn-based" fare. Count your blessings... year two is
here.
As always, Reismark (hac@apolyton.net)

AFTER ALL THE MILLENNIUMS OF WAITING....
[6 January 2000, 13:50 EST] Ladies and gentlemen, you've been asking for
them, and they're finally here! We have the finalized edition of the
Official Rules for the Third Scenario Design Contest at your disposal now!
Simply ()click here to view, or better yet, (sdc@apolyton.net)
here to apply for a codename! Happy trails in Y2SDC!
=========Apolyton's Friends News=========
Civ Master Deity League

Genesis (Game 1) is now underway with 3 human players. The game reached
1000 AD after 6 hours of play. Screen shots are posted on the site.
There is still room in Exodus (Game 2) for another player or two. Visit
the site and register.
A Multiplayer Hall of Fame has been established which will record the
longest lasting MP games.
That was all for this week ladies and gentlemen,

Until next time
Markos Giannopoulos - markg@apolyton.net
Apolyton Civilization Site -