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PORTRAIT OF A WEBMASTER
(24 February 2000, 20:12 EST) What you have you always wanted to know about Apolyton, but never dared to ask the administration, or even conceive of asking? You now have your opportunity to fire away by filling out a simple form on the subject and I, DanQ, will answer.
I will compile all questions received, and, those I select and the answers I write to them will be published as an installment of The Column on Saturday, March 4th.
Your question(s), up to a maximum of 3, must be clearly, concisely worded, and contain no explicitives of any kind. Be careful in wording any questions of a personal nature --- questions about Apolyton and/or my involvement with Apolyton and the online Civilization community as a whole, and the games that we cover are preferred and will be given priority over all others in the question selection process. We reserve the right to discard any questions that we feel are inappropriate.
Your questions must be received by 10PM EST on Thursday, March 2nd, 2000 to be considered for inclusion.
Finally, you must provide a valid email address so we can send you a quick thank you letter for the time you took to write us.
So, get cracking already!  -DanQ
COLUMN #104; BY JASON BEAUDOIN
(26 February 2000, 14:02 EST) "Micro Focus In Civilization Killing Civilization III" is today's column from Jason Beaudoin, former webmaster of the Beyond Alpha Centauri website (now our SMAC section).
Jason shares his thoughts on micromanaging in Civilization, and how the heavy emphasis on it, in his opinion, is shooting the development of Civilization III dead in its tracks.
Comments/questions are welcomed in our forums. -DanQ
COLUMN #103; BY MARKG
(23 February 2000, 22:21 EST) In Part 2 of 2 in his article "The Essential CTP2: Beyond The PR Stuff", MarkG takes one more day to say his peace on the attitude Activision should take towards CTP2.
Comments/questions on this artlce? Post them publicly here. -DanQ
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Apolyton
&Friends
News20-26 Feb. 2000
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ALPHA CENTAURI
PLANETARY PACK RELEASED
(24 February 2000, 16:08 EST)  It seems like the March 16th date that Amazon was giving for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack was wrong as it is now availiable for ordering. Therefore, you can now find it in the Alpha Centauri/Games and Books category of our Apolyton Links&Products Directory(long titles, no? :)) at the price of $35.99. Suddenly, buying just SMAC is a bad deal, since you can now get both SMAC and SMAC-X(and both patched) at exactly the same price(talking about Amazon prices only). Anyway, if you dont have SMAC already it seems like a good deal! If you have SMAC and/or SMAC-X please take the time to write a short review for it -MarkG
LOCALIZED SMAC-X PATCH NEWS
(22 February 2000, 17:26 EST) We contacted Jeffrey Morris at Firaxis today if he could pass along any news regarding the status of the localized SMAC-X patches.
His response: "SMACX German and French v2 are off to EA [Electronic Arts]. They're focusing on SMACX Spanish, SMACPP French and German [right now]".
The "PP" in "SMACPP" is short for Planetary Pack, the gaming combo where you can purchase both SMAC, the game, and SMAC-X, the expansion, together. Amazon.com is currently listing a March 16th release for this product, but when we asked Jeff if this date was in line with the title's progress, he apologized saying that he did not have a clue either way on the subject. -DanQ
THUMPED IN GS`99 READER`S AWARDS
(26 February 2000, 12:24 EST) SMAC got smacked in the GameSpot 1999 Readers' Choice Awards unveiled today.
In the Strategy Game Of The Year category, SMAC did not make it into the top five; in the race for Game Of The Year, however, SMAC tied Quake III Arena, Everquest and Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear in 6th place with 5% of the total votes.
Unreal Tournament edged Age of Empires II: Age Of Kings by
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a margin of a single percential to take Game Of The Year (the latter did however capture Strategy Game Of The Year). -DanQ
COMING TO A LINUX BOX NEAR YOU
(24 February 2000, 19:01 EST) 
As first reported by LinuxGames, and then confirmed today by GameSpy's Managing News Editor John Keefer, Loki Software Entertainment will port SMAC to the Linux platform.
"When asked point blank what games Loki would be releasing this year, Draeker gave only a coy smile and replied that because of ongoing license negotiations he couldn't comment say other than the titles they have announced", states the LG article. "Those announced ports include Soldier of Fortune, SimCity 3000, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Heavy Gear II".
What we learned from Keefer, who today was given a development tour at Loki's studios in Tustin, CA, was a general timeframe when Linux gamers can expect to start conquering Planet. Loki President Scott Draeker stated that the Linux version of SMAC is due in April or May, but that no firm deadline had yet been set. -DanQ
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CALL TO POWER II
COMMENT FROM CGO STAFF
(25 February 2000, 19:58 EST) In the weekly Strategy newsletter from Computer Games Online, CGO staff member Cindy Vanous made reference to Activision's announcement of CTP2 in her introductory remarks in the latest issue.
"You'll find some fascinating tidbits in the news department, not the least of which is Activision's announcement of
a sequel to Civ: Call to Power. This time, it looks like they've dropped the Civ part of the name. Surprising? Not really -- considering the legal wrangling which seems to attend any use of that name in any respect these days, I'm sure Activision is thrilled to have Call to Power as a recognizable, and completely proprietary, brand". -DanQ
MOST INTERESTING FEATURE?
(23 February 2000, 14:59 EST) Our first CTP2 poll is here, and it's about the improvments that the press release described. More details can be found in the (updated) Information page. So, what sounds best to your ears? Vote, and give your comments on the forums. -MarkG
Also on this issue: Mac CTP 1.2b Patch , 100,000 Downloads
APOLYTON FRONT PAGE | NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
Apolyton&Friends News 12-19/Feb/00
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