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Date: Dec 12 1999 18:28:53 EST
From: "Apolyton Announcements (Apolyton Civilization Site)"
Subject: Apolyton&Friends News 4-11/December/99


Greetings everyone,
these are the news of the week(4-11/December)

On Apolyton, news about Sid Next Big Thing are coming almost every day,
basically from Firaxis, which seems to either be experimenting on the
looks of the page :) or just following some marketing plan...
By the way, feel like making a guess for the new creation of Sid? Why dont
you write a column then ? :)
Beyond that, we are happy to welcome our new hosted site, the official
site for a civ game in development, Clash of Civilizations.

In the "Friends" part of the newsletter, news from MJ's Civilization
Empire. 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=========
----------------------------
**Civilization III Section ">

TAKE A RAINCHECK
(December 9th, 1999) Firaxis is, once again, keeping us on our toes. Today
the company removed the date, 12-17-99, from "Sid's Next Game" website.
This was the date that was widely believed to be when Firaxis would make
Sid Meier's next project official. No alternative date was put in its
place.
Does this mean the announcement has been delayed, or moved up? Judge for
yourself.

WHAT IS... A DINOSAUR?
(December 6th, 1999) Things are still happening at "Sid's Next Game"
website! Thanks to a subtle tip from Warrior of tamec.org, you will see
one of six tagline images when you load the page -- "tagline1.jpg" through
to and including "tagline6.jpg". To see them all, either hit the Reload or
Refresh button, depending upon your browser of choice, or load the images
one by one, starting with this one. The taglines are:
Something Big Is Evolving At Firaxis
Extinction Is Not An Option
Requires A Brain Bigger Than A Walnut
Sid's Next Game: It's No Walk In The Park
65 Million Years In The Making
Big Feet. Small Arms. And Everything In Between.
Let's see if we can put two-and-two (in this case, perhaps six-and-six)
together: extinction, small brain size, and the age are three big
indicators, accompanied by the other three, that we are dealing with a
game involving dinosaurs -- don't forget the egg too! This is as of yet
unconfirmed, but it appears to be a pretty strong lead... or one big
tease.

DIARIES DELAYED?
(December 5th, 1999) Glonk of Sidgames has a sharp eye and noticed it
first :) Firaxis's page about "Sid's Next Big Game" has changed. The
"Sid's Designer Diaries Coming January 2000" is now "Sid's Designer
Diaries Coming Soon". Oh well... let's just hope that Firaxis keeps the
delays on diaries only... (unless "soon" means sooner that January, right?
:))


----------------------------
**Civilization II Section

MICROPROSE DEAD? NOT EXACTLY
(December 9, 1999) Microprose is dead says GoneGold in one of today's news
article. According to GG, an employee of Microprose has told them that the
company is being shut down. As GG says "That's not like they absorbed the
company and are going to publish everything under one label... they fired
most of, if not all 2200 employees".
Still, GameSpot reports after a talk with Hasbro Interactive's (HI)
director of public relations, Laura Tomasetti, that Hasbro is indeed
closing down it's development studios in Alameda, Calif., Chapel Hill, NC
and Chipping Sodbury in the UK. From the first two, a total of 95
employees are being fired. According to GameSpot, "Development of games at
those studios will be moved over to HI's Hunt Valley, Md., studio.".
Hasbro also confirmed that the Falcon series and other flight-simulation
games are being stoped.
However, and that's a big "however" :), "Hasbro Interactive will
maintain the MicroProse brand with its upcoming games, which include
Civilization III, X-Com, Gunship, M1 Tank Platoon III, and other
unannounced titles". So, no need for a red alarm... By the way, John P
posted on our forums that there are two X-Com games in the works. Thanks
to Mike Casazza for the news tip on GG.

10 NEW MAPS
(December 9, 1999) Today was a "day of the maps" for our civ2 db manager,
Sven. The following: Island World, Great Big River, Concentric, Great
Seas, East and West, Squares, Landlocked, New Zealand, Nordic and
Scandinavian Peninsula. If you're interested in numbers, we have reach 332
files in our database with a total of 71434 downloads. If you want to take
part in the maintainance of one of the bigest file archives in the history
of fan sites :) , mail Sven at svenm@apolyton.net

NEW PEOPLE AROUND
(December 8, 1999) Our call for a new HoF maintainer worked. reddawg is
the new man, send him your saved games, show him what work really means!
:) Check the instruction on our hof page first though. We would also like
to welcome Adam M on the team, who will be doing html editing around the
site. We hope they'll stay with us for a long time :) Finally, we might
have some new faces in the civ2 db, we'll see...

APOLYTON HOF UPDATE
(December 6, 1999) Several.... months ago, we had our last Hall of Fame
update. Well, Coug has come up with not a big, not a huge, but an Apolyton
update :) From 36 entries, we now have 94! It takes sometime, but when we
update.... :) So, do visit the HoF and compare your doings with others'.
Beyond that, Coug feel like not seeing a civ2 saved game again for a long
time so he will be doing other kind of things on Apolyton. This means that
we need a new HoF maintainer, if you're interested mail us

THE COLUMN: #82 PLUNGE INTO THE ToT FANTASY WORLD
Toby Robison wants the Fantasy-realm of Civ to get the attention it
deserves.

THE COLUMN: #83 THE SWING OF PENDULUM IN GAMING
What goes up, goes down, and vice cersa, says Imran.

THE COLUMN: #84 PET PEEVES OF MULTIPLAY
War4Ever speaks out against some aspects of multiplayer gaming

THE COLUMN: SUBMIT AN ARTICLE


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

GameSpy Profiles Firaxis
[December 8 1999] GameSpy's John Keefer II, aka "Warrior", has written a
detailed four-page profile on Firaxis Games, from its humble beginnings in
June of '96 to what it has become today. He also speculates on what is in
store for the company in the future, and what it will mean for the gaming
genres it enters.
An interview with Jeff Briggs makes up a substantial portion of the
article, with lots of interesting tidbits to read. The ongoing interview
with Briggs throughout the article is impressive, with his thoughts on
resigning from MicroProse, where the company is looking down the road, and
-- yes -- his take on how the shutdown of the company forums affected
public relations. In short, the interview is, to date, one of it not the
largest interview, both in size and content, conducted with Briggs and
perhaps even any other member of the Firaxis staff.
There is something more that makes this profile unique from others that
have been documented in the past: an entire page devoted to picking the
brains of several webmasters that handle Firaxis/Sid Meier games. To put
it simply, quote: "the company goes beyond expectations". The list of
these people include Ken Robbins, webmaster of The Hornet's Nest, Kunal
Shah, Administrator and Owner of SidGames.com and a certain
Co-Owner/Administrator of Apolyton CS.
Did Briggs spill any beans on Sid's next project? Nope. "Sorry no leaks.
Just keep a close eye on our Web site for the latest information on the
game".

Drone Faction Declassified
[December 8 1999] Today, Firaxis declassified the profile for the Drone
Faction, one of the seven new faction found in Sid Meier's Alien
Crossfire, the expansion pack to the widely received Sid Meier's Alpha
Centauri.
Only one faction remains to be posted: the Manifold Caretakers.

Episode 8 Now Playing
[December 8 1999] Episode 8 of SMAC-X was made public by Firaxis on the
Official SMAC-X website. The four-part story, entitled "Centauri:
Arrival", focuses on the new Drone Faction, introduced in the SMAC
expansion pack.

Your SMAC-X Rating: 8.057450628
[December 7 1999] Yeap, exactly that is the rating you gave to SMAC-X.
While half of the 557 voters gave it 9 or 10, the other half were enough
to get it to 8. As a comparison, the rate you gave to SMAC a few months
ago was 8.6927.
Our new poll is about your favorite SMAC-X faction. Vote! :)


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

December 7, 1999: The Lost Graphics Thread is back! You can access it from
the Map Graphics Model, or just click HERE! We also have new Model
Descriptions from Lord God Jinnai (Research) and Paul Crocker (Map
Graphics), not to mention Hrafnkell's mammoth new Government Model!

December 4, 1999: "Graphics Thread DOA! Read All About It!" Yes, it blew
up on Saturday, but most of it has been saved. Whew! You'll find it
"Coming soon to a Web Site near you!"


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

[Dec 10] Links page (heavily) updated

[Dec 9] Pride of the World Award (go to the Trophy Hall please)

[Dec 8] Bestonet re-opens with nine (9) scenarios

[Dec 5] Trophy Hall opens


----------------------------
**Civilization Scenario Collection(hosted site)

[Dec 11] Updated scenario in XX Century: Red Front version 1.2 by Captain
Nemo and Alex Mor
Updated scenario in Ancient: Darius version 2.0 by Stefan H?rtel
WE NEED HELP WITH THE CSC. PLEASE MAIL US!

[Dec 6] Two new scenario in XVIII Century and Fantasy: Gustav III by Jonas
Hasselrot and Barron by Mark Laanen (winner of the 2nd SDC) (Scenario #5 &
13 in their section, #117 & 118 in the site)
Also updated version of Firewall available


----------------------------
**GameLeague(hosted site)

Nothing Tourney Finalized12.05
Nappy won the Thanksgiving "Thanks for Nothing" tournament against 2nd
place winzity. Congratulations to Nappy and all players that attended.
Check the tourney page for the finalized bracket.


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

PRIDE THRICE TIMES... DEC.8
That's right, ladies and gentlemen, today we announced winners for THREE
Pride of the World Awards (for the months of October, November, and
December): the Spanish Civilization Site, the CivII Ziggurat, and
Platehead's Civilization Site, respectively. Congratulations to the
website owners. For more POTW info, click here.

WHENCE HAC 2000? DEC.8
We posted today some updated information concerning our two contests
underway: We have the official topics for the Third Scenario Design
Contest up (the rules will be coming on or around Christmas Day), and
updated information concerning the annual Hodadian Awards for Civilization
II. We need some Agents to serve on staff - you know where to go for more.


=========Apolyton's Friends News=========
--------------------------
MJ's Civilization Empire

12/10/1999
- New Utility: Caviar Player. Lets you view the 3D animation used for the
units. You can't edit these graphics(yet) but you can view them. It's a
pretty nice utility!

12/06/1999
- Moving process has begun this page has been moved to the new site. All
of the links are still to their original locations. This page will remain
at Geocities for a while. Until I have time to move everything.
- The new url:

12/04/1999
- Some more info about SMACX2 factions released but not much.
- Expect updates to this site to be sparse for the next two weeks.
Finals.
- The Civilization Empire is merging with some other Civ sites. I'll move
this page over to the new site as soon as possible. This site will remain
up for a little while as I wont have much time to move many of my files
until my final exams are over.


That was all for this week ladies and gentlemen,

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