Computer Games Issue 143

Cover Story:

• The Latest MUD Runner (Watch Asheron's Call 2 gallop down the homestretch as it leaves the rest of the second-generation massively multiplayer games somewhere around the clubhouse turn.)
• The Rest of the Story (What do the rest of the current online games have in store for you this year? It's more online gaming than you can possibly swallow as CG looks at what's coming in Dark Age of Camelot, EverQuest, EverQuest 2, World War II Online, Lineage II, Anarchy Online, Jumpgate, Motor City Online, and more!)

The CD: Enjoy some free wallpapers from Tomb Raider, Rayman 3, and Hitman 2, then be one of the first to play Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings with the beta included. Once you've indulged in online rampages, try out the demos for Duke Nukem Manhattan Project, Hitman 2, and Panzer Elite.

Departments:

• Upfront (Steve Bauman, for once, writes about what he likes in games instead of griping about what's wrong with them.)
• Rebound (Letters, advice, rants, and other assorted nonsense from readers.)
• Road to Nowhere (Cindy Yans wonders what online gamers are supposed to do if there are no NPCs to interact with in their online games.)
• Inside the Sausage Factory (Phil Steinmeyer hates 3D, and isn't afraid to say it to your face.)
• Three Finger Salute (Tom Chick wants you to know 'God Mode' is for babies, and other ways hardcore gamers distinguish themselves from those filthy casuals.)

Newswire:

• The Business of Terrorism (Game publishers react and release games in the wake of September 11th. John Callaham opens up about the terrorist attack and how it changed video game development in the past year.)
• This Is Your Brain on Games (A new study is out, claiming video games cause brain damage. Kyle Ackerman digs deeper.)
• Pirate Sunk by Gaming Booty (Dale Tudge brings us the tale of one angry gamer who feels he's being ripped off by computer game companies.)
• Newsbytes (Top sellers, WarCraft III action figures, a look at Computer Waiting Games, a new book of time-wasting tips to liven up your office working day, and what Bill Roper of Blizzard, Rod Fung of Sierra, and Brian Reynolds of Big Huge Games are playing right now.)

Hardware:

• Technicalities: The Human Factor (Jason Cross would love to see a game with actual personality, please.)
• Q&A (You have questions, we have answers.)
• Hardware Reviews:
  • Telex EVSonicXS PC speakers (2/5)
  • Logitech Z-560 PC speakers (5/5; Editor's Choice)
  • Cambridge Soundworks MegaWords 510D PC speakers (3/5)
  • Monsoon PlanarMedia 9 PC speakers (4.5/5; Editor's Choice)
  • Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 PC speakers (4.5/5; Editor's Choice)
  • Ferrarro Design The Claw controller (4/5)
  • Visiontek Xstasy 48X CD-RW drive (4/5)
  • XGaming X-Arcade joystick (5/5; Editor's Choice)

Previews:

• Lionheart (released as Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader)
• Sudden Strike II
• Iron Storm
• Casino Empire
• Dragon's Lair 3D
• The Gladiators: Galactic Circus Games
• Breed
• 007 Nightfire
• Hannibal (canceled)
• NHL 2003
• Lords of the Realm III
• Starfleet Command III
• Inquisition
• Conflict: Desert Storm
• Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood
• Trade Wars: Dark Millennium (later released as Guild Wars)

Reviews:

• Magic the Gathering Online (4.5/5)
• Operation Flashpoint: Resistance (2/5)
• Strange Adventures in Space (3.5/5)
• Combat Medic: Special Ops (1.5/5)
• World War II Online (3.5/5)
• Britney's Dance Beat (1.5/5)
• 1st Century After Tsunami 2265 (1/5)
• Hooligans: Storm Over Europe (3.5/5)
• Airborne Assault (4.5/5; Editor's Choice)
• F1 2002 (4/5)
• The Watchmaker (2/5)
• 2002 FIFA World Cup (3.5/5)
• PureSim Baseball (3.5/5)
• Pac-Man All-Stars (1.5/5)
• Operation Blockade (3/5)
• Harpoon 3 (3.5/5)

Afterlife:

• Out of the Box: Mod Glut (Are gamers overwhelmed with choices when it comes to modding their existing games? Brett Todd thinks so.)
• On Dungeon Siege and WarCraft III (Chris Taylor and Bill Roper sit down for interviews about the newest games from their respective studios.)
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Ads (in order of appearance):

• Mechwarrior: Mercenaries
• SimCity 4
• Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
• The Thing
• Casino Empire
• WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos
• Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
• Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings
• No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way
• Prince of Qin
• Creative INSPiRE 5.1 5300 speaker system
• Ghost Master
• Real War: Rogue States
• Divine Divinity
• Intel Pentium 4 processors
• Sudden Strike II
• SOA: Soldiers of Anarchy
• Essential Reality P5 gaming glove controller
• Celtic Kings: Rage of War
• Earth 2150: Lost Souls
• Age of Mythology
• Stronghold: Crusader
• US Special Forces: Team Factor
• The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal expansion for Morrowind
• G.I. Combat Episode I: Battle of Normandy
• Strike Fighters: Project-1
• IGI-2: Covert Strike
• Iron Storm
• Computer Games subscription card
• Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin
• Chips & Bits
• Magic the Gathering Online
• EarthLink online software
• 007 Nightfire
• Creative NOMAD MuVo MP3 player / MuVo Memory USB stick

Notable Stuff:

• The No One Lives Forever 2 ad includes a tear-out poster featuring protagonist Cate Archer as she appears on the game's box art.
• Clint Basinger, host and owner of the Lazy Game Reviews channel on YouTube, did an entire 25-minute video dedicated to the P5 Gaming Glove. Go watch it. It's wild. 
• WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos is dominating the sales charts this month, with the standard edition sitting in the #1 spot, and its more expensive collector's edition brother taking the #7 position.
• Hannibal was a proposed first-person shooter based in the world of Thomas Harris's Silence of the Lambs, which would have put the player into FBI Agent Clarice Starling's shoes as she goes on the hunt for the infamous Hannibal Lecter. It was canceled in 2003, but not before developer Arxel Tribe completed an internal beta, had a demo prepared for an August release, and had announced the game would be on store shelves by November of the same year.
• The review for Magic the Gathering Online includes a number of one-line re-reviews of other games with "Magic" in their titles in a sidebar. The best is the 1-star review for Magic the Gathering Battlemage, which reads, "One can only fathom where the game would be if the designers had cast "Circle of Protection: Dumbass" to ward off whoever finalized the design elements that damned it. 
• Whoever thought "1st Century After Tsunami 2265" was a good game title should have suffered a blistering beating for that nonsense.