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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 4</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">New!!</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments <a href="../../../index.html">on the front page</a>!</font></p>
              
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../2.15/feat/index.html" target="">Livin' 
  With The Sims</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">: 
  theAntiELVIS explores the wild and wacky world that is Will Wright's <b>The Sims</b>, 
  asking the inevitable quesiton, &quot;is <b>The Sims</b> the first step toward a virtual 
  life where everyone is Swedish?&quot;</font></p>
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../2.15/pixel/index.html" target="">Pixel 
  Obscura</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">: Josh 
  Vasquez on <b>Omikron: The Nomad Soul</b>.</font></p>
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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.14/feat">NT 
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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"> 
          Play Where You Like!</font></p>
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          <font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Jeff &quot;<a target="" href="mailto:jeff@solomania.com">nonick</a>&quot; 
          Solomon</font></b></font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The VMS has 
          a small display and CPU that enable it to perform a variety of revolutionary 
          functions. It plugs into the Dreamcast's controllers and relays user-specific 
          information to the main system. However, it can also be removed from 
          the controller and used <i>independently</i> as a personal gaming system 
          on its own, or as an accessory to a Dreamcast game.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The ultimate 
          potential for the VMS has yet to be realized, but there are several 
          ideas that are already being discussed. The VMS can be used as a Tamogatchi-like 
          device that allows players to nurture personalized characters while 
          away from their Dreamcast, and then use those custom characters in games 
          they play when they return. For sporting games, each player can remove 
          his VMS and enter commands and plays in private, then return to the 
          Dreamcast to let the action unfold.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The VMS will 
          also allow players to bridge the gap between their personal gaming system 
          and the arcade, by plugging into specially adapted arcade games and 

          allowing players to use their personal gaming information abroad. Clearly, 
          these applications are just the beginning. Check out IGN's i<a href="http://dreamcast.ign.com/news/198.html">nformative 
          article on this topic</a>.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Sega Dreamcast 
          also brings a new level of software support to a console system. Because 
          it uses the Windows CE operating system and DirectX drivers, developers 
          can take games that are currently designed for Windows 95/98 and DirectX 
          and port them to the Dreamcast very quickly and efficiently. In addition 
          to making it dramatically less resource intensive to develop games for 
          the Dreamcast, this functionality will allow developers to continue 
          to create games for the mass-market Windows 95/98 platform and spawn 
          Dreamcast ports in very little time. In this sense, the Dreamcast is 
          less a separate platform than a high-powered, gaming-specific extension 
          to Windows.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> New gaming 
          developments extend well beyond the world of consoles, and into territory 
          that has previously seen little gaming action. While the Dreamcast is 
          an example of the hybrid nature that the gaming machines of the future 
          will doubtlessly resemble, the current generation of Palm Pilot and 
          Windows CE-based PDAs are an example of miniplatforms that are beginning 
          to support gaming as well.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">No one will 
          argue that Windows CE and Palm Pilot PDAs can provide immersive gameplay 
          comparable to <b>Unreal </b>on a PC system with dual Voodoo 2 cards, 
          but that hasn't stopped developers from pushing the limits of these 
          sub-pound systems</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Take <b>Dragon 
          Bane</b>, for example, a new release from Palm Creations that's designed 
          for the Palm Pilot. Keeping in mind the minimalist hardware that powers 
          a Palm Pilot, this game's feature set is absolutely incredible. <b>Dragon 
          Bane </b>is a first person adventure game that closely resembles <b>Doom</b> 
          in nature. It offers graphics in four shades of gray, 20 different levels, 
          multiple saved games, auto-mapping (auto-mapping in a Palm Pilot!), 
          and over 40 different monsters. Check out the Palm Creations' Web site 
          at <a href="http://www.palmcreations.com" target="">http://www.palmcreations.com</a> 
          to see for yourself.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So far, games 
          as complex as <b>Dragon Bane</b> are few and far between on PDA platforms, 
          but this is changing. Essentially, any excuse for not getting work done 
          that can be hacked onto a small monochrome screen is finding its way 
          onto PDAs everywhere. Both Microsoft and 3Com realize that their platforms 
          need to be as easy to write for as possible to encourage widespread 
          developer support, and this simplicity has made it easy for programmers 
          to move games onto these systems. The development tools for these systems 
          run on PCs, so it's very easy for developers to create software for 
          them.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It remains to 
          be seen how much of an impact the PDA gaming scene will have on the 
          industry as a whole, but the important thing is that these systems prove 
          that people have come to expect gaming functionality on every system 
          that has a CPU and a monitor. It is no longer the case that people play 
          games on gaming systems, do work on PCs, and store phone numbers on 
          PDAs.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Even <a href="http://www.webtv.com">WebTV</a> 
          supports gaming. Recent iterations of WebTV hardware have hard drives 
          for Web content caching that can actually be used to store and play 
          games locally. Upcoming releases include <b>You Don't Know Jack</b> 
          and, even more impressive, <b>Doom</b>. It doesn't take much to make 
          this happen- just a basic understanding of the fundamentals of the WebTV 
          interface. What's next?</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp;</p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+1">(<a href="index8.php" target="">continued 
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Illustration &copy; 1998 Mike Sanzone. Play Where You Like! is &copy; 1998 
      Jeff Solomon. All other content is &copy; 1998 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
      productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so don't 
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