<html>

<head>
<title>loonygames presents: Birth of a Gamer - Creatures 3</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<style type="text/css">
a { text-decoration: none; }
a:hover { color:000000;  text-decoration: underline; }


</style>
</head>

<body bgcolor="#FFF4D0" link="#3333FF" vlink="#000000" alink="#000000">
<center>
</center>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="58">
  <tr> 
    <td height="69" width="29%" align="left" valign="top"> 
      <div align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><i><img src="../../images/logo_new.jpg" width="182" height="63" border="0" usemap="#logoa"> 
        </i></b></font></div>
    </td>
    <td height="69" width="29%" align="center" valign="top"> <center>
<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-2373963192914918";
/* 468x60 */
google_ad_slot = "3417104156";
google_ad_width = 468;
google_ad_height = 60;
//-->
</script>
<script type="text/javascript"
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
</script>
</center>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../about.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><font size="2">about</font></b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../feedback.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>feedback</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../archives/index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>archives</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <b><a href="../../../submissions/index.html"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">submissions</font></a></b></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<div align="center"> <br>
</div>
<table width="100%" border="0">
  <tr> 
    <td width="72%"> 
      <h5><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">//<a href="../../../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">loonygames</font></a>://<a href="../index.html"><font color="#7C420E">issue 
        2.14</font></a>://<a href="index.html"><font color="#7C420E">birth of a 
        gamer</font></a>://<a href="index.php"><font color="#7C420E">1</font></a>, 
        2</font></b></h5>
    </td>
    <td align="right" valign="middle" width="28%"> 
      <div align="right"> 
        <h5><a href="../../cgi/printme.pl?url=%252F2.14%252Fboag%252F"><img src="../../images/icons/print01.gif" width="27" height="27" align="baseline" border="0" alt="switch to printer-friendly version"></a></h5>
      </div>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<br>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
  <tr> 
    <td align="center" valign="top" width="25%"> 
      <table border="0" width="99%" bgcolor="#D7B582" align="center" bordercolor="#E0E0E0">
        <tr> 
          <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="100%"> <font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> 
             </font> <p><webdog><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#0022A8"><b><font color="#693A0C">What's 
           new today:</font></b></font> 
          
<p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../../index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">New!!!</font></b></a><br></b>
  The archives have been cleaned up, dead links fixed, and the printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments on the main page!</font></p>

 
<p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../2.15/feat/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Livin' 
  With The Sims</font></b></a><br></b>
  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="2"><a href="../../2.15/pixel/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Pixel 
  Obscura </font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Josh Vasquez on <b>Omikron: The Nomad Soul</b>.</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../rl/index.html" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">Real 
  Life </font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Check out our newest comic strip, <b>Real Life</b>! Updated daily!</font></p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a href="../../uf.1" target=""><b><font color="#00025E">User 
  Friendly</font></b></a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><br>
  Updated daily!</font></p>
<p></webdog> </p>
 
            <p></p>
            <p> </p>
            <p></p>
             
            </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
      <br>
      <table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#D7B582">
        <tr bgcolor="#D7B582"> 
          <td> 
            <div align="center"> 
              <p align="left"><font size="-1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2" color="#0022A8"><b><font color="#00025E">Random 
                Feature:</font></b></font> </font> </p>
              <p>
<p align="CENTER"><img src="../../images/freak_thumb.jpg" width="102" height="120" align="MIDDLE"></p><p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../../1.7/feat">The Community Summit</a>: Our exclusive chat with the folks who run your favorite gaming pages (from our seventh issue).</font></p>

<i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> 
                </font> </i></p>
            </div>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
      <br>
      <table width="99%" border="0" bgcolor="#D7B582">
        <tr> 
          <td> 
            <div align="center"> 
              <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" name="">
                <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Search 
                the Archives!</font></b></font> 
               
                 <INPUT TYPE=text name=q size=12 maxlength=255 value="">
 <INPUT type=submit name=sa VALUE="Google Search">
 <INPUT type=hidden name=cof 
VALUE="LW:216;L:http:/home/loonygames/loony.timedoctor.org/content/images/logo1.jpg;LH:55;AH:center;S:http://www.loonygames.com;AWFID:13a298c7abe84fd0;">
<input type=hidden name=domains value="loonygames.com"> 
<input type=hidden name=sitesearch value="loonygames.com">               
</div>
              </form>

              <p align="left"><i> </i></p>
            </div>
          </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
    </td>
    <td width="75%" align="center" valign="top"> 
      <table width="90%" border="0" cellpadding="0" align="center">
        <tr> 
          <td width="50%" valign="top">
            <div align="center">
<table width="98%" border="0">
                <tr> 
                  <td width="55%"> 
                    <div align="left"> 
                      <h5><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="2">Birth 
                        of a Gamer: </font></i></font> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><font color="#904C10">Creatures 
                        3 </font></i></font><br>
                      </h5>
                      <div align="right"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">By 

                        Heather &quot;<a href="mailto:heatherhazel@eudoramail.com">elki</a>&quot; 
                        Haselkorn</font></div>
                    </div>
                  </td>
                  <td width="45%" align="right" valign="top"> 
                    <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E">Vol. 
                      2, Issue 14<br>
                      February 29, 2000</font></b></h5>
                  </td>
                </tr>
              </table>
              <p align="left"><loonystart>

              <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">How cute 
                is that?  But wait a second.  Cute?  Video games?  That’s sort 
                of an oxymoron, isn’t it?  The bright colors, the cute little 
                animals.  It sounds like a game for children.  But it’s really 
                not.  It’s actually a strategy game:  How can you keep your little 
                community growing in spite of the dangers all around it?  I found 
                myself having to make major decisions.  Do I deal with the Ettin 
                who’s dismantling my defenses, or do I rescue a baby Norn who 
                wandered into the Grendel habitat?  Should I hatch another pair 
                of Norns or wait for the adults to start breeding?  Do I have 
                time to wander around and look at the other environments?  </font></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I also 
                realized I had to watch what I say to my Norns.  In an early, 
                failed attempt, one Norn complained that he was hungry.  I typed 
                the simple command:  “eat.”  Unfortunately he took that a little 
                too seriously and ate his sister who was standing innocently nearby.  
                After that I made sure I was more specific.  And in trying to 
                get Beatrice and Benedick to breed, I typed, “Benedick play with 
                Beatrice.”  Either that was too complex of a command or he just 
                chose to ignore me.  And when I asked Benedick to teach one of 
                the babies to talk, he merely took the little one to the training 
                room.  I guess it was a good try, though. </font></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Creatures 
                3 </b>isn’t all cute and cuddly.  The game can be unnecessarily 
                complex at times.  To get all of your machinery working, you have 
                to get powerups.  This requires dragging a Norn around to find 
                the powerups and activate them.  To make full use of my defenses, 
                I had to replicate them in a Creator.  My first problem was finding 
                the Creator machine.  My second problem was that I couldn’t find 
                enough powerups to get it working to its fullest, so I wasn’t 
                able to replicate my defense equipment.  So there I am, helplessly 
                pulling my hair out while Grendels are beating the crap out of 
                my baby Norns and I can’t get the darned Creator to work.  The 
                Norns themselves aren’t always cooperative.  Sometimes they’d 
                fall asleep while I was teaching them to talk, or refuse to go 
                through a door when I was leading them around.  There are sad 
                points in the game, too.  I took it really hard when my first 
                baby Norn died.  And then there was the death of Beatrice.  </font></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It’s absolutely 
                amazing how this silly game got me so involved that I actually 
                mourned the loss of an imaginary animal.  That’s a testament to 
                how well the game is designed, though.  The Norns act seemingly 
                on their own.  They walk around, eat, sleep, talk to each other, 
                breed, et cetera.  They interact with themselves and their environment, 
                independent of their “mommy” or “daddy.”  In turn, you teach them 
                right and wrong.  You keep them safe and happy.  It’s so close 
                to real that it’s almost scary.  It’s not a drippy little kid 
                game; it requires more thought than most children handle until 
                they reach a certain age.  And it’s very addictive.  I thought 
                I was impervious and that I’d never find a game that I really 
                like.  But now I think I’ve found one I like a little too much.</font></p>
              <p align="right">&nbsp;</p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left">&nbsp;</p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p></p>
              <p></p>
              <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>-Heather 
                &quot;<a href="mailto:heatherhazel@eudoramail.com">elki</a>&quot; Haselkorn 
                actually enjoys this.</i></font> </p>
             
              <p align="left"></p></loonystart>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="index.php"><font color="#7C420E"><b><font size="+1">&lt;&lt;Prev</font></b></font></a></font> 
          
              </DIV>
            </td>
        </tr>
      </table>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<br>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../about.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>about</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../feedback.1"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>feedback</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <a href="../../../archives/index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF" size="2"><b>archives</b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="25%" align="center" valign="middle" bgcolor="#86531A"> 
      <b><a href="../../../submissions/index.html"><font color="#FFFFFF" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">submissions</font></a></b></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<table width="100%" border="0" bgcolor="#3596B3" height="29">
  <tr> 
    <td height="20" width="35%"><a href="../../../index.html"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF"><b><i>loonygames</i></b></font></a></td>
    <td height="20" width="65%"> 
      <div align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#FFFFFF">  </font></div>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 2000 Dan Zalkus. Birth of a Gamer is &copy; 2000 Heather Haselkorn. All 
  other content is &copy; 2000 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction 
  is prohibited, you cartoonish villian, you.</font></i></p>
 <map name="logoa">
  <area shape="rect" coords="52,47,112,59" href="http://www.bluesnews.com">
  <area shape="rect" coords="3,3,179,46" href="../../../index.html">
</map>
</body>
</html>
