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      <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 
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              <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E"><img src="../../images/icons/boag_final.jpg" width="193" height="235" align="left"><loonystart>Vol. 
                2, Issue 4<br>
                November 30, 1999<br>
                </font></b></h5>
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                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="3">Birth 

                  of a Gamer:</font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="center"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="6"> 
                  Myth II <br>
                  <font size="4">(My First Foray Back Into Gaming)</font></font></i></font></b></p>
                <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">by 
                  Heather &quot;<a href="mailto:heatherhazel@eudoramail.com">elki</a>&quot; 
                  Haselkorn</font></p>
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              <p align="left"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><img src="../../images/letters_new/f.jpg" width="20" height="38" align="left">irst 
                off, I just want to thank you guys for all of the great e-mails 
                last week. I feel so loved! Anyway, let's turn to the real business 
                at hand:</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Myth 
                II</font></b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> was the 
                first game I'd played in about two and a half years. It was also 
                the first game in which I've ever had to run a tutorial before 
                playing. Although I consider myself an animal lover (and a former 
                vegetarian), I experienced a sick pleasure at blowing up the chickens 
                in the barnyard. I figured if the rest of the game were like this, 
                I'd have no problems! That's where I made my first mistake. Someone 
                had already told me that the original <b>Myth</b> was hard enough 
                to be unplayable, and that <b>Myth II</b> was only slightly easier. 
                Still, I thought, how hard could it be?</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Before 
                I get into that, I just want to give into some childlike awe. 
                I had never seen a game in 3D before, so when I first started 
                playing, I just couldn't figure out what to do. I was so used 
                to games that scrolled either vertically or horizontally that 
                I couldn't get used to the illusion of actually moving <i>forward</i> 
                or <i>backward</i>. It was a little disconcerting. And the graphics 
                stunned me. I could move the camera in, out, around, take an aerial 
                view of my troops or come in close-up right over their heads. 
                And in addition to the main action, there are also leaves falling 
                from trees, and birds and butterflies flitting around. It was 
                breathtaking! </font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Once I 
                began to play, I immediately learned my first lesson about gaming: 
                Much as I love my PowerBook, a track pad is not an ideal gaming 
                tool. The time it took to run my finger across the pad and then 
                click with my thumb really slowed things down. For example, whenever 
                I was ambushed it would take so long to select my knights and 
                bowmen that I'd inevitably lose quite a few of them. Sometimes 
                it seemed as though I spent more time listening to my computer 
                shout &quot;Casualty! Casualty!&quot; than I did actually playing 
                the game. But anyway, as I expected, the first three maps were 
                fairly easy and I finished them all by the second try. I don't 
                remember much about the first map, other than finishing it very 
                quickly (full disclosure: I played on the easiest setting). The 
                soldiers jumping up and down at the end of a level, shouting &quot;Yay! 
                We did it!&quot; is just the funniest thing in the world. And 
                the monsters and other nasty things that come at you are actually 
                very cute. Maybe they are supposed to strike terror into the hearts 
                of my knights, but I just have to laugh at them.</font></p>
              <p align="left"></p>
              <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The second 
                level provides even more visual pleasure. It's dark and gloomy 
                and the rain comes down steadily and my troop has to trudge through 
                streams and muddy forest into an abandoned graveyard to save some 
                prisoners. At this point I was still trying to work the camera 
                and I kept getting lost whenever I tried to look too far beyond 
                where my soldiers were standing. But I managed to finish it, and 
                while my soldiers were shouting &quot;Yay!&quot; at the end, I 
                couldn't help but join them (with my cat staring at me disapprovingly 
                from the other side of the room).</font></p>
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Birth of a Gamer is &copy; 1999 Heather Haselkorn. All 
  other content is &copy; 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction 
  is prohibited, you cartoonish villian, you.</font></i></p>
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