Magic Multiplayer, Finally...Sort Of

Finally, multiplayer Magic the Gathering games have arrived on the Net, albeit in limited beta form for now.

Those of you who bought MicroProse's Magic the Gathering and the add-on disc Spells of the Ancients will be able to play multiplayer games on the Total Entertainment Network (TEN) using a beta version of ManaLink - provided of course that you registered to become a beta tester on GatheringNet.

Can the public version be far behind? The answer not surprisingly is yes.

MicroProse is set to release the next Magic the Gathering product, Duels of the Planeswalkers, which will include the original game as well as the ManaLink multiplayer module and 80 new cards from the Legends and The Dark card expansions. If you already own Magic the Gathering, you can pick up Duels of the Planeswalkers and install it as a normal expansion disc (like Spells of the Ancients) plus get 15 dollars back in the form of a mail-in rebate.

Duels of the Planeswalkers should be available soon, probably right after ManaLink completes its beta-testing stage. At the same time, ManaLink will be made available to the public for free and will be playable over various network and Internet connections, including TEN.