Playback: The Week in News

Welcome to the New Year. The holidays have ended, and the game business has rebooted for '99.

Any trends so far? You bet. Think resolutions. Many of the issues gamers faced in '98 are coming back in spades: the Ultima Online lawsuit boxing matches, GT get bigger, and other issues like Windows CE and Apple platforms finally get games.

On to the week in review:

The infamous Ultima Online lawsuit is now over. At first, we kind of thought the ranting of both sides would stop after EA made its $15,000 donation to San Jose's newest museum, The Tech, for aiding the education of children. Seems strange to make a donation to a museum, doesn't it? Is the suit really over? It may look like it is, but both sides still seem a little quick with the trigger... they've continued to throw jabs. This one feels like it may never end.

On a personal level, I'll admit that my love for the Macintosh is about as high as that of the rest of my Windows 95/98/NT brothers and sisters, but you can't ignore the amazing popularity of the iMac. While Apple seemed attached to a big cinder block at the bottom of the gaming pool, Steve Jobs has cut the company free. And as with any massive group of people buying new hardware, developers are more than likely to get on the bandwagon.

This week's MacWorld in San Francisco is buzzing with gaming news. First of all, John Carmack was involved in a keynote speech with Jobs where id Software announced the development of a version of Quake III Arena for the Mac. And this is not just hot air. Carmack showed a demo of the software on stage, and the footage in QuickTime and RealVideo format has shown up all over the Web. In addition to Quake III Arena, Starcraft, Age of Empires, Heretic 2, Sin, Falcon 4.0, Interstate 76, and several others will make their way to the Mac soon. During a quick spin through the Apple Gaming Showcase, we saw versions of Tomb Raider III, Unreal, Age of Empires, Quake II, Falcon 4.0, some Hoyle classic games, and tons of others. Sounds pretty standard for a PC expo, but for a Mac-based one, it's amazing.

Beside new games, the first commercial PlayStation emulator was released at the expo from the masters of emulation - Connectix. We were so intrigued by the announcement that we went over to MacWorld to check it out (and we were told that a Windows version of the software is in the works). In the Connectix booth we were shown a version of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. Amazingly, the title ran just as nicely on the iMac as it did on the PlayStation with a prototype of a USB Gravis Gamepad. A Connectix spokesperson said the emulator was built around new code and contains no Sony code - something that could save the company a costly suit. Currently, the emulator only runs about 100 titles, but considering the Mac lacks games, this is a huge plus. The only downside is that you'll have to buy a new G3 Mac to get the best performance. When we hear word on the Windows version, you'll know as soon as we do.

We saw the new G3 machines, and while we still love our gray PC, these things looked really cool. We also heard buzz that the G3s will be coming in colors just like the iMac. There has to be some PC company listening - expect colors soon. My first prediction is that Packard Bell is deciding on colors for new PCs as I type.

GT Interactive is still on the prowl. The company announced its intention to acquire Legend Entertainment. Right now, Legend's biggest project is to build Unreal II and the team will still have access with Epic MegaGames to help the title along. Other acquisitions: Jedi Knight's golden boy Justin Chin has signed his new company's firstborn in a publishing deal with GT. Infinite Machine, Chin's company, plans on building an action shooter but remains tight-lipped about any game details. Considering he was behind Jedi Knight at LucasArts, gamers are expecting something amazing.

Several months ago, I had this idea that Hasbro would make good money on developing some of its well-known titles for Windows CE. Why? Most people buying the CE devices know Hasbro's games and they could easily be developed for the smaller platform. When I called Hasbro to suggest the idea (hoping that Hasbro would also bring titles to 3Com's Palm platform - my PDA of choice), it appears that I was dead on but sworn to secrecy. On Thursday, Hasbro finally opened up and announced four titles for the Windows CE platform. Owners will get Monopoly, Scrabble, Slingo, and Trivial Pursuit. Our guesses for other titles in the future - Frogger, Sorry, Life. Hey, almost all of Hasbro's titles look ready to port.