January 7th, 2000

[Show Floor] MACWORLD Expo - Gaming Highlights: Interviews, Demos, and More! by Cory Harrison Unfortunately this games reviewer had difficulty getting to the show, and so only one had one day to cover all that fantastic new game stuff everyone out there is drooling to find out about. The short window of exposure to MACWORLD Expo is due primarily to work-related responsibilities. However! You will get some very juicy info in the next few days on some of the most hotly anticipated game titles for this new year. The Highlights: Interview with Graphic Simulations Corporation, Duane Johnson, who took over the Descent 3 port for Outrage. A very interesting conversation about the title, future plans, and more. Interview with Doug Zartman, Publicity Engineer for Bungie. We discussed the next big title that will be released, Oni, and strong-armed a few juicy tidbits of information out of him. Also, had a chance to chat extensively with Dave Dunn, Architect Extraordinaire, level designer for Bungie West and one of the main Level Designers for Oni. Of course, we got to try out the game on a LAN, playing against other Mac World Visitors and even Bungie staff. All I can say is **drooool** Interview with Brian Love of Blizzard, Senior Quality Assurance Analyst, in regards to their latest title in development, Diablo 2. It is amazing, folks. Don't miss this one. We also got the chance to try out Unreal Tournament using the new Intensor Chair device by BSG. This "Sensory Entertainment Experience" can only be described as gut wrenchingly intense. More on this as well. Finally, I managed to meet Scott Kevill, creator of Game Ranger, the Mac-only gaming utility that allows players to meet up, chat, send voice messages, host and join a variety of the hottest Macintosh titles on the Internet. This amazing utility is free, and can only improve the state of gaming for Mac. I meet with him for an hour or so, and will try my best to get him to spill his guts for our Mac Observer readers. Once again, full interviews will be published early next week, as my limited time on the floor has me running around pestering as many of these guys as I can. Not to worry, folks -- you'll get your Mac gaming news here! [Note that the Bungie interview has now been published for your perusal -Ed.] MACWORLD Expo SF Special Report