Outplayed
The Russians won the Quake 3 European Championship, sponsored by Barrysworld, beating Sweden to carry off the € 10,000 first prize. The English team was pushed back into fourth place by the Germans.
Petrol-free
In real life we might be saving every last drop of fuel, but London Racer gives British gamers the chance to tear up the road to Oxford, or race round the captivating lanes of the M25, instead of being stuck somewhere dull, such as New York or San Francisco. The game, to be heavily marketed over the next couple of months, has been created by Davilex from the Netherlands, but that's not as surprising as it might seem. The company has already produced best-selling localised versions of the same game for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Benelux countries.
Game ideas know no frontiers. Microids, the French software house, has just produced a PC game based on Fort Boyard, and Ben Hur 2000, the chariot racing game, has been written by Multimedia Content from the Taejon Software Centre in Korea. (Yes, trivia buffs, Colisuem was the same kind of game for the Sinclair Spectrum.)
Virtual athlete
Don't mention the Olympics because Virtual Athlete is not an official title. However, Games Magnet has launched this online management simulation, and it will be played alongside the Sydney event. VA sends you off to numerous commercial sites, but at least there are some handsome cash prizes.
Sign up at: www.gamesmagnet.com/va
On the way
Sega will launch Quake III Arena for the Sega Dreamcast before Christmas; Sierra is well advanced with a version of Half-Life while Infogrames is working on Unreal Tournament for the same machine. Sony is developing WipeOut Fusion for the PlayStation 2 but it won't be out until March. Konami's International Superstar Soccer will be one of the headline titles for the Nintendo Gamecube. Flare Media, from Bognor Regis, is almost half way through Erotica Island, a manga-style adult point-and-click adventure said to be in the style of the old Leisure Suit Larry series. Infogrames has signed a deal to develop a PC game based on Channel 4's Big Brother series, though players might find it more interesting to produce their own with an art package and a copy of Electronic Arts' The Sims.
