SCANNER

PC PREVIEW Kingpin

Blood in the gutter: Kingpin

Kingpin will cause quite a stir when it is released. Already, mighty institutions like The Sunday Post are preparing their high-horses to fend off the latest evil computer game. Normally this would be another case of over-excited, overblown indignation on the part of society's self-appointed moral guardians. Kingpin, however, will have them drooling into their Aran sweaters. Never before has any game, in its first five minutes' play, been close to achieving the shock that Kingpin induces. It is seedy, grim, realistic, knee-deep in Boyz N The Hood swearing and up-close, blood- sprayingly violent.

Utilising a rebuilt Quake II engine, the game starts in a syringe-littered back alley after receiving a beating from some tattooed thugs. Grabbing the nearest length of piping, you vow to take revenge and the first-person adventure starts for real. Once you’ve dealt (brutally) with the bruisers, the only way is up and the only goal is gaining the position as gangland kingpin. However, don't expect the usual run around blast-fest to ensue. There is quite a large portion of simple role-playing in Kingpin. You have two modes of interactivity, one positive and one negative, which can seriously alter how the other characters react to you. Some see friendly as weak and will try to take advantage, while some will react like cowards when faced with aggression. Deal with those around you properly and soon you'll have your own gang of deadbeats and wasters watching your back.

The graphics are stunning, if horrific, and the world where life is cheap and death cheaper is beautifully realised. The characters react realistically and it’s great when a bunch of hard blade boys turn out to be a simpering pack of soft lads. The story promises to be intriguing and if the small errors in the preview code are ironed out, Kingpin will be a contender for game of the year. If you think you might not be up to the graphic content of Kingpin, you have until mid-July to prepare yourself with a few viewings of Dead Presidents. (lain Davidson)

I Kingpin is released on Virgin/Interplay in July, around £35.

PC . Cricket World Cup 99 (Electronic Arts) £34.99 at t ‘k t

The Cricket World Cup may not be everyone’s idea of heaven, but for those of the red-stained-crotch persuasion, the past month has been a festival of one-day excitement. Well, now that joy can last the whole year round With the latest game from EA

Sports.

World Cup Cricket 99 is a pleasmgly accurate recreation of the most English of games, featuring all the teams, players and grounds from the tournament. As cricket is generally a

graphics are incredibly lifelike and a real pleasure to watch at all times.

Your level of involvement can be altered from Simple batting and bowling to full team management, including field placement and bowling order. The control system is friendly, fleXible and very easy to pick up you are almost guaranteed a SIX when you bat y0ur first innings. If cricket is your thing, then World Cup Cricket 99 is a must have. (ID)

REVIEWER THIS ISSUE Iain DaVidson

slow game enlivened by brief flurries of I ::" ng'szffijle activity, EA have motion-captured over t t * W8,“ 6 Shot 600 moves to make those bursts of , t t Below average action all the more realistic. Indeed, the “.1”.-. _ -. .799 V9. PS‘EQWPIPSQ

" interning; ' "W

Totally wired

The weird world of the Web. I Hate Star Wars

www.ihatestarwars.com

This site is an antidote to those now utterly sick of hearing about the new film It’s a fantastic example of how not to write a balanced convmcmg essay A not that the author doesn’t make a few good pomts‘, it Just reads like a huge neurotic rant ab0ut how the films are the worst in history For example, 'Star

Wars has rumed the career of everyone involved With the trilogy James Earl

Jones and Harrison Ford have enjoyed rich careers after the trilogy

The Tonygochi

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHilI/Congress/2840/

Thank God the world has calmed down from the Tamagochi craze Rumour has it that a woman acodentally killed herself at the wheel whilst driVing, by frantically trying to feed her dying digital pet. But now stage two your very own digital Prime Minister! Download yOur very own desktop IOy ~ feed him, vote for him, bomb him, and even listen to him making speeches. Just make sure you water him enough and play football With him or he'll lose votes and die So like life, It's scary.

Virtual City Guide

wwwstrollingcom

Pretend you've been to interesting places With this site. Get a full 360 degree View of, mainly, London Covent Garden, Aldwych —- but wrth others rapidly being added, such as Dublin, New York and Paris. Take in as much of the city as you can, standing absolutely still in one place and swivelling your head around 360 degrees like an owl. Good site though.

3.14159265358979...

http://planetpi.8m.com/digitsof.htm

Remember your first SCientific calculator that could display It (Pi) to seven deCimal places? Well, never mind, this Site does much more than that anyway Pi to 10,000 digits, 120,000 digits or 10,000,000 digits. Somebody out there must have a use for this. Ideal for people who don't already have a party piece.

Turd World

http://wwwfreebiz.netlsexsoup/turd_world.html

Unless your name is Butthead or BeaVis, I'd really leave this site out. Every possible piece of humour that could be excreted from such a SUbJGCI matter :s here. From ’The Fart Farm’ where you can hear well you know through 'The Museum of Fart’, to the site of performance artist ‘Ivlr Methane’, where you can buy T-shirts saying 'Eh Up Chuck! Have A Whiff Of Me lvluckl'

World TV

http://www.users.interport.net/~mnw/tvlive.htm

Watch TV from all over the world, cable from all over the States, and webcams from all over George Square. Purporting to have over 600 feeds from all over the globe, this site takes in TV and static cameras in key places from literally all over the place. Sit there and watch the world go round. You even get the BBC.

The Death Clock

http://wwwdeathclock.com/

This cheery little number Will calculate your statistical day of death depending on your date of birth, sex, etc. It’II tell you how many seconds you’ve (theoretically) got left, based on life-insurance actuarial tables. It's even got a ’pessimistic’ setting for those who are already feeling under the weather. Bear in mind it’s only a guess, but we hope they’ll never improve its accuracy. (Not for the superstitious Twilight Zone stuff). (Steve Blair)

"‘r’our Personal Day of Death is...

\‘Iednosday, Marrh 2 I, 2044

Fri

1,413,629,542

10—24 Jun 1999 THE “ST 107