SCANNER
PC PREVIEW The Real Neverending Story
Tree's company: The Real Neverending Story
There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it joke in an episode of The Simpsons. A disgruntled fantasy fan is taking Hollywood to court because of The Neverending Story. His charge? That it ended. Well, Munich-based developers Discreet Monsters are trying to put his gas at a peep. Their newest title, The Real Neverending Story, will give Michael Ende's best selling novel a fresh lease of life, bringing his characters and story to a new, computer-literate audience.
The world of Fantasia is brought to you in glorious first person 30. However, this will be no normal action/adventure game. Utilising a purpose-built game engine, the MonsterEngine, the game's story unfolds in real time. Essentially this means that if you were to start the game and do nothing, the story will continue on its own until the Nothing, the evil darkness swallowing Fantasia, destroys all life in the world. Therefore characters will act differently toward you depending on when you speak to them and subplots will alter as time progresses. The developers hope that this will draw the player deeper into the game world as well as providing a freedom never before experienced in computer adventures. Whether this hope becomes a reality remains to be seen but, at this stage, everything seems to be on course.
As well as providing a new style of interaction, the MonsterEngine promises to develop how 30 worlds are created. The transition between indoor and out is now seamless, allowing the creation of foreboding tunnels, lush open air forests and bustling streets with equal efficiency. And if the screenshots are anything to go by, the level of detail permitted will only be restricted by the designer’s imagination.
If you are interested in following the game’s progress to completion, have a surf to www.discreetmonsters.com for a monthly update. The developers seem to be heading toward a corker of a game. Let's just hope that they don’t include Lamall on the soundtrack. (lain Davidson)
I The Real Neverending Story is due for release at Christmas, priced £ 39.99.
' PLAYSTATION 3 Street Fighter Alpha 3 ' (Capcom) £39.99 *** *
Vs Capcom on the Dreamcast and
everyone slavering over the Next
3 Generation Playstation, the game may , be up for SF on our current, therefore i
and some fresh operatives to play with. Now available at under £20, Rainbow Six Gold is the best, and cheapest, form of training for Hidden And Dangerous you COuld hope for.
yOur face. There’s now 31 — yes, 31 —
' characters to choose from, each armed with their own set of spectacularly ridiculous special moves. There are three new fighting modes that alter how your Super Combo works, as well
as a host of hidden modes to unlock.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 is a tremor- inducmg shot of unbridled adrenaline contained in a kitsch, cartoony bundle
of simplicity. You have seen it all before
- but, as all good grandmothers know, if it isn’t broken, don't fix it. Your thumbs will be running for cover within a
week. (ID)
This could be it, ladies and gentlemen. The very lastest of all Street Fighter games on the Playstation. With Marvel
REVIEWER THIS ISSUE: Iain Davidson
antique, consoles.
So what does its 32-bit swan song play like? Much like the gazillion other SF games, as it happens. Gloriously fast E two dimensional characters zipping f '
STAR RATINGS
around a busy, and ignored, backdrop. l l \L/ngissatzj'e I There is much spinning, shouting, : i * ir * Wat oaoshot l thwacking, bouncing, crunching, I t * Below average l , it You’ve been warned
kicking and cleaning the floor with
Totally wired
The weird world of the Web. This issue: music special.
Official T in the Park Site
http://www.tinthepark.com
SN A ' Q
Keep an eye on last minute announcements from the offiCial site. Useful advuce on how to get there and what kind of teapot to bring. Worth it alone for the links to the official Sites of some of the bands playing. The IvlasSive Attack site is particularly swish if you’ve got the Flash plug-in.
NME
http://www.nme.com/
Needs no introduction in print, but is often overlooked online. With daily music news and gossip, this site is invaluable over the festival season . .
John Peel's Homepage
http://c i.bbc.co.uk/radiol/ peel/in ex.html
. . . as is this man. Festival season without him is unthinkable. Trawl through his record box, discover future stars, and talk to him via his notice board, to which he endeavours to post replies as often as he can. What a nice man.
The Ultimate Band List
http://www.ubl.com
Known by many, missed by many. One of the most complete music databases in the world. If you want info on a band (US bands dominate, but not exclusively)
then this is the place to come. There’s even an option to add your own band to
the database. Fame has never been easier.
Radio Free Music
http://radiofreemusic.coolsite.com/
This is a site for all those self-produced muSiCians out there. Submit your recording and it’s released online for all to hear. Opportunity might knock, or at least e-mail you. Meanwhile listen to the ’offerings’ — you’ll realise that we all stand a chance. Hughie Green would approve.
A Random Australian Chap's Guide to Surviving
a Music Festival http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/29SZ/Festival.htm
’Festivals are about enjoying yourself, so don’t feel you have to see The Dancing Wallflowers just because your buddy does. Synchronize your watches and run free!’ Sorted.
“afloat: IL: L? I I ‘i L' i ii
my we: li'silai”
Lego Street Preachers ..
[EGO STREET PREACHERS ‘OFFICIM WEB SITE)
http://lsp.fortunecity.co.uk/ ; This is probably the ultimate in tribute bands, and I’m using the sense of the word 'ultimate’ to mean ’inch and a i. _ half high’ and ’made of plastic’. .. Anything the Manics can do, the if Legos can do smaller and more ' " plastically. Everything here from album covers to Lego-built stadia. And if you tolerate this, then your Action Man will be next.
Genuinely Real Band Names http://home.earthlink.net/~chellec/
What's in a name? How does a band choose that all-important name that could soon be on all the world’s lips? Not from inspiration here — examples include We Need Girlfriends and A Cat Born In An Oven lsn't A Cake. And how do you buy tickets for William Shatner’s Pants? Interesting to see in retrospect the bands that did actually make it from the list (Why Do You Keep Cutting Off My Hands? wasn’t one of them). (Steve Blair)
8—22 Jul 1999 THE “ST 95