LOOKING for computer games for the festive season? Be prepared to feel left behind. Programmers have become addicted to speed. Most new games recommend a Pentium PC or a Power Macintosh, and any game maker鈥檚 鈥渞ecommendation鈥� usually turns out to be the minimum specification you need. PC owners will still find plenty of DOS games around, but an increasing number of those coming out in the months ahead will not run unless you have Windows 95, so it may be time to upgrade your operating system. These days, nearly all games ship only on CD-ROM, so a CD drive is a necessity too.
But by far the most important games accessories are a fast modem and access to the Internet. Together they will let you in on the next revolution in computer gaming鈥攈uman opponents. Even the best programming鈥攆or the foreseeable future at least鈥攚ill not make a computer as interesting to compete against as another person. A modem will put you in touch with just such a flesh-and-blood opponent. In fact, most of the games reviewed support some kind of network play鈥攁cross a Novell local network linking you with other people in your office or college, or between two players connected to each other by a direct modem link or across the Internet.
鈥淭ry before you buy鈥� is definitely the way the industry is going. No longer do you have to buy a game based on a magazine review or the blurb on the back of the box. Nearly all games companies now have their own Web sites from which you can often download previews and demonstrations of new games, read technical support documents, and download software 鈥減atches鈥� to fix any bugs you may have encountered. You may even be able to add new features to your game. Sometimes, a demonstration of a game will be available online several weeks before it hits the shops. The Games Domain at is a good starting point for information.
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If you鈥檝e been reading about games at all in the last year, or even watching the billboards, you will already be familiar with Quake鈥攁 violent shoot-鈥檈m-up game. Many of us may have misgivings about its subject matter but most of us will also be impressed by its advanced 3D visualisation techniques. You can play about a third of the way through the game for free by downloading it from . The other two-thirds and some very effective background music come when you buy the entire game (GT Interactive, 拢29.99). However, even the free version comes with the ability to play across an internal network or across the Internet. If you have Windows 95, try going to the Subspace site at , where you can download free software and play a kind of advanced version of the old Asteroids-style game against hundreds of other people.
If you are looking for a game with scientific merit, skip Gene Wars (which is nothing to do with genetics) and grab Creatures. This was developed by Millennium and according to its press release comes highly recommended by both Richard Dawkins and Douglas Adams (Warner Interactive, 拢39.99, for Windows 95 or Mac, ). Its premise is simple鈥攜ou are breeding 鈥渘orns鈥濃�攃ute furry creatures in a virtual world. Norns can be trained to perform tasks; they learn from mistakes and, when they breed, their genes pass to succeeding generations. If you want to examine the number of virtual neurons in your norn鈥檚 brain, you can do that too.
If you haven鈥檛 got the latest computer, take a look at Sim Life, Sim Earth, Sim Farm or Sim Ant. These are 鈥渃lassic鈥濃�攊n other words old鈥攇ames from Maxis, creator of one of the earliest and most successful simulation games, Sim City. Not only will these games run on much humbler systems (any Windows computer or any Mac should work, as long as it has a CD-ROM drive) but they are also considerably cheaper than the latest games (Maxis, 拢9.99, ).
Finally, if you are seriously contemplating treating yourself to a top-class games machine, wait until next year if you can and buy one powered by Intel鈥檚 new MMX Pentium chip. Christmas 1997 is already looking good.