CGN: Pong is back, Half-Life is gone

Good news for those who enjoy living in the past, bad news for Mac gamers

Retro isn't just for the clothing industry anymore, computer games are also getting in on the action. We saw it earlier this year and last with such updated titles as "Asteroids" and "Frogger". But now perhaps the oldest graphical computer game is getting a face lift. Hasbro announced they will release "Pong" for both the PC and Playstation. Players will be able to play table-tennis in a 3D environment, as opposed to the original overhead 2D view. Also included will be obstacles and 20 different levels. Other old favorites like "Missile Command" and "Q*Bert" will be brought up to date and hopefully released before the holidays.

Those older games didn't rely on huge special effects to attract gamers, they were great because of gameplay. Running parallel to that thought (sort of) is the success of "The Blair Witch Project", an independent film that became an unheard of success, even without the use of spectacular effects. Gathering of Developers announced that they have bought the computer/video game rights to the movie from Haxan Films and Artisan Entertainment. Not much is known of what will come from this, but multiple games for the PC and one for consoles seems for sure at this point. More will be known in early 2000.

Speaking of consoles, Bleem llc announced they have released an updated version of its Playstation emulator, bleem! bleem! allows people to play Playstation games on their PC. The new version adds 40 more games to the 250 games supported by the software. It also fixes several bugs, improved play with Direct 3D, and better speed management. Head on over to http://www.bleem.com to see if you could benefit from this piece of software.

Bad news for any Macintosh gamer out there: "Half Life" will not make it to the Mac. The development of last year's undisputed game of the year was recently canceled by developers Valve Software and Logicware. According to some reports there were too many problems with the Macintosh platform, and that many features would have to be omitted to make it playable on the Mac. The game was too "watered down" for Valve to release to the public. The news is disappointing, but not as disappointing as someone buying the game for $50 and realizing how bad they had gotten ripped-off after playing it.