Lemuridae Caveat

News Archive for April 2001

Monday April 30th

Myth III gears up for E3 { Lophan }

rampancy.net pointed out another Gamepost Poll *sigh* about the most-anticipated games at E3. Myth III is on the list but take a wild guess at who's leading... of course, the blinded masses of Blizzard fans are pumping up Warcraft III & the Diablo II expansion, so you know what to do.

Elsewhere in the article, Myth III gets some nice mentions. Here's the first:

I also want to check out Myth III: The Wolf Age. Mumbo Jumbo is taking on the task of creating the latest in the Myth series. The previous two Myth games were developed by Bungie, but hopefully the new developer will be as successful in creating a great strategy game. Myth III is set in a time period before the first two games and follows the story of Connacht, the first emperor of the human lands. Like Ensemble Studios, Mumbo Jumbo will be able to have freedom in creating this game. They are bound by a timeline and story, but units can be very different in this game. Who knows what kind of creatures existed in the past? Myth III will have fully deformable terrain. I'd love to see armies blasting holes in the ground to trap troops in a pit. I also hope that spell effects will be as good as they were in Myth II. Nothing was greater than seeing (and hearing) the fireball screaming toward you and then exploding with a shockwave.
Myth III also gets a mention from Jennifer Ho in her rundown, but she goes on to discuss the perceived differences between Halo and Planetside in terms of multiplayer. Certainly an interesting read...

Needless to say, we're all holding our collective breaths for E3. I'm dying to hear about the myriad of 'surprises' awaiting us this year as well as footage of the Bungie Fanfest V :)

Sunday April 29th

Speaking of easter eggs... { Forrest }

Legends and Lore has been updated.

Yes, you heard right. Having so much time off lately, I have gotten off my lazy ass for the second time this month and started updating Legends and Lore again. This time I've started on a project that was long overdue: the Field Guides, Myth@B.org's definitive collection of easter eggs and other interesting sights and sounds in the Myth series.

Taking off where my precessors finished at the end of TFL, I've gotten the first four or five levels of Myth II done overnight, and will continue to work on them tomorrow, and the day afterwards, and the day before that, and two weeks into the month before the year after that, and so on in that fashion until I'm either done or I get a new job, whichever comes first. So check it out!

(UPDATE: Another four levels have been completed as of this writing).

Friday April 27th

Myth II Easter Eggs Spotlighted { Lophan }

In an article from April 16th, Inside Mac Games posted a piece entitled "The Best Mac Game Easter Eggs" and, unsurprisingly, Myth made the list. Here's a snippet:

Okay, I'm back. Myth 2 has more than it's share of Easter Eggs and in-jokes. For example, the aforementioned Tuncer Deniz [editor-in-chief of IMG and lead on Myth II] is apparently the owner of Tuncer's Ale House, a structure that is visible early in the game. Later in the game a mispronounced magic spell sounds suspiciously like the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" from the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still. ('Close enough,' another character comments.)
While this is correct that the quote came from TDTESS, I think they were spoofing a classic scene in Bruce Campbell's film Army of Darkness: a movie from which Bungie has taken a line or two from in their past games (read: Marathon). I do find it odd how the Mobile Home Easter Egg from Myth: TFL didn't make it into their sampling, but I guess you can't have everything...

Thursday April 26th

As stolen from MythWolfAge.com... { Forrest }

Take Two has put up a Myth III page with three damn kick-ass screenshots. Check it out here.

Monday April 23rd

Meggs updates again { Freewill }

Yesterday, Andrew Meggs updated his personal site, Antennahead.com with non-MythIII information! That's right, NON-MYTH III info!

So, er, yah, go over and take a look :-)

Myth II & bungie.net one of the 'Best' { Lophan }

Gamespot is running (ANOTHER?!) feature article for the Tenspot: Ten Best Multiplayer Games and you'll never guess who ended up in the list... okay, maybe you can. Myth II earned high praise for Myth's departure from the previously standard RTS formula of 'harvest, build, destroy, harvest again...' by breaking it down to the tactical level and focusing on the action. Bungie.net even gets a few props:

'The Myth multiplayer service was remarkably similar in function to Blizzard's Battle.net but actually opened a few months earlier.'

As for the online gameplay:

The general ease of getting online and chatting with other players also helped create a vibrant multiplayer community for both Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth II. In the end, it was this competitive base that made the game as great as it was.
Community?... what community?

Seriously folks: this article is (for the most part) right on target even though it's gereralistic as all get out. We've known for years the virtues of Myth multiplayer gaming and it's good to see Bungie recognized for their contribution to the 'art'. The rest of the article is a good read, so hop on over and give it a shot.

Saturday April 21st

New Poll! GOGOGOGOGOGOGO! { Forrest }

BlueGrizzly points out that there is a poll at GameSpot.com for most anticipated upcoming RTS game. Myth III is currently at 5% on there, while WarCraft III leads at 55%. The next runner-up is only at 11% as of this writing. Lets try to fix up those skewed scores!

Friday April 20th

The Ephor of Myrgard { Gawyn }

To a Mill near you comes The Ephor of Myrgard, an immersive solo level by IronDuke for Myth II.

Faithfully replicating TFL look and feel, this pits your ghols and undead against the determined defenders of Myrgard's inner citadel wherein lurks the city's ruler, the Ephor.

New AI will make dwarves and fir'Bolg dodge the javelins of your soulless, and awesome new weaponry will tear your forces apart. Dwarves man the heights above you, and a constant rain of cannon fire adds a sense of urgency.

Yet where direct assaults will surely fail, single ghols exploiting all their cunning may just succeed. A handpicked squad of the strongest and fastest are at your disposal, led by Fang-Grinder himself. Can you penetrate Myrgard and defeat the Ephor? The challenge lies before you...
Alas, we don't have a link at the moment, since the map is currently in the queue at the Mill awaiting approval and posting, but be sure to check there at regularily scheduled intervals.

Thursday April 19th

Mumbo Jumbo website live (sort of) { Lophan }

In my usual cruise around the internet, I thought I'd amuse myself with the "Coming Soon!" which was the sum total of the Mumbo Jumbo website. What do my wondering eyes see but a blue screen (no, not the dreaded Blue Screen Of Death) with the Mumbo Jumbo logo!

It's a little lean on the content unless you want to get a game programming job (and don't we all?) but we're hopeful for some juicy Myth III info in the future. Stay tuned...

Tuesday April 17th

Two More MMC Updates { Forrest }

Asmodeus has submitted two more films in the past two days, and made me realize that he had somehow snuck into first place in the MMC Grand Championships, now being five films ahead of The Wolfpack.

Check out Mythmaster Central!

Sunday April 15th

Yet Another Mythmaster Central Update { Forrest }

The Wolfpack has submitted films for HALF of the levels in TFL! They are now 13 films away from winning the Mythmasters' Challenge, presuming they complete this feat before Myth III's release.

Check out Mythmaster Central!

Wednesday April 11th

TCP/IP as substitute for ailing b.net { Lophan }

It has come to our attention that there has been some recent outages of the bungie.net game server. While you may be frustrated beyond belief, there is a remedy:

The fine forums over at ClanPlaid's Townhall and here at MBO can hook you up with others to play TCP/IP games over the internet. For the uninitiated, this is basically the same thing bungie.net does except b.net does the connecting of IP addresses for you and in the background.

For further details on how to take advantage of this feature, pop by one of the forums and ask any technical questions you may have and they'll likely be answered quickly and courteously.

Monday April 9th

Meggs looks for online therapy { Freewill }

First reported at mythwolfage.com, Andrew Meggs has again updated his personal site, Antennahead.com with eyewitness accounts of the silliness the team responsible for Myth III is partaking in. Think: juvenile homo-fruit humor :-)

On a more serious note, he details how his job duties are truly diverse. If he's not chest-deep in code, he's busy showing the artists how to properly make use of the development tools he's created.

The man is truly prolific... now about that Half-Life beta...

Wednesday April 4th

Wolf II: Chimera Released! { Forrest }

Er, yeah, not like it's a new scenario or something. But I just remembered to stick all of the Wolfpack's Chimera films in one archive. So, I did. You can grab them directly here, or...

Check out Mythmaster Central!

Meggs expounds on Myth III's progress { Lophan }

As reported on by rampancy.net, Inside Mac Games, but originally sccoped by East Wind at mythwolfage.com (well done, boys):

Antennahead.com got an update on the 31st which includes some juicy new Myth III info (for those of you who don't know, Antennahead is Andrew Megg's personal homepage).
And in case you forgot, Andrew Meggs is the 'Lead' at Mumbo Jumbo (sort of... you'll have to read his page) which is working of Myth III: The Wolf Age. A lot of good inside info including the status of the project as a whole and how things are coming together. E3 should be a nice 'coming-out' party for The Leveller and Co.

Monday April 2nd

Jinn Demo released at The Mill { Lophan }

After another weekend of dodging raindrops, I return to find more evidence of continued activity in the Myth Community. Straight from Vista comes a demo of their Myth Total Conversion 'Jinn'. Here's some of the goods:

The Jinn demo showcases our level Nionel - we felt that it shows all the reasons why Jinn continues to push the limits of the Myth engine, and that you will enjoy it immensely.
Indeed! Do yourself a favor and grab this now (from The Mill). Vista, as you may know, is one of the premiere Myth mapmaking groups and its members include some of the developers of Myth III: The Wolf Age. Known for their design prowess and 'style', this is definitely a 'must-have'.

Thanks to The Mill and rampancy.net

~ You have reached your journey's end ~