Microsoft has announced plans to webcast portions of Bill Gate's keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) via the official Xbox Web site. During and following the keynote address, key members of the Xbox development team will participate in an online chat, hosted by one of Xbox's independently-run fan sites, MSXbox. The CES keynote and Xbox chat will take place on the morning of Saturday, January 6, 2001. Additional details regarding the webcast and chat will be announced the week of January 1, 2001.

[Comment on SharkyForums]

id Software has approved the public Beta1 release of the Q3A 1.27 Linux dedicated server and the Linux client. See the README for details and known issues. [FTP: id Software, Loki Games]
[Comment on SharkyForums]

GameSpy Arcade now provides multiplayer support for CDV's real time strategy game Sudden Strike and Interplay's Star Trek Starfleet Command II Empires at War. Fans of both games can now game away their holiday while easily finding and joining multiplayer games of both titles, or any of 160 other popular games - using the Arcade software. [Download: GameSpyArcade]
[Comment on SharkyForums]

TRANS combines the adrenalin of a real-time 3D shooter with the mental twist of tactical operations, embodied by a third person robot action-strategy game. TRANS employs a new genre mixing between action and tactics. TRANS has a novelty gameplay that revives the feeling of Starcontrol and Mortal Kombat and enriches it with the tactical command of Battlezone. [Download: DemoNews]
[Comment on SharkyForums]

Christmas. It's all about family, having fun decorating a tree or just spending quality time with loved ones. It's also about getting games out the door in time for the holidays. It's all about figuring out which games belong on your Christmas wish list. As this is the last Forum Frag before the holidays, I'd like to wish all of our readers, especially all those active Sharky forum posters out there a very happy holiday! Check out this week's Forum Frag!
[Comment on SharkyForums]

SUNFLOWERS has revealed the first details on ship animation and characteristics in ANNO 1503. Compared to its predecessor not only the number and the function of ships have been considerably increased, but also the animation phases have became more detailed. Whereas in ANNO 1602 ship animation was composed of 8 steps representation in ANNO now takes place in 16 steps. In addition, wave motion is now also taken into account.

The difference between trading vessels and warships is much more distinct than in ANNO 1602. Trading vessels have a higher cargo capacity and are slower and poorly armed. Warships are fast, heavily armed and carry very little cargo. The sails are either hoisted or reefed, depending upon the situation. Much as the production shops, ships have fixed operating costs and are subject to wear, making it necessary to occasionally return to the shipyard for maintenance.

Fleet formation represents an additional special feature of ANNO 1503. The player can assign warships to escort trading vessels, for example. Fleet formation in ANNO 1503 also takes individual ship speeds into account. Faster ships no longer leave the rest of the fleet in their wakes. More information can be found at www.anno1503.com.
[Comment on SharkyForums]

UnrealTournament.com has just released the new Unreal Tournament bonus pack (Epic Bonus Pack 4). This UT pack includes 10 new maps,  2 new player models & skins, and 2 updated UT maps. [Download: Unreal Universe, Stomped, FilePlanet]
[Comment on SharkyForums]

A cool game with a lot of surprises! Guide your Exploman through hordes of neat, hostile monsters - and blast them! Or play against your friendly neighbors and dynamite them to little pieces! You can play with up to eight participants on one PC, over network or the Internet. [Download: DemoNews]
[Comment on SharkyForums]