The year 2000 has come and gone and it's time to look back and see what we've left behind. 2001 (as geeks will remind you) is the true starting place for the new Millennium so it should be an interesting year and we'll start on that next week. So, without further ado… (Without any ado in fact. Yep, fresh out of ado over here) I present Beatdown 2000, the year in review.
Actual Game Quote of the Week: “Grab whatever looks important. Papers, files… whiskey…” ~Big Scottish villain from No One Lives Forever
January saw the infamous Y2K bug turn out to be a real-world flu virus that attacked most of the United States. An unseasonably warm winter contributed to the sheer amount of vomit spewed as people fought the disease (and Roller Coaster Tycoon janitors were powerless to stop it), all the while Norton's anti-virus stood around and did nothing.
It also saw the demise of Amen: The Awakening, a modestly anticipated 3D shooter style game from Cavedog, a.k.a the house that Total Annihilation built (Cavedog itself died a short while later). Later in the month fans of Warzone 2100 were disappointed as Warzone 2120 was canceled and the PC port of Mission: Impossible proved to be a mission the developer just couldn't accept. Also, AOL's Steve Jobs got in bed with Ted Turner and made himself more powerful than Bill Gates. January also saw the release of the Sims, which marked the end of Who Wants to be a Millionaire's reign of terror on the PCData charts.
February saw Daikatana delayed, again, yet it also saw banner ads appear web-wide which read: “It's Here!” Since this was so typical of the Daikatana marketing team, nobody really noticed. Also, just as we finished washing the bad Mortyr taste from our mouths, id Software announced Return to Wolfenstein, to be developed by the studio formerly known as Xatrix (Kingpin).
The USMC chose Novalogic's Delta Force 2 as their training program in Feb, a move so potentially funny I used the same story when they chose it again last month. Basically Novalogic makes the same partnership and announcement on a yearly basis, folks.