Monday's News

MacTell Closes Doors? I've been offline this morning but was just flooded with reader mail on web comments that Mactell has closed their doors [Update: Here's a link to the PR Newswire article]. Peter Cohen of MacGaming sent a note they have an article on Mactell calling it quits. I had heard these rumors last week from friends in Texas, but had hoped it was not true. I guess that means VillageTronic is our only hope for retail Voodoo3 cards. A friend says that a few guys from MacTell have formed Rantick Labs and have taken over the Firepower line of products, but it looks like there will be no Voodoo3 cards.

BTW - I received a Voodoo3 3000 PCI card to and will try to do some quick tests in the G4/450 to see the difference in PCI vs AGP card performance. Owners of Rage128 AGP cards that need higher performance while keeping the AGP Rage128 for DVD may find the Voodooo3 PCI attractive. 4:50 PM Update

Fix for TRIII Demo/B&W G3 Problems: One of the readers that reported problems running the TRIII Demo wrote the ATI Univ. Installer 4.01 solved it:

"Mike,
Per your instructions I downloaded and installed the ATI Orion drivers. Differences between OS 8.6 ATI extensions and those provided by ATI universal installer, Orion option:

ATI driver update - no change
ATI extension - no version present in Apple install - added v 2.6.6
ATI Graphics Accelerator - Apple version 3.8.9, update to ATI version 3.9.8
ATI MPP Manager - no change
ATI Offscreen Memory Manager - no version present in Apple install, added v. 2.0.7
ATI Rage 128 3D Accelerator - Apple version 5.2.9, update to ATI v. 5.3.9
ATI Resource Manager - Apple v. 1.2.1, update to ATI v. 1.3
ATI Video Accelerator - Apple v.4.2.2, update to ATI v. 4.2.4
ATI Video Accelerator Update - no change

It seems that the only function of the "ATI extension" is to place an ATI Displays menu up in the menu bar. Removing it had no effect on system function.

Now Tomb Raider 3 demo plays perfectly. I now join you and the rest of the gaming community in wishing that Apple would either slap ATI or get rid of them. These driver issues suck. 3dFX isn't even marketing a Mac-dedicated card yet they have released and continue to refine reference drivers for us. Here's a thought - Apple should just write a check for 3dFX and buy the entire company. End of story.
Thanks for your help,
Chuck "

I solved the G4/AGP Rage128 slowdown in Quake2 (anytime there was an explosion the framerate dropped to a slide show) by reinstalling Quake2. Just reverting/replacing the refgl.lib with the original one (to make sure it was not the multitexturing library) didn't help. I can only guess the config file was the reason for the slowdown with the ATI cards (I had run the Voodoo3 3000 with the game and MesaLibs).

I've updated the Voodoo3 3000 AGP vs Rage128 AGP table of results at www.mac3dfx.com to show the G4/450 AGP Quake2 scores with OS 9. I'll be adding them to the Game Framerate database later today. There are some other OS 9 scores there entered over the weekend.

For the record, my G4/450 AGP (128MB ram/VM On/OS 9), the Quake2 demo1 scores were 50.0 (640x480), 34.0 (800x600) and 20.6 (1024x768). The Voodoo3 3000 AGP was over 2.5x faster at 1024x768 mode (54.1 fps vs 20.6). Macbench 2D video performance took a nosedive on the Rage128 AGP, so I'll retest with different drivers and eagerly await the rumored OpenGL/ATI driver update that is said to boost Rage128 OpenGL game performance according to Carmack's comments recently.

In reply to my post about two Rage128 owners (OS 9 and OS 8.6) having problems with the TRIII Demo - other readers (Rage128 and Voodoo3) wrote they had no problems with the demo at all. The Voodoo3 owner did report an exit problem:

"Hi!
I have played TR3 on my 9500/292 with a 3Dfx Voodoo3 card 2000. The game played absolutely fluid (no wonder, the graphics are not really stunning).

However, (using b5 drivers and OS9) when quitting the game, the voodoo3 card would not switch back into 2D mode (as we know from other games, unreal still has certain problems). The Mac was responsive, so i could - blindly - do a restart pressing the power key and then 'r'.

Personally, I think a new game (or a new port) should be aware of the Voodoo3 card. Users with few experience would have had to force-restart their Mac which is not a good idea as we know...
Mike Sprecher"

I'm working on the Monday front page news now - check back later for some interesting notes on the latest iMac design from a japanese reader.

Weekend's News

TombRaider III Demo Problems: Several readers have mentioned problems running the Tomb Raider III demo with their ATI Rage128 cards. For users of OS 9, see wednesday's main page news for a OS 9/ATI drivers tip that might help. However even one OS 8.6/OpenGL 1.0/B&W G3 owner reported bizarre texturing and kaleidoscope effects that made the game unplayable (his description reminded me what I saw with some video cards that didn't support RAVE running RAVE Quake). If you have any tips or feedback on the TRIII Demo (3dfx or ATI card users) please let me know.

I'm going to try to download the demo here this weekend but I've been so busy with other work and reviews I've not had time yet.

Thanks to all the readers that entered scores this week in the Game Framerate database. (Note - a recently introduced link bug on the Entry page to the FAQ game framerates how-to has been fixed.) There are over 600 entries now in the database for various video cards and systems (603e to G4 systems).

Friday's News

iMac DV Game Performance: As promised, I've posted my game performance results with the new iMac DV SE system. I would like a few iMac RageII (rev A) and RagePro (rev B or later) game scores.

VillageTronic Banshee (MP850/750/MacMagic Pro) Rave/Glide/ROM updates! [Update - the first owner feedback these drivers is pretty incredible - www.MAC3dfx.comsee for comments.] Bill Fox noted that VT has just posted a RAVE driver as well as updates to the ROM and Glide drivers for their banshee based cards. Get them via the links at http://www.villagetronic.com/mac/support/. Based on some insider info some time back, I suspect the ROM update may show significant boosts. I welcome feedback on the new drivers from card owners (compare the scores to those in my Game Rocket review)

Voodoo3 Beta 5 Drivers Faster: This reader writes he's seeing a 5-10% increase with the beta5 voodooo3 drivers without increasing the card clock speed:

"Hi Mike,
After reading Nathan's comments [at my www.mac3dfx.com site-Mike] about his Voodoo3 2000 offering a 5 - 10% increase in framerates after he flashed it for 166Mhz, I thought you'd like to know that after I upgraded with the Beta5 drivers, I, too, saw a 10% increase in framerates. But here's the coolest part- I flashed with the 143Mhz ROM, _not_ the 166Mhz ROM.

I noticed after upgrading that the OpenGL "Gears" fader from the "Setting Sun" screensaver program seemed to be running quite a bit faster. So, I ran Demo 1 in Quake2, and voila! My frame rates jumped from an average of 15.5 to 16.7 (I'm using a Umax J700 - 180Mhz 604e). Just to be sure I hadn't accidently flashed with the 3000 ROM, I reflashed, rebooted and ran the demo again. Sure enough, 16.7 fps.

Which leads me to the question- if the new drivers offer a 10% speed boost at the same card speed, why didn't Nathan see an even better performance increase?
Your site is excellent, and so is my Voodoo3 2000!
-Cass Costello "

I've been told that the clock speed bump doesn't add a lot of performance (esp. where your CPU can't keep the card saturated with data), but your game settings/game version, extensions set and even OS version can also affect comparing scores. However in the same system, a clock speed for clock speed test is a valid way to check the actual gain from a faster clock speed.

VillageTronic's Voodoo3's: Some time back readers said they saw ads in German magazines about a Voodoo3 line from Villagetronic. Macsonly today has some specs on the new models. Based on past heated posts in my 3dfx forum - owners that are still waiting for Rave and OpenGL drivers for their previous Banshee (MP750/850) card make me wonder if many will give them a 2nd shot. The more vendors/cards the merrier but let's hope they deliver on driver promises this time around.

Quake2/Rage128 Texture Smearing: Another reader says he's not been able to fix texture smearing problems in Quake2 (even with the latest Quake update and the latest ATI drivers). I've asked him for more details on his system, but if anyone has a workaround please contact me.

Thursday's News

Mike Dixon of Mac Gamer's Ledge posted a commentary on Mac Game Marketingt today in response to the Half-Life cancellation.

Exclusive: Formac Proformance 3 OpenGL Beta Game Tests: I've updated the game performance page of my Proformance 3 review with Quake2 and Q3test performance with the OpenGL drivers vs. the Rage128 Orion and Voodoo3.]

Half-Life Petition and Poll: Jeffrey Gay sent a note that Gamespot has a Mac Half-Life poll asking if it matters to you if Mac Half-Life was cancelled. I'm no fan of Game-Spot from their past articles that seemed to bash the mac in my opinion, but we need the votes (it was 70%+ no when I voted last night). More importantly, there is a Mac Half-Life Petition started at demandmac. Please get out and vote!

I'd like to welcome my latest sponsor - Combat-tee.com. If you're a fan of flight/combat sims or just the planes, check out their shirt designs.

Wednesday's News

Request for G4Timedemo Scores: I've added G4Timedemo as a selection in my Mac Framerates Database. I'd appreciate it if readers (regardless of CPU type) would post their scores with G4Timedemo. Please note your quality settings, etc. in the comments (the demo has several quality options - please use the maximum setting if you can). Thanks. [BTW - no image problems with the G4/450 in G4Timedemo - so the Phop 5.5/Altivec bug may be software related after all]

Tuesday's News

Descent 3 Status Update: Descent 3's release is just a short time away so get your preorder in now and get the T-shirt for free!

Especially after the cancellation of Half-Life, we need to show our support to Mac game companies to ensure they realize there is a healthly mac game market out there. I've been playing Descent 3 since Duane copied his first working source over to my PB G3 at MacWorld NY. I think it will be one of the 'must have' Mac games when it's released. Descent 3 has amazing visuals as I noted in my article on Duane Johnson and Descent 3 some months back.

Mac Half-Life Port Cancelled? Ruffin Bailey sent word he read at Voodoo Extreme that Valve has pulled the plug on the port for several reasons. There is a complete list of the Valve comments at GameFan. This is really depressing news. I'd have been happy with any version of Half-Life personally...

OS 9 Virtual Memory Tests: The main page yesterday had a note blaming slow OS 9 performance on Virtual Memory. A reader ran some tests in Quake 2 and Q3test to see what effect VM had on his PB G3:

"Howdy again.
The notion that VM on OS 9 is slowing things down piqued my interest enough to try out some Q3T and Q2 benchmarks on my PowerBook G3. I also recall a tip back in the '030 and '040 days to set VM to a power of 2 (8, 16, 32, and so on) for maximum performance. My results are below:

PowerBook G3 Series 300 MHz (RageLTPro 4MB), 192 MB RAM Fresh install of MacOS 9, Quake 2 1.0.1, Q3T 1.0.8

Q2 and Q3 settings follow the XLR8YourMac guidelines [FPS Database entry page notes-Mike] (except for Q3, texture size turned down to lowest setting). Q2 = demo1.dm2, Q3 = q3demo1 [I put the scores in tables for easier comparison viewing-Mike]

OS 9 Quake2 Tests (frames per second)
Resolution	VM OFF (192MB RAM)	VM On (at 193MB)	VM On (at 256MB)
640x480	16.5	16.1	16.1
320x240	29.0	28.7	29.2

OS 9 Q3test108 Tests (frames per second)
Resolution	VM OFF (192MB RAM)	VM On (at 193MB)	VM On (at 256MB)
640x480	15.6	15.4	15.4
320x240	21.7	21.7	21.8

It appears that VM does indeed cause a bit of a performance hit (at least for Q2/Q3), but turning up VM to a setting that's a power of 2 does help a bit. Better yet, keep VM off. The strangely high Q2 @ 320x240 w/ VM @ 256 MB was repeatable, don't quite understand why it's faster than no VM.

Also, John Carmack has updated his .plan file with information on future Q3 releases and made several comments on 3D hardware and ATI drivers on the current shipping Apple products: http://finger.planetquake.com/plan.asp?userid=johnc&id=13276
- Colin Anderson"

OS 9 and Game Sprockets: I think the main page news mentioned potential issues with game sprockets in OS 9, but this reader sent some additional compatibility info:

"Under Mac OS 9, the Quake 1 app refuses to allow me to configure my mouse. When I click the "Configure" button which used to bring up the InputSprocket mouse settings panel, Quake claims that I do not have enough memory. I have 96M physical RAM.

I tried regressing to the old separate-file InputSprockets (the new ones, as you may know, are a single library file) and even turning VM off but Quake still thinks there is insufficient memory. I think it's a Quake failure, not a Sprockets problem.

Quake 1 is still a lot of fun. I really hope that we'll get a point release for 9 compatibility.
Wayne"

I'm not sure we'll ever see a Quake 1 update (I wish they'd fix the code issues that prevent glide mode with the Voodoo3's).

Cooled Voodoo3 2000 running 166/166MHz: www.mac3dfx.com has a reader report from Nathan Taylor on a Voodoo3 2000 PCI running the Voodoo3 3000's 166/166MHz ROM. Nathan used a Tennmax Stealth Voodoo3 Cooler (reviewed by Randall Markarian here). To find Nathan's scores select Unreal as the game (optionally select a resolution) and 'Apple G4 AGP Slot' as the Mac system on the search page. I'd not suggest running the standard card at that speed, as the memory and heatsink may not be up to the task. Based on scores (if he used my Unreal.ini file), the faster clock speed only increased 1024x768 mode performance by less than 1 FPS, so it may not be worth the risk or extra cost of the cooler. Nathan's comments are at www.mac3dfx.com

Monday's News

Voodoo3 Beta5 Drivers: 3Dfx has released a beta5 set of drivers for the Voodoo3 that include a Voodoo3 3000 ROM at 166MHz. My tests at www.mac3dfx.com with the Voodoo3 3000 AGP were run with the card set to 166/166.

The front page news today has notes on tests with the G4/AGP DVD Player and video cards (including a dual card setup - Voodoo3 3000 AGP and PCI Rage128), more notes and tips on OS 9 performance, ORB Tools and my review of the low-cost OWC Mercury ZIF G3 350 and 400Mhz upgrades. If you missed the weekend news see www.mac3dfx.com for Voodoo3 AGP vs Rage128 AGP game performance.

BTW - I suspect the slowdowns in Quake 2 I noted with the G4/AGP's Rage128 card is due to multitexture support in OpenGL 1.1.1. Even the PCI Rage128 card showed the same thing. I tried a backup of the refGL lib from the original Q2 install and it didn't seem to help so I can only guess it's the OpenGL library multitexture support combined with the Q2 code (Q3test seemed ok).

Game Ranger (mac internet server browser and more) has been updated to v 1.0b10.

Weekend's News

Voodoo 3000 AGP vs Rage128 AGP: My www.mac3dfx.com site has the first comparison of a Voodoo3 3000 AGP vs Rage128 AGP in a G4/450 sawtooth system. I saw some odd (severe) slowdown problems in Quake2 with the Rage128 [Fixed by a clean install of Quake2 - must have been a config file issue as the 1.0 version of refgl.lib didn't help). My Mac Game Framerate Database so perhaps I'm not the only one seeing this problem. I've written to friends at ATI to see if they have any suggestions. Perhaps adding more RAM and disabling VM would help (the system had 128MB RAM/VM on during all tests).

Friday's News

Voodoo3 3000 PCI: As noted at my MAC3dfx.com site, 3Dfx sent out a press release about the 166MHz (core and memory clock speed) Voodoo3 3000 PCI card. The Voodoo3 2000 card runs at 143/143. The current Voodoo3 ROM/drivers would work but the 3000 would still run at 143/143 (a new ROM or tweaker appl. would be required for 166/166 speeds).

New MacSoft Bundle: "MacSoft has shipped its 4-bundle Mac Strategy Pack - Total Domination with such masterful mind boggling titles as: Star Control 3, Civilization II, Deadlock and Master of Orion II. Mac Strategy Pack has a suggested retail price of $29.99."

I finally got a chance to turn on the G4/450 and I have to say I'm impressed with the overall system. Due to many reader mails asking for game performance with the G4/AGP system, I've added my Unreal, Quake1 Rave and Q3test 1.08 framerate scores with the G4 to my Mac Game FPS searchable database. The Rage128 is obviously a bottleneck as shown in the scores which were somewhat disappointing. The system felt very responsive and I want to test with a Voodoo3 that is not as fill rate limited as the Rage128. The Quake1 and Unreal 1024x768 scores were less than 1 fps faster than a B&W G3/400 with a Rage128 in the 66MHz slot (an obvious sign the Rage128 was already saturated with the G3). To see my entries - select a game title and then select 'Apple G4 AGP Slot' as the mac system when you search.

Joseph Gabrielli has started a Mac Homeworld petition. He says there were reports that both Sierra and Andrew Meggs of Logicware might be interested in porting a mac version.

Mac Gamer's Ledge has some benchmarks and comments from the (2nd) free-lance programmers Mac TNT2 project at http://www.macledge.com/NEWS.chtml#2. The freelance programmer is said to be releasing drivers in two weeks or so! To compare their scores to the Voodoo3, Rage128, etc. - search my Mac Game Framerate's Database.

Macgaming.com has an article titled How the game porting business works based on an interview with Westlake Interactive that tells the inside story on porting mac games.

Thursday's News

Unreal Editor Petition: Would you like to see a Mac Unreal level Editor? Domingo B. Alvear, a reader of this site has volunteered to serve as the collector of names for this petition. If you'd like to see a level editor for Unreal on the Mac, please sign the petition and spread the word.

More Westlake News: Simon Lisney wrote that TRIII has gone gold and they have an update on Unreal Tournament Demo. There is an interesting reference to OpenGL 1.1.2 (the current version shipping with new Macs and in OS9 is 1.1.1) which said that OpenGL 1.1.2 may bring performance up to Rave levels while retaining the better graphic quality.

Tuesday's News

Mac3dfx.com has a note on the beta4 drivers [beta 5 now exists] for the Voodoo3 and and comments on why readers noted the beta3 drivers didn't have as high a refresh rate (with some monitors) as the previous version and a way to customize your own monitor modes (warning - consult your monitor specs to make sure it supports the modes that you are trying to run! Too high a refresh rate/resolution can damage your monitor).

Latest on nVidia TNT2 Project: Last month I had several comments from speaking with the free-lance programmer working on nVidia TNT2 drivers for the Mac. Ruffin Bailey sent a note with some comments on the status now:

"Again, this is something akin to fourth hand information, but a recent post on the Mac-Games-Development list had this to say about the possibility of TNT drivers for the Mac:

I finally ran accross the guy writing the TNT drivers again Here's the latest news:

In a week or so, he hopes to have everything finished up. He has complete native OpenGL support and has added a rave layer on top (to support older code). He is currently working on Quickdraw/2D, trying to make everything fully hardware accelerated. He plans on releasing the code when he is done, but doesn't think there are many bugs left to be squashed.

Currently, a TNT runs Q3Test fine on a b&w and the TNT2 (AGP) is working well on a new G4!
Don't bother him to much, let him get those drivers out!
-Brett Koonce"

Note: After writing Jose (the programmer I spoke with that was doing TNT2 drivers noted here some time back) he mentioned the above comments were not about him. There must be another programmer working on drivers (the more the better :-).

Westlake News: Simon Lisney sent a note there are news updates on Civilization: Call To Power (in alpha stage) and Madden NFL 2000 set to begin beta test soon.

OS 9 GM/Starcraft Notes: I hope this is an isolated issue and not a sign of more game compatibilty issues under OS 9:

"Mike-
Under the new Golden Master of OS 9, Starcraft 1.06 is not able to log on to battle.net. It complains about 'out of memory'.. even though there is plenty available. Turning up the memory in the GetInfo box doesnt help either. Seems to be a specific problem to OS 9. Hopefully Blizzard will issue a patch soon! "

MacGaming has several articles on the issue of Apple support for game developers. The series starts with PC game developers criticize Apple; a different perspective is offered in Mac game developers scrutinize Apple's developer support and the saga concludes with Raven Software makes headway with Apple, talks Heretic II. They encourage you to read all of them to get a balanced perspective on the issues at hand.

Saturday's News

Voodoo3 Drivers Feedback: My Mac3dfx.com site has a note on issues and a workaround with the new driver's Hardware Resource Manager extension reported by some users.

Friday's News

New Voodoo3 Drivers: As noted at my www.mac3dfx.com site, 3dfx has updated their Voodoo3 beta drivers for the Mac once again. This update basically adds more resolutions and some minor bug fixes. There might be some 2D boost in there as well, although the drivers have not really been optimized for 2D performance. Here's Ken Dyke's summary comments on the update:

• Gobs more 2D resolutions/refresh rates (around 35 new ones)
• Bug fixes to 2D acceleration code (fixes Eudora problem)

More Apple G4/AGP Performance: My Mac Game Framerates database has more proof of the 3dfx advantage. Compare the Apple G4/AGP (aka Sawtooth) game framerates from the stock Rage128 AGP to any of the 3Dfx cards in the same system. To see these comparisons select "Apple G4 AGP Slot" as the mac system then select a game title - then press search.

Thursday's News

Rage128 VR Chip Confusion: Speaking of ATI, Deanna Perkins of ATI has a clarification on the VR Chip vs Card and info on the shipping status on the front page news today.

ATI Aurora Info: As noted a few days back at the front page news, ATI's Aurora is said to be a dual Rage128 Pro chip based card. PC Site SharkyExtreme has an article on the card. The real info on the card starts on page 4 (and I thought some of my reviews were long-winded :-). They also have an article on the (single) Rage128 Pro chip based Rage Fury Pro. I've asked ATI when these cards may come to the Mac.

Wednesday's News

Mac Unreal - 224B7 the Last Update: Westlake Interactive sent a press release on Mac Unreal status saying that their current version (224B7) would likely be the last. Westlake released far more updates to Unreal than any Mac game I can think of and I thank them for that. Apparently they never received the 225 PC code. Unreal on the PC never really recovered from the bugs/network play issues from the early releases and games like Half-Life, Quake 3, Rainbow 6, etc. have been far more popular.

Westlake continues to work on Mac Unreal Tournament however.

Voodoo Mag Shuts Down: Voodoo Magazine, the only magazine dedicated to just 3dfx video cards and games, announced in their Voodoo Review newsletter that the Fall '99 issue is their last. I was also sad to read that the Voodoo Review (run by Dave Whittle) is also shutting down. I've been reading the Voodoo Review since my first 3dfx card many years ago (the first 3Dfx card made - the Orchid Righteous 3D).

Although we're still waiting for Rainbow Six to be released for the Mac (due soon), Gamecenter reviewed the latest version of the popular tactical/action/strategy game. Check out their Rogue Spear review. Gamecenter also has a 700MHz Athlon Lab Report comparing the latest AMD chip to the Pentium III (Intel loses...).

PC World has an article called Climb into the PC Game. Reality Fusion's GameCam applies PC camera to video games that require actual physical action. Perhaps some Mac company will read this and do the same?

With all my workload and with my current editors apparently busy with real life, I'm in need of someone that can keep the game news page updated (if not daily, then at least several times a week). If you're an avid mac gamer that would like to do this for the long haul please contact me. Thanks!

Monday's News

Bypassing Castle Flyby intro in Unreal: Although it was posted here last year we couldn't find the timesaving tip of having Unreal bypass the flyby intro. Craig Moritz sent info on how:

"Mike,
I finally had to figure it out myself.
A setting in Unreal that will bypass the "fly-by" startup screen and the time wasted loading it requires that the first paragraph in the unreal.ini file be edited to set "LocalMap = entry". That's it.

[URL]
Protocol=unreal
ProtocolDescription=Unreal Protocol
Name=Player
Map=Index.unr
LocalMap=entry
Host=
...
It saves quite a bit of loading time and lands you in the cell to start out.
Craig Moritz "

So it doesn't get lost again I've added this to the Games section of my FAQ.

Mac Fly! Tips: several readers reported some tips for Fly! based on a past problem reports here:

"A follow-up on my first post. There's some extension that appears to conflict with FLY. A solution: Create a Games startup set with Conflict Catcher or your Extension Manager using only the Mac OS base set plus any drivers needed for your graphics card (& any internet extensions you would use on a net game). My Games setup works fine but my standard startup set always generates the click-on-interface-crash phenomenon you describe. Good luck.
Jay Wills "

Jay had previously wrote suggesting replacing your current sprockets and QD3D extensions with those provided on the install disk (he saw the same problem of clicking the mouse kicking you out of the game).

This reader found a workaround for the mouse click issue (but the above may be a better solution)

"Hi
I have fixed some troubles with FLY It seems that I can interact with the interface (Remember that I wasn't able to do it before) by making option-click !! This way, the game does not kick me out I know it could seem strange but it works
pierre wilderiane "

Speaking of Fly! - I've added more comments from Chris Gamper to the Fly First Impressions page.

Cyborg 3D Joystick Feedback: sent a note on some problems he's seen:

"Greetings,
I recently purchased the Cyborg 3d joystick from Saitek for use with Falcon 4.0. After reading many reviews on how great the stick worked with Falcon I thought it would be a good buy. I was wrong. Even after downloading all of the updated input and game sprockets and the latest version of Falcon 4.0 available, I have to calibrate the stick EVERY time I go to use it, which, needless to say, is a huge pain in the ***.
The ball in the controller setup screen in Falcon which represents where your flightstick position is will not go all the way into the far corners, and the rudder is somewhat unresponsive in the sense that it lags behind my movements by about 100msec or so. And the worst part of using this stick in Falcon 4.0 is that after dying and regenerating in a furball or team furball the stick becomes completely locked up and the only thing that will work properly is the machine gun. My system is a B&W 350 w/ 256 meg of ram. I am going today to exchange it for a Sidewinder.
Anthony Fedele "

Randall did a review of the Cyborg 3D USB joystick a few months back.

Speaking of controllers, Gamecenter.com has a review of the Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer Mouse where they say it was fantastic for games like Quake.

While on the subject, Erwin Sengco said his USB Mouse/Q3test problems were due to have both a USB and ADB mouse connected. Disconnecting the ADB mouse solved the problem he said (although Unreal and other games seemed to work fine with both mice connected).

Friday's News
Several readers reported problems running Mac Fly! and I've updated the FLY! first impressions article with more owner comments. If anyone has a fix for the problems seen please contact me.

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