1 0 0 P R I Z E S T O W I N ! ! ! From this week on, you will be able to win one of 100 prizes! Read all about it at the bottom of this message... This file only includes the latest Games Charts, but we have much more. Go to http://www.xs4all.nl/~jojo if you want to see other charts and info. ============================================================================== | * * * I N T E R N E T P C G A M E S C H A R T S * * * | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | (c) 1996 World Charts Issue 168 - Week 12 - March 18, 1996 | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | This week the votes from 1870 people have been used to compile this chart. | | The charts are checked out weekly by most game developers and publishers. | | Let them know what games you like and start voting for this list now! | | Send your votes to pcgames@worldcharts.nl and you'll get the next chart | | sent to you personally. Ask for the document that tells how to vote. Just | | send a message with subject line 'send doc' and you'll know all about it. | | The format for every line with a vote is: points title [ ID ] | | YOU MUST INCLUDE THE ID NUMBER, and between brackets! It is NOT optional. | | You can allocate a maximum of 20 points, BUT NOT MORE THAN 5 FOR ONE GAME. | | An example can be found at the bottom of this list. LOOK AT IT FIRST! | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------| | All your votes and comments should be sent to pcgames@worldcharts.nl. | | If you use any other address, then your message will not be received. | ============================================================================== :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: advertisement :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: STARS! The Premiere Space Strategy Game for MS Windows Grapple with up to 15 human opponents from across the hall or around the globe or match wits with one the formidable AI's. Stars! has what you've been looking for (but haven't found) in other space strategy games: - Unmatched depth of play and strategic flexibility - Single computer, LAN, Internet, email and BBS turn-based play - Built-in automation that allows you to focus on strategy - Complex, honest computer players - A dynamic, flexible interface that you control - Configurable winning conditions - A top-rated tutorial and extensive online player's guide >>>> New in Version 2: New 3D Graphics, Stargates, Wormholes, Rail Guns, Armed Starbases, Faster Engines, Minefields, Salvage, Mass Drivers, Enemy Heading and Speed Vectors, and over 200 other great new features... Download the fully playable shareware version: WWW: http://www.webmap.com/stars! FTP: beast.webmap.com/stars/v2.0b/stars!2b.zip **** World-wide download sites: stars@webmap.com ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The following Top 40 contains the best download PC games in the world. The list includes demo versions, shareware versions and freeware games. Vote for a game in this chart if you think other people should download it. ============================================================================== Download Top 40 Edition 38 - Week 12 - March 18, 1996 ============================================================================== TW LW NW Title Developer/Publisher(s) Cat HI ID Points ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 1 7 Duke Nukem 3D {share} 3D Realms AC 1 [1863] 981 2 2 13 Descent 2 {demo} Parallax/Interplay AC 1 [1821] 457 3 3 13 Stars! 2.0 {share} Star Crossed ST 3 [1816] 214 4 6^ 3 Quake/test {demo} Id/Id AC 4 [1876] 225 5 4 38 Descent {share} Parallax/Interplay AC 1 [1644] 189 6 5 38 Nethack 3.1 {free} DevTeam RP 1 [1186] 131 7 7 19 Warcraft 2: Tides of D. {demo} Blizzard ST 3 [1774] 132 8 8 18 Extreme Pinball {share} Epic/Electronic Arts AC 4 [1776] 70 9 10^ 23 Hexen: Beyond Heretic {share} Raven/Id AC 1 [1751] 72 10 11^ 14 Toyland {O} {share} Rainald Menge AC 10 [1813] 63 11 12^ 38 Doom {share} Id AC 4 [1645] 61 12 14^ 38 VGA Planets {share} Tim Wisseman ST 7 [1651] 69 13 17^ 34 MechWarrior 2: The Clans {demo} Activision AC 10 [1696] 73 14 9 10 Wing Commander 4 {demo} Origin/ AC 7 [1812] 41 15 13 38 Stars! {share} Star Crossed ST 3 [1662] 46 16 16 38 Slicks 'n' Slide {share} Timo Kauppinen SP 11 [1659] 59 17 15 38 Angband {free} Robert Alan Koeneke RP 2 [1255] 50 18 21^ 38 3D Lemmings {demo}Dimension Cr./Eclipse/Psygnosis AC 6 [1619] 70 19 18 28 Abuse {share} Crack Dot Com AC 6 [1715] 52 20 20 38 FreeCell {W} {free} Microsoft ST 5 [1660] 45 21 19 38 Scorched Earth {share} Wendell Hicken AC 7 [1673] 41 22 23^ 26 Tyrian {share} Eclipse/Epic AC 3 [1725] 40 23 22 37 Sherlock {share} Everett Kaser ST 11 [1654] 32 24 25^ 38 One Must Fall: 2097 {share} Epic AC 8 [1647] 33 25 27^ 38 Heretic {share} Raven/Id AC 7 [1648] 32 26 26 38 Terminal Velocity {share} Terminal R./3D Realms AC 3 [1646] 27 27 24 23 Duke Nukem 2 {share} Apogee AC 20 [1677] 20 28 28 16 BreakFree {share} Software Storm AC 26 [1780] 25 29 29 37 Rise of the Triad: The Hunt Begins {share} Apogee AC 10 [1668] 24 30 33^ 38 Minesweeper {W} {free} Microsoft ST 5 [1184] 28 31 31 35 Nahlakh {share} Tom Proudfoot RP 21 [1692] 24 32 30 8 Tempest 2000 {share} Atari AC 28 [1844] 20 33 38^ 21 Dark Forces {demo} LucasArts/Virgin AC 27 [1713] 27 34 34 38 Jazz Jackrabbit {share} Epic AC 13 [1652] 20 35 32 37 Mordor: Depths of Dejend {W} {share} MakeItSo RP 13 [1681] 15 36 36 10 XenoPhage: Alien Bloodsport {share} Argo/Apogee AC 32 [1833] 20 37 37 22 Capitalism {demo} Enlight/Interactive Magic ST 12 [1761] 21 38 -^ 1 Whiplash! {demo} Gremlin/Interplay AC 38 [1866] 24 39 40^ 2 Strife {demo} Rogue/Velocity AC 39 [1877] 22 40 35 2 Seek and Destroy {share} Vision/Safari AC 35 [1878] 15 Dropped Out: 39 16 Mahjongg: The Real Game Berrie Bloem ST 12 [1783] The following games have not yet received enough points to enter the chart: ============================================================================== Runners Up for Download Top 40 Edition 38 - Week 12 - March 18, 1996 ============================================================================== NW Title Developer/Publisher(s) Cat ID ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tip 1 2 Masterroids {O} {share} Hobbes [1885] Tip 2 1 The Light: Shelby's Addendum {Illusory Mental Images AD [1889] Tip 3 1 Star Quest 1 {share} Virtual Adventures AC [1890] Tip 4 2 Azrael's Tear {demo} Intelligent/Mindscape RP [1886] The World Charts team visits Westwood (Feb 7, 1996) At about 13:30 we (Floris, Amnon and I) took a taxi from our Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas to the Westwood building. When the taxi driver dropped us off, we were at first not quite certain that he had took us to the right building. There was no sign saying "Westwood Studios" or whatever. So, we just took our chance and went in. Fortunately, it was the right decision. Westwood was there. Ted Morris was the one to show us around, after we had signed some paperwork saying that we shouldn't distribute any confidential or indecent information, etc, etc. Westwood just made a move to this new building. Which was in fact unfortunate, because their previous building had been almost next to our hotel. You can't have it all, they say. But it seems that doesn't apply to Westwood. With only 85 employees they are one of the most successful developers in the USA. Mike and Mike showed us some graphics of a new game that we're not supposed to talk about. :) It looked fabulous, making use of what looked like a brand new adventure game engine, of some sort. Ted told us that Kyrandia 4 will be completely restyled too. Paul was an important guy, who told us about how to create different moods with different musical themes. Changing from one theme to another theme, at the proper moment, without the transition sounding awful is of course the tricky part. Well, Paul had a nice solution, and it was so simple even I could understand it. Frank, the one and only Westwood composer, was in the next room. Frank did the music for almost all Westwood games, and made us listen to a great new theme he was working on. It reminded me of the Terminator theme a bit. Felix was in a messy room full of video equipment and stuff. We were proud to be the very first outsiders in the world who were allowed to see the new Command & Conquer: Red Alert demo sequence. My jaw dropped several inches. Last of all we met Eric, the designer of Command & Conquer. He is up to the very difficult job of beating his own success at the first Command & Conquer game, although he admits that there are still a few things that he likes to improve. Westwood was still working on their new building. One hall was being turned into a sound stage, many ceilings were still open, and the smell of fresh paint was everywhere. They'll probably do a good job there. What else can we expect from this innovative company? Westwood was bought by Virgin, who can make sure that they don't have to deal with the awful job of publishing, distributing and marketing. Everyone there worked on the games, except for Ted, of course, who was showing us around. Oh, and one of the most interesting things he showed us, was the 'rendering farm': Dozens of fast computers next to each other, all rendering the latest images they received over the network, from one of the 85 Westwood employees. And that was it. We were given a few copies of the Monopoly game and some t-shirts and then we went back to our hotel again, and made money at the roulette table. Thank you Ted, and thank you Westwood! It was all most interesting and entertaining. The following Top 100 contains the best full price PC games in the world. The list includes commercial retail games and registered shareware games. Vote for a game in this chart if you think other people should buy it too. ============================================================================== Commercial Top 100 Edition 168 - Week 12 - March 18, 1996 ============================================================================== TW LW NW Title Developer/Publisher(s) Cat HI ID Points ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 1 25 Command & Conquer Westwood/Virgin ST 1 [1729]1267 2 2 15 Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness Blizzard ST 2 [1817]1189 3 3 12 Galactic Civilizations 2 {O} Stardock ST 3 [1828] 415 4 4 75 Doom 2: Hell on Earth Id/GT/Virgin AC 1 [1502] 448 5 5 64 Descent {reg} Parallax/Interplay AC 1 [1565] 431 6 6 33 MechWarrior 2/NetMech: The Clans Activision AC 6 [1697] 383 7 13* 4 Wing Commander 4 Origin/Electronic Arts AC 7 [1867] 429 8 7 168 Civilization/CivNet MicroProse ST 1 [1002] 493 9 8 56 Dark Forces LucasArts/Virgin AC 2 [1585] 281 10 9 18 Hexen: Beyond Heretic {reg} Raven/Id/GT AC 8 [1775] 273 11 10 128 Master of Orion SimTex/MicroProse ST 2 [1344] 324 12 11 75 Master of Magic SimTex/MicroProse ST 3 [1501] 271 13 12 24 Need for Speed Distinctive/Electronic Arts AC 12 [1738] 241 14 14 66 Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger Origin AC 6 [1562] 205 15 18^100 U.F.O./X-Com: Enemy Unknown Mythos/MicroProse ST 1 [1437] 230 16 16 69 Warcraft: Orcs and Humans Blizzard/Interplay ST 4 [1528] 199 17 17 15 11th Hour: Be Afraid of the Dark Trilobyte/Virgin AD 15 [1809] 191 18 15 11 Avarice Preview {O} CSS/Stardock AD 14 [1837] 161 19 21^ 24 Heroes of Might and Magic New World ST 17 [1737] 204 20 19 167 Dune 2: Building of a Dynasty Westwood/Virgin ST 4 [1110] 220 21 25^ 15 Fifa Soccer 96 EA Sports/Electronic Arts SP 21 [1787] 193 22 22 23 Crusader: No Remorse Origin/Electronic Arts AC 14 [1741] 166 23 24^ 68 Panzer General SSI/Mindscape ST 11 [1522] 187 24 23 15 The Dig LucasArts AD 21 [1798] 174 25 20 74 Galactic Civilizations/Shipyards {O} Stardock ST 1 [1508] 151 26 27^114 SimCity 2000 Maxis/Mindscape ST 2 [1399] 213 27 31^ 11 Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within {W} Sierra AD 27 [1832] 180 28 29^ 16 Stars! 2.0 {reg} Star Crossed ST 28 [1786] 162 29 33^ 50 X-COM 2: Terror f.t. Deep Mythos/MicroProse ST 8 [1600] 170 30 30 22 NHL Hockey '96 Electronic Arts SP 23 [1748] 153 31 26 18 Stonekeep Interplay RP 21 [1779] 128 32 32 22 Steel Panthers SSI/Mindscape ST 18 [1757] 156 33 28 46 Full Throttle LucasArts AD 10 [1612] 138 34 37^ 76 Colonization MicroProse ST 5 [1496] 145 35 39^ 16 Worms Team 17/Ocean AC 35 [1784] 140 36 36 20 Caesar 2 Impressions/Sierra ST 34 [1742] 127 37 35 27 Star Emperor {O} Stardock ST 4 [1716] 114 38 34 118 Doom/Ultimate Doom {reg} Id AC 1 [1386] 125 39 43^ 9 Shivers {W} Sierra AD 39 [1791] 122 40 38 104 Myst {W} Cyan/Broderbund/Electronic Arts AD 11 [1426] 125 41 40 87 Tie Fighter/add-on LucasArts/Virgin AC 3 [1473] 125 42 41 29 Phantasmagoria Sierra AD 19 [1712] 118 43 42 22 Championship Manager 2 Domark SP 38 [1746] 102 44 44 15 Capitalism Enlight/Interactive Magic ST 44 [1806] 109 45 46^ 15 Rebel Assault 2: The Hidden Empire LucasArts AC 40 [1795] 102 46 48^165 VGA Planets {reg} Tim Wisseman ST 3 [1131] 136 47 62* 2 NBA Live 96 EA Sports/Electronic Arts SP 47 [1871] 112 48 57^ 21 Mortal Kombat 3 Midway/GT AC 36 [1755] 104 49 45 10 Monopoly Westwood/Virgin ST 29 [1841] 83 50 50 77 System Shock LookingGlass/Origin/Electronic Arts AC 11 [1438] 96 51 98* 2 Civilization 2 MicroProse ST 51 [1879] 118 52 49 14 Screamer Graffiti/Virgin AC 44 [1801] 85 53 47 70 Transport Tycoon/deluxe MicroProse ST 14 [1521] 82 54 -* 1 Descent 2 Parallax/Interplay AC 54 [1891] 103 55 53 48 Jagged Alliance Sir-Tech/Mindscape ST 9 [1605] 77 56 56 20 Microlearn Game Pack 2 {O} Microlearn Nordic AC 38 [1764] 79 57 51 141 Betrayal at Krondor Dynamix/Sierra RP 6 [1275] 86 58 54 70 Under a Killing Moon Access/US Gold AD 22 [1517] 73 59 52 48 NBA Live 95 Hitmen/Electronic Arts SP 34 [1602] 58 60 59 167 Star Control 2: Ur-Quan Masters Accolade AC 3 [1116] 92 61 67^159 X-Wing/Imperial Purs.,B-Wing LucasArts/US Gold AC 1 [1169] 96 62 58 16 Destruction Derby Reflections/Psygnosis AC 56 [1788] 64 63 70^149 7th Guest Trilobyte/Virgin PU 16 [1230] 90 64 66^ 14 TFX 2: EF2000 DID/Ocean SI 53 [1797] 69 65 74^ 37 Star Trek TNG: A Final Unity Spectrum Holobyte AD 16 [1641] 74 66 64 6 Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat Mindscape ST 64 [1849] 65 67 63 136 Warlords 2/deluxe SSG ST 11 [1284] 76 68 55 21 Ascendancy Logic Factory/Virgin ST 22 [1753] 49 69 61 10 Allied General SSI/Mindscape ST 52 [1829] 52 70 73^ 13 Extreme PinbDigital Extremes/Epic/Electronic Arts AC 70 [1789] 61 71 76^ 24 Magic Carpet 2: The Netherworlds Bullfrog/EA AC 57 [1739] 59 72 71 69 Nascar Racing Papyrus/Virgin SI 21 [1529] 59 73 60 125 Day of the Tentacle LucasArts/US Gold AD 6 [1268] 54 74 65 64 Heretic/Shadow of the Serpent Rider {reg}Raven/Id AC 4 [1566] 50 75 75 92 The Settlers/Serf City Blue Byte/SSI ST 6 [1458] 55 76 88^ 45 Terminal Velocity {reg}Terminal Reality/3D Realms AC 3 [1616] 55 77 68 4 Tritryst Cinematronics/Virgin PU 63 [1873] 49 78 85^ 35 Buried in Time Presto/Sanctuary Woods/US Gold AD 42 [1687] 53 79 92^ 18 3D Ultra Pinball {W} Sierra AC 61 [1754] 53 80 80 165 Ultima Underworld 2 LookingGlass/Origin/El. Arts RP 2 [1127] 67 81 81 3 Indycar Racing 2 Papyrus/Sierra SI 81 [1862] 37 82 79 5 Anvil of Dawn DreamForge/New World RP 78 [1819] 47 83 83 57 Rise of the Triad: Dark War {reg} Apogee AC 18 [1564] 48 84 69 26 Dungeon Master 2 FTL/Interplay RP 30 [1699] 42 85 84 166 World Circuit/F1 Grand Prix MicroProse SP 3 [1123] 61 86 77 55 World at War: Stalingrad Atomic/Avalon Hill ST 12 [1584] 42 87 87 168 Darklands MicroProse RP 8 [1008] 61 88 90^157 Empire Deluxe/add-ons New World ST 18 [1177] 59 89 99^ 24 Fade to Black Delphine/Electronic Arts AC 54 [1740] 46 90 78 14 Advanced Civilization Avalon Hill ST 71 [1803] 40 91 -^103 Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers Sierra AD 25 [1377] 44 92 72 117 Sam & Max Hit the Road LucasArts/US Gold AD 11 [1379] 39 93 95^ 3 Williams Arcade Classics GT AC 93 [1846] 39 94 91 134 Ind. Jones: Fate of Atlantis LucasArts/US Gold AD 3 [1003] 47 95 82 17 Lost Mind of Dr. Brain Sierra PU 75 [1704] 34 96 96 4 Full Tilt! Pinball {W} Cinematronics/Maxis AC 75 [1856] 36 97 89 24 World at War: America Invades Atomic/Avalon H. ST 29 [1736] 30 98 86 81 Crusaders o.t. Dark Savant Sir-Tech/US Gold RP 5 [1104] 32 99 94 6 Front Page Sports: Football 96 Sierra SP 89 [1825] 32 100 -^ 1 Top Gun: Fire at Will! Spectrum Holobyte SI100 [1881] 25 Dropped Out: 93 1 Hyper 3D Pinball Virgin AC 93 [1854] 97 140 Syndicate/add-on Bullfrog/Electronic Arts AC 5 [1271] 100 1 Tempest 2000 Atari AC100 [1874] The following games have not yet received enough points to enter the chart: ============================================================================== Runners Up Commercial Top 100 Edition 168 - Week 12 - March 18, 1996 ============================================================================== NW Title Developer/Publisher(s) Cat ID ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tip 1 3 Ripper Take 2 AD [1884] Tip 2 6 Fatal Racing/Whiplash! Gremlin/Interplay AC [1864] Tip 3 7 Bad Mojo {W} Pulse AD [1860] Tip 4 7 Battleground Gettysburg Talon ST [1855] Tip 5 3 Terra Nova: Strike Force CentauriLookingGlass/Virgin AC [1883] Tip 6 2 Ian Botham's Cricket Beam/Laserbeam SP [1887] Tip 7 5 Angel Devoid Mindscape [1870] Tip 8 1 Time Gate: Knight's Chase Infogrames AD [1892] Tip 9 3 Silent Steel {W} Tsunami SI [1880] Tip 10 1 ESPN Extreme Games Sony AC [1893] Tip 11 5 Psychic Detective Electronic Arts AD [1872] Tip 12 1 This Means War! MicroProse ST [1894] Tip 13 1 Alien Odyssey Argonaut/Philips AD [1895] Tip 14 1 Pinball World Spidersoft/21st Century AC [1896] Tip 15 1 Spycraft: The Great Game {W} Activision AD [1897] Tip 16 6 Zone Raiders Virgin AC [1865] Tip 17 2 Tower {W} BAO ST [1888] Tip 18 7 Unnecessary Roughness '96 Accolade SP [1861] Tip 19 5 Congo Viacom AD [1868] Tip 20 4 Space Bucks Sierra ST [1875] Tip 21 5 Burn:Cycle Philips AC [1869] Tip 22 3 Absolute Zero Domark ST [1882] If you send your vote for the Internet PC Games Charts this week, you may be the winner of a FREE COMPUTER GAME! Over the next 10 weeks no less than 100 games will be given away to our voters for the games, movies and albums charts. You don't have to do anything special, you don't have to answer questions, just send your vote for the charts. If you don't know how to vote, then visit our site at http://www.xs4all.nl/~jojo and travel to the voting forms. Or you can ask us for the document that tells you how to vote. We pick 10 people each week from the newest votes that we received for our three Internet Charts. The more often you vote, the better your chance of winning a game. And, if you vote for each of our three charts, your odds will also increase! BUT: Vote only ONE time for a chart in ONE week. It doesn't help you if you send us dozens of messages in one week. On the contrary, it might annoy the computer so much, that it disqualifies you. ;) The game that will be sent out is the full version of Star Quest I in the 27th Century, by Virtual Adventures. You can read more about it on the web site. ============================================================================== | TW : This Week | The Internet PC Games Charts are compiled using | | LW : Last Week | votes sent by gamers from all over the world. | | NW : Number of Weeks | The latest charts are published every Monday on | | HI : Highest Position | Usenet in the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* newsgroups.| | ^ : Climbing |--------------------------------------------------| | * : Bullet | If you send your votes, do it like this: | | AC : Action | > 5 Dark Invader [1435] | | AD : Adventure | > 4 Mysterious Forces 2 [1322] | | PU : Puzzle | > 5 Super Fighter [1502] | | RP : Role-Playing | > 2 Magic of Zuul 4 [] | | SI : Simulation | > 4 The Lost Tycoon [] | | SP : Sports |--------------------------------------------------| | ST : Strategy | (c) 1996 all rights reserved | World Charts | | {free} Freeware | Distribution of these charts | Balderikstraat 16 | | {demo} Demo Version | is granted only by written | 3032 HC Rotterdam | | {share} Shareware | permission. | The Netherlands | | {reg} Registered |--------------------------------------------------| | {W} Windows Only | By email: pcgames@worldcharts.nl wcg@xs4all.nl | | {O} OS/2 Only | On the WorldWideWeb: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jojo | | | Supported by XS4ALL Internet Provider | ==============================================================================