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T A B L E__T A L K Netscape vs. Internet Explorer: The battle of the browsers continues in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y The 21st Challenge No. 8 Results By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau (05/01/98) Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg Playboy and Playmate play a game of meta tag. (05/01/98) Starship trouper By Janelle Brown Douglas Adams' new "Titanic" game is just the tip of a multimedia iceberg (04/30/98) Getting MUDdy with Xena and Hercules By Moira Muldoon A new online game lets fans of the TV shows explore their textual fantasies (04/30/98) Revenge of the early adopters By Andrew Leonard Angry DVD owners didn't like a new video-rental technology -- so they fought back on the Net (04/29/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST FEATURE ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - _______

Groveling for dollars BUGS, BABES AND BOOZE: FOR GAME DEVELOPERS RUSTLING UP FINANCING, THERE'S A MILLION POTHOLES ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS. - - - - - - - - - - - - [ E D I T O R ' S__N O T E : On the eve of this year's Computer Game Developers Conference we're delighted to offer this perspective. Though the account is based on real-life experiences, names have obviously been changed -- and no, there never actually was a "Combat Golf" game.] - - - - - - - - - - - - BY GREG COSTIKYAN | Thursday, 1847 PST: We're barreling south in a Ford Aspire; we're penny-pinching independent game developers, it's the cheapest car we could rent. Affluent geeks pass us right and left in Lexi and Acurae; billboards promote debugging tools. We're not in Kansas anymore. We four, we proud, we band of brothers, we're in smoggy California for the Computer Game Developers Conference -- Derek the CEO, Denny the Veep, Damon the Tech and I. We're hot, we're hip, we're going to set the game industry on fire. There's only one thing that stands between us and gaming immortality: a million and a half in development funding. That's why we're here, to play the industry's favorite game: Groveling for Dollars. I'll take Microsoft Foundation Classes for $400, Alex. - - - - - - - - - - - - We check in, get settled. Derek's head swivels at every pair of legs, which has me worried. The bar is already filled with boisterous Brits; Denny is itching to join them, which worries me more. We have a meal that reminds me why I try to avoid hotel restaurants. Damon and I go upstairs to set up the box. There's some kind of problem with the machine. It was running fine when we left home. Something went haywire in transit. At 2100 hours -- 0000 back home -- I leave Damon to get some sleep. He's still brooding over the software. The demo keeps crashing, coming up bluescreen. This is not good. - - - - - - - - - - - - Friday, 0700 PST: I go see what's up with Damon. He has the case open and is poking at things with a voltage probe, eyes drooping with weariness. This is definitely not good. I hop in the car, go down to CompUSA, max out my Visa to buy a new box. We have the demo on CD-ROM. God willing, all will be well for our 11 o'clock. I have breakfast sent up and pour a couple of quarts of coffee into Damon. He's past his warranty date, but he has to get this thing running. The demo starts up fine, then bam -- the video doesn't play. The game-play part works fine, but so much for our cool intro cut-scene. Damon curses and starts checking out the video drivers. The box has some damn video card he's never seen before. Hey, DirectX makes the hardware level invisible to the software, right? What a boon to developers. Damon curses Microsoft, hardware manufacturers and third-party software vendors indiscriminately. N E X T_P A G E .|. Eighteen holes -- 18 ways to die!