From: montressor@aol.com (Montressor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Marathon network play! part 2
Date: 2 Aug 1994 22:28:05 -0400
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I saw Marathon demo today, and I know I will definitely enjoy it much more
than DOOM. I think a lot of folks, many of them devoted DOOM players, will
agree. Network play wl just take it way over the top, IMHO.

But everyone can judge for themselves in 2 weeks. I'm curious how it'll
run over ARA (the guys I asked hadn't tried it, but they did say they sent
many small packets - anyone know if that's good or bad for ARA?). In any
case, network Marathon is the kind of game you'll haul your mac over to a
friends house to play.

Mont






Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
From: Bob Knowlden <knowlden@ll.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: RE:Help! Stuck in Marathon
Message-ID: <1994Aug3.011429.21641@ll.mit.edu>
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Subject: RE:Help! Stuck in Marathon
From: William T. Fleming, William_T._Fleming@rev.iceonline.com
Date: 01 Aug 1994 20:44:37 -0700
In article <1228799901.9082@rev.rev.iceonline.com> William T. Fleming,
William_T._Fleming@rev.iceonline.com writes:
>>Is this game actually available now??? Is there a demo????
>
>Yeah I saw it in the macwarehouse mailorder catalog (or at least on of
 them).
>It looks alot like Pathways into Darkness, it was created by the same
 people
>you know. Anyway I have no idea about a demo though.
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>  From The Revelation BBS * Vancouver, BC * (604) 929-1615
>-------------------------------------------------------------

I was down at Macworld Expo Boston today. Bungie was showing Marathon,
and taking orders to be shipped in "a couple of weeks". Cause for delay?
The packaging! Supposedly, people ordering directly from Bungie will get
it before it becomes available through resellers. Observe me holding my
breath...

First impressions: it shows its PiD ancestry, but the graphics are more
interesting. Definitely less blocky than DOOM, and better-looking than
the Wolfenstein 3D port that MacPlay was showing (which looked like
low-res graphics reworked for the Mac, rather than a clean-sheet remake).
I wonder if it plays worth a damn on non-PPC macs. It was also stated to
support multiplayer network play (kiss your jobs goodbye!). The monsters
are claimed to be smarter, and they communicate with each other to gang
up on you. (On the other hand, the "puzzles" are claimed to be easier, in
response to complaints. Apparently people were offended by having to
collect a set of objects and clues while monsters were sneaking up on
them.) Perhaps playing other *people* will be easier than going mano a
mano with your computer!(?)

Bungie also had an interesting-looking virtual reality rig running: this
was a headset, plus a toy plastic gun in hand. I didn't wait in line to
try it, but it looked like the aiming was entirely through the headset
(the gun provided only a trigger; it may as well have been a pushbutton.)
I shudder to think what the giz must cost, if it were for sale. (Perhaps
it is, but it looked far too light and compact to be cheap.)

BTW, I asked the Bungie employee who took my order what the age was of
their eldest employee. It's 28. This gives an entirely new meaning to
"children's games" 8-)

Bob Knowlden
(Unauthorized to speak for...)
MIT/Lincoln Lab