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Sunday - October 21, 2001
- Early Monsters, Inc. Reviews Very Positive
- A Look at Kohan: Ahriman's Gift
- Advance Look: Disciples 2
- News Link of the Day - Coming Up: Anime This

Early Monsters, Inc. Reviews Very Positive
(by digitalmediafx.com) Early press reviews of Monsters, Inc. are very positive, coming after analysts given a sneak peek of the film gave it high praise. Here are two quotes from early reviews from Film Critic and the Jacksonville Film Journal:

Jacksonville Film Journal (4 out of 5 stars): "...The latest offering from Pixar (the folks who brought us the Toy Story films and A Bug’s Life), shows more of the same ingenuity and amazing computer animation that the studio has become well known for in the last few years. Even though this is only their fourth feature length film, they are still apparently continuing their dedication to fully realized stories with lovable characters that don’t rely solely on the premise that their worlds are rendered entirely in CGI as plot. In fact, even though the worlds are impressively designed, the stories are so engrossing that one starts to forget that they are even watching an animated feature, allowing full immersion into the intriguing script without the distraction of 'Hey...look at how cool that CGI thing looks!'..."

Film Critic (4 out of 5 stars): "...But it's the sophistication of Monsters, Inc., like Toy Story and its sequel, that makes the film a standout over most animated fare. Sure, the secret lives of toys and bugs have already been explored to death, but Pixar keeps coming up with ways to keep the plot fresh..."

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A Look at Kohan: Ahriman's Gift
(by digitalmediafx.com) Time Gate Studios and Strategy First Inc. will be releasing Kohan: Ahriman's Gift to video game stores on November 6. Kohan: Ahriman's Gift is the prequel to the strong selling Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns strategy game.

In Kohan: Ahriman's Gift, 30 complex AI players challenge gamers with different styles of play. AI will create challenging gameplay in two new game types, Turtle and King of the Hill, allowing a slower, more strategic version of Kohan's original game rules. AI players are more than capable of contributing to victory and are even able to communicate with gamers and respond to gamer requests to attack, defend, and provide economy status reports.

Kohan: Ahriman's Gift contains five campaigns, forty custom-built maps, and a host of multiplayer options. Players become one of the Kohan, an ancient race devastated by a cycle of world-breaking cataclysms. Newly awakened to an uncertain future and a past not remembered, gamers must forge the present using superior strategies.

There are 90 units and 70 heroes in the game. In addition there are over 100 spells and 75 different technologies.

"We are extremely excited to announce the completion of Kohan: Ahriman's Gift," says Adel Chaveleh, TimeGate's Producer. "The strategy and tactics originally introduced by KIS have been brought to the forefront in KAG and we feel that the game has some of the best real time strategy artificial intelligence ever."

Here are some screenshots from Ahriman's Gift:

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Advance Look: Disciples 2
(by digitalmediafx.com) Strategy First is prepping Disciples 2 for release in January 2002. In the meantime, Digital Media FX has some advanced screenshots of the strategy game that is a sequel to the original Disciples game. Here's a look at three images from the game:

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News Link of the Day - Coming Up: Anime This

According to the San Francisco Chronicle:

"Japanese anime, or animation, and its cousin, manga (comic books), have taken major cultural root in the Bay Area in recent years. Saturday and next Sunday the Metreon entertainment center's Action Theatre will host the first Metreon Festival of Anime, an event its producers hope will become an annual attraction..."

Click here for the full story.

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