Matthew Jones
Autumn marks two of the most significant milestones in professional sports: the end of the U.S. baseball season and the beginning of the U.S. football season. Now that the World Series is coming up and "Monday Night Football" has begun, your friends and family have probably given up hope that you will abandon the television until spring.
By visiting the Internet sites mentioned in this article, you can take a break from the television without missing any of the latest sports news, scores, or statistics. And if all of this sports information becomes too much of a good thing, you can check out this month's network resources and games, or you can read about the new products I have found. (See "Product Snapshots.")
If you love the ESPN cable network, which is dedicated to sports programming, you'll love ESPN SportsZone (http://espnet.sportszone.com). This site contains all of the information and resources you need to stay up-to-date with your favorite sports, such as football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, tennis, and golf. For example, you can view the latest sports scores and statistics by downloading ScoreTracker, a Java applet that you can run from your computer's hard drive. You can customize ScoreTracker to display real-time scores and statistics for the sports, leagues, and teams you want as often as every 15 seconds.
ESPN SportsZone offers more than numbers, however: At this site, you can read sports columns, and you can play games such as fantasy football. You can also chat with athletes, coaches, and reporters online, and you can listen to live game broadcasts and programs such as ESPN SportsBeat and ESPNews.
Like ESPN SportsZone, CBS SportsLine provides sports scores, statistics, columns, and games (http://www.cbs.sportsline.com). However, CBS SportsLine also features the official home pages of top athletes. For example, you can find the home pages of current sports stars such as Michael Jordan and retired sports legends such as Joe Namath. You can visit these home pages to read biographical information, to download audio and video clips, and to purchase sports memorabilia and products that the athletes have endorsed. In addition, you can chat with fellow fans and with the athletes themselves when they are online.
Whereas CBS SportsLine puts you in touch with your favorite athletes, CNN/SI focuses on providing sports news and feature articles (http://CNNSI.com). A joint venture of the CNN cable network and Sports Illustrated magazine, CNN/SI is a great site to visit if you want to find out whether Steve Young will play in the San Francisco 49ers's next game or if you want to read an analysis of the upcoming college basketball season.
CNN/SI also offers information about other popular sports such as soccer, rugby, and cricket. In addition, you can view video clips of the most famous sports moments in history, and you can post a message on one of several message boards.
If you would like to get Novell technical support online, discuss Novell products with other users, or ask a networking question, you should plan on visiting the Novell Support Connection forums, which will be available later this year (http://support.novell.com/pforum). These forums will be divided into categories and will be monitored by networking professionals who can provide the information you need.
Although the Novell Support Connection forums are not yet available, you can now preregister for these forums by completing an online registration form. You must enter your name and e-mail address, and you must specify a user ID and password that you can use to access the forums. You will then receive an e-mail message when the forums are up and running.
Creatures from Cyberlife Technology Ltd. gives you a little peek into what it's like to be both a god and a parent. In Creatures, you populate a virtual world called Albia with intelligent beings, or norns. The purpose of the game is to help these norns become independent adults by educating them and protecting them from Grendel, a ferocious beast that preys on norns.
To develop a population of norns, you select two eggs from a hatchery, and you nurture these eggs until the norns hatch. Like human babies, infant norns are completely helpless when they are born, depending on you to meet all of their needs. For example, you must teach the norns how to speak and ensure that they remain healthy by monitoring their vital statistics.
In addition, you must teach the norns how to behave by reinforcing positive behavior and discouraging negative behavior. When a norn does something good, such as learning a new word, you can type the word Yes or scratch the norn's head. When a norn does something bad, such as disobeying a command, you can type the word No or give the norn a spanking. You can also influence the behavior of norns over several generations by manipulating their DNA to promote genetic characteristics such as intelligence and language skills.
Creatures, which is distributed by Mindscape Inc., is available for Windows 95, Windows 3.1, and Power Macintosh. You can purchase Creatures through retail channels at the suggested re-tail price of U.S. $40. You can also purchase Creatures online at http://www.mindscape.com/cgi-bin/omixlink?19563872624688+store/index.htm. You can then download free resources, such as the latest Creatures updates and add-on software, from http://www.cyberlife.co.uk/creatures_frameset.htm.
For more information about Creatures, visit CyberLife Technology's World-Wide Web site (http://www.cyberlife.co.uk), or visit Mindscape's web site (http://www.mindscape.com/cgi-bin/omixlink?19563872624688+store/games/creature/details.htm). You can also call 1-888-287-3800 or 1-415-897-9900.
Claw from Monolith Productions Inc. is an arcade-style game that requires you to assume the role of Captain Nathaniel J. Claw, a notorious feline pirate who has been imprisoned by the Cocker Spaniards. Your goal is to escape and find the missing gems of the Amulet of Nine Lives, which provides the wearer with near immortality. To complete this quest, you must fight the many bounty hunters who are trying to capture you dead or alive, and you must uncover pieces of a map that shows where the missing gems are hidden. Finally, you must defeat your enemy, Red Tail, the king of the Cocker Spaniards.
Not only does Claw feature an entertaining plot, but it also offers superior graphics and game play. For example, Claw uses a graphics engine that provides parallax scrolling and fast frame rates. In addition, Claw includes 14 levels of game play that feature nearly 40 enemies you can battle and offer a variety of projectile weapons and hand-to-hand combat options.
You can play Claw with one other person over a modem connection or with up to 63 other people over a network or Internet connection. To win the game, you must complete each game level before your competitors. If you cannot find anyone to play Claw with, visit http://www.captainclaw.com/competition. At this site, you can participate in the Claw Ladder, which allows you to engage people from around the world in a game of Claw.
Claw is available only for Windows 95. You can purchase Claw through retail channels at the suggested retail price of U.S. $49. You can also purchase Claw online at http://store.lith.com, and you can download a demo version of Claw at http://www.captainclaw.com/demos.
For more information about Claw, visit Monolith Productions's web site (http://www.lith.com), or visit the official Claw web site (http://www.captainclaw.com). You can also call 1-800-381-3581 or 1-206-739-1500.
NetWare Connection, October 1997, pp.50-51