GaGames has a small, but very interesting news item about the next B5 game. Here is is:

In the february 1999 issue of Computer Gaming World there is a two page article on Sierra's upcoming Babylon 5 Space Combat Sim. According to this article, there will be a follow-up title that will be an adventure game using the Unreal game engine.

Nothing better than a good new fresh preview! Check out a very good article on GameSpot UK, which includes some screenshots (new?).

Here is an interesting part:

Thanks to the polygon-accurate collision modelling, you can makeinertial strafing runs, get right up against the surface of the ships, or even pass through gaps and openings. You'll have to be careful not to be distracted by the majesty of some of the craft you're attacking, however. The development crew is employing the actual Lightwave 3D models used by Netter Digital to create special effects sequences for the series, and the results are spectacular. Even though the number of polygons must be reduced for real-time rendering ­ the original Minbari Cruiser has 45,000 polygons, while in the game it has closer to 1,500 ­ the ships still look great. High-quality texture maps make up for much of the loss of detail.

Full article right over here. Thanks to Joseph Bayley for mentioning this to us.

The official site has 6 more brand new screen shots that show off the amazing hyperspcae lighting effects. You can download them in resolutions from 640x480 to 1600x1200 (Wow!).

In development has little interview with another member of the team, this time a lightwave artist - Robin Phanco.

Contest !! - We Are Giving Away FREE Games!

How would you like to win a FREE copy of Sierra's Official Guide To Babylon 5?

All you have to do is send us an email with the following information:

1. Your first and last name.

2. Your age.

3. Your email address.

4. An answer to this question " Will you purchase the Babylon 5 Combat Sim. if Sierra do not release a playable demo before the actual release of the game, or will you wait for a demo?

5. Optional : Do you feel that it is important for the Aurora Starfury to have all four forward facing guns functional in the game?

Simple right? Well, we will select 5 lucky winners who will each receive a copy of Sierra's Official Guide To Babylon 5. Email your answers to giveaway@firstones.com. Good Luck.

Special thanks to Yosemite Entertainment for sponsoring this contest for us.

The contest will end by the 31st of December, and we will announce the winners on the 1st of January.

First some Q&A with Randy (post):

>...will Whitestars be a ship you can fly yourself in a mission or two?

In terms of the single player game...if you're talented and lucky - yes.

>...could we jump to a planet and find a space station or a defense grid, commercial and civilian traffic like we see going around the Drazi Homeworld?

To the extent that we are able to compute non-essential craft, stations and defense grids - yes. You can do this.

Next, Jeff tells about the progress in development (post):

>I saw a post by JMS a month back on a newsgroup saying that the Development aspect of the game was done.

I think JMS was thinking about the design stage, not the development stage. Development is far from over and we are working hard to get the game out in a timely manner. As for a specific release date, I am not at liberty to say at this time :)

Yes, I am still alive. And, yes, I am still here. The number of posts on the forum has drasticly risen in the last few weeks, and my availible free time has proportionally fallen. I'll try to get over it, though. Here's a nice bit of info from Ken:

We will be updating this board very shortly with a new look!

Pretty good news, if you ask me.

Have you supported this? you should. You might be a PC gamer, but there are many Mac gamers out there who would love to play the game with us all. I think we should all support them. Plus the fact, that the more people who will be able to run the game on their system, the more mutliplayer gaming we can expect. No?

They have listed over 700 gamers already, and if EVERYONE who visits this site adds their name, we could make it few thousands easy.

Check out the petition page right over here.

Just a thought though. Should Yosemite invest the money in a Mac version? will it be worth while for them? That I do not know. But as this is a fan site, and we are fans of the game, let us support this issue.

Cleaned up the mess that was here and managed to shrink the main image. The website should load much faster now. Archived November's news as well. Let's hope the guys keep it this way:)