The Sims 5+1 & The Sims: Superstar
International distributor: Electronic Arts and Maxis
Local distributor: EA Taiwan
Platforms: English for PC
Taiwan Release: Currently available
Over the last three years, The Sims have kept their position at the top of the bestseller rankings for electronic games. Now with the 5+1 set, you can get all the fun from the past games in this world-class series. A new product has been added to the series with the release of the new superstar version of The Sims. No longer a faceless member of the urban community, in The Sims: Superstar, you get to be a member of the jet set, one of the beautiful people, a super star.
In past extension sets to the basic Sims setup, the aim has been to simulate family life, community interaction and so on. With Superstar, you get to follow a character on the road to fame and fortune.
Your virtual persona starts off having to go through the usual trials of signing with an agent, accepting various television and film assignments, and generally hanging out in a location not dissimilar to Tinsel Town. A system of points is used to assess the level of success you achieve, and you are helped along your way by a number of comic characters. Although your virtual persona will enjoy the services of an ever-efficient valet, a skilled sushi chef and an intimidating masseuse, there are also plenty of challenges if you want to enjoy the limelight, such as Paparazzi and adoring fans who won't leave you alone. That's the price of success.
Living like a prince, or princess, is what Superstar is all about, and with this game there are loads of new material things to enjoy, not least among them being stunt parachutes, satellite dishes and a host of fashionable furnishings for your penthouse apartment. Taking a day off, treat your virtual superstar self to spas, mud baths, steam rooms and enriched oxygen. It's as good as it gets, virtually.
War Craft III: The Frozen Throne
International distributor: Blizzard Entertainment
Local distributor: Unalis Technology Corp
Platform: Chinese and English for PC
Taiwan release: June
The much anticipated extension set The Frozen Throne for the already hugely popular War Craft III, after many delays, is now slated to hit the shelves in Taiwan late next month in a simultaneous release with the US. According to Blizzard, War Craft III sold 2 million copies since its release last July, making it one of the fastest sellers in PC game history.
"After seeing demand totally outstrip supply when War Craft III was released, we have already prepared 150,000 Chinese/English bilingual copies of The Frozen Throne for release this summer," said Chuang Chen-han (
The Frozen Throne continues the story set up in the original game, although this time gamers will find themselves pitted against the disembodied person of the necromancer Nerzhul, who has been sealed in a prison of ice. In addition to extending the story, The Throne of Ice adds new hero characters for the different races and also new magical artifacts. It is also possible for the gamer to draw neutral characters to his cause, and new types of magic and new skills make the advantages and flaws of different races even clearer.
If that weren't enough, there are also three more continents to add to the library of game maps and these are filled with many new creatures. To deal with these, there are new weapons designed for the different races.
Enter the Matrix
International distributor: Infogames
Taiwan distributor: Atari Taiwan
Platforms: Chinese and English for PC, X Box and PS2
Taiwan release: June
A gaming extension of Matrix Reloaded, Enter the Matrix has created a fighting game with some of the minor characters of the film and developed its own new story, though drawing inspiration from the movie.
One of the most exciting aspects of the film is the hand-to-hand fighting, and this has been focused on in the game development, with ample opportunity for small arms and knife fighting coupled with kung fu moves. And a simplified combat system keeps the keystrokes relatively simple, giving the game a low entry barrier. This is helped by the stop action and slow motion features that have also been drawn form the film gamers can slow everything down, with only their character moving in real-time, so dogging bullets is made easy. Watch them as they come, their trajectory clearly visible.
Rise of Nations
International distributor: Microsoft USA
Taiwan distributor: Taiwan Microsoft
Platforms: Chinese and English for PC
Taiwan release: Next month
Real-time Strategy (RTS) enthusiasts have long been awaiting the release of Rise of Nations, which is scheduled for simultaneous international release next month. Designed by Brian Reynolds, who produced Civilization II, the game extends RTS from the concepts of rapid movement combat and command of resources, to incorporate trade and the development of international relations characteristic of strategy games.
An increased emphasis on tactical fighting makes the combat more interesting than the usual undifferentiated melee of RTS.
Moreover, the concepts of national boundaries have never before been a part of RTS gaming. But with Rise of Nations, it is only possible to develop within recognized borders, so that from the get go, gamers must take into account their long term development aims.
Another departure from traditional RTS gaming is the game's time span, which covers over 6,000 years divided into eight time periods.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
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Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s