Aaron Cohen and Chris Rubyen came to Seattle with a stack of CDs and installed their game on a group of machines in the Wizards of the Coast Gaming Center. They rotated four groups through playing the single player and multiplayer of a 3/4 overhead "Diablo clone" that differs too much to be accurately compared with it. I was the first person to play the game there, lucky me, and ended up playing with a machine that had a monitor too dark and a blown set of headphones. But whatever the situation was, the game was still impressive.

An action/role-playing game, Nox is the first of a new franchise for Westwood Studios. It's a game of savage combat and sneaky tactics set in a mystical land filled with discovery and deceit. Nox's lightning-fast action is fueled by a combat system that's easy to use yet gives players tremendous gameplay depth and infinite possibilities. With more than 100 unique spells and weapons, players must use their wits to create devious combinations and tricky tactics.

The single player game will take you through the lands of Nox, pitting you against vicious monsters and powerful wizards. Driven by an epic story, you'll progress up skill levels and learn three schools of combat: the way of the Warrior, the knowledge of Conjuror, and the disciplines of the Wizard.

Nox promises an intense multiplayer experience with five multiplayer options: deathmatches (teams and free-for all melees), Capture the Flag, and King of the Realm.

Square fans will get the opportunity to buy Squaresoft videogames and apparel directly from Square Electronic Arts starting on December 3, 1999. That's the date when their new online store will be available at www.squaresoft.com/store. In addition to the games and apparel, customers will be able to take advantage of the online-exclusive pre-order promotion for FFVIII Music Collection - Music From The Final Fantasy VIII Video Game.

This four-CD package, which has sold more than 300,000 copies in Japan, features design illustrations never before seen on these shores and contains music from the game created by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu.

EA has informed us that they are working on a 3 on 3 arcade-style hockey game, titled Rock The Rink, for the Sony PlayStation game console. It is not known at this time whether it will have the NHL license or not. Rock The Rink is currently expected to be released in spring 2000.

This is the same game as Road Rash: Unchained, which we had previewed once long ago, but EA has gone back to the drawing boards on this one and reworked the story line and general lay-out of how the game works. You are now not a lone rasher -- you are part of a sadomasochistic gang looking to win races and battle rivals in an attempt to free your jailed buddy Spaz. Also new this year, you can take control of a donut-gnarling copper and tell some pig jokes to the boys whose skulls you have just cracked open with your nightstick.

We're pleased to announce the release of our official NOX FAN SITE KIT. Now, you can create your own NOX related fansite for cool prizes (coming soon). Those sites that meet our requirements listed in the downloadable kit will be listed here on the official site. Get started, because the judging will begin soon!