Year: 2001

Ashlar-Vellum has released a free, 2-week Beta Test-Drive version of Neon, its versatile 3D publishing tool. Neon enables the publication of any engineering-grade 3D file in the most popular Web and print publishing formats, including Macromedia Shockwave 3D, Viewpoint VET, Apple QuickTime, Adobe Illustrator, VRML, and more.

MacPlay has announced the release of Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn for Mac OS 8/9 and Mac OS X. Bioware’s fantasy role-playing game is the sequel to the award-winning original Baldur’s Gate, and features an engrossing role-playing adventure set in the Forgotten Realms. Playing as either a good or evil character, players travel through the wilderness and dread caverns of the Underdark on a quest for artifacts and hordes of treasure.

Apple will announce its fourth quarter earnings this Wednesday, October 17, at 17:00 ET. As always, the conference call will be Webcast. As we reported previously, Apple appears set to buck the industry’s trend and report earnings in line with what it estimated last quarter, at 16 cents per share.

Feral Interactive has released a multinational demo of Tropico, the building-oriented strategy/simulation game for Classic and Mac OS X from PopTop Software. The demo offers support for five languages—English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish—and fixes several bugs found in the original English-only demo.

Cyber3 has begun shipping the iBook Tote & Tilt, a US$39.95 handle that attaches to Apple’s new iBook without voiding the warranty. The Tote & Tilt also serves to angle the rear of the iBook upwards, providing a more comfortable typing position on flat surfaces. The company has also begun shipping an improved version of its $44.95 Tote & Tilt for the PowerBook G4, which better matches the system’s color and now allows the PowerBook’s screen to be angle back up to 135 degrees.