MetaZine Issue #3 
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               |\/|etaZine


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"Now It's Ok To Be Square"


VOL 1, Issue 3, September 25, 2000


Editor: Joshua Dickerson, editor@metasquarer.com


Coeditor: Michael Barnathan, webmaster@programmerfaq.com


Publisher: Joshua Dickerson


http://www.MetaSquares.com/metazine


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              IN THIS ISSUE


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  1. What happened to the editor?


  2. Poll: Free or paid host?


  3. NEWS FLASH!


	Another New Host


  4. Article: The future of MetaZine


  5. The top 10 players


  6. Feature Article:


        The Latest Version Of Metasquarer


  7. Feature Web Site


  8. The Quote


  9. Subscription Management


  10. Contact Information





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1.  What happened to the editor?


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It appears that Joshua Dickerson, the editor of MetaZine has left us.


I, Michael Barnathan, am writing in his stead, since the delay between


issues has exceed two months already. We will let you know when and if


Josh comes back.





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2. Poll


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New Poll: Should Metasquares.com use a free or paid host? (Keep in mind that we'd need to get the money somewhere for a paid host)








Poll just posted, no results available yet





To participate:


In order to participate in the poll you have to be a member


of Egroups (http://egroups.com).  Then you have to join


MetaSquares Newsletter (http://metasquares.com).  Upon


logging into your egroups account, there will be a link


for the poll.  Go there and vote.








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3. NEWS FLASH!: Another New Host


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After asking Nilloc.com for a CGI-BIN for two months, and not receiving


it, Metasquares.com has moved to Hypermart, a free host with many great


features, but very annoying popup ads. In addition to not giving us CGI


access, which we need for the top 10 as well as many other features of


MetaSquarer, Nilloc.com also wanted us to complete a project called


"Poincy"(The name was their idea), a chat client with a very intense


interface that could take months to design. However, our host wanted


it within one week. Even that did not push us towards this descision as


much as the Trojan Horse that this host attempted to put on the website


(The horse was luckily detected and erradicated before it was activated


(You have to run a file to activate it, and I always scan my files for


viruses before running them for the first time). All of these factors


have urged me to change hosts, mainly the third reason because it could


have compromised the safety of everyone that downloaded Metasquarer had


I not detected it in time. Any host that puts viruses on uploaded files


is not a trustworthy host.





I am currently searching for a host that can support my site and the


programs.  Anybody that can contribute any money or bandwidth at this 


time would be of great help. The top 10 should begin to work again as


the host changes.





If you have any thing to contribute or know someone that


does, please contact me at webmaster@programmerfaq.com





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4. Article:  The future of MetaZine


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This being only the third issue of MetaZine, I want to apologize for


the delay in sending it out. I was hoping that our editor would show up.


Since he hasn't shown up since August, I'm taking the burden of MetaZine


into my own hands for now. MetaZine will remain a more or less bi-weekly


e-zine, we will try not to have such delays in the future. I will try 


to adopt Josh's style, though I am NOT a good writer :). Hopefully, Josh


will show up again and we can get the zine back to where it should be.





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5. The Top 10 Metasquarer players





Please note that this list is not current, as the rating changes have not taken effect yet since the server went down.





1.) madmeta


     140.54





2.) Spillage


     110.16





3.) Mike


     106.20





4.) DewmanJR


     104.19





5.) sonnybru


     102.40





6.) Aurorus


     101.69





7.) TongueMan


     101.65





8.) Fegary


     101.48





9.) MadCow


     101.37





10.) Pappy56


     101.17





Interested in becoming one of the Top 10 Metasquarers?


You can become one by downloading Build 57 or later of Metasquarer


at Metasquares.com or Metasquarer.com





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6.  Feature Article


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The Latest Version Of Metasquarer





If you have been to the new metasquares.com lately, you would


have noticed that there is a new site and that there is a new


version of Metasquarer.  It is called "Metasquarer v.


5.5.59(Or build 59 for short)".  This article features the good and the bad of this


new program.








The Good...





Yes, it is finally here! You may now "peek" into games! In addition, since the last update of MetaZine, a computer opponent has been added(Build 58), as well as "Solo" support(Build 57 Rev. 2). Hostmasks are now constant, and in Build 58 and up, they are 100 characters in length. No more problems caused by other people having your hostmask!





The AI opponent is very challenging, and can defeat even the best of the 'Squares players. The bug where it moves for you in subsequent games after you play it once has been fixed in Build 59.





Have you noticed that in the older versions that your score


would reset quite often, even with the tolerance control?  This won't stop it from resetting, but when it DOES reset, it will reset to the rating on the server(Your top 10 rating).





The Bad...


Sorry, since this is an ezine for MetaSquares, I thought


that it should also display it's downfalls.





Just like Microsoft. When something new comes out it has more


bugs that need to be fixed.  Since it takes a lot of money


and time to fix these things I will not "rag" on Mike for it.


However, I will still list the current bugs.


1.) If you are disconnected by the server, then attempt to 


    reconnect, the client may crash.


2.) Metasquarer has not been tested on Windows 2000, nor on 


    machines behind a firewall.


3.) Peeking will not always work. It may take multiple attempts to get a game list


4.) The person playing the game you're peeking into needs to also have build 59.


5.) The AI is TOO hard is most cases. Even on level 1, it's very challenging.





DOWNLOAD v. 5.5.59: http://metasquarer.com





Build 60 is going to have a very sleek look, a whole new design, and a much better experience overall. I hope to fix some bugs for that version also. True to the number(In this case, not always), build 60 will be Version 6.0 of Metasquarer





How did I do for my first "Feature Article"?  Tell me.


email:  editor@metasquarer.com





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6. Feature Web Site


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Scott Kim's homepage


http://www.scottkim.com





Remember Scott Kim? You may know him as the puzzlemaster. He was the one that came up with the idea of Squares, and worked with MetaCreations to help design it. He has a really great site on Squares, but not as detailed into the strategy of the game as Cubist's, even though he has more general game info.





Go there:  http://www.scottkim.com





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The MetaStore is finally open, and although we are just starting it, we currently have T-Shirts available. These t-shirts come in all sizes, and although the design is not on the page yet, it looks very pleasing to the eye. Sizes small-large are $20. X-Large is $25. 100% of the profit goes to helping Metasquarer.





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8.  The Quote


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"AOL had reportedly tried to talk MetaCreations into moving the game to the Premium games area, which currently charges members US$1.99 per hour over the $19.95 monthly membership fee to play. MetaSquares will not be available on AOL after September 1."





--- Press release from www.gamespot.com





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7.  Subscription Management


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To SUBSCRIBE or join this Newsletter:


Go To Metasquares.com/metazine





To UNSUBSCRIBE or be removed from this Newsletter:


Go To Metasquares.com/metazine











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8.  Contact Information


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Thank You


Joshua Dickerson (eye-say.com) - editor@metasquarer.com


Michael Barnathan - webmaster@programmerfaq.com








You can find Joshua on MetaSquarer.


Nickname: Groundup





You can find Mike on MetaSquarer.


Nickname: Mike





      +---------------------------------+


      |             Links               |


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      | http://metasquares.com          |


      | http://metasquarer.com          |


      | http://metasquares.com/metazine |


      | http://eye-say.com              |


      +---------------------------------+





Thanks for reading Michael Barnathan