September 28, 1999 15:16 EST
Official news on the "Demo"
arketing Weasel Alex Rodberg (I think?) put this post in the Sierra Pharaoh website. Here's an excerpt from the actual post.

The downloadable demo should be available at the end of this week. For the first 48 hours, it will be available exclusively on C-net's Gamecenter and Download.com - we want to measure initial response to it. After that, it will be available here, and on every major gaming site.

The complete message can be found here. Remember folks, this is the official word...

Angel Dracoenkhamen has been busy in the Download section again and added just short of half a dozen images. Half a dozen icons in this case, that have a definite Egyptian flavour.

Angel Jahakemhotep

September 27, 1999 14:14 EST
Another preview
ameSpot UK is doing a preview on Pharaoh, which you can find here. I was just taking a look at the screenshots and the second one shows a money wise way of adding "For Sale" signs.
As usual you can post your comments in the forum.

Apart from that we seem to have a little posting problem. It seems harmless enough, though. When you get the "file missing" warning just use the back button to go the thread and hit refresh there. I don't think I've lost a post yet... 

Angel Jahakemhotep

September 26, 1999 15:24 EST
Demo reactions
he demo release last week has provoked some reactions (there's a surprise;)) in the forum.  First off, we have someone complaining that the demo was released here in the UK before over there in the US:

Is it just me or is everyone else in the lovely US jealous of the UK for getting the demo first. Why can't they ship it here? Too much postage?

Then, we have some feedback from someone who's played the demo (and having problems building the mastaba):

I built a warehouse accepting only bricks next door and directly next to the Mastaba. The warehouse on the other side of the road was fine. One side of the tomb remains unfinished with steps for the workmen to drag their sledges up. I can only guess that you have to leave a clear tile between the tomb and anything on the same side of the road. No videos on the demo, just a deeply sad voice telling you that he is befuddled at your failure to complete the scenario and tough luck some other family gets the double crown.

That's it from me this week.   I might be back here in a couple of weeks, or I might not.  I'm heading off to Germany early Thursday morning, where internet access shouldn't be a problem, but might take a few weeks to get sorted out.  If I'm not here, then I'm sure that Angels Jayhawk and Alexander I will be bringing you all the latest news about demos and such like.

Angel Reckyamen

September 24, 1999 19:10 EST
Another way to get the demo
his bit of news was spotted by me on Gone Gold earlier today, and confirmed via this news piece at Avault:

Sure, Homeworld might be one of the most anticipated games of the fall, but what else does Sierra have on the burner that strategy fans might be anticipating? How about Impressions Games' city building offering Pharaoh? Sierra has confirmed with the Adrenaline Vault that Homeworld, which is slated to be in stores late September, will come with a playable demo of Impression's Egyptian inspired offering.

There you go.  Buy a copy of Homeworld, and you'll get a copy of the Pharaoh demo thrown in.  But then again, you could always download it...Stay tuned for news of that pretty soon.

Angel Reckyamen

September 24, 1999 13:15 EST
Demo is confirmed!
've been holding off announcing this bit of news for a day or so, just to make sure that it was indeed the case.  Yesterday, simonghent posted the following message:

Don't know if this is common knowledge, but I couldn't spot anything on the site -

There's a demo of Pharaoh on the cover disc of this month's PC Zone (UK).

(not looked at it yet, just bought it on my lunch hour)

I tried yesterday to get my hands on a copy of the latest PC Zone, but couldn't get out of the house (because I had to wait for another piece of software to be delivered).  Therefore, I popped out to the local newsagent today and found a copy of the November 1999 edition of PC Zone (yes, the November edition is out in September...clever, eh?).  I am pleased to report the following (as I posted in Simon's thread):

Yup, just to confirm this news. There is indeed a playable demo (not a video) of Pharaoh on the cover CD of this month's PC Zone here in the UK. Shame they insist on spelling it "Pharoah" at several points. The accompanying article is a fairly good read, but not absolutely essential. The screens are nothing new either (some look remarkably like some of our PH exclusives ).

Impressions permitting, I'll have a walkthrough and some piccies up later today.

Did you read the last bit of that message?  Well, Impressions did permit (thanks Itchy), and so I am pleased to be able to open the newest section of the site, the walkthroughs section.  There are hints and tips for the last demo level in there, as well as 6 piccies, so even if you can't get hold of the demo (because you're not in the UK) you can at least look at some pics of it.

Angel Reckyamen

September 23, 1999 12:31 EST
Downloads snafu
lease re-read the bit in the downloads section about placing images in forum posts.   Draco missed out 1 of the directories when he wrote that bit up, meaning that the links have all been dead.  Here's what the HTML should have been:

<IMG SRC="http://pharaoh.heavengames.com/
downloads/files/misc/sigpics/filename">

Voila.

Also, while you're here, take some time to take a look at the bottom of this page, where there's abrand new dropdown box showcasing some of the other great sites on the Gamestats News Network - it's likely that there's a fansite for whatever game you're interested in in there.

Angel Reckyamen

September 22, 1999 12:36 EST
More about reorganisation
ooks like Avault is the place to be to read all about Sierra's latest reorganisation.  Hot on the heels of yesterdays news of some cancellations and 105 job losses, there's an interview posted with the Sierra president David Grenewetzki.

For those interested in Babylon 5, one of the games cancelled by Sierra, here's a rant that I found on the Sierra C3 forum.

In the PH forums, there's 1 chap complaining about the cancelled games, and also a thread that was initially about cheats but which, in the time-honoured tradition of our forums, has wandered off into something completely different, namely how we can all Egyptianise our handles (see below for mine).

Angel Reckyamen