2006.355 (December 21, 2006)

Holding The Line Chapter 213

With only a month between this and the previous chapter, it seems like the Holding The Line story is now getting back on track. As always, Raptor has the details about this latest chapter:

Hey all, Raptor here.
HTL continues with Part 5 of the "Welcome To Hell" series, written by James Andrew "JAG" Greenhow. This series has traditionally followed the Confed reserve forces as they prepared to back up the main fleet. Recently though, the Confed and Border Worlds reserves have pooled their forces and then divided into two task forces, in order get a better balance of fighters, bombers and escort warships as they take on the Nephilim. The reserves have had some nasty skirmishes with the enemy so far, but now they're going to be thrown straight into the thick of the battle. Please send any and all comments to JAG at rambo_123uk@hotmail.com, not to me.
http://www.holdingtheline.net/800/8ch213.htm
Best, Raptor

Jumpgate Upgrade Coming Soon

The long running massively multiplayer space sim Jumpgate turned five years old this fall, and it's about to get a major upgrade to celebrate. The game's original publisher ran out of money a few years back, but the developers stuck it out, streamlined their operations and manage to successfully operate the game to this day. SirSkippy noticed a blurb at Kotaku about the MMO's upcoming overhaul. Few details are forthcoming on the specific improvements to expect, but improved graphics and new options seem to be a given. Jumpgate could probably use a bit of a marketing push to supplement its user base as well.

The game, sort of Elite or Wing Commander Privateer online, managed to survive both the ebbs and flows of the MMO market and the death of its initial publisher 3DO.
Although the game doesn't get much publicity these days, it still has a pretty strong user base of about 1,000 people, NetDevil's Scott Brown told me. And it's profitable.