Author: John Merlino
Date: 12:09:45 09/23/99
First of all, this is NOT an official "FAQ". This is merely some info that I have gathered (the person who previously stated that I work at Mindscape is correct) about the new version of Chessmaster in answer to the questions/concerns that many of you have had: 1) Chessmaster 7000 has the same engine (same version of The King) that CM6000 did. From what I've been told, there were INSURMOUNTABLE legal problems that Mindscape could not solve regarding getting a new version of The King into this latest version of Chessmaster. I have been assured that the absolute latest version of The King will appear in Chessmaster 8000 (or whatever it will be called). 2) Much improved PGN and FEN support. Apparently, it will do everything that you will want it to. 3) No autoplayer YET. The team is hoping to put Auto232 into a patch before year's end. That feature was put onto the back burner and couldn't make it in before the deadline (which, in a nutshell, is also why CM7000 went out without a new version of the engine -- deadlines, ultimately, rule over all other concerns). 4) New and fully integrated opening book editor that works much like TASCBase. 5) Completely new interface that breaks down the feature set into "rooms". This should solve many of the problems that people had with the old interface, where everything happened in the same place and it was easy to get confused as to what was going on. 6) Online support via DirectX that includes LAN, TCP/IP and Modem support. LAN and TCP/IP supports up to 16 people connected at the same time in a situation that behaves exactly like being on MPlayer. MPlayer support is included just like it was in CM6000. 7) About a dozen new Josh Waitzkin annotated games, although most of them are directed towards Kids/Beginning players. One of the "rooms" mentioned above is strictly for kids, with about 60 new "Kids" (i.e. 18 and under) personalities, and 5 personalities based on Josh when he was young (ages 6-12). 8) A "Diagnostic Rating Exam" written by Bruce Pandolfini. I'm sure there are other important differences that I have forgotten to mention, but I hope that covers everything. I am led to understand that website has not been updated because of conflicts/confusions of responsibility within the company (remember that Mindscape was bought by The Learning Company 1 1/2 years ago, which was THEN bought by Mattel about 6 months ago, and I'm sure you can understand). jm
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