Author: Richard A. Fowell (fowell@netcom.com)
Date: 20:58:31 12/30/99
Go up one level in this thread
On December 30, 1999 at 19:31:39, O. Veli wrote: >What are the differences between Chessmaster 6000 and 4000 for Macintosh? >Unfortunately they have the same engine. There must be some major changes in the >program. Oh, there definitely are, including about 348Mb of multimedia tutorials. Some examples below. >Otherwise why would they sell it as a new product? Of course, they may >be thinking of making quick money with the same program. CM 7000 = CM 6000 and >CM 6000 Mac = CM 4000 Mac. Most of the CM customers are interested in the >personalities, the graphics, voice and other bell & whistle stuff that no other >chess program provides. But to sell the same engine is milking money from the >customers. I do not think that this is a wise business decision at all. Well, *I* thought they should use the same engine as Chessmaster 6000 PC. And, according to the documentation, they were supposed to. See the first item in the online help list, below. However, they did put a LOT of work into the upgrade (which deepens the mystery as to why they didn't port the 2.61 engine - relatively speaking, that seems like a low effort, high payoff (in prestige, if nothing else) move). For the average Chessmaster Mac customer, I'd say this is a much more attactive program than CM4000 Mac (if you are willing to put up with the "must launch from the CD" copy protection, which is a major drawback no matter who you are, IMHO. When I was writing reviews for Inside Mac Games, we always warned our readers about that sort of thing in the summary table at the top of the review.) There are a lot of updates besides the official list (given at end). Some that I've noticed: - Finally, a decent 2D "diagram-style" set. I put a sample of it online at: http://www.gamedb.com/game_info.php?id=00460 ] - The buttons/sliders are much more Mac-standard, and the default button is indicated and responds to the "Return" key in many dialog boxes. A definite improvement over the baroque GUI elements of CM4000 Mac, though I wish they'd gone all the way - they still have some nonstandard GUI elements. - Requires CD in the drive to launch (ugh! wotta pain! CM4000 and HIARCS 7 Mac run off the hard drive) - Installs Quicktime 4 on your machine. Nice! - Now lets you specify castling rights and side on move when loading position from file (as ever, their "FEN" is only the first field of EPD/FEN, they ignore the rest). A definite improvement, although half-baked - true support for at least minimal EPD/FEN would have been much better. - The "Illustrated Voice Analysis" provides digitized voice commentary with animated play on the board (even for computer-generated analysis). This is a VASTLY enhanced version of the "natural language advice" feature in CM4000 Mac, where you asked it to take some time to look at the position, and it gave some commentary text. The enhancements are - now, besides the text, if you click on the "Play" button, it will play out the suggested continuation, reading the commentary with digitized (not synthesized) voice, and highlighting features like attacks, pins, pawn structure, etc. with lines on the board, highlighted squares, ghosted pieces, etc., then restore the original position at the end. It is a VERY involving way of presenting commentary. (Of course, the commentary seems as prone to the same side-splittingly inane comments as before). This mode is used for the Waitzkin annotated games, and is very effective. I'd love to figure out how to use this feature to add my own voiced-over, animated, and highlighted commentary to games. Heck, if the computer can generate this stuff on the fly, it must be encodable into a relatively compact file format. (Hmmm ... actually, looking at a saved CM6000 file with a text editor, it looks like it would be pretty easy. Reminds me a lot of the annotated SmartChess file format and some EPD extensions for graphical position annotation I put out a while back). - Here's what the Help file in Chessmaster 6000 Mac says is new vs. Chessmaster 4000 Mac. My comments in brackets. • The latest state of the art King chess engine. [NOT TRUE AT ALL! - RAF] • The ability to play games against a gallery of computer opponents with varying chess ratings and playing styles. Chessmaster will keep track of your rating and your win/loss record against each opponent from session to session. [This seems to work pretty well, and the (64) opponents provided seem to span a good range, (rating "165" to "2500"). A pretty good answer to the common complaint about chess programs as sparring partners being invincible juggernauts.] • A new set of chess tutorials by noted chess coach and author, Bruce Pandolfini. Pandolfini’s unique approach to teaching chess will help you learn the game from the inside out. • 14 voice annotated games from Josh Waitzkin. [ And pretty interesting too, with two levels (beginner and advanced) of narrative to choose from.] • A library of classic games annotated by Grandmaster Larry Evans. • New perspective 3D chess sets including Kenyan Stone, Burmese Metal, plus bird’s-eye and over-the-shoulder versions of Whitney Metal. Also included is a smaller version of the popular 2D black and white tournament board. • The auto-annotator now comments on key turning points in the game for each player. Also, Chessmaster now generates auto-annotation and game analysis at the same time. The auto-annotation results, game analysis results, and your own annotations are now stored separately and are all accessible from the Annotation window. • The Think Lines window has been redesigned to better show the engine’s progress when thinking about a move. [ You get to see the last four PVs, scores and thinking times, as well as the current line being examined. A big improvement.] Also, the game score is now expressed from White’s point of view to be consistent with current convention. • New type of clock – Digital Chess clock is available. • Chessmaster 6000 has a Coach window that can be accessed from the Windows menu. While the game is still in book, the Coach window shows the opening book variation name, if any, associated with each move. Chessmaster 6000 recognizes over 2,000 opening variations by name. Opening book transpositions are also identified. • The Visual Thinking window displays a board representation of Chessmaster’s thinking during a game. • Loading and saving layouts has been enhanced, providing a larger set of standard layouts to choose from for a variety of playing levels and monitor resolutions. • The Practice Openings feature has been redesigned and now provides voice commentary. • Game Information window shows the game result. • Chessmaster 6000 now speaks to you, literally. It provides spoken assistance in Auto-Annotation and Analysis, Natural Language Advice, Spoken Move Announcements, Thematic Sounds Sets, Illegal Move Commentary, Tutorial and Practice Openings. • New MIDI sound tracks have been added along with the Miles Sound System for optional high quality background music. • Portable Game Notation files (PGN) can now be exported and imported so you can share games with users of other chess applications that support this standard file format. Also you can share your games with Windows Chessmaster 6000 players. • The Hourglass and Fisher Style time controls are also available now for playing games. • The Chessmaster website is easily accessible just by clicking the chessmaster.com in the Help menu. There you can get the latest Chessmaster news—including update and registration information.
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