Planet of Death

:"For the 1981 game, Adventure A: Planet of Death, see Adventure A.

"POD - Planet of Death" is a futuristic racing game by Ubisoft. The game is set in the distant future, on the "Planet Io" (possibly Jupiter's satellite). A virus has just been unleashed on the colonies that inhabit the satellite, causing widespread panic. Luckily, the virus was detected in time and most of the population was able to escape on space ships. Unfortunately enough for the citizens of New Columbus and the surrounding areas, they have only one space ship left to escape on. It was quickly decided then that a racing tournament would be held; the overall winner earning the right to escape the doomed planet on the last space ship, leaving the others to face their impending demise. You are one of those racers.

The OEM 1.0 version (included with Pentium II MMX processors) has 12 tracks, the standard version contains 16 tracks (12 of which are carried over from the OEM version) and the Gold version has an impressive 32 tracks, all packed with plenty of exciting twists, turns, jumps, and obstacles. Furthermore, one can download a number of official and user-created cars and race tracks from the Internet. Up to eight players can race against each other in multiplayer mode (via network, Internet or modem connection) or by playing on the same computer in split-screen mode. A special multiplayer program called "Game Service" was provided by Ubisoft for "POD" players so that they could race on Ubisoft servers. This service is no longer active, but players can still play via modem, IPX network, split screen or one of the remaining multiplayer protocols.

History

"POD" was published in 1997. It was one of the first games to support the MMX instruction set and was only available as OEM version 1.0 (also later as OEM 2.0, after worldwide retail release) bundled with computers using an Intel Pentium MMX processor, as well as some AMD-K6 systems (such as the Acer Aspire). Unlike later versions of "POD", the OEM 1.0 version did not support 3dfx cards or network mode. A retail version of "POD" was later made available, technically referred to as "POD" 2.0 by Ubisoft, and contains more circuits and cars plus support for 3dfx video cards and network play.

"POD" was among the first games ("Quake" being another example) optimized for video cards with a 3dfx chipset using the Glide API. At first, this meant only video cards containing the 3dfx Voodoo 1 chipset were supported upon the game's release. Later on, Ubisoft published patches which added support for the Voodoo 2 using the Glide API and non-3dfx chipsets via Direct3D.

Expansion packs

Less than a year after publishing "POD", Ubisoft issued an expansion under the title “Back to Hell” (also known under the title "Extended Time" in France) in late 1997. The add-on contained 19 circuits, some of which were obtainable from Ubisoft’s website, and 3 that were not (Beach, Hellway, and Night). It also came with 15 new vehicles. These included motorbikes and some rather outlandish ideas for vehicles, such as a floating, purple bat creature and a witch riding a broom.

In late 1997 (early 1998 in some countries), Ubisoft published another updated version, "POD" Gold, which combined the retail version of "POD" with the new circuits and cars from Ubisoft's website as well as support for Direct3D out of the box. However, Ubisoft released one new circuit and many new cars on its website after the release of "POD" Gold, so additional downloading is needed to "complete" the game.

Compatibility

The game does not run on current hardware and Microsoft Windows revisions in many cases because of incompatibility with Pentium 4 and other similar generation processors and the current version of DirectX. By means of the Glide wrapper [http://dege.freeweb.hu/ dgVoodoo] and in some cases a [http://dege.freeweb.hu/ Pentium 4/Celeron patch] , it is possible to play on the majority of modern PCs.

Sequel

In the winter of 2000, Ubisoft released the game's successor, "POD: Speedzone" (also known as "POD 2: Multiplayer Online"), but it is only available for the Sega Dreamcast console. It is another futuristic racing game, but players are able to attack their opponents. Each player is a miner on the colony of Damethra, and an alien virus has taken over the cars on the colony, creating mutant cars. It was one of the first games playable on SegaNet, and one of the few games to support the Dreamcast Broadband Adaptor. This game features eight different vehicles to use on five tracks. There are a few bonus cars and tracks available, which were unlockable if you signed up for a Game Service account and played online. Luckily, due to the Dreamcast's Internet capabilities one can still play these locked features by [http://dreamcast.onlineconsoles.com/phpBB2/downloads_gs_pod.php downloading the following gamesave] . The save has cars 'Crab' and 'Bulldog', as well as the track 'Oddrock' unlocked.

External links

*moby game|id=/planet-of-death|name="Planet of Death"
* [http://www.thebasingers.com/0706milbs/pod/ "POD" PhReAk] - Page with all cars, tracks, patches for download (includes Back To Hell/Extended Time add-ons)
* [http://bandie.ba.funpic.de/phpBB2/index.php?c=14 BANDIE's Racing Board] - Active "POD" information and discussion forum
* [http://www.murmuran.net/pod/ Murmuran.net] - Forum in French and English language
* [http://dege.freeweb.hu/ dgVoodoo] - Glide wrapper and Pentium 4 patch
* [http://www.bredel.homepage.t-online.de/POD/POD-English/pod-english.html Holger's "POD" Info] - Page with info and installation tips for Windows XP
* [http://pug.sebby44.de/fiction/encyc/index.htm "POD" Encyclopedia] - Fictitious encyclopedia based on the game and its story and possible interpretations
* [http://www.berlinrc.de/pod BANDIE's IO PODCAFE] - Old page with lots of info on the "POD" community