The Apple Games web site has a new feature on the upcoming multiplayer game, Cosmic Encounter Online. Created by Future Pastimes, the online game is a strategy game adapted from the classic board game. In the game you are the leader of an alien race, and your goal is to establish four colonies on the planets of other players. Up to four players can compete against each other with each game taking an average of about 30 minutes to complete.

Here's a snippet from the article:

Cosmic Encounter Online features 21 alien races (see the races sidebar on page 2), each of which has a unique power that can change the outcome of battle. Some powers are automatic, while others are optional. Anti-Matter, for example, has the power of negation. This means that the player with the lower total will win the round. Virus, on the other hand, has the power to multiply. In each attack, the number of ships is multiplied by (instead of added to) the value of the encounter pod.

Olotka is upfront about his favorite alien. “I have always liked the Philanthropist,” he says. “It is unassuming and not feared by other aliens. All it does is present the other players with the gift of [encounter] pods.” Of course, this is just a clever way to get rid of low-powered pods so that the Philanthropist can replenish his console of pods much more quickly. “It uses the wheat and gives away the chaff,” chuckles Olotka.

For more information on Cosmic Encounter Online as well as to take a peek at a QuickTime trailer, be sure to check out Apple's feature.

Apple Feature: Cosmic Encounter Online

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