Cosmic Encounter Online is the online gaming version of the popular board game, and it runs natively on Mac OS X and Windows.
The original Cosmic Encounter game has been cited as the inspiration for many modern card and board strategy games, and today the game will feature a guest appearance by Richard Garfield. Garfield is the designer of Magic the Gathering, one of the most popular and prolific card games on the market today. What’s more, Garfield himself cites Cosmic Encounter as one of the inspirations for his own game.
Garfield joins the Cosmic Encounter crowd today, Friday, September 26th, from 2-4 PM and 6-9 PM Eastern Time. He’ll be there both to play Cosmic Encounter and to “hobnob” with the Cosmic Encounter crowd.
If you haven’t tried Cosmic Encounter Online, now’s a great chance to give it a try. The game uses Macromedia Shockwave technology, so you don’t have to download any client software. All you need is Mac OS X running IE or Safari (various flavors of Windows are supported too). “Micro Memberships” start at $0.99 for 12 hours of play, up to $8.50 for a full month’s worth of action.
In Cosmic Encounter Online, you lead an alien race on a mission of colonization, alternately battling and negotiating with other alien races along the way. The online installment of Cosmic Encounter features competition rankings, league play, and online statistics tracking.