HEAT Game Network

This is the retail version of The HEAT Network.

www.HEAT.net was a player matchup service à la Kali and M-Path with support for ladders, tournaments and other community builders in the games. Any game that could be played over a LAN could be played on HEAT.

A number of features made HEAT different than other online services at the time:

• HEAT had games exclusively developed for it. Some of these games were offered for free (via download or on the CD), such as Net Fighter, Alien Race, DeathDrome and the demo version of Scud: Industrial Evolution.
• Enhanced web features such as personal profiles, easy to use challenge forms, web-based chat and e-mail, and demographically targeted ads.
• The concept of Degrees, a form of "frequent flyer mileage" for winning games, participating in HEAT events, and clicking on ads. Players would accumulate these Degrees and spend them to get discounts (in some cases, 100% discounts) on items in the HEAT store (like HEAT merchandise, games, joysticks, video cards.) Ultimately, Degrees could be wagered by players in games (Net Fighter supported this.)
• A free membership tier and monthly fee tier. At the time, this was a new thing. Free members could play almost any game on the site, and had access to a sub-set of all the features. Members gained Degrees, could participate in tournaments, and had a few other perks.
• HEAT had a bizarre "back story". The concept by the fictional "Reverend" stated people have innate violent tendencies, and that we should embrace them and take them out on-line. A whole "religion of Cyberdiversification" was planned, and chats with the Reverend and other Cyberdiversion propaganda appeared on the web site from time to time.

Inside the HEAT Game box (which is transparent, an industry first) is the CD containing:

• 4 HEAT-Only games (mentioned above)
• six demo versions of popular LAN games (Blood, Comanche 3, Interstate '76, Lords of the Realm II, Postal and Uprising)
• an ISP promotion with MCI
• Norton AntiVirus 2.0 (trialware)
• a coupon for a 6 month HEAT subscription
• an XL HEAT T-Shirt