The week in games

Every day MacCentral strives to bring you the latest in news and info from the world of Mac gaming. There are always stories that don’t make it onto our daily news pages, though, which is why we’ve created this weekly retrospective. It’s called the Week in Games.

<?php virtual(“/includes/boxad.inc”); ?>

Bubble Trouble X progress continues

Ambrosia Software continues its efforts to produce a Mac OS X version of Bubble Trouble — the offbeat and very cute arcade puzzle game released some time ago. The company’s Bubble Trouble X Progress Log shows developer Alex Metcalf’s latest efforts in detail — as of Friday he reported that beta version 6 is on the way.

Bungie features job openings

Microsoft subsidiary Bungie Studios is looking for new talent. The company wants to hire a 3D Environment Artist/Designer and a Game Producer. Have the experience and think you have what it takes? Visit Bungie’s Job Opportunities Web page for more details.

Harpoon3 adds nukes

Jesse Harper has released a new build of Harpoon3, the naval warfare simulator. This new version adds the option of enabling Nuclear Weapon Release, along with other minor tweaks and changes.

LinWeb enhances the Lineage experience

NC Soft’s Lineage offers online role-playing game fans a chance to experience massive multiplayer online role playing on the Macintosh. Recently the company announced LinWeb, a new Web-based service that enables you to review details and statistics on your in-game character.

Myst TV miniseries on the way

The Sci-Fi Channel confirmed last week that it plans to air a four-hour miniseries based on Cyan’s enormously popular computer game Myst . The miniseries is coming in 2003 and is being produced by Mandalay Television Pictures and involves Rand Miller and Susan Bonds of Cyan.

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force II announced … for PC

PC game publisher Activision made it official last week that they’re publishing a sequel to Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. The new 3D action game puts players back in control of Alex Munro as he and the rest of the Elite Force go to the Enterprise for further action and adventure in space. There’s no word yet on a Mac version, but the previous release was published for Mac by Aspyr Media, and was by most accounts quite successful.

Unreal Tournament 2003 a Mac possibility?

Given MacSoft’s already established commitment to the franchise, many Mac gamers are taking it for granted that future Unreal games will end up on the Mac. While there’s been no official word from MacSoft (the company typically reserves product announcements this time of year until next month’s E3 in Los Angeles), the most tantalizing tidbit this far comes direct from Epic’s Mark Rein. During an XGR.com-sponsored IRC chat (a transcript of which is available from Unreal Cleaned ), he said that the Mac version of Unreal Tournament will sport OpenGL support.

Elsewhere on the Web

Inside Mac Games has posted a face-off between ATI’s Radeon 7500 and Nvidia’s GeForce4 MX — two graphics technologies which can be found in the Power Mac G4. MacGamer.com, meanwhile, has posted an interview with Bill Roper of Blizzard Entertainment, who speaks in general about game design and development and more specifically about the Mac, too. Apple’s excellent Games page has posted a new Buzz on the Web feature which sports headlines culled from online resources including MacCentral.

Closer to home

This week MacCentral reported on the release of Unreal Tournament X Preview 3, the latest release from Westlake to update Unreal Tournament for Mac OS X. In related news, Westlake also reported that Clive Barker’s Undying and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault have both gone beta. Undying is expected to be finished first; Medal of Honor is on track for release this summer. MacPlay launched a new online store and offered a special “Six-Pack” promotion that expires today; they also announced that they’re accepting pre-orders for The Operative: No One Lives Forever, a 60s-era spy game. Dark Side of the Sword Coast is a free add-on mod for Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast, now available for Mac users. Pangea Software has released an updated version of Otto Matic that adds support for force feedback via the MacAlly iShock II game pad. ATI announced that its Radeon 8500 Mac Edition graphics card to retailers — the card is ATI’s new high-end retail offering for Mac users, featuring its latest and greatest technology.

As always, we encourage your feedback if you have ideas for ways we can improve our games coverage here at MacCentral. And if you have Mac game related products or services you’d like to see featured, make sure to drop us a line too.