Every day MacCentral brings readers the latest news and info from Mac gaming as part of our regular news coverage, but there are always a few stories here and there that don’t make it onto our regular news pages. That’s why we have this retrospective, which we call The Week in Games.
ATI used for Doom III demos
Graphics card and chipmaker ATI Technologies, Inc. noted that Activision and Id Software chose ATI’s hardware to help demonstrate Doom III running at this past week’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles. What a difference a year makes — when John Carmack showed off an early build of the game’s core graphics engine at Macworld Expo Tokyo 2001, it was on a GeForce3-equipped Power Mac.
Deimos Rising 1.0.1 released
Ambrosia Software this week released an update to its excellent arcade game scroller Deimos Rising. The new 1.0.1 version adds native support for game controllers in Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, enables cheat codes, and fixes a few minor bugs.
Deus Ex movie planned
Word emerged this week that the motion picture rights to the video game Deus Ex (developed original by Ion Storm Austin and published for the Mac by Aspyr Media ) have been secured by Columbia Pictures. It’ll be produced by Laura Ziskin, whose previous credits as Producer include this year’s blockbuster action film Spider-Man, as well as As Good As It Gets, To Die For, and several other films.
Escape Velocity: Nova now Windows-bound
Have a PC using friend that’s jealous of the long hours you’ve spent playing Ambrosia Software’s popular space action/adventure game Escape Velocity: Nova? They’ll be jealous no longer: Ambrosia Software has noted that it has recently contracted Contraband Entertainment to port EVN to Windows.
Harpoon 3.4.12 released
Jesse Spears has released an update to Harpoon3, the naval warfare simulator. The new build fixes several bugs related to the Mac code, including a couple of crashing bugs and problems related to the QuickTime movies.
MacPlay cancels Fighter Squadron, Starfleet Command II
Inside Mac Games reported that MacPlay has decided to cancel its long-awaited Mac conversions of Fighter Squadron: Screamin’ Demons Over Europe and Starfleet Command II: Empires At War. The games were originally announced for the Macintosh more than a year ago. MacPlay cited development and licensing problems as reasons why the games were cancelled.
X-Plane 6.16 released
Laminar Software has released a new minor update to X-Plane, the OpenGL-based flight simulator for Windows and Mac OS. The new version fixes crashing bugs and makes other minor adjustments and tweaks.
Elsewhere on the Web
MacGamer has posted a preview of Earth 2150, the new real time strategy game conversion developed for the Mac by e.p.i.c. interactive. About This Particular Macintosh has posted a review of Black & White , published for the Mac by Feral Interactive. Inside Mac Games has posted a media gallery of images from Warcraft III, coming out for Windows and Mac OS this summer from Blizzard Entertainment. And Apple’s Games site has taken a look at The Sims: Hot Date, coming soon from Aspyr Media.
Closer to home
E3 dominated much of games news this week. WarBirds III for OS X was shown off by iEntertainment Network. TransGaming and Transitive announced a new Mac game conversion technology, and MacCentral posted an in-depth interview with one of the companies’ chief officers. Video games are here to stay, said the IDSA (which runs E3). ATI said that more than 125 games out now or coming soon use ATI-specific graphics technology like Smartshader, Smoothvision and Truform. The Learning Company unveiled its 2002 lineup of educational software for kids. MacPlay and Crave signed a three game deal that will start by bringing Freedom Force, a superhero-based action role playing game, to the Mac. School Zone Interactive announced the latest additions to its On-Track Software line of educational games and activities. MacSoft shipped Stronghold to retailers; it’s a castle building sim with deep gameplay and multiplayer support too. Blizzard took the wraps off of Warcraft III single player campaigns. Apple released a 700MHz iBook with Radeon Mobility graphics hardware on board. Nvidia announced plans to double its available shares of common stock, then reported earnings that beat the street. All in all, a very busy week in the games business.
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