Every week MacCentral strives to bring our readers the latest news from the Mac gaming business, but every so often there are stories and news that we don’t post on our regular news pages. That’s why we have this weekly retrospective, which we call The Week in Games.
Escape Velocity Nova 1.0.1 released
Ambrosia Software this past week released an update to Escape Velocity Nova, the popular space-based action/adventure game. The new version, available as a smaller download for existing users or as a larger complete download, includes a number of bug fixes and adds some new features. More complete details about what’s changed can be viewed online.
High Voltage 2 available for Mac OS X
Antell Software has released High Voltage 2 for Mac OS X. It’s a fast-paced, colorful arcade game for the Mac. The developer describes the game as “a bit more demanding” than its OS 9 counterpart, requiring a 450MHz or faster system for decent performance.
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast reaches First Playable milestone
Aspyr Media spokesman Chris Silman recently reported that the company’s Mac conversion of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast has reached its First Playable milestone. This milestone signifies that the developer — Westlake Interactive — can actually play the game on the Mac now, though much work remains to be done before it’ll be ready for store shelves. Jedi Knight II is a 3D action game set in the Star Wars universe based on the Quake III Arena graphics engine.
“Operation Na Pali” available for Unreal Tournament
If you’re a UT fan looking for a compelling and challenging third-party mod, look no further than Operation Na Pali, an extensive single-player (that’s right, single-player) mod for UT. And yes, it works on the Mac, provided you’ve updated your copy to version 436.
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds ships
More than a week ago MacCentral brought readers news that Aspyr Media had declared Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds gold master and had put it into to duplication. Late last week the company also announced that the Age of Empires-based strategy game set in the Star Wars universe was actually shipping, though. So if you’ve placed a pre-order for it you should see it soon.
Step On It! goes OS X
Casady & Greene announced the release of a Mac OS X version of Step On It! The title is an arcade action game featuring Ted, “a robotic little man trapped in a zany world that looks like a toy set gone wacko.” The game features 99 levels of single player play plus 50 competitive and 50 cooperative levels of two player play.
“Track 1” Westlake’s latest secret project
Mac game conversion company Westlake Interactive has a long history of announcing secret projects on its Project Status home page. This page often gives Mac gamers their first inkling of a new Mac game conversion that’s currently underway. That page was updated this week with a new project called Track 1, which is currently in early development. No publisher or date has been specified, but Westlake confirmed it’ll run on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.
WarBirds retail boxes coming from Simon & Schuster Interactive
The iEntertainment Network and Simon & Schuster Interactive announced a partnership that will bring iEN’s popular online dogfighting game WarBirds III to store shelves this summer. It’s always been available for online download, but the 3D version of the game has gotten hefty enough that it makes sense to distribute physical copies of the game to bandwidth-impaired individuals too.
Elsewhere on the Web
Inside Mac Games has posted a new installment to the Slacker’s Guide to Shareware. MacGamer has posted a preview of Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Mac.ign.com has posted a look at Freedom Force, the upcoming game from MacPlay and Crave.
Closer to home
Right here on MacCentral, you’ll find details on an update to HappyGear, game control software for your Mac. And like last week, Aspyr Media dominated this week’s game news. They announced that Clive Barker’s Undying has gone gold master, at long last. The company also announced that Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is shipping. The Sims Hot Date is done, too. And speaking of which, that marked an important milestone for Westlake Interactive this week; The Sims Hot Date is the 50th title Westlake has converted since being founded in 1997. Nanosaur is now a free online comic book created by an inker/penciler who has worked extensively on titles from Dark Horse and Image Comics. MacPlay announced that Bejeweled and Alchemy have gone gold, the company’s first “Value Series” title.
As always, we heartily encourage you to drop us a line if you have ideas for ways we can improve our games coverage here on MacCentral. And use that address also if you have a Mac game or related service you’d like to see featured here.