Every weekday MacCentral brings readers the latest news and info from the world of Mac gaming. There are always a few stories that don’t make it onto our main news page, however, so we have this retrospective, which we call The Week in Games.
Burst 1.0.1 released
Dracosoft has announced the release of Burst 1.0.1, an update to its arcade/puzzle game. The new version fixes bugs, adds a few features, and makes some other changes.
Manic Minefields 2.0 released
Norbyte has released Manic Minefields 2.0. The update to the shareware minesweeping puzzler includes new themes, a new interface, new rules, new graphics, new sound effects and more.
Owari 1.0 released
DanLab Games has released Owari 1.0 (also called Awale or Warri). It’s a variation on the classic African Mancala-style bead game. Released as US$10 shareware, Owari runs on OS 9 or OS X.
Return to Castle Wolfenstein 1.33 notes posted by Aspyr
Almost immediately after Return to Castle Wolfenstein 1.32 was released for the Mac, a PC 1.33 patch was released that broke online play with the Mac version. Mac users are still waiting for an official update that will fix the problem — something that Mac publisher Aspyr Media promised is forthcoming — but in the interim, the company has posted info explaining how to get the Mac 1.32 version working on 1.33 servers.
Stoenworks posts new flight sim tutorials
If you’re into aviation or realistic flying using your flight simulator, stop by Stoenworks, which has published two new tutorials for flight sim buffs. “Runways and Taxiways” and “Getting off … and on” joins the 30 other flight simulator tutorials on the site. They’re great for any flight simulator, so give them a try.
Tactical Ops: AoT Mac Installation Guide available
Reader Simon Lisney (“Moonraker” of the LuNa clan) has pointed us to the Tactical Ops: AoT Macintosh Installation Guide, a useful resource for Mac users who want to try out Tactical Ops, the Unreal Tournament mod. Until just recently, the game couldn’t be supported officially on the Mac (see below for more details).
Warcraft III action figures ship
Want a Dark Elf or an Orc for a monitor pet? Just in time for this coming week’s release of Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Blizzard Entertainment has announced the release of action figures based on the new game. Look for them at toy stores and places where computer games are sold.
Wipeout 2097 icons released
Looking to dress up your Mac with custom icons that evoke Virtual Programming’s recent release of Wipeout 2097 for the Macintosh? Iconfactory has released a new set of OS X icons based on the game.
X-Plane 6.21 RC-1 released
Laminar Research has published a minor update to its popular flight simulator X-Plane. 6.21 RC-1 is billed as just having “a few little bug fixes … just a maintenance release.”
Elsewhere on the Web
MacGamer has reviewed Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, the new first-person World War II-era action game published for the Mac by Aspyr Media. Inside Mac Games has posted a review of the Midland S4 8200 2.0, a surround sound speaker system. Speaking of Medal of Honor, Apple also took a look at the game this week. Skewed Perspective has reviewed Fallout, the resurrected role-playing game from MacPlay.
Closer to home
MacCentral reported that the Tactical Ops Unreal Tournament mod has been greenlighted for a Mac version. MacPlay is shipping Bejeweled & Alchemy, its first Value Series title. The Learning Company is shipping two new StarFlyers games which mix learning and fun. Aspyr Media announced plans to bring The Sims Vacation to the Mac; another add-on for The Sims. ATI posted its June retail card driver update, which offers improved performance and better stability between some of its retail Mac graphics cards and some games.
As always, we encourage you to drop us a line if you have ideas for ways we can improve our games coverage here on MacCentral; if you have questions that we didn’t answer; or if you have Mac games or game-related services you’d like our readers to know about.