Every day MacCentral endeavors to bring readers the latest news and headlines from the world of Mac gaming. There are always a few tidbits here and there that don’t make it onto our regular news pages, however, so we’ve come up with this weekly feature. It’s a retrospective we call The Week In Games.
American Hangman 2.0 released
Ken Winograd and Space-Time Associates have released American Hangman 2.0, carbonized for OS 9 and OS X. Based on the classic Hangman word guessing game, this new version merges previously released offerings that focus on American historical fare like presidents and state names. The “secretly educational” game is available for download and is the first version carbonized for OS 9 and OS X.
Back at the Clubhouse tracks golf stats
Not a game itself, this utility might help you with your game. Karl Becker has announced the release of Back at the Clubhouse. He bills it as “a simple golf stats program” that will keep track of the golf stats you input. You can use it to do statistical analysis of your scores, including average score on a given hole on a particular course, average putts, how “good” your game has gotten, and more.
Black and White 1.1.6 released
Because we took off for a week after Macworld Expo New York (and this reporter took a vacation after that), the Sundays following the expo were absent of game news for a while. So this is the first opportunity we’ve had to tell you that Feral Interactive has released Black and White 1.1.6, a new version of the “God” game which adds support for GameRanger, improves Nvidia GeForce video card performance, and wraps up several other fixes and enhancements as well.
Chess Stress chess timer released
Chess Stress is another utility — not a game — that might help you with your game. It’s a simulation of both an analog and a digital chess timer, built using Mac OS X’s Cocoa environment. The utility supports advanced rules and separate time control. It’s US$5 shareware.
Coldstone, Pillars of Garendall updated
Ambrosia Software has been really busy this week. The company has released updates to Coldstone, its RPG creation engine, and Pillars of Garendall, its RPG game built using Coldstone. The new version of Coldstone brings new capabilities, bug fixes and enhancements, while the new version of Pillars of Garendall is also an improvement, since it was rebuilt using the new version of Coldstone.
Deimos Rising 1.0.2 released
Ambrosia Software also posted a new version of Deimos Rising, their superlative (and difficult) top-scrolling arcade shooter sequel to Mars Rising. The new version of Deimos Rising is free for registered users and sports improved game controller support under OS X, along with other enhancements and changes.
Glone 1.0 released
La Jolla Underground has released Glone 1.0, a very modest Space Invaders/Galaxian-type arcade shooter. You must defend Earth from the Glones. It’s freeware and was built using REAL Software’s REALbasic.
Halo 2 announced
Microsoft’s Bungie Studios announced last week Halo 2, ending months (if not years) of speculation that the group would indeed do a sequel to its enormously popular 3D action game. The original Halo is currently in Mac development by Westlake and will be published by Destineer’s Bold label once it’s done in 2003. This new game appears to be bound only for the Xbox, at least for now — Bungie made no mention of PC or Mac plans for it.
Harpoon 3 updated
Jesse Spears has released a new version of Harpoon 3, the long-running modern naval warfare simulator. Crash bugs, issues related to OS X 10.2, and other changes have been made in the new version, 3.5.3.1. Download it now.
Sheep now available for Mac OS X
Feral Interactive has released a Mac OS X version of its delightful action/puzzle game Sheep, in which you must herd different kinds of sheep (with different personalities) through a variety of imaginative and dangerous environments.
“Trinity” source code released
And last on our list from Ambrosia this week, the company has released the source code to “Trinity,” a plug-in for its Pillars of Garendall role playing game. Trinity enhances the original game by adding new quests, graphics, and three new specialties to choose from. Ambrosia boss Andrew Welch explained that the source code has been released to help software developers learn how “to create first-class commercial products that can be deployed simultaneously on Mac and Windows.”
Elsewhere on the Web
MacGamer.com is taking a well-deserved vacation at the moment, but Inside Mac Games is still hard at work. This week the site posted a review of the Monsoon PlanarMedia 9 system, a flat-panel stereo system that’ll work on your Mac. Meanwhile, Apple’s Games site has taken a look at Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, the forthcoming action game from Aspyr Media.
Closer to home
This week on MacCentral we brought readers news about a pre-release of World War II Online for the Mac, a long-awaited massively multiplayer action game. Westlake Interactive noted that Jedi Knight II has gone beta, an important milestone on the game’s way to being completed and released for the Mac. Sony Online Entertainment has posted an Everquest Mac FAQ that answers some questions on the minds of Mac gamers. Monte Boyd Interactive has released Slope Rider, a 3D snowboarding game for the Macintosh complete with its own course editor. Navarre — a company that up until now has restricted itself to distributing other company’s game titles — is getting into the content creation business with its acquisition of Encore Software, a developer of games and educational software that holds several lucrative licenses. Epic Games VP Mark Rein said that he’s unaware of Unreal Tournament 2003 Mac plans, though he’s optimistic MacSoft will cut a deal for the game.
As always, we encourage you to let us know if you have ideas for ways we can improve our game coverage here on MacCentral, have questions we haven’t answered, or want to see your Mac game or related service mentioned on our news pages.