The week in games

Every day MacCentral brings readers news from the world of Mac gaming along with our other info and headlines. Every so often there’s a story that doesn’t make it onto our daily news pages, however, so that’s why we have this feature. It’s a weekly retrospective we call The Week in Games.

A-OK! The Wings of Mercury wins Cubie

You Are Go! has announced that its A-OK! The Wings of Mercury, a simulator of the Mercury space capsule, has won a Cubie Award from REAL Software. The simulator lets you feel what it was like to pilot the same kind of craft used by America’s first astronauts.

Cave Dig 3 goes OS X with new update

Foxchange Software has announced the release of Cave Dig 3 1.1, and with it, an update that provides Mac OS X compatibility. Cave Dig 3 is an arcade/puzzle game featuring Simon, an intrepid little fox with great powers. It’s loaded with cute graphics, stereo sound effects and much more.

Geneforge OS X 1.1 public beta released

Want to play Spiderweb Software’s role playing game Geneforge but don’t want to have to fire up Classic to do it? Try the public beta version of an OS X release now available for download. It’s Carbonized and should work with Mac OS 8.1 or later.

Gravitass 1.01 released

Forever Games has released an update to Gravitass, its odd 3D action game in which you pilot bizarre vehicles through time to pick up passengers before calamities befall them. The new version “makes small improvements” for beginners based on feedback from gamers.

Tiger’s Eye Pub 1.1 sports new graphics, more

KB Productions has released Tiger’s Eye Pub 1.1, a new version of the Mac OS X-native casino game. The update features new and improved graphics, better support for Aqua and anti-aliased text in OS X, bug fixes, automatic help, and more.

WipeOut 2097 1.2.1 gets Jaguar fix

One of the first games we’ve heard of that needs a patch to work with Mac OS X 10.2, “Jaguar,” is WipeOut 2097. That’s the futuristic racing title published by Virtual Programming Ltd. Version 1.2.1 is ready for download now.

X-Plane Combat in development

Laminar Research, makers of the modular flight sim X-Plane, are working on a new flight sim called X-Plane Combat. Currently in early development, the title is based on the same core technology but emphasizes dogfighting and combat simulation over the civilian flight simulation favored in the original X-Plane. Developer Austin Meyer is still working out some of the system design for the new game, and expects to have a flyable beta ready before too long.

Elsewhere on the Web

MacGamer.com relaunched this past week with a new redesign and plenty of new content. Speaking of which, Pat Miller has posted the outrageously funny How To Speak 1337 guide, which will teach you everything you need to know about verbal 0wn4g3 in online games. Erm, read on for details if that made no sense whatsoever. Inside Mac Games has posted a review of Max Payne, the third person 3D shooter from MacSoft.

Closer to home

On the pages of MacCentral this week, MacPlay announced Fallout 2’s release to retail stores nationwide. A demo version of Combat Mission: From Barbarossa to Berlin will be released on September 1, but it’ll only work on Mac OS 9 (just like the full game). Aspyr Media has released an update to Spider-Man that fixes an audio problem with dual processor Power Mac G4s. The Clone Campaigns expansion pack for Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds is now available for pre-order from Aspyr Media. Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix has gone gold master, according to MacPlay, and should hit store shelves in two to three weeks. The Sims Vacation, the latest add-on for The Sims, has also gone gold master. After an extensive public preview, GameRanger 3.0 has gone “final.” iDevGames.com has kicked off its uDevGame 2002 game development contest. Knowledge Adventure has released Fisher-Price Rescue Heroes Tremor Trouble. MacSoft has offered new details about what’s going on with the development of the Mac version of Neverwinter Nights.

As always, we heartily encourage you to contact us if you have ideas for ways that we can improve our game content here on MacCentral, or if you have a Mac game or related service you’d like to see featured here.