The week in games

Every week MacCentral brings readers the latest news and information from the world of Mac gaming, but there are always a few stories that don’t make it onto our regular pages. That’s why we have this retrospective, called The Week in Games.

Arcane Arena players search for free iPod

Freeverse Software is giving Arcane Arena players a new reason to play: One lucky winner will get a free iPod, hidden somewhere in the game. Arcane Arena is an online role playing game that costs US$29.95. It was recently updated for Mac OS X.

Bugdom 2 1.0.3 released

Pangea Software has released Bugdom 2 version 1.0.3, a new update to their Mac-exclusive 3D action game. The new version fixes a level bug and some font problems with French characters, as well as adding Dutch and Japanese language support.

Elasticity released from Xenquin

Xenquin Software, makers of Mac OS X shareware games including Blockforge, Cave Bombers and Reversi Unlimited, has released Elasticity. It’s a new game in the spirit of Bejeweled and other similar titles in which you move bubbles one a time on a play field, trying to line up three or more in a row or column to make them disappear. Elasticity runs on Mac OS X 10.1 or higher and costs $10 to register.

Galactic Patrol free with Web site ad

Monkey Byte Development has launched an unusual promotion to get the word out about its games. The company is offering a free registration code for Galactic Patrol to anyone who places a Monkey Byte button advertisement on their own Web site. Galactic Patrol is a retro-classic arcade game with rotating 3D elements vaguely reminiscent of Galaxian and Defender, with some twists.

GameRanger supports Ghost Recon demo

Aspyr’s recently released demo version of Ghost Recon supports online play, and GameRanger, the Mac-only online gaming service, now supports it. A new plug-in to support the game will be automatically installed the next time you log in, if you haven’t logged in since the plug-in was released.

Neverwinter Nights status update

Bioware Corp. has been diligent in its weekly updates discussing the forthcoming Mac version of Neverwinter Nights, the role playing adventure game. This week’s update noted that the company is working on “performance improvements and graphics eye candy.” More week is to be done, however. Bioware also noted that the Mac version is now loading fan-created modules. Screenshots and info are available at the link above.

No One Lives Forever goes gold master

United Developers subsidiary MacPlay quietly announced recently that its Mac conversion of No One Lives Forever Game of the Year Edition has finally gone gold master, the final step before a game goes into duplication. The long awaited first person shooter puts players in control of Cate Archer, a sexy and deadly secret agent. Set in the 1960’s, No One Lives Forever is a smattering of James Bond, a bit of Emma Peel from the Avengers, and a dash of Austin Powers thrown in for good measure.

World War II Online Mac Edition hits stores this week

November 12 is the official release date for Strategy First’s Mac Edition release of World War II Online, the massively multiplayer online game in which you can take control of tanks, airplanes, boats, or hoof it as infantry in an online recreation of the European War Theatre of World War II. Minimum system requirements for the game call for a G4/700MHz with 256MB RAM, 32MB video card, 1GB available HD space, and 56K or faster Internet access. Look for World War II Online Mac Edition to be sold in retail stores; Infogrames is handling distribution.

X-Plane 6.40 goes final

After the latest customary public beta test, Laminar Research has released a new version of X-Plane. X-Plane is a modular and very customizable OpenGL-based flight simulator that runs on Mac OS and Windows (including Mac OS X), featuring programmable aircraft model designs and terrain.

Elsewhere on the Web

Inside Mac Games has posted an interview with Brad Oliver, one of Westlake’s talented Mac game conversion experts (and the guy who coordinates efforts with the MacMAME emulator, too). MacGamer has a giveaway contest for Jedi Knight II, the new first person shooter from Aspyr Media that’s generating quite a buzz. Apple’s Games site takes a look at Heroes of Might & Magic IV, coming soon from 3DO Interactive.

Closer to home

Aspyr Media released a demo of Ghost Recon, the new squad-based tactical strategy game. Bugdom 2 is available on CD-ROM for the first time since its release. Formac has introduced a lower cost 17.4 inch LCD display called the 1740 OX. The Omni Group and PopCap Games have released two new games for the Mac based on PopCap’s popular online titles. GameRanger added support for Ghost Recon this week. Blizzard Entertainment updated Warcraft III to version 1.04; you can grab the new update automatically from Battle.net the next time you log on. Id Software has released the final version of Quake III Arena 1.32; the release version sports an installer for PunkBuster, the anti-cheating technology used on many Quake III servers.

As always, we encourage you to drop us a line if you have questions we didn’t answer, ideas for ways we can improve our games coverage, or products and services related to Mac gaming you’d like us to know about.