Every day MacCentral brings readers the latest info and news from the world of Mac gaming. Even so, there are often items that don’t make it to our regular pages, and that’s why we have this retrospective, which we call the Week in Games.
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Conquest of Elysium II now available for OS X
Illwinter Game Design has completed their second Mac OS X conversion with the release of Conquest of Elysium II, a turn-based fantasy strategy game for up to eight players in which you assume the role “of a powerful warlord or wizard and struggle for total control of the continent.” A demo version is available for download. The company previously brought their game Dominions to the Mac, as well.
Creepy Mines 1.1 released
Danlab Games has released Creepy Mines 1.1, an updated version of their creepy-themed brickbashing game. The new version fixes bugs, adds support for Japanese, and adds new key commands.
Deep Trouble 1.0.2 released
Codeblender Software has released a new version of DeepTrouble, their 3D sub hunting action game for the mac. The 1.0.2 fixes issues related to bubble graphics that could cause the game to crash. The update can be downloaded from Macgamefiles.com.
MacXword 1.1.0 released
Advenio LLC has released MacXword 1.1.0, a new version of their crossword puzzle game for Mac OS X. It works with external crossword puzzle sources from various locations on the Internet. This new version gains a new printing system, interface changes, and bug fixes. The update is free for registered users.
Neverwinter Nights Mac status updated
Bioware Corp. has posted another missive in its series of weekly updates regarding the Mac development of Neverwinter Nights, the lauded 3D adventure game that will be published by MacSoft once it’s done. There’s “no big news” to report this week, according to the developers, though they noted that Quality Assurance efforts have been increased as their getting closer to finishing the client software.
Pipemare 1.0 released
Beyond Midnight Software has released Pipemare 1.0, a 2D pipe-building puzzle game for Mac OS 8.6 or later. You have to build pipes to let the water flow through 36 levels, making do with limited pieces and working around obstacles. It costs US$14.95 and if you buy it before the end of December you’ll get a copy of another game, Flip, for free.
Space Combat debuts from X-Plane maker
Laminar Research has released a new game based on the X-Plane flight simulator engine called Space Combat. It’ll be renamed X-Plane: Space once developer Austin Meyer adds details to it, and it’s available now at a special promotional price because of its early development status. More details are available on the X-Plane Web site.
Spiderweb Software offers holiday gift sale
Spiderweb Software, makers of the Avernum series and Geneforge role playing adventure games, are offering gamers a special holiday gift sale: $30 gets you a copy of Geneforge or Avernum 3 on CD with the hintbook.
Stoenworks Aviation CD 2.11.2 released
Stoenworks is the Web site of Hal Stoen, a former commercial pilot who offers tips and techniques to flight simmers. Stoenworks recently released Stoenworks Aviation CD 2.11.2, a new version of a CD-ROM containing over 950 pages of flight simulator information. The documents on the CD are in Adobe Acrobat format.
TacOps 4.0.4 released
Major H. has released a new version of TacOps, the excellent turn-based military strategy game published by Battlefront.com. The new version provides 20 enhancements and 16 bug fixes, according to the developer, including a new game replay feature and more stable Internet play. TacOps presently only runs on “Classic” Mac OS, but Major H. plans to release an OS X version at some point in the future.
Elsewhere on the Web
Inside Mac Games looks at the Telex EV SonicXS speakers. Apple’s Games site looks at Freeverse’s 3D card games and Black & White Creature Isle from Feral, and posted a trailer of Jedi Knight II. MacGamer.com appears set to end a hiatus that started back on the 20th of November as the site gets back to work starting next week.
Closer to home
This week on MacCentral we brought readers news about Blizzard Entertainment’s release of a Warcraft III demo, only a few days after the Windows version was released. MacPlay is offering a Soldier of Fortune II public beta version that adds PunkBuster support and other changes. Aspyr Media surprised a lot of folks by announcing plans to bring NASCAR Racing 2002 Season to the Mac this month. And if you wanted to add a big flat-panel display to your Mac gaming rig, Planar dropped prices on its 19 inch line this week.
As always, we welcome you to drop us a line if there are questions we haven’t answered, if you have ideas for ways we can improve our games coverage here on MacCentral, or if you have a Mac game-related product or service you’d like us to know about.