The week in games

Sunday brings you the latest edition of The Week in Games. It’s MacCentral’s weekly retrospective of the events and happenings in the world of Macintosh gaming — news items that didn’t make it into our regular news pages during the weekdays.

Alida released; OS X version coming soon

Alida is a new point-and-click graphical adventure game that may appeal to Myst fans. The game focuses on a theme park island built by a rock band who achieved fame and fortune, filled with mysteries and puzzles to solve. A Mac OS X version is on the way.

Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin 1.02 released

Battlefront.com has released an updated version of Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin, the World War II-based strategy game that combines turn-based play with 3D graphics. The new version sports 17 new and improved vehicle and gun models, refinements to some commands and tweaks to the fatigue and morale systems. Combat Mission runs in Mac OS 9 only, as it requires RAVE for 3D graphics.

Freeverse offers ‘Valentine’s Day Promo’ thru Feb. 21

In honor of last week’s Valentine’s Day celebration, Freeverse Software is offering customers who buy the boxed version of 3D Hearts Deluxe $10 off using a coupon that Tommy Tutone fans will appreciate. Buy the game from their online store and type in “8675309.” The company offers the deal through Feb. 21.

Heroes of Might & Magic IV updated

3DO has released an updated version of Heroes of Might & Magic IV, the recently-released Mac version of its fantasy-based strategy game. The new version, v2.3, features AI improvements to the game and changes to the editor. You can download it from Macgamefiles.com.

Payback Demo updated to v1.0.2

Freeverse is distributing Virtual Programming Ltd.’s Payback in North America; it’s a Grand Theft Auto-style arcade action game featuring 3D graphics. The updated demo, v1.0.2, gets some interface enhancements and some minor bug fixes.

RtCW: Enemy Territory axed

Activision announced this week that it has cancelled plans to release RtCW: Enemy Territory, an expansion pack for Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Development of the single-player version didn’t come together as they had anticipated, although the multiplayer portion is solid enough to merit a free downloadable release at some point in the next few months.

Solitaire Till Dawn X 1.0.1 released

Semicolon Software has released Solitaire Till Dawn X v1.0.1, its long-running solitaire card game for the Mac now updated for OS X. The new version is a bug-fix release, with minor fixes to a half-dozen of the fifty games, more robust preference handling and an improved Check for Upgrades feature.

Spaceward Ho! 5.0.4 released

Delta Tao has released a new version of Spaceward Ho!, the company’s popular space-based strategy game, which recently got a Mac OS X overhaul. The new 5.0.4 update sports a variety of bug fixes and changes.

Elsewhere on the Web

Inside Mac Games has reviewed NASCAR Racing 2002 Season, the NASCAR racing game published for the Mac by Aspyr Media. MacGamer, meanwhile, has taken a look at Freedom Force, the superhero-themed strategy game from MacPlay. Apple’s Web site has taken a look at the forthcoming Aspyr release Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Closer to Home

This week, MacCentral brought readers games-related headlines including Feral Interactive’s release of a demo of Worms Blast and a reminder that Blizzard is accepting applications to beta-test Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, the expansion pack for Warcraft III. USB Overdrive X 10.2 has been released; the full version of the USB universal driver software supports gamepads and joysticks.

Now and always, MacCentral encourages you to drop us a line if you have ideas for ways that we can improve MacCentral’s games coverage, if you have questions we haven’t answered, or if you have Mac game-related services or products you’d like to see highlighted.