Every week on MacCentral readers get the latest news and info from the world of Mac gaming. There are always a few items that don’t make it on our regular news pages, however, so that’s why we have this weekly retrospective — The Week in Games.
Hang2000 updated
Ken Winograd’s “secretly educational” Hangman word game for the Mac, Hang2000, has been updated again, this time to version 2.08. The new version features updated best actors, best actresses and best pictures categories.
Mah Jong Solitaire 1.80 now available
Bone Head Projects has updated its Mah Jong Solitaire to version 1.80. A variation on the classic tile matching game from the East, Mah Jong Solitaire 1.8 features different board layouts and backgrounds, a built-in music player and more. The new version gains Dutch translation, returns German translation, and makes bug fixes.
Manic Minefields updated
Norbyte has updated Manic Minefields to version 2.1.3. It’s a Minesweeper-style puzzle game for Mac and Windows. Changes to the new version include bug fixes, minor improvements, and a change to the way background patters are handled.
Mutant Storm update available
Pom Pom have released an updated version of Mutant Storm, their superlative Mac OS X-native take on a Eugene Jarvis arcade game classic, Robotron. The new version sports a number of fixes and slight modifications to the gameplay, including fixes for dual-stick joypads. They also have a high score table and a new message board, so drop on by to their Web site for details.
Slope Rider comes to Vendornation
Monte Boyd Interactive has teamed up with Monkey Byte Software’s Vendornation e-commerce system to better distribute Slope Rider, a 3D snowboard game for “Classic” Mac OS and Mac OS X. The game features various trails and courses, jumps, half-pipes and rails you can pull combo tricks off of to rack up points.
Spy Hunter trailer now ready for download
Aspyr Media has posted a Spy Hunter trailer to their Web site. It’s their forthcoming conversion of the console game, coming both the Mac and to Windows (from Aspyr) simultaneously. This is a 21st century update to the classic 80s arcade hit in which you control a multi-function spy vehicle.
X-Plane Combat canceled
Austin Meyer of Laminar Research noted to readers of his e-mail list last week that he’s shelved X-Plane Combat for the forseeable future. X-Plane Combat was to be a specialized flight simulator based on the X-Plane engine that featured, as the name implies, combat action. Meyer said, “All future contributions from me will be towards aviation safety, not the other way around.”
Elsewhere on the Web
Inside Mac Games has posted an interview with Jeff Morgan, President of GraphSim Entertainment, who talks about a new F/A-18 Hornet flight simulator his company is working on. MacGamer post posted a look at the art of Master of Orion III, the new strategy game from MacSoft. Apple’s Game site has posted a feature on the educational offerings put forth from The Learning Company.
Closer to home
MacCentral brought readers news this week of Pangea Software’s newest effort, Enigmo. Aspyr Media announced that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is now in duplication and should be on store shelves soon. A couple of days later than it had hoped, but still not too far off from its PC counterpart, MacSoft is now shipping Master of Orion III. Nvidia and IBM have struck a deal to let IBM manufacture Nvidia’s GeForce FX graphics chips in its new facility — this may lead to even more advanced graphics hardware coming from Nvidia in the years ahead. Ubi Soft Entertainment is shipping Shadowbane, a massively multiplayer online game from Wolfpack Studios, for both Mac and PC. Virtual Programming Ltd. said that it’s shipping Legion, a realtime strategy game set in Ancient Rome. Feral Interactive has posted news about its forthcoming games and an update to F1 Championship Season 2000.
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