Mac game publisher MacSoft’s parent company, Infogrames, unveiled their E3 lineup, and on the list are four new titles to be published for the Mac. Two of the titles were announced last week — PopTop Software’s real-time strategy game Tropico and Terminal Reality’s civilian flight sim Fly! II. Added to the list are the forthcoming strategy games Civilization III, currently in development at Firaxis Games, and Master of Orion III, in development by QuickSilver.
Last week Infogrames and Take-Two Interactive Software (owner of Gathering of Developers) announced a far-reaching licensing deal to bring a variety of A-list games to the Macintosh platform. Tropic and Fly! II were both on that list, along with titles including Remedy Entertainment’s Max Payne (a story-driven 3D action game); Firefly’s Stronghold, a real-time strategy game that combines city-building and military combat; and Myth III: The Wolf Age, the hotly anticipated sequel to Bungie’s legendary real-time strategy game series, presently in development at the studios of MumboJumbo Games.
Civilization III carries on one of the best-loved strategy game brands in the history of computer gaming. It’s being developed by Firaxis and legendary game designer Sid Meier. The basic goal of the series is to carry forward the development of your civilization from a stone-age culture straight through to the modern age and beyond. You must develop almost every aspect of your civilization from how people build and manage resources to how they interact with neighboring cultures, what values they hold important and how strong their military and diplomatic channels are. Information posted to the Civ III Web site suggests that the game’s developers are being careful to keep many of the elements that has made the previous games so well-liked by fans, while augmenting the new game with many new features and enhancements that will increase challenge, flexibility, and depth of gameplay.
Master of Orion III is a sequel to another legendary strategy game. This game puts you in control of the development of an entire galactic civilization. Players will combine diplomatic, bureaucratic, military and administrative skills to keep their civilization ahead of the competition as it expands outward into interstellar space. QuickSilver Software Inc., the game’s developer, advises E3 attendees that MOO3 will be shown as a trailer, rather than as a full-blown game demo.
More details are anticipated as E3 gets underway later this week. We’ll bring you more info from the show floor.