The week in games

Every week MacCentral strives to bring you the latest news and headlines from the world of Mac gaming, but there’s a lot going on right now — enough that we provide this weekly retrospective, entitled The Week in Games, to recap some items we didn’t get to the previous week.

Bannister’s emulators updated

Mac game machine emulator extraordinaire Richard Bannister has updated a plethora of his game emulators for the Mac. Some changes are global to all the emulators, and some specific emulators get reworked slightly to add new features, improve functionality and just generally work better. Hit his Web site for all the info.

Carmack chimes in on ATI vs Nvidia

With ATI’s Smartshader and Truform announcements inevitably leading down the path to a new product announcement, attention is turning to the future of PC graphics — with ATI and competitor Nvidia center-stage — both companies are touting their own technologies for the development of next generation video game engines. “News for nerds” site Slashdot.org has generated much discussion about this issue, causing Id Software resident genius John Carmack to chime in with his own thoughts.

Dark Castle 3 Demo Beta 5 unleashed

Z Sculpt Entertainment has released a new beta version for the demo of its forthcoming game, Dark Castle 3. The title will be published by Delta Tao upon completion. It’s a return to a classic arcade-style platform game created as a Macintosh original many years ago, updated with new levels and new challenges.

Harpoon 3 for OS X still in progress

Mac game maven Jesse Spears noted that he’s got a working and native version of Harpoon 3 for Mac OS X. Harpoon 3 is a naval warfare simulation that was first released as a regular, boxed commercial application. Spears is the same programmer who worked on Escape from Monkey Island for Aspyr and Westlake. Spears said that the OS X version of Harpoon 3 is still buggy and not yet ready for user consumption, but encourages users to visit the Harpoon 3 Web site for more details.

WarBirds III for free, in August

iEntertainment Network is offering online flight sim fans a chance to play WarBirds III, its World War II-era aircraft dogfighting game, for free throughout the month of August. WarBirds III is the first OpenGL-based 3D accelerated version of WarBirds for the Mac. Please note also that iEN is making available new beta OpenGL drivers for ATI cards, for use with WarBirds III.

Elsewhere on the Web

MacGamez.com has relaunched, with a focus on reviews and features instead of news. XGR.com has posted an MP3 audio interview with Myth III: The Wolf Age designer Scott Campbell. Utterer.com posted its MWNY 2K1 Hangover, a look back at the Macworld Expo that was from several different individuals’ perspectives. The Mac Game Database is now tracking ESRB ratings, to help parents with kids determine what games might be appropriate for them. MacGamer.com has posted a multipart preview of Ambrosia Software’s forthcoming threequel, Escape Velocity: Nova. And Inside Mac Games has posted an interview with ever-popular Westlake Interactive president Mark Adams. Apple itself has turned its gaze to QuakeCon, an annual gathering of Quake enthusiasts happening next week in Texas (Apple will be there, by the way).

Closer to home

This past week saw MacCentral bring readers news about Simon the Sorcerer 3D’s pending Mac release; Ambrosia Software’s classic Maelstrom ported to Mac OS X; word that the forthcoming multiplayer online role-playing game Shadowbane will be published by Ubi Soft; info on a new comic book based on the Mac game Nanosaur, and much more.

As always, if you have ideas for ways MacCentral can improve its game coverage, or if you have a Mac game or related service you’d like our readers to know about, drop us a line with all the relevant details.