Every week MacCentral strives to bring readers the latest headlines and breaking info from the world of Macintosh gaming. There are occasionally stories that we can’t get to, however, and that’s why we have this weekly retrospective — a round-up called The Week in Games.
Atlas: The Gift of Aramai 1.1 now available
Freeverse Software said that a new version of its recently released role playing game, Atlas: The Gift of Aramai, is now available for download. In addition to various bug fixes, version 1.1 sports an extensive new manual as well. “Atlas is a story-driven RPG with hundreds of characters, monsters, and quests. It has romance, intrigue, and lots of magical swashbuckling to boot,” noted Freeverse co-founder Colin Lynch Smith.
Catara Software offers holiday specials
Catara Software noted a holiday promotion for its game Qube. Through the end of December, Catara is offering Qube for only $10. It’s also offering its other software for $7, a savings of up to 33 percent. Qube is an action/puzzle game that is ready for Mac OS X.
Earth 2140: The Final Conflict mission pack ships
e.p.i.c. interactive has released a mission pack expansion for the real time strategy game Earth 2140. Called “The Final Conflict,” the mission pack adds 80 new single player missions, 30 new multiplayer missions, 6 new units, 2 new buildings and a new terrain type.
Galactica: Anno Dominari 2.0.8 released
MonkeyByte.com and Sacred Tree Software have updated Galactica: Anno Dominari, a space-based strategy game of conquest and domination. The new build, version 2.0.8, sports better performance under Mac OS X, less obtrusive grid lines, contrast in display modes, and enhanced menu items in multiplayer games.
Parsec LAN Test updated
The Parsec Team has released another new build of their Parsec LAN Test. Billed as “commercial quality freeware,” Parsec is a 3D space shooter developed by a team of enterprising programmers for a variety of different computing platforms, including the Mac. The game has been in development for several years.
Unreal Tournament X status update from Westlake
Westlake Interactive president Mark Adams recently posted new details about his continuing efforts to refine Unreal Tournament for Mac OS X. In a recent posting to the Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.mac.games.action, Adams said, “I had hoped to release Preview 2 last weekend, but the loading bug (app just dies at the end of the load process) is still giving me fits. Something in OS X changed from 10.0.4 to 10.1.x and the game doesn’t like it. If I can fix this one bug I’ll release Preview 2. I’ve actually been putting quite a few hours on it, since Harry Potter needs to run well under X as well (and any bug fixes in UT will probably help HP).”
Elsewhere on the Web
This week MacGamer posted a review of Giants: Citizen Kabuto from MacPlay. Inside Mac Games has reviewed Saitek’s X45 HOTAS (Hands on Throttle and Stick) flight sim controls. MacGamez has posted a preview of Max Payne, the forthcoming 3D shooter coming from Westlake Interactive and MacSoft. And in case you missed it, Apple’s own Web site now features a Gift Guide for Gamers.
Closer to home
This past week MacCentral had plenty of game-related news of its own. Max Payne has been unveiled as Westlake’s “Morphine” project; the company also indicated that it has a new secret project on the book called “Muse.” Pyro Studios told Macworld Spain that it’s developing Commandos 2 for the Mac alongside the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions; the PC version has already been published by Eidos Interactive. In celebration of Walt Disney’s 100th birthday (posthumously, of course), Disney Interactive announced the release of the Disney Trivia Challenge CD-ROM game in regular and collector’s edition versions. MacSoft posted an update to Rogue Spear. Bold by Destineer posted an update to Age of Empires II: Gold Edition. And collectible Jurassic Park III Cd Cardz have debuted, with art, sounds, and other stuff from the summer blockbuster on business-card sized CDs (not suitable for slot-loading iMacs and PowerBook G4s, alas). Legacy Interactive has released Vet Emergency, which puts you in the role of a pet doctor at an emergency clinic.
As always, we heartily encourage you to drop us a line if you have ideas for ways we can improve our games coverage here on MacCentral. And you’re also welcome to get in touch with us if you have game-related products or services you’d like to see featured on MacCentral.