With the year drawing to a close, Mac game conversion studio Westlake Interactive has published its 2001 Year In Review, outlining the company’s accomplishments. This year Westlake released 12 games for the Macintosh, and also quietly branched out into video game console development.
Publisher Aspyr Media was a big collaborator with Westlake this year: Westlake developed Macintosh versions of Aspyr titles Escape from Monkey Island, American McGee’s Alice, The Sims: House Party, Tomb Raider Chronicles, and Star Trek: Voyager — Elite Force Expansion Pack.
MacSoft likewise helped to keep the Westlake gang busy. Mac versions of Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year, Monopoly Casino, Centipede, Wheel of Fortune 2 and Jeopardy! 2 all came from Westlake and MacSoft this year.
Westlake also noted a new partner: Bold by Destineer, a new venture from MacSoft founder Peter Tamte. Westlake and Bold collaborated to bring Age of Empires II Gold Edition to the Macintosh.
Westlake also has a long list of titles that have been updated to support Mac OS X — more than any other software developer, Westlake claimed. The list includes The Sims, The Sims Livin’ Large, The Sims House Party, Unreal Tournament, Centipede, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, American McGee’s Alice, Age of Empires II: Gold Edition, Star Trek: Voyager — Elite Force, Wheel of Fortune 2 and Jeopardy! 2.
Looking forward to the year 2002, Westlake already has a number of projects that have been announced. Sid Meier’s Civilization III will be forthcoming from MacSoft, along with Max Payne. Westlake has teamed up with Aspyr to bring Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Spider-Man to the Mac. And next year will also mark the first time Westlake has finished a project for a video game console — the company is working with Ion Storm Austin to bring Deus Ex: The Conspiracy to Sony’s PlayStation 2 system.