Users of two Aspyr Media Mac game releases now have new versions of the titles to download. Both Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri and Sim Theme Park have been patched to fix various problems with each game.
Sim Theme Park is a recently release strategy game in which players are responsible for the operation, design, and maintenance of a theme-based amusement park. Players construct the rides, hire staff to keep the park running, and decide the price of concessions and entrance fees. The game was originally developed for the PC by Electronic Arts’ Bullfrog subsidiary and was licensed for the Mac by U.K.-based Mac game publisher Feral Interactive. Aspyr is the North American distributor of Sim Theme Park.
The Sim Theme Park patch, version 2.0.4b3, corrects a problem that some players reported with an error that read “Engine failed to initialize.” Feral reports that the problem has been isolated to a monitor resolution and bit depth mode switching issue on some Macs. This patch is designed to correct that problem, but Feral warns that Macs which do not meet the minimum system requirements for the game (it’s 3D accelerated) are bound to continue having trouble.
Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri has been out for about a year now — it’s the popular turn-based strategy game originally developed by Firaxis Games under the tutelage of the legendary designer Sid Meier, who created the Civilization line of strategy games. Alpha Centauri was converted to the Mac by Westlake Interactive and published by Aspyr; it spawned an add-on expansion pack called Sid Meier’s Alien Crossfire, as well.
The update to Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, marked version 1.5.2b1, is designed to fix a compatibility problem with Apple’s recently released Mac OS 9.1. Under some conditions, black pixels in the game appear white. Please read the accompanying documentation for any last-minute notes or info.
Both links above will bring you to Macgamefiles.com, which has more info and links to downloads.