Every week MacCentral brings readers the latest news and headlines from the world of Mac gaming, but there are always a few stories that don’t make it onto our regular news pages. That’s why we have this weekly retrospective, called The Week in Games. You’ll also find links to other sites’ highlighted game related content and a recap of our own game headlines for the week.
Another War coming to US via MacPlay
We noted it earlier in the week when Virtual Programming announced that its work on the World War II-era RPG Another War was done, but United Developers subsidiary MacPlay confirmed plans to ship Another War in the US. The game is coming May 1st.
Bubble Trouble X 1.0.1 released
Ambrosia Software has updated their arcade-style game Bubble Trouble X to version 1.0.1. The new version fixes a Jaguar bug, updates resolution switching code and makes other changes to help improve reliability.
EverQuest Mac beta testing underway
MacCentral brought readers news earlier this year that Sony Online Entertainment was accepting applications for beta-testing the Mac version of EverQuest, the enormously popular online RPG that’s due to make its Mac debut in late spring or early summer. Now word has reached us that EverQuest’s Mac version is in active beta testing: Applicants have been asked to register and download the first public Mac beta versions of the game, and to start playing.
Jailbreak 1.0 released
Danlab Games has released Jailbreak 1.0, a new Lode Runner-style platformer for Mac OS 9 or higher. The download lets you play the first 5 levels without registering. Paying $14 or €14 unlocks the other 45 levels.
Player Manager 2003 nears completion
Virtual Programming Ltd. recently noted that its work is drawing to a close on Player Manager 2003, a new soccer management game for the Mac. The company expects Player Manager 2003 to go gold master soon. As the manager of a football/soccer team, you’re responsible for contracts, training and other aspects of a team in one of various European soccer leagues. The game even features a 3D “Live TV” mode.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 trailer released
Aspyr Media has posted a trailer for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, their forthcoming Mac/PC conversion of the popular console skateboarding game.
X-Plane news galore
Laminar Research is currently putting the finishing touches on two updates to its X-Plane flight simulator simultaneously: 6.70, now in Release Candidate, and 7.0.0, now in beta.
Elsewhere on the Web
MacGamer.com has posted an interview with Phil Sulak, vice president of Westlake Interactive, the popular Mac game conversion company. And coming up tomorrow Sean Smith of The Gamesome Mac will be talking with Quicksilver Software president Bill Fisher, who will talk about Master of Orion III, the recently released strategy game from MacSoft. Inside Mac Games has posted a review of the Radeon 9000 Pro, ATI’s ADC-equipped retail graphics card. Apple has posted a look at GarageGames’ Torque Engine, the 3D graphics engine that has helped bring games to the Mac including Marble Blast, Orbz and ThinkTanks.
Closer to home
This week MacCentral brought readers news about ThinkTanks’ demo release. Speaking of demos, there’s one available of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Game developers may be interested in the news that Maya Complete 5 is now available for download (if you’re on a maintenance contract with Alias|Wavefront, anyway). Pangea Software has started a new contest for people to make their own Enigmo levels; the winner gets an iPod. Also, Enigmo 1.1 has been released, and it now supports windowed mode. Budget-minded gamers looking for a portable solution may be interested in Apple’s new iBook models. GarageGames has released Orbz for OS X. Europa Universalis II and Another War have gone gold master, according to Virtual Programming Ltd. THQ Inc.’s forthcoming Finding Nemo games will include a free movie ticket.
As always, we encourage you to drop us a line if you have questions we haven’t answered, ideas for ways that we can improve our games coverage on MacCentral, or Mac games or related services you’d like to see mentioned in our coverage.