Ambrosia Software Inc. has announced the release of the Mac conversion of Uplink, a game set in the near future, in the world of high-tech computer crime and Internet-based industrial espionage.
You’re hired by companies to hack into their rivals’ computer systems, stealing research data, sabotaging their information, laundering money, erasing evidence and framing innocent civilians. You can use the money you earn to upgrade your computer systems and buy new software and tools. In turn, you can engage in more dangerous, albeit more profitable, activities.
What’s more, you can roll your earnings over into an in-game stock market, influencing its outcome. You can also modify academic and criminal records for people; divert money from bank transfers into your own account, and even help make “the most deadly computer virus ever designed.”
Uplink was originally developed by Introversion, but Ambrosia compares the game to one of its own hits: The Escape Velocity series. Uplink is a more cerebral version of that game line, according to Ambrosia, combining “missions that interweave a threaded plot which is unveiled with each conquest.”
Uplink is available for download now, and costs US$25 to register. Uplink for Mac requires a G3 or better, with Mac OS X or Mac OS 9. Ambrosia notes that users who prefer can also buy a boxed copy of Uplink from its original developers as well.