Each week MacCentral posts news about games on its regular pages but there are always a few items that don’t make it as part of our regular coverage. That’s why we have this retrospective, the Week in Games. Actually, this is the last two weeks in games, since we didn’t post last Sunday.
Dome Wars 1.7b1 released
NS Software has released Dome Wars v1.7b1, a Mac OS X conversion of the popular strategy game that’s similar to the classic game Scorched Earth or, more recently, Pocket Tanks on the Mac.
Hangman Pro 1.0.6 released
Ken Winograd has released Hangman Pro v1.0.6, an update to the classic word game for the Mac. It’s an educational word-guessing game that now features 68 categories of words. This update adds a new Mars category, improves existing categories and updates some content too.
Hollow Ground updated to 1.0.5
Aescapia AB has updated their overhead-perspective tactical shooter game Hollow Ground to v1.0.5. The new release fixes bugs, adds a keyboard shortcut, optimizes graphics under Mac OS X and more.
Law and Order update fixes Panther problem
Aspyr Media has posted an update to Law and Order: Dead on the Money to bring it to version 1.0.1. The update, aimed specifically at users of Mac OS X v10.3 “Panther” only, fixes a conflict with Java 1.4.2 and Java 3D.
Pharaoh’s Gold released
Pharaoh’s Gold is a new arcade puzzle game from the same developer who created Yexi — The Interstellar Adventure. You must retrieve all the stolen gold to appease the Pharaoh’s spirit before he spreads his curse. The demo lets you play seven free stages before requiring you pay the shareware fee of $18. It requires Mac OS X v10.2 or higher, G3/450MHz or faster and a video system with 8MB of VRAM.
RendezvousPong updated with political twist
Math Game House has updated RendezvousPong, their zero-configuration networked Pong game for the Mac. Version 1.1 is free until November 2004, with a new paddle option that features images of well-known US public figures.
The Sims Makin’ Magic now on shelves
Aspyr Media Inc. has released The Sims Makin’ Magic to retailers; you should now be able to find the add-on pack on store shelves. It’s the latest expansion pack for the popular game The Sims, and it allows your sims to cast magic spells and more.
ToySight available to Europeans via e.p.i.c.
European Mac game publisher e.p.i.c. interactive frequently teams up with U.S. publishers to distribute its products in North America. Now the reverse is true — e.p.i.c. is helping Freeverse Software get a leg up in Europe by distributing its game Toysight. Toysight works in conjunction with iSight or DV cameras to put you in the game.
Unreal Tournament 2004 for Mac at release candidate
Epic Games developer Ryan Gordon has been working hard this week to get the Mac version of Unreal Tournament 2004 (UT 2K4) ready to ship. The game is at release candidate now, and should be ready to ship any day now. He spent part of last week fixing a bug that seriously affected performance on single-processor Macs. When it’s ready to go, MacSoft will send it off to manufacturing.
Elsewhere on the Web
MacGamer has posted a Flight Sim Roundup. Inside Mac Games has posted a review of Rally Shift,. the new car racing game from CodeBlender. Curmudgeon Gamer has posted an interview with Glenda Adams of Aspyr Media. The Gamesome Mac recently talked with Nathan Lamont of Bigger Planet, developer of the recently released Starbase Defender.
Closer to home
On MacCentral this week we brought you news about Feral Interactive’s latest information regarding their games. .Mac users get a 25 percent discount off of Pangea Software’s Nanosaur II, which just began shipping this week. MacSoft has released a patch to Age of Mythology that fixes the dual processor bug and much more. Beenox Inc. has posted a new Web site that details both their Mac game conversion projects for Aspyr and their plans to produce a game of their own. Riddle of the Sphinx II began shipping this week. Herbert’s Big Adventure is a new game for iPods that uses the Notes feature, kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Ubi Soft has bought Wolfpack Studios, makers of Shadowbane. Aspyr said that Return of the King is now in beta, as is Command & Conquer: Generals.
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