MacCentral keeps regular tabs on news coming from the Mac game world, but at the end of the week there are always a few stories that don’t make it onto our regular pages. That’s why we have this weekly retrospective, called the Week in Games.
21 Days Later: Vectorized gains almost a dozen entries
iDevGames’ 21 Days Later: Vectorized contest is coming to a close; the contest tasked developers with making a game in vector graphics style (like Tempest or Asteroids) in 21 days. iDevGames’ Carlos Camacho says that almost a dozen games have been submitted for review.
Command & Conquer: Generals in stores
Aspyr Media Inc. announced that Command & Conquer: Generals, the hotly anticipated real-time strategy game that they’ve converted to the Mac, is now on store shelves. In related news, you can find the v1.0.1 patch for the retail version for download online; it fixes an issue with Radeon 9000 cards and makes other changes.
Hangman Pro 1.0.7 released
Ken Winograd has released Hangman Pro 1.0.7, a new version of the classic word game. The new release adds a new Dogs category to dozens of other categories of words.
Hollow Ground 1.1, HollowED now available
Aescapia AB has released an updated version of Hollow Ground, their overhead 2D action game. The new release sports more than 100 additions and adjustments and some bug fixes, including a new monster, new music, new bonus levels and much more. Also now available for public beta testing is HollowED, the game’s free level editor.
Knightshift screens posted
Virtual Programming Ltd.’s forums are the place to find screenshots from the game’s current beta version. Knightshift is a real-time strategy and role-playing game set in a medieval world.
Lingo released
MIHE-Software has released Lingo, a word-guessing game in which you must guess the word in up to five attempts. It’s $10 shareware and runs on Mac OS X v10.1 or higher. There are English and German versions.
Mah Jong Solitaire 2 3D v1.36 now available
Bone Head Projects has released Mah Jong Solitaire 2 3D for Mac OS X; it’s a version of the chinese puzzle tile matching game that features OpenGL rendered 3D graphics, five difficulty options, six different game modes, 12 tilesets, 53 layouts and much more. Built from the ground up as a Mac OS X application, it’s a free upgrade for Mah Jong Solitaire 1 owners, and costs about $13 to register.
Neverball released
Robert Kooima has released Neverball, an impressive 3D game in which players guide a ball through mazes. Unlike Marble Blast, however, you tilt and move the maze to guide the ball, rather than directing the ball itself. Neverputt, a mini-golf game based on the same technology, is also included.
ProximityMines debuts
jZinc LLC has taken the wraps off ProximityMines for Mac OS X, its take on the classic Minesweeper style of puzzle game. ProximityMines supports minefields up to 32 x 24 in size, records your best times and more. It was developed as a Cocoa app and requires Mac OS X v10.2 or later; it costs about $15 to register.
Wingnuts 2 screenshots go online
Freeverse Software has posted some new screenshots and descriptions of gameplay for its forthcoming game Wingnuts 2, an overhead action arcade game shooter.
X-Words Deluxe, CrossCards updated, Bonus Pack added
Freeverse Software has updated its puzzle games X-Words Deluxe and CrossCards to version 3.0.6. The new releases fix bugs, offer better compatibility with plug-ins, and support the most recent version of GameSmith, Freeverse’s own online game matching service. A free add-on pack has been released for both games as well, including 27 opponents, 2 extra scenarios, new world lists and 3 additional backgrounds.
Elsewhere on the Web
Inside Mac Games reviewed Activision Anthology: Remix Edition from MacPlay this week. They also posted a World of Warcraft character journal to help give you a taste of what this game is like.
Closer to home
This week MacCentral brought readers news about MumboJumbo’s release of Super Collapse! II; Aspyr’s demo update to Command & Conquer: Generals and beta development of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. Nvidia Corp. launched its GeForce 6800 chip this week, a new high-end 3D graphics chip. Virtual Programming Ltd. announced that Virtual Grand Prix 2, an open-wheeled auto racing game, is shipping. Apple updated the eMac with a faster processor, better graphics, faster RAM and motherboard and more.
As always we encourage you to drop us a line if you have questions, comments or suggestions.