Each week MacCentral brings readers breaking news from the Mac game world. This retrospective is a chance to catch up on game-related news that didn’t make it into MacCentral’s regular coverage.
Bloxter 1.0 released
Norbyte has released Bloxter 1.0, an arcade puzzle game where you drop colored blocks and try to form lines of three or more. It features 3D graphics and is available for Mac OS X and Windows. Bloxter costs $19.95.
Burger Wars introduced
Amped Labs has introduced Burger Wars, an unusual online first person shooter that puts you in the midst of a global war between fast food franchises. It runs on Mac, PC and Linux and can handle up to 128 players per server. It’s currently in beta-testing, but you can see lots more on the Web site.
CreateMacGames.org 2nd Annual Coding Challenge
CreateMacGames.org has its second coding challenge with a contest to create a game similar to the arcade classic “Missile Command.”
Digital Eel offers Mac OS X Boiler Plate Special
Cheapass Games and Digital Eel is serving up the Mac OS X Boiler Plate Special, which combines their Big Box of Blox, Dr. Blob’s Organism and Strange Adventures in Infinity Space together on one CD-ROM for $25.
Escape Velocity Nova 1.0.8 released
Ambrosia Software has released Escape Velocity Nova, an updated version of the epic space adventure game. The new update features more than a dozen changes to the game’s core engine and to specific scenarios, including some bug fixes, weapons behaviors and more.
Game Makers’ Underground debuts
The Game Makers’ Underground is a new Web site that focuses on independent Mac game development. The site is dedicated to creating “homebrew” games using easy-to-use tools like GameMaker or SilverCreator, or other tools like Mac OS X’s Cocoa frameworks.
NASCAR 2003 1.2.8 released
Aspyr Media has released NASCAR 2003 v1.2.8, an updated version of their auto racing game. The new release features a fix for force feedback-enabled game controllers.
Elsewhere on the Web
Inside Mac Games has posted a first look at Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Apple’s Games site has posted a new QuickTime trailer for Space Colony, a new game coming soon from Aspyr Media. The Gamesome Mac radio show recently featured Feral Interactive and GarageGames.
Closer to home
This week MacCentral brought readers news about GameRanger’s 4.0 release, which adds ladders, ratings and rankings to users of its Premium service. An update has been posted for iBook G4 systems to improve compatibility with OpenGL, which many games use. Aspyr Media has announced plans to publish a Mac version of Knights of the Old Republic, a role-playing game set in the Star Wars universe.
As always, we encourage you to drop us a line if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.