GameRanger, the Macintosh game hosting, tracking and online chat service, has been updated to version 4.5. A free update, GameRanger users will be automatically updated to the new release on their next login.
GameRanger makes it possible to join or host a variety of commercial, shareware and freeware online games, and even taps into some popular cross-platform game servers. It’s available in a free version and a more robust Premium version that adds features like ladders, ratings and rankings, in-game voice communication and more.
The new 4.5 release no long requires users to configure port forwarding on their routers to host or join games, simplifying the process of hosting or joining for some games.
Reliability has been improved to the in-game voice features. Support is now offered for hosting games while you’re hosting Internet sharing. A variety of other feature enhancements, bug fixes and more have also been added.
GameRanger’s developer has posted a technical advisory explaining how the new bypass feature works. Worthy of note is that the feature is not supported on Intel Macs, but should be supported in the future.
GameRanger requires Mac OS 8.6 or later. Premium membership costs $49.95 per year.