Destineer’s MacSoft announced Wednesday that it will bring forth a Macintosh conversion of Age of Empires III, the popular real-time strategy game. The company expects to ship the Mac conversion by the end of September, 2006.
Age of Empires III is the sequel to MacSoft’s second best-selling title. The game puts you in control of one of eight European powers exploring, colonizing and conquering the New World. Age of Empires III has a strong combat component — you can command rifle infantry, direct cavalry, navigate naval fleets and more as you explore new territories, grow your economy and form strategic alliances with indigenous cultures.
Age of Empires III’s Mac conversion seemed cast in doubt after it was learned that the PC version of the game uses Havok, a physics engine that isn’t available on the Macintosh. MacSoft has instead substituted Ageia’s PhysX physics engine, a technology that is available on the Mac.
MacSoft didn’t reveal system requirements for Age of Empires III, but did indicate that it will be released as a Universal binary to run natively on PowerPC and Intel-based Macs.
MacSoft’s Web site had not been updated with information about Age of Empires III as Macworld posted this article.