Mac game mavin noticed a marked absence seizure of “ large ” announcements from Macworld Expo . Despite that , however , there was still news from the show — though much of it was from smaller developer and publishers that might not have been on many gamers ’ radio detection and ranging a class ago .
Aspyr Media led the fashion with an early promulgation that it is port Call of Duty 2 to the Mac . This is a hotly counter World War II - era first individual shooter that ’s sold like gangbusters since it was bring in with Microsoft ’s new Xbox 360 plot console table . The Mac version is n’t expected out until Spring , but it will ship as a Universal Binary , which means that it ’ll run natively on PowerPC or Intel - based Macs . Aspyr has alike plans for its already - announced Mac conversions of Quake IV and Civilization IV .
Major publishing house roundup
Perhaps more noted for its absence , MacSoftelected not to parade at this year ’s show . The company is actively developing new products for the Mac . What ’s more , the company ’s general manager Al Schilling take down that it plan to make an announcement about a major novel Mac plot headed our way some time next month , during the Macworld Live ! Game Room academic term on the show flooring on Friday good afternoon .
Freeverse Software is well known for its publishing of originally developed Mac casual games . That ’s why the caller ’s news that it ’s port Heroes of Might and Magic V and Legion Arena to the Macintosh surprise many . The ship’s company ’s moving in a new direction with these two games , which should provide to strategy and military biz fans , severally .
Feral Interactivedidn’t have any fresh announcements for the show , but the troupe was in force at Macworld Expo , with its own kiosk and plentifulness of production to deal , ranging from nonchalant games like Worms Blast to full on shooters like XIII , racers like Ford Racing 2 and more . gestate to hear a lot more from Feral in the calendar month out front , as it prepares the release of Colin McRae Rally 2005 , apologue : The Lost Chapters , Black & White 2 and lot more game .
Blizzard Entertainment also sport itsWorld of Warcraftgame run on a Modern 17 - inch Intel - based iMac . The iMac wrick in impressive skeleton rate , rarely drop below the 40 and 50s in most orbit , with graphics turn up to most of their maximum options . That ’s using a Universal Binary development anatomy that will be rolled into a free , newfangled update expect shortly .
Indies galore
GarageGames , which produces a licensable game engine that Macintosh , Linux and Windows developer can habituate , has published TubeTwist , a new 3D teaser that puts you in the role of an assistant to a professor who has discovered the secret of time change of location . You must recreate his experiments , which involve rout energy spheres through elaborate vasiform maze .
Pangea Software — makers of Nanosaur , Bugdom , Otto Matic and other games that have been bundled with the Mac over the years — is back in the game with Enigmo 2 , a novel version of their 3D action mystifier . You manipulate water , plasma and other flowing substances through mazes , using switches , force field , magneto - spheres and other objects to move the flow from the startle point to the end point . It ’ll ship as a Universal Binary when Enigmo 2 is release in February .
Popcap Games ’ products have been bring in to the Mac before by third party , but now the caller is offer Mac versions itself . The company has foretell the release of three unexampled titles — Bejeweled 2 , Bookworm and Zuma .
Stone Design has distinguished itself as a creator of original Mac OS ten program like iMaginator , PStill and Create . Now the company is offering a level editor for McSebi ’s barren ( and excellent ) Pac Man homage , Pac the Man .
GameHouse used the event to show off its late released teaser Scripture gameAcropolis , in which you link letter of the alphabet to form words ; succeed and you ’ll get ahead treasure and trophy . The game uses an ancient Grecian motif .
The Games Arcade
The centerpiece of the games section of this year ’s Macworld Expo display hall was an arcade surface area . A habitue of the show for yr , the area is coordinated by Apple and comprises dozen of booth populate by Power Macs and iMacs record off the latest game . There were also two long row of Power Mac G5s set up for multiplayer tourney , which pass throughout the show .
Aspyr , MacSoft , Feral , Blizzard and MacPlay and other major publishing firm used the opportunity to show off game to passersby ranging from Zoo Tycoon 2 to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 , Rayman 3 to The Incredibles : boost of the Underminer . There was even a G5 with a hefty exhibit run Laminar Research ’s X - Plane , which is more a serious flight of steps sim than factual game .
Many humble vendors also made their appearances there : Of finical note was Tabula Digita’sDimenxian , an innovative game that combines elements of third - person and first - individual activeness game with , of all affair , algebra . The secret plan ’s shibboleth is “ watch math or croak trying . ”
Crazy Machines — a brain - twister that invest you in control of Rube Goldberg - style wacky machines — andAgon , a Myst - dash graphic adventure . Both games are published by Viva Media .
The elephant in the room
film the long - term sight , once Windows Vista is resign , will twofold - boot Macs day of reckoning the development of Mac games ? After all , what ’s to make a game publisher support the Mac if they can just sell them a Windows game instead ?
This does n’t seem to be an overpowering concern for many of the Mac game developer with whom I spoke last week . They sure as shooting recognize that some “ hard-core ” gamers may indeed create double - boot systems ( something they ca n’t , as I understand it , do easily today thanks to Apple ’s use of Extensible Firmware Architecture , or EFI , in place of the BIOS that Windows XP expect ) .
But people who identify themselves as “ gamers ” make up a relatively little portion of the overall Mac - using population . By comparison , if you involve the modal Mac user if he plays games , you ’ll more belike get an approving response .
plot developer and publishers understand this , and we ’re seeing fewer and few “ hardcore ” Mac games with each passing class . More and more of those folk have desert to video game consoles from both the Mac and the PC , or are building ( or buying ) personal computer system to execute the games they want to dally .
or else , we ’re seeing more games like Zoo Tycoon 2 and The Sims 2 , which are more likely to attract to a broad base of gamers , as well as a massive enlargement in the telephone number of chance game that we can all play between meetings , on commutes , or when we have a few spare moment .
The market evolves
An cozy count prove that in 2005 , more than 100 secret plan titles shipped for the Mac that integrate 3D nontextual matter acceleration — a new record . Interestingly , though , the number of games that come forth as “ A ” or “ AAA ” titles — a unaffixed definition applied to major , commercial sack — dwindled from more than 50 in 2004 to less than 30 in 2005 .
This is revelatory of a preserve shift key in the market . Major plot publishers merely ca n’t afford to port a lot of games to the Macintosh every year — sure enough not in the volume they have in years past . the great unwashed are n’t buy them in large enough quantities to justify further expansion of development squad and marketing and licensing effort .
The good intelligence is that original Mac game growth , and parallel development with Windows and cabinet game , is a continuing trend that shows no sign of slack any meter soon , with more tools to aid developer in creating multi - platform games being released and updated continuously .
