mack gamers will probably reckon back on 2004 as the year when Mac game publisher grew up . Destineer , the parent caller ofMacSoft , andAspyr Mediaboth announced plans to liberate original plot — quite an achievement for an diligence that , by and large , has been dependent on changeover of title from the personal computer and consoles .
Neither of those efforts have arrive to realisation quite yet , but we ’ve got 2005 to look forward to , as Destineer print Close fight : First to Fight and Aspyr publishes Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse . Both game are expected to be released at the same time on Mac , Windows , and other organization .
The 2004 Mac play setting was also punctuated with a few high-pitched - profile releases that deserve attention , with perhaps the most significant game of the year — MacSoft ’s Mac version of Halo — actually arriving in December 2003 . However , the momentum of the biz ’s long - awaited Mac debut dribble well into the young class . Halo had first been bear witness publicly at Macworld Expo in New York years before by Bungie Software — the darling of Macintosh gamers everywhere for its roots as a Mac game developer and creator of the legendary Marathon and Myth series . Halo spent several years as an Xbox exclusive before finally making its way to Windows and then the Mac .
European Union
While Minneapolis - based MacSoft and Austin , Texas - based Aspyr both deservedly share much of the spotlight this year , the try of Mac biz developers in the U.K. and Germany can not be discounted . This was a banner yr forFeral Interactive , which grab a number of entertaining game licenses from A - lean house like Ubi Soft and Electronic Arts .
Feral ’s stable of games include a piddling something for everyone : Total Immersion Racing ( pictured right-hand ) and Ford Racing 2 for auto racing enthusiasts ; Rayman 3 and Worms 3D for console table gamers looking for fun on their Macs ; and XIII for fans of the cult - hit Gallic graphical novel .
Virtual Programming Ltd.continued its Mac game development and publishing effort with a successful partnership with Freeverse Software that netted VP Ltd. a stateside distribution weapon . What ’s more , the scrappy game maker kicked off its Virtual Product Service , which enables users to buy Virtual Programming ’s game online and download them , rather than find the clock time and disbursement of having the products shipped from the U.K. to their address . This is old tidings for gamers accustomed to shareware distribution , but it ’s a novelty for commercial-grade game publishers in the Macintosh space .
Virtual Programming differentiated itself from its U.K.-based rival Feral by licensing games a bit more off the beaten track , with a specific vehemence on the scheme genre — to the full one-half of Virtual Programming ’s current subroutine library are real - sentence or round - establish strategy game .
dauntless German publishere.p.i.c . interactivecontinued its campaign with alone strategy biz . Like Virtual Programming , e.p.i.c . used Freeverse Software ’s distribution capacity to leverage distribution in the difficult North American market .
The Impact : More biz publisher — disregardless of where they ’re physically locate — enable more games to get along to the Mac . Even the biggest and well - fund publisher will be capable to produce only so many title at a time , so it ’s adept to see these other companies bring in newfangled blood to the Macintosh .
Destinee Calls
With so much effort drop on its original game First to Fight , it ’s amazing that Destineer ’s MacSoft label had the power to do much else . Everything that MacSoft does seems suitable of attention , from the first - person hit man Unreal Tournament 2004 to the real - metre scheme game Railroad Tycoon 3 ( figure decently ) . Age of Mythology and Rise of Carry Amelia Moore Nation both get to appeal to scheme game fans looking for Civilization - flair tingle , as well .
The Impact : MacSoft is n’t the most prolific secret plan publisher on the Macintosh platform , but it is one of the most influential , thanks to careful decisions about what to bring . Everything MacSoft puts out is worth looking at , and it looks like it ’s not going to change its normal any metre presently .
Aspyring to Greatness
Media ball of fire Aspyr Media had another banner year , print dozens of games for the Macintosh , Windows and Game Boy Advance — and ending the year by diversifying into PocketPC as well . The company was responsible for play a number of hotly anticipated A - list game to the Macintosh in 2004 , including Call of Duty , Battlefield 1942 , Star Wars : Knights of the Old Republic , Homeworld 2 and many others .
The Impact : Aspyr Media is the most prolific Mac game newspaper publisher around right now . The company ’s strategy rivet on both “ big ” secret plan ( like the approaching releases Doom 3 — figure properly — and The Sims 2 ) and “ little ” games ( like MTX : Mototrax and Space Colony ) . Both efforts run each other , as maintaining family relationship with the same publishers that propose up the B complex - list game at last give A - listing opportunities . The net event is an embarrassment of riches for Mac gamers , and a wide library of title from which to select .
Whither MacPlay?
United Developers imprintMacPlayturned a corner this class . The society had , for old age , contend to carve out a ecological niche for itself as a purveyor of A - list Mac games . With its development partner — The Omni Group , makers of OmniWeb and other Mac OS hug drug utilities — come back its centering to its own software effort and an more and more competitive market , MacPlay did some somebody - searching and came up with an alternative : they became a purveyor of casual gaming titles and a reseller of other companies ’ secret plan , too .
MacPlay free a slew of casual games for the Macintosh and PC this past year , ranging from arcade puzzlers to Son games and more . Working with fellow United Developers studio MumboJumbo and with external developers like Jamdat and Gamehouse , MacPlay has beefed up its library considerably with impulse - priced game designed to invoke to a wider audience than its previous efforts . ultimately , MacPlay surprised many in the biz residential district deep in 2004 by reselling games from former competitors MacSoft , Aspyr , and others — relaunching its World Wide Web website as a full - blown east - store .
The Impact : hard-core gamers systematically undervalue the casual game securities industry because it ’s not sexy , it ’s not headline - worthy , and it does n’t make a huge splash . Despite that , there are a draw more casual gamers out there than hard-core gamers . If there ’s a sleeper headline for 2004 , it ’s MacPlay ’s move to appeal to the casual gamer . The leg of MacPlay ’s decision to sell other companies ’ games is less clear , but if it sells more boxes for company like Aspyr and MacSoft , so be it — a rise up lunar time period raises all gravy boat , after all .
