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[IMG News]

The upcoming 2.2 patch for World of Warcraft will, in addition to the usual bug fixes and content additions, feature some Mac specific enhancements. The first addition is the inclusion of in-game video capture exclusively for Mac users. Users will be able to capture game footage using a choice of H.264, Motion JPEG, or Pixlet codecs, as well as use selectable resolution and frame rates.

Another Mac specific addition provided by the patch will improve graphic optimization utilizing AltiVec for PowerPC Macs and SSE on Intel Macs. The end result of the optimizations is improved performance on systems unable to make use of vertex shaders, such as systems using Intel integrated graphics.

More information about the Mac updates in version 2.2:

- The Mac client can now capture in-game video to QuickTime movie files using a configurable choice of codec (H.264, Motion JPEG, or Pixlet), resolution, and frame rate. Two new entries have been added to the Key Bindings dialog for start/stop recording and for cancellation of a recording. For more detailed configuration options please see the Mac Options panel in game. Mac OS X 10.4.9 and QuickTime 7.1.6 or better are required. Not all machines have enough performance to smoothly capture video at high frame rates; end user experimentation will be required to find appropriate settings for each.

- Additional graphic optimization utilizing AltiVec for PowerPC-Mac and SSE for Intel-Mac. This provides some performance benefit on systems where vertex animation shaders are either unavailable or disabled (recommended on systems with Intel integrated video).

- Mac Options dialog has been added to the primary options panel. This dialog offers configuration options for any features that are presently unique to the Mac client, such as iTunes Remote and Movie Capture.

- New iTunes Remote configuration options have been added to the Mac Options panel.

The patch is currently in beta testing on Blizzard's Public Test Realms.

For more information, including a forum topic dealing with PC user reaction to the currently Mac-only movie recording feature, follow the links below.

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