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Apple Games' latest feature takes to the road with a review of Colin McRae Rally Mac. Codemasters and Feral Interactive's rally racing title gives would-be racers the chance to test their mettle in a variety of rally events. Apple's feature includes an overview of the game and a brief rundown of the history of rally racing.

No matter how you play the game, you have access to many options that enhance the experience, such as different weather patterns and times of day. A realistic damage model reveals each ding and scratch endured during the race — slam into obstacles too hard and you’ll see serious physical problems, such as cracked windows, bent hoods, and missing bumpers. A word of caution: black smoke pouring from the engine is a bad sign.

You can always start over with a fresh car in challenge mode, but during the real competitions, you’ll need to repair the vehicle between rally stages. Each fix takes a certain amount of time, and if you go over sixty minutes, you’ll get hit with a penalty during the next stage. You can also upgrade your car with enhanced features, such as ceramic brakes, and configure its tires, steering, gearbox, and other setup options to accommodate the terrain found in the upcoming stage.

Apple Games: Colin McRae Rally Mac

Feral Interactive (add to watch list)

Zonic (add to watch list)

Colin McRae Rally (add to watch list)

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Virtual Programming recently announced the release of the Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday update, Armageddon. The download only update picks up where Doomsday left off, featuring two completely new alternative history scenarios with variable end dates. Armageddon also offers a variety of game updates, new options, and new units.

Here are some of the new additions gamers can expect:

- New attachments for Naval units; do you scrap or upgrade those old ships
- Land units can now be built with brigades already attached
- An Air Naval combat system that radically alters the combat balance
- New damage algorithms for the Air combat system, making organization
more important and allowing air units to fight longer

Click on the link below for more information.

Armageddon

Virtual Programming (add to watch list)

Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday (add to watch list)

Buy Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday

Custer's Desktop for the week features the all-ages sequel LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy from Feral Interactive. The title is based directly off of the popular movie.

Here's a clip of what Brad had to say:

With the recent release of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy from Feral Interactive my email has been flooded with a similar request - a desktop for this game. It's no secret that I am a fan of the original title and welcome the chance to dive into the sequel. So, this week we travel to a galaxy built far, far away. This wallpaper is based on the hilarious box art and was made possible by LucasArts.

Custer's Desktops

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Gamasutra is offering an excerpt from Halo Effect: An Unauthorized Look at the Most Successful Video Game of All Time, a book featuring a collection of essays examining the Halo phenomenon from a variety of angles. Gamasutra's excerpt attempts to unravel the science behind the massive Halo structure itself.

A 5,000 kilometer radius would yield a circumference of roughly 31,400 kilometers. If the Halos had a width-to-radius ratio similar to that of Niven’s Ringworld, they would be approximately 5.37 kilometers wide. They are significantly wider, though, at 320 kilometers. The Halos, then, would have a surface area of 10 million square kilometers— slightly larger than the surface area of Canada, and approximately 2 percent of the surface area of Earth. Of course, since we know that there are lakes, seas, and rivers on the Halos, the livable surface area would be fractionally less.

What raw materials would it take to construct a Halo, and in what quantities? In order to determine the amount of raw materials required, and what elements may exist in the necessary abundances, we first must calculate the volume of the structure. While a Halo is proportionally wider than a Niven Ring, it is thicker in absolute measure. Niven proposed that a Ringworld be 1 kilometer thick, whereas the Halos are quite a bit sturdier at 22.3 kilometers thick. The total volume of a Halo would be roughly 224 million cubic kilometers, a bit more than 0.02 percent of the volume of Earth.

Gamasutra: Halo Science 101

MacSoft (add to watch list)

Bungie Studios (add to watch list)

Westlake Interactive (add to watch list)

Halo: Combat Evolved (add to watch list)

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MacUser UK has posted a new review of Star Wars: Empire at War, a strategy title which puts players in control of ground and space warfare in the Star Wars universe. Set during the time period of the original move trilogy, Empire at War lets players join the Empire or Rebellion in a struggle to conquer the galaxy. Mac User gave the game a score of 4 out of 5.

From the review:

Rather than focusing on one aspect of the Star Wars mythology, Empire at War takes on the whole kaboodle. The setting is the Galactic Civil War, shortly before the beginning of the first film (that is, Episode IV, not the one with that insufferable Jar Jar Binks). You play the role of either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire, and are involved in every strategic aspect of the campaign, from unit production and movement around the galaxy, down to leading a band of soldiers into battle.

The result can best be described as galactic SimCity meets Command & Conquer with Stormtroopers. And for the most part, it works well. The galactic level of gameplay is fundamental to the success of your campaign, although not always that exciting. You move your forces between planets, and use your budget to set up facilities on them, such as barracks and factories, or space stations in their orbits.

As your army grows, you will use it to conquer other planets in the galaxy. If a planet is owned by your enemy, you'll need to fight their forces in orbit before moving down to conquer the planet itself. And it's in these battles where the real excitement of Empire

MacUser UK: Star Wars Empire At War Review

Aspyr Media (add to watch list)

Star Wars: Empire at War (add to watch list)

Buy Star Wars: Empire at War

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Virtual Programming has announced the release of Strategy 6, a compilation of six Paradox strategy games. The package contains Europa Universalis II, Crusader Kings, Victoria, Victoria Revolutions, Hearts of Iron 2, and Doomsday.

Turn the tide of World War II. Discover the New World. Industrialize your country and colonize continents. Engage in the power struggles of medieval Europe or assume the leadership role of one of the great Asian dynasties.

Comprising of Europa Universalis II, Crusader Kings, Victoria, Victoria Revolutions, Hearts of Iron 2 and Doomsday, it is a strategy gamers dream! Play grand campaigns throughout the ages and play against other Mac gamers on the free Valkyrienet game servers for the ultimate challenge.

OSX 10.3.9 or higher
Intel Processor / 500 MHz G3 or faster
256MB Memory

Strategy Six

Virtual Programming (add to watch list)

Paradox Interactive (add to watch list)

Buy Europa Universalis II

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