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UK Mac games publisher Virtual Programming dropped a number of news items recently with the announcements that both Savage: The Battle for Newerth and Hearts of Iron 2 are coming to OS X. IMG readers may recall information on a Mac Savage port from as far back as 2002, before the company's lead developer left and took most hopes of the game on the Mac with him. Now it seems Virtual Programming is going to finish what was started by completing the game's development work.

Savage takes a twist on the shooter/strategy fare by attempting to combine the genres in interesting ways. Multiplayer battles consist of two commanders working in an RTS-like mode, while the rest of the players work in a first-person shooter environment.

The sequel Hearts of Iron 2 is the latest in a long line of strategy games from Paradox Entertainment, which began with Europa Universalis. Hearts of Iron 2 continues to take on the genre inside a World War II context, and the game is being met right now on the PC with rave reviews after its release just earlier this month. Fans of the original game on the Mac will definitely want to keep an eye on this one, which Virtual Programming has slated for release later in just a couple of months.

Lastly, the company has also revealed KnightShift, a realtime strategy with heavy role-playing elements, is nearing completion now and ready to go Gold Master. Here's the latest:

The Mac version includes all the previous patches and updates the PC version has seen since it's release, so it is fully up to date.

We also have Mac-specific features, such as a friendlier window-mode and also stretched video mode, GameSmith networking support and FSAA (Full scene Anti-Aliasing) based on the capabilities of your video card.

Savage: The Battle for Newerth (add to watch list)

Hearts of Iron 2

Virtual Programming

IMG News: S2 Games Considers Mac Version of Savage

IMG News: Savage Dev Leaves; Mac Version In Limbo?

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