In an amazing new announcement, MacSoft has surged back onto the 'hardcore'
Mac gaming scene with help from Take Two Interactive. MacSoft
is now the official Mac publisher of titles such as the upcoming Tropico,
Myth III, and Fly! II, as well as previously unannounced (for Mac) games Max Payne and Stronghold. This is quite an interesting turn of
events, as Gathering of Developers was previously expected to publish
these games for the Mac OS. Here's the full press release with more information:

PLYMOUTH, MN, May 9, 2001 -- Infogrames, Inc., (Nasdaq: IFGM) a global publisher of interactive entertainment software, today announced that it has acquired the Macintosh publishing rights to several high-profile titles from Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: TTWO). MacSoft continues to dominate the Macintosh entertainment software category having achieved a market share of over 37 percent for calendar year 2000*.

"As the market penetration of Mac gamers deepens, so does the need to provide this growing audience with a wide variety of products" said Cindy Swanson, Marketing Manager of MacSoft. "As the leading publisher of Macintosh game software, we are excited to be adding such an acclaimed array of products to our lineup."

Under terms of the agreement, Infogrames acquires the Macintosh publishing rights to Tropico™ and Fly! II™, which will be shipping this summer, as well as such highly regarded titles as Max Payne™, Stronghold™ and Myth III™. Infogrames also obtains the Macintosh rights to several additional titles that will be announced at a later date.

"MacSoft is the unquestioned leader in the Mac gaming arena, " said Kelly Sumner, Chief Executive Officer of Take Two Interactive. "We are excited to have Take-Two's premier properties brought to the Mac audience and look forward to working closely with MacSoft to do so."

Tropico and Fly! II are the first of the new crop of titles expected out early
this summer. Myth III will follow in the fall, hopefully shooting for a November
release. We can only guess as to what the other titles alluded to might be.

You may be unfamiliar with Max Payne, the upcoming story driven 3rd person "John
Woo style" action game from Remedy and 3D Realms. You will play
a fugitive undercover cop running from both criminals and the police to try and
get your life back to normal in a chaotic future version of New York City. The screen shots look
very nice, though the particular emphasis on story will make it one to watch for as well.

Stronghold is a realtime strategy game from a development house called Firefly Studios.
The employee are made up of some former Impressions workers, the company behind
the Caesar 3 and other city building series. This should give them
a good basis for Stronghold, as the title is trying to bridge the gap between the
RTS and city-building genres. Stronghold will focus specifically on building castles and
then fighting your enemies while defending your home front. For more info, read
through a slightly aged preview at PC.IGN.

Mac gamers who follow Gathering of Developers closely will notice two titles missing from this list: Duke Nukem Forever and 4x4 Evolution 2. We'll be sure to follow up on this at E3.

Another fascinating detail of this release is the fact that MacSoft, and not MacPlay, will be publishing Myth III; since Myth III is being developed by Mumbo Jumbo, one of the companies under the United Developers umbrella along with MacPlay, one would expect it to go to MacPlay if Gathering passed on publishing a Mac version. This is very interesting, and shows how unusual the relationships between the United Developers companies can be.

This announcement is a great push for Mac gaming, ensuring this summer will be an
exciting one indeed. Stay tuned to IMG for much more information on all of these
titles in the near future.

Take Two Interactive Web Site

Stronghold Web Site

MacSoft Web Site (not yet updated)

Max Payne Web Site

Stronghold Preview at PC.IGN

MacSoft (add to watch list)

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