In October of 2000 Ron Dimant and United Developers brought the MacPlay brand name back from the grave and announced a catalog of A-list titles due to be published in 2001. Ten months later they have launched an official website, with details on their current and planned releases and what will soon be an online store.

Their site has touches of Apple's Aqua interface spread about, starting with bubbly translucent buttons lining the top of the page. Each area and sub-area can be reached through drop down "menus" when you "mouse over" the button. Most of the MacPlay website is functional (with the exception of the store and forums) so take some time to explore it.

In addition MacPlay is taking pre-orders for Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, which will be the first of three A-list games to be released later this Summer. It will also be MacPlay's first game to ship with Mac OS X compatibility. For more information, have a look at our preview of BG2.

Although it was not mentioned in the press release, it seems that MacPlay has hired a new president to replace departing president Diane Zammit. The new president is Mark Cottam, who's history with Ron Dimant goes back to their days together at ParSoft :

Mark brings over 16 years of industry experience to MacPlay. Prior to joining MacPlay, Mark served as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Moto1.net, where he lead the company's successful development and deployment of its motorsports portal and online racing series. Additionally, Mark has held management positions at Dragon Systems, ParSoft Interactive, CyberMedia and XTree Company.

Preview: Baldur's Gate 2

Pre-Order Baldur's Gate 2

MacPlay Website

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