McDermott: Enhanced objective-based play, in my opinion, will be the highlight of the multiplayer game experience. Dubbed "Tug of War", these maps will have a variety of objectives that each side must complete in order to win. The TOW gameplay will develop from the teams constantly having to fight each other back and forth over these objectives. The first side to have all five objectives completed at once will win the round. Our goal is to have maps that have many choke points where battles will be fought as opposed to just one or two.

Another important feature we're adding with TOW mode involves re-spawning. Each map will have something at either end that can be destroyed to stop one team from being able to re-spawn (i.e. a transport truck). This will add immensely to the gameplay as each side will not only be trying desperately to stop the enemy from being able to re-spawn, but they will have a vested interested in protecting their own spawn area.Check out the full interview for more information. You may also refer to the previous IMG article concerning the expansion pack. Links to both sources are provided at the bottom of the page.

Medal of Honor Interview: For Glory and Honor

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault Review

Medal of Honor Expansion Pack Previewed (News)

Aspyr Media

Westlake Interactive

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

Buy Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

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The folks at HomeLAN received a very special treat today. Cliff Hicks, the community manager of Maxis sat down and talked about the company's upcoming title, Sim City 4.

Hicks starts off with a little bit about himself, his background, his status, and what he hopes to achieve in the future. The interview then delves into Sim City 4-specific topics, including the many new features Sim City 4 will include:

HomeLAN - What are some of the more interesting gameplay features of Sim City 4?

Cliff Hicks - One of the best things, I think, is the automating of some of the more tedious things - power and roads, for example, are automatically laid down when you lay down zoning. This is completely optional, of course, so if you want to do it yourself, you can, but for people like me who are more fascinated on getting people into places and how areas of cities interact, it's nice to be able to focus on the things that I want to focus on without having to get bogged down in tiny details.

Check out the full interview with Cliff Hicks for more information about Sim City 4.

Sim City 4 Interview

Maxis

Buy SimCity 4

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Interested in playing golf with fellow Mac gamers? The Links Golf Community recently announced its support for Bold's just released golf simulation, Links Championship Edition. The LGC features an online ladder and hosts tournaments from time to time at both Champ and Pro Levels.

If you're interested in becoming a member, all you need is a Hotline Client (that's used as a clubhouse), GameRanger (where the games are played), and a copy of Links Championship Edition. For more information, be sure to check out the official Links Golf Community web site.

Links Championship Edition is available for sale from the IMG Store.

IMG Preview: Links Championship Edition

Links Golf Community

Bold

Links Championship Edition

Buy Links Championship Edition

A unique online game based on the experiences of the Lewis and Clark expedtion is headed to a Mac near you. Entitled The Corps of Discovery, the game allows players to head up the Missouri River, cross over the Rocky Mountain, canoe down Columbia river to the Pacific Ocean, distribute gifts to the Indian tribes along the way, and even collect some plant/animal samples.

This Corps of Discovery has been constructed to simulate the experiences of the Lewis and Clark expedtion, but at the same time give the players enough freedom to make the trip in their own way. With one player acting as Captain Lewis, (and a computer simulated Captain Clark acting as your guide) and the rest serving as soldiers, hunters and guides, each Corps heads out into its own world to brave the dangers and blaze a trail through the Northwest.

The Corps of Discovery

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Feral Interactive, porters of the next-generation helicopter sim Enemy Engaged: Comanche vs. Hokum, have given the Macintosh sim's website a once-over. The former website, decidedly lax with only a screenshot and a mention of "Coming soon...", has been replaced with a much more robust version including a wealth of screenshots, sample missions, an overview of the game, and much more.

Enemy Engaged, the first helicopter sim for Macintosh in quite a while, allows players to fly either of two modern attack choppers, the US's RAH-66 Comanche or Russia's KA-52 Hokum in a realistic wartime environment. No release date has been announced, and although the project is still listed as "in early development," some secondhand reports testify that the game is currently in closed beta.

Feral Interactive

Enemy Engaged Website

Buy Enemy Engaged: Comanche vs. Hokum

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Mac gamers looking to add a little fun to their desktops need look no further than this week's edition of Custer's Desktops. Today's offering is based off Ambrosia's latest offering pop-pop and features the entire cast of wacky characters in one brightly-colored shot.

For those unfamiliar with the title, pop-pop is a title that melds breakout-style action with internet-ready two player action and a healthy dose of stylized graphics and attitude to top off the whole package. Players can pick from one of several personas, each with their own unique power designed to make their opponent's lives just a little more difficult.

Custer's latest is based off of the trading cards given out during MWNY:

Another desktop selection inspired by the MWNY Expo. If you were lucky enough to attend the expo and stop by Ambrosia Software's booth then you might have received the pop-pop trading cards. In case you missed attending then you can find downloadable versions at their official pop-pop site. I started going through my massive collection of archive game artwork and what did I find, but images for this addictive game. I tried to capture the feel of the trading cards with this desktop. This week's selection is titled, "Fusion", and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it. ;)

IMG - Custer's Desktops

Ambrosia Software

Pop-Pop

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Two game demos currently available at Mac Game Files have recently received minor updates. First on the list is the Return to Dark Castle demo. Based off the old-school hit sharing the same name and published by Z Sculpt, RtDC has been updated to version 3.0 b9 and lists the following updates:

• Internal changes in preperation for new Level Editor
• Misc. bug fixes

• WEIGHT-SHIFT AS A CONTROL INPUT! Now we have the weight-shift in those hang- gliders, Wright Gliders, and any other case where weight-shift steers!
• Output STABILITY DERIVATIVES! OTHER flight sims use the stability derivatives to imitate how their airplanes fly... but someone must enter those derivatives for each airplane, and of course they do not know exactly what that derivative is! Now, go to the Special Menu in X-Plane to let X-Plane figure out those deriviatives and output them for you! This can be used to get a "performance number" on the stability of the craft.
• OK, planet map draws airplane at right heading.
• Custom needles and text messages time out after 1 second now.
• Heavy metal clock reads time correctly on both analog and digital indicators. Fuel transfer does not "invent new fuel" if you try to transfer from an EMPTY tank!.. also no sxr if electrical system inop!
• FMS plans can be saved and loaded now.

MGF - Return to Dark Castle Demo

MGF - X-Plane Demo

Delta Tao

Z Sculpt

Return to Dark Castle

Laminar Research

X-Plane

Buy Return to Dark Castle

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Recently another war journal from the world of the Shadowbane beta test was released on the game's main web site. Shadowbane is an upcoming Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG) from UbiSoft and being developed for Mac and PC by the Texas-based Wolfpack Studios. The title will let thousands of players simultaneously interact in a persistent online world to hunt down monsters, build cities, and even start wars.

The newest in the ongoing series of articles at the Shadowbane site talks about the latest skirmish between two player-formed cities in the game, Zion and Semujin. Just like the real world, Shadowbane's people will be allowed to organize in whatever fashion they choose, as well as forming cities based on more democratic or authoritarian leadership. The piece describes the quick rise of both areas and how one came to dominant the other in battle:

Zion appeared on the world map a few days before that of Semujin. It did not take long for Zion to begin sending head hunting parties to prey upon the unsuspecting citizens of Semujin. When hunting parties began to fall victim to surprise assaults, the saber rattling between the two cities began in full swing. Early on, Semujin citizens learned of a planned siege of their city by the Burning Legion, and even sent an envoy to the Safehold of Knightsbridge, calling for opposition to Zion. In hours, Semujin's tiny population increased by half, and groups began forming in defense of the attack. After a few hours, however, the Zion commander scrubbed his plans.

Shadowbane War Journal

Ubisoft

Wolfpack Studios

Shadowbane

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