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MacPlay today announced that the much anticipated first-person spy thriller, No One Lives Forever, has begun shipping. MacPlay also announced that as an added bonus, it is shipping the Game of the Year Edition of NOLF which includes a special Lounge CD featuring 1960s-inspired music.

Here's more from the official press release:

“We are thrilled to bring The Operative: No One Lives Forever to the Mac gamer,” said Mark Cottam, President of MacPlay. “Anyone who is a fan of first person shooters or the espionage genre is in for a real treat… not to mention hours of entertaining gameplay.”

The Operative: No One Lives Forever for Mac OS X is a first-person action-adventure in which gamers experience the distinct style and locales of the fabulous 60's in a captivating story of espionage. Taking on the role of Agent Cate Archer, a beautiful but deadly female operative working for an international anti-terrorist organization called UNITY, players are challenged to complete intense assignments in foreign locations throughout the world. Agent Archer must use her charm and espionage training to find a way to stop the outlaw megalomaniacs of the H.A.R.M. terrorist group.

The Game of the Year Edition gives players all the action of the original game, plus 4 new levels, even more firepower and heart-stopping action as Cate is sent into the heart of an active volcano. The Game of the Year Edition also includes Multiplay for up to 16 players in good vs. Evil game mode or deathmatch mode. Mac players can battle PC players on-line for even more multiplayer action. Also included is a FREE special Bonus CD, containing 1960s-inspired lounge music.

IMG Preview: No One Lives Forever

MacPlay

No One Lives Forever

Buy No One Lives Forever

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Today, IMG has posted a review of the Midiland POWERSTIXX. Written by our resident audiophile, Greg Gant, this review discusses the good, the bad and the ugly of these speakers.

Here's a peek:

Each of the two satellites in the POWERSTIXX system is outfitted with a mini-arsenal of four 1 inch microdrivers. The subwoofer is armed with a single 6.5 inch driver The entire system packs a total of 60 watts RMS; 30 watt RMS by the subwoofer and 15 watts RMS per satellite. Each satellite covers a 120 Hz to 20 kHz sound range and the sub woofer is rated for 35 to 300 Hz. Unlike many speakers in the $100 range, the satellites reproduce a larger portion of the sound range. Only 2.5 octaves of audible sound are left entirely to the subwoofer to reproduce, thus enhancing the stereo field.

Midiland

POWERSTIXX

IMG Review: POWERSTIXX

A small shareware developer under the name AlphaOmega Software has recently announced the availability of a beta of their title RC Helicopter Simulator. Touted as the first RC helicopter simulator of its kind for the Mac, this game, as its title suggests, simulates the behavior and control of radio-controlled helicopters.

Some of the current features are as follows:

- The keyboard takes the place of the radio-transmitter (refer to the PPF files in the Transmitters folder and the Keyboard codes.jpg file in the Documentation folder).
- The simulator will be bit by bit more configurable (controls, behaviour, characteristics, helicopters, landscapes, ...).
- You can modify or provide your own 3D models for the ground, the sky and the helicopter.
- You can modify or provide your own physical parameter files for the ground, the helicopter and the transmitter.
- You can modify or provide your own engine sound file for the helicopter.
- A free and growing library of new 3D models and landscapes will then be available on our web site.
- It takes very little memory and disk space.
- It doesn't need any installation nor configuration, which makes it very easy to use.

More information, as well as the beta version of this title, can be found at AlphaOmega's site.

AlphaOmega Software - RC Helicopter Simulator

The uDevGame 2002 Mac Game Programming Contest has officially opened the voting period. Sponsored by iDevGames, the uDevGame Contest, which occurs yearly, challenges Mac programmers not only to create original games in a short amount of time, but also offers up the source code in order to widen the Mac gaming scene.

Those interested in voting can download any of the games entered, try them out freely, and place their votes at the official uDevGame site. The titles range from Astrosquid to Tempest in a Teapot, with plenty more inbetween. Interested voters should move quickly, because the voting period is only open for just over a week:

The 40 games will be subject to a 9 day public voting period starting
November 18 and ending November 26, where each will be judged in the
following five categories: Game Play, Originality, Graphics, Sound & Music,
and Polish. The votes will then be tallied, averaged, and the winners
announced on December 2, 2002.

iDevGames - uDevGame Mac Game Programming Contest

uDevGame - Entries

uDevGame - Voting

Five years ago last week, a group of four friends got together and started a little porting house that quickly became the leader in Mac game porting. Their press release says it best:

Westlake Interactive is very proud to announce that it turned five years old this month. Incorporated November 12, 1997 by partners Glenda & Suellen Adams, Phil Sulak, and Ken Cobb, Westlake has risen to become the premier developer of entertainment software for the Apple Macintosh with an astounding 55 shipped titles. The company is responsible for bringing some of the most popular games ever to the Mac, including The Sims and Tomb Raider series of titles, Unreal Tournament, Max Payne, Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault, Star Wars® Jedi Knight II®: Jedi Outcast™, and many, many others. We currently have seven projects in development, including the blockbusters EverQuest®, Halo: Combat Evolved, and Dungeon Siege.

Westlake wants to thanks the Mac gaming community for its strong support throughout the years, and is looking forward to another 5 years of continuing success.

Congratulations to the all the staff of Westlake Interactive, from all that staff here at IMG, for working incredibly hard and bringing the very best in computer gaming to our preferred platform. Our lives are all the richer for it.

Westlake Interactive Celebrates Five Years

Westlake Interactive: Project Status Report

Westlake Interactive

Riven-The Unofficial Home Page, a Myst fan site, recently posted some info showing that Myst Online may be nearing the beta stage of development. Ubi Soft's latest game in the Myst universe, Myst Online is a massively-multiplayer game allowing players to explore vast new worlds, interact with hundreds of other players, form neighborhoods and even play different mini-games. Although not an official announcement that the game has gone beta, the post does provide some interesting information.

Here's a snippet:

A strong indication that we may be near beta comes from a recent addition to Zandi's PreAfter site....On the PreAfter home page, click the right spot and you'll find preliminary system specs for the beta and what is apparently a means of applying to participate. (I'm not giving away any secrets; this has already been discussed in several Myst discussion groups.)

Tim Larkin, Cyan's Audio Director, added to the system recommendations when he told the Lyst, "I would also highly recommend an Audigy sound card to fully take advantage of the environmental FX."

Note: Beta testing shouldn't be confused with the preliminary testing that I've previously reported. A small number of fans have participated in limited testing for months, using Cyan's official To D'ni site as their home base for news and announcements. However, these have not been true beta tests; they've just been limited technical tests.

Myst Online Nearing Beta?

Ubisoft

Myst Online: Uru Live

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