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MacPlay today announced that Freedom Force has gone gold and begun shipping. In the game, you flash back to the Silver Age of comic books where players can form, train and lead Freedom Force, a team of 14 original comic heroes headed to Patriot City to foil Lord Dominion's scheme of having the planet Earth destroy itself. The game consists of 22 unique missions, the majority of which will require a squad of four heroes such as the patriotic leader "Minuteman," the powerful "ManBot" and the fiery "El Diablo."

Here's more from the official press release:

MacPlay, a subsidiary of United Developers, announced today…Villains Beware! A team of unlikely heroes, known only as Freedom Force™, has arrived to protect the citizens of Patriot City from the evil Lord Dominion.

Heroic force will be called upon as MacPlay announced today that Freedom Force has gone Gold and that orders are now being accepted at www.macplay.com for the comic-inspired tactical Role Playing Game - Freedom Force for the Mac. MacPlay is offering a FREE limited run Freedom Force T-Shirt to the first 200 customers who purchase the game.

“Freedom Force is one of the most intriguing and fun games to be released for Mac OS X,” said Mark Cottam, President of MacPlay. “It delivers a truly unique gaming experience and is sure to be a favorite for the Holiday’s.”

A fully featured RPG skill system rewards strategic heroes by allowing players to juggle stats, pump up powers, recruit new heroes and strengthen existing heroes based on experience accumulated in tactical missions.

Freedom Force is available for order from the IMG Store. MacGames CD subscribers can pick it up for $34. Non-subscribers can purchase it for $39.

IMG Preview: Freedom Force

Omni Group

MacPlay

Freedom Force

Buy Freedom Force

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As part of his weekly feature at IMG, resident desktop guru Brad Custer has updated his section of IMG with this week's feature desktop "Unlimited Adventure", inspired by the upcoming game Neverwinter Nights. Here's what Custer had to say about his latest addition:

Since my first exposure to Neverwinter Nights I've been anxiously awaiting the release of the game. So with MacSoft's recent progress announcement, I knew it was time for another desktop for the game. It also allowed me to answer requests from our PC friends for another desktop for the game. This week's selection was created from the art supplied by BioWare and is titled, "Unlimited Adventures". I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it. :)

Custer's Desktops

Neverwinter Nights

Buy Neverwinter Nights

Scott Kevill, creator of the Mac online gaming service, GameRanger, today announced that it has added Creature Isle, the recently released expansion to Black and White, to the list of GameRanger supported games. Owners of the game will now be able to connect to GameRanger directly through its client program and find fellow Mac gamers interested in playing. Here's the official word from the press release:

Perth, Western Australia -- December 13, 2002 -- Scott Kevill, president, GameRanger Technologies, today announced the addition of a new game title to GameRanger, the leading Macintosh online gaming service. In addition to the 110 previous titles, gamers can now play Black and White: Creature Isle.

Creature Isle Now Playing on GameRanger

Black & White: Creature Isle

GameRanger

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Apple Games, the section of Apple's website where they preview or hype selected Macintosh games, has released a trailer for the game Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. The trailer is the intro shown at the beginning of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and can be obtained at the link below. The Quicktime trailer is available in two sizes, the larger of which is only downloadable if you have Quicktime Pro.

For those unfamiliar with Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, it follows the exploits of Lieutenant Mike Powell as he fights his way through the Second World War. The game consists of six varied missions, ranging from the snowy plains of Trondheim, Norway, to the beaches of Normandy, France. This first person shooter is a very entertaining experience, and for those who wish to learn more about it, you can grab a number of Medal of Honor related links below.

MoH Trailer (5.5 mb without QT Pro)

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

Apple's Game Webpage

Aspyr Media

Westlake Interactive

Buy Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

NCsoft, the people behind the hugely popular online game Lineage: The Blood Pledge, announced their acquisition of ArenaNet on the opening day of the Korea Amuse World Game Expo 2002. Though the name may not sound familiar, ArenaNet carries impressive ties to the industry, and was created by former members of Blizzard responsible for leading projects such as Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, as well as the creation of Battle.net itself.

Tack Jin Kim, CEO of NCsoft, had these words to say:

We are pleased to announce the newest member of our NCsoft family. The people at ArenaNet have an established track record in this industry of creating some of the most innovative and successful game titles ever. We're very excited to bring this gifted and talented team to NCsoft. They will make an already strong online product lineup even stronger.

While NCsoft owns one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world, they have yet to make serious inroads in the U.S. marketplace. This acquisiton may be a step towards rectifying that situation.

NCsoft

ArenaNet

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The latest war report for the upcoming Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game, Shadowbane, has been posted. Like previous war reports, the latest report takes a look at the current conflicts in the game world from the view of its characters. These reports show how the players themselves shape the very world and history of the Shadowbane game world.

Here's a snippet from the report:

The battle for Tyrranth was in full swing as new nations came into power and struggled for control alongside, and sometimes against, the great empires of old. Regional conflicts became global, as the continents of Tyrranth became a chess board for supremacy.

The war between the Purity Council and Nex raged in the center of Tyrranth, the Covenant of Swords alliance and the Burning Legion continued their eternal war in the north, and the new nation of Arx Draconis set its hungry eyes on the eastern side of Tyrranth. The military and political wings of many nations were set in motion, and several kings and kingdoms would fall in this evolving and deadly game of thrones.

Shadowbane War Report

Ubisoft

Wolfpack Studios

Shadowbane

The Beenox games page was updated recently with word on a secret new title in the works, codenamed "Doox." The company, which just finished a Macintosh port of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 for Aspyr Media is also known for their work on the Coldstone Game Engine and the RPG based upon it, Pillars of Garendall.

"Doox" will be coming to both Mac and PC, though no timeline is listed for its release. Beenox is also careful to point out the codename may or may not have significance towards the real game's title:

Additional details on this project are forthcoming. The codename of the project may or may not be linked to the actual name of the game or software or anything else that may be the end result of our work. Chances are that this is somehow related to gaming but Beenox can't confirm it at this point. Thanks for stopping by.

Beenox Games Page

IMG Preview: Tony Hawk 3

Beenox

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