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A recent post to Infogrames' Unreal Tournament 2003 forums suggests that the Mac demo for the game be released soon. According to Epic's Mark Rein, the company has been waiting for Apple to release Mac OS X 10.2.5, which supposedly fixes a critical bug with ATI video cards that affected UT2k3.

For those unfamiliar with the game, its the latest in the Unreal Series of first-person shooters, featuring furious all-out combat, multiple game-modes, and a brand new 3d engine. The poster claims to have received an e-mail response from Mark Rein of Epic Games, with an update on the current status of UT2k3 for the Mac.

Here's the post:

I sent an e-mail to Mark Rein and actually received a response. He might not want me to post this yet but who cares. This is what he told me.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My apologies for this. We have been waiting for Apple to release a new OS update (which I believe they just did this week or are just about to do) which is critical because without it our game does not run as it should on ATI video cards. I'm waiting to hear back from Ryan Gordon (the project leader on Mac UT2003) on that status of that update and the resulting testing to ensure that it worked properly. Once we have that we're pretty close to releasing the demo. Once the demo is out we'll look at all the bug reports to see where we stand with respect to how soon we can go ahead and release the product. I'll post a status update on the Infogrames UT2003 forums as soon as I hear back from Ryan which is hopefully within the next few days.

Bottom line: we're very close.

Mark Rein,
Epic Games Inc.

UT2k3 Soon?

Digital Extremes

MacSoft

Unreal Tournament 2003

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Inside Mac Games has posted a first-look preview of Aspyr's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. Included are 5 hot new screenshots from the Mac version of the game. In Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, players take on the role of legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk and 13 other athletes as they skate through enormous free roaming levels, choose from 190 progressively harder goals and build their skills to perform 14 of the greatest skateboarding stunts of all time.

To check out the first look, follow the link below.

IMG First Look: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Aspyr Media

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

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MacSoft today announced that Dungeon Siege, the best-selling fantasy role-playing game, has gone gold and is currently in production. According to the press release, the game will be shipping on April 25th.

Here's more from the official press release:

Dungeon Siege is one of the top-selling PC games of 2002. It was created by Gas Powered Games and published for the Windows platform by Microsoft Corp. The Macintosh version is published by Destineer's Macintosh label, MacSoft, and converted for the Macintosh by Westlake Interactive.

Dungeon Siege is a Fantasy Role-Playing game with an emphasis on combat and action. It is set in a gigantic, continuous, fully 3D world that truly extends in all directions. Players journey from secret underground lairs to towering mountains without ever stopping to watch a loading screen. Players can travel alone or assemble a party of up to eight cohorts.

Dungeon Siege provides a very rich multiplayer experience. Human players can become companions in a traveling party and compete head-to-head against other human opponents. Players can play over a local area network or the Internet. Dungeon siege includes full support for the GameRanger game-matching service.

IMG received a late beta of the game last week and we're putting it through its paces. Be on the lookout for a hands-on preview of Dungeon Siege later this week. Dungeon Siege is available for pre-order through the MacSoft wbe site and the IMG Store.

IMG First Look: Dungeon Siege

Bold

Westlake Interactive

Dungeon Siege

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Aspyr Media wrote in this morning to let us know they are now shipping Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This second game is based on the now-famous series of fantasy books for children (and the young at heart) by J.K. Rowling.

According to Aspyr, the game should be in stores this Wednesday, April 16. Here's more about it from the press release:

The Macintosh version will also allow players to take the role of Harry Potter as he enrolls in Hogwarts and embarks on a journey to unlock the secrets of his own magical abilities. Along the way Harry will explore the halls of Hogwarts and its surrounding grounds, study to be a wizard, learn to fly a broomstick and play Quidditch, collect objects to solve puzzles, become skilled at spells and potions, discover secret passages and locations, and interact with other characters from the book. The game will also feature an array of puzzle and adventure gameplay as players guide Harry through the halls of Hogwarts, sneaking around to avoid confrontations with nosey characters like Filch and Peeves. The Macintosh version also features a fast, arcade-style Quidditch game to further immerse players in the magical world of Harry Potter. Harry Potter's biggest fans can easily install and play his interactive adventure, delivering advanced 3D graphics on more powerful machines.

Westlake Interactive

Aspyr Media

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

IMG Preview: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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Inside Mac Games has launched a newly revised and streamlined online store to better serve our growing customer base. The new IMG Store now features a fully-functional shopping cart system, a customer login, better security, categories, and much more.

The new online store will allow returning customers to easily place orders in a timely fashion. Once you've created an account, the new online store will remember your login name (you will have to enter your password), shipping and billing information, email address, and much more.

In celebration of the launching of the new store, we're taking off 5 percent off of all orders placed today. To check out the new store, follow the link below.

A special thanks to our friends at Parkside Development for their help in creating the new store.

Inside Mac Games

Many dedicated Return to Castle Wolfenstein fans were disheartened when they learned that the highly anticipated sequel to this game, RTCW: Enemy Territory had, for the single-player campaign, been canceled by Activision and id Software. The game had apparently not shaped up to their single-player expectations, and was going to be released as a multiplayer only add-on. The good news out of all of this? It was going to be a free download for all RTCW owners. Both Activision and id have pulled out of the development, and the UK company Splash Damage is now completing this multiplayer addition.

In an interview with Computer and Video Games, Paul Wedgewood, lead designer on RTCW: ET and overall managing director of Splash Damage gave them the low-down on how, despite what you may have heard, this is going to be quite an impressive addition to and revamp of RTCW, and is sure to please multiplayer fans of all types.

Here's a brief clip:

How does the player "army ranking" system operate in conjunction with skill and Special Ability improvement?

Wedgwood: Ranks in Enemy Territory range from Private to Colonel, plus their Axis counterparts. These are displayed on your helmet for everyone to see, so there is a certain amount of status attached to them - not least because they are a warning to the enemy of your current skill level and experience points.

As you level up in Enemy Territory, you will be promoted based on your highest skill level. For example, level 2 in any skill results in a promotion to Private 1st Class.

The best player in each class is also awarded a medal at the end of each mission. These include Distinguished Service Medals, Steel Stars, Silver Crosses and Bombardment Medals. There are seven you can collect throughout a campaign.

It will be interesting to see if a player is ever able to max out every skill, get every reward, achieve the highest rank and get one of each medal in a single campaign. We'd be very impressed if anyone managed that.

Make sure to check back with IMG as this story develops, and head on over to Computer and Video Game to see the full interview. If you haven't already checked it out, go download the RTCW demo from Mac Game Files, or swing by the IMG store and pick up a copy of RTCW.

Computer and Video Game RTCW: ET Q&A

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Return to Castle Wolfenstein Demo

Aspyr Media

Westlake Interactive

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On tonight's broadcast of The Gamesome Mac, the weekly Mac gaming radio program, hosts Sean Smith and Omaha Sternberg talk with Jason Ivan, Director of Product Marketing at M-Audio.

Nothing enhances the gaming experience like great sound, and M-Audio (formerly Midiman) shook the Mac gaming world earlier this year with the introduction of the Revolution 7.1—which won Best of Show at Macworld Expo San Francisco 2003—and the Sonica Theater, the first 7.1-channel surround sound upgrades for PCI and USB Macs running either Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X.

Sean and Omaha will also offer Mac gaming news, commentary, and reviews, and together with their guest will take questions from listeners in The Gamesome Mac's live chat room.

The Gamesome Mac can be heard live on MacRadio.com from 6 to 8 pm Pacific Time, 9 to 11 pm Eastern (Tuesday from 0100 to 0300 UTC), and on demand thereafter. You can tune in at The Gamesome Mac's web page, where you'll also find archives of past broadcasts. QuickTime 5 or 6 and a 28 kbps or faster Internet connection are required.

M-Audio

Following up on Aspyr's recent announcement regarding its intentions to publish both the Mac and PC versions of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, PC gaming site HomeLan has posted the results of an interview with PR Manager Amy Torres. The interview, though short, manages to touch on a few details that should be of interest to most.

Torres notes that Beenox is handling the porting of both versions of Tony Hawk 4, and that they are committed to producing high quality versions for both platforms. Torres adds that there should be extra room for those with powerful systems to produce graphics well above the quality found in the console versions.

Although Macs and PCs will be able to play against each other, it appears the lack of a cross-compatible matching service may hamper the situation somewhat:

Multiplayer will be supported for and across both platforms. PC-to-PC support will work with the use of GameSpy Arcade which will be included. Mac-to-Mac support will use GameRanger (also included), which most Mac gamers are already very familiar with. As for PC-to-Mac, a "hybrid" online gaming service really isn?t out there. However, in the interim, PCs and Macs can play together harmoniously by typing in the ip address of the host.

The rest of the interview covers topics such as the possibilities for extras and Aspyr's future plans, which seem to include the Gameboy Advance as well as other gaming consoles. Those interested can find the full read at HomeLan.

HomeLan - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 PC-Mac Interview

Aspyr Media

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

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Independent developer WinterBorn Software has released a pirate ship combat game, Arr!, for Mac. The game is available to download from Macgamefiles.com and purchase from VendorNation. This small game gives some colorful arcade action with a smell of the Caribbean.

Features:

Classic arcade action

Three different pirate ships to command

Tons of power ups

Single player or two player head-to-head modes

Small download (< 2MB) with nothing to install

MacOS 8.6 or greater (OSX native)

G3 or better processor

16 MB RAM

3 MB hard disk space

VendorNation

WinterBorn Software

MGF: Arr! 1.0

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