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MacPlay today announced that they have begun shipping Another War, World War II role-playing game set in Nazi-occupied France. The new game marks the second title in the company’s distribution agreement with British publisher Virtual Programming.

Here's more from the official presss release:

Another War is a departure from the fantasy games that dominate the RPG genre. It places the player in the boots of an adventurer who attempts the noble rescue of a friend from Germans in Nazi-occupied France. Like many heroes, he gets more than he bargained for and soon finds himself snared in a web of blood-stained intrigue. The storyline eventually takes the player to battle-scarred Leningrad, where Soviet and German engineers guard a secret project that could turn the tide of the war.

“This game has a style all its own, much like its main character,” said MacPlay Director of Sales & Marketing Henry Price. “The storyline is deep and complex, full of humor, pathos, and plenty of action.”

Everyone has his or her own agendas during a war, and the player soon discovers this in Another War. He communicates with other characters to learn important information that advances the storyline, but he never knows whom he can trust. When a situation turns against him, the player can blast his way out with one of several authentic weapons or use an item discovered earlier to enable a quick escape from overwhelming odds.

The game offers authentic period details, right down to the soldier’s uniforms and equipment. The active lighting, smoke, explosions and other effects, as well as the surround sound audio tracks, immerse the player in the ultimate World War II experience.

Another War is available for order through the MacPlay web site as well as the IMG Store for $29.95. If you're a MacGames CD subscriber, you can order it for just $24.95.

MacPlay

Virtual Programming

Another War

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Inside Mac Games has posted a preview of Aspyr's upcoming surfing game, Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer based on a recent beta of the game. Originally created by Treyarch and soon to come to the Mac courtesy of Aspyr Media, KSPS looks to add surfing to the list of extreme sports titles that have been so popular of late.

Here's a clip from the preview:

From its incredibly long opening movie to the inventive game selection interface modeled on top of a boat cabin, KSPS lets players know from the get-go that they've entered the unique world of surfing. Several game modes are offered, including Career Mode, Freesurf, and Multiplayer. Freesurf allows players to choose from whatever surf breaks have been unlocked and go for either high score challenges, icon challenges, or unlimited surfing. The multiplayer game includes modes such as Head-to-Head, Time Attack, and Push.

The Career Mode is the meat of the game, where players start by picking their favorite surfer from among a variety of famous names. Besides the ever-present Kelly Slater, surfers such as Tom Curren, Kalan Robb, and Lisa Andersen are also available, each with their own set of stats. These stats include speed, air, spin, and balance, all of which can be enhanced when making a surfboard selection. Players can also choose from a variety of suits if they so wish.

IMG Preview: Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer

Aspyr Media

Beenox

Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer

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Independent game developer Rocco Bowling has posted a postmortem (or a looking back at the development process of a game) of his most recent title Solace, found on the iDevGames website. Though Bowling's earlier efforts were given postmortems, Solace is the first commercially-distributed game (thanks to Freeverse Software) to recieve one. The article covers what went right in the development process, what went wrong, how the independent to published process went, and more. Here's a sneak peak:

The point of the story here is that if you have an "in" (i.e. you know someone already in the correct position to give you a hand along), then the road is much easier. However, simply knowing someone doesn't guarantee getting published. Having a good public track record is crucial! Being able to approach a publisher with "this is what I've done already, this is what I'm doing next" is important. The longer and more successful your virtual resume is, the greater the chance a small to medium size publisher will take you on. This is one reason why iDevGames' uDevGame contest is such an excellent venue for independent game developers. You get to create a game, which the iDevGames community will readily provide feedback on, allowing you to make that game even better. Then if you're lucky you may win, allowing you to say something like "Winner of the Best Polish Category". But even if you don't, it is one more public example of your work which a publisher can use to get to know you. If you enter the next four uDevGame contests, that's four publicly released titles that'll back up your claim that your next title should be published.

Solace Postmortem

Solace

iDevGames

Earlier this year, independent game developer community iDevGames hosted the uDevGame 2002 game developing contest, allowing developers worldwide to hone their skills in making the best Mac game out there. While the contest is long over, the memory is not, and iDev's Carlos Camacho and William Reade have posted an article titled "Looking back at uDevGame 2002 Contest", giving readers an inside look at the contest process; including what went well, what went bad, and more. Here's a clip:

uDevGame 2002 received significant publicity: before the contest ended, it was featured on MacSlash, GameSpy, MacGamer, InsideMacGames, and even Slashdot. The contest was also discussed on The Gamesome Mac — a weekly Internet radio show on Mac Radio — which also broadcast the awards show that announced the winners.

Although uDevGame 2002 ended over six months ago, it has continued to generate good press for all involved. Inside Mac Games published an in-depth look at its favourite games from the contest, many of the games have been reviewed in Japanese print magazines, and our biggest publicity coup of all was, of course...

Looking back at uDevGame 2002

iDevGames

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A group called Open Knights is attempting to create Linux and Mac version of Bioware's Aurora Toolset, a set of editors for creating modules for Neverwinter Nights. As many of you know, the Mac version of the NWN Aurora Toolset was cancelled by MacSoft last year due to the enormous expense it would have taken to convert it to the Mac. According to MacSoft, the toolset would have taken almost a year to convert to the Mac.

The group has sent an open letter to Bioware asking for their help in the project. It is unknown at the moment if Bioware has responded.

The group has already released several smaller tools for NWN. One of the, neveredit, provides a graphical user interface to display and manipulate NWN data files. Other tools are also available at the Open Knights web site.

Open Knights is also asking for help from the Mac community. If you would like to provide some assistance, be sure to check out the Open Knights web site.

MacSoft recently released a Tech Demo of Neverwinter Knights and is available for download at our sister site, Macgamefiles.com. The full version is available for pre-order through the IMG Store.

Open Knights Web Site

BioWare

MacSoft

Neverwinter Nights

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Blizzard today announced that they will be shutting down the long-running beta test of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne at 12 a.m. PST, Monday, June 30 in preperation for the release of the expansion pack on July 1st.

Here's more from the announcement:

When the final version of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne hits stores in under a week, you’ll see the culmination of hard work between the Blizzard development team and the game’s 30,000+ beta testers. Many of the changes that we incorporated into the final version were a result of the comments and questions provided by the testers. One of the most important objectives of this beta test was to provide a robust Battle.net environment for Warcraft III players in preparation for release on July 1, 2003. As part of this preparation, we’ve enhanced Battle.net with new clan and automated tournament systems and more.

As the first group of Warcraft III players to catch a glimpse of Azeroth’s new tilesets and to see the game’s new units and Heroes in action, we hope the beta testers enjoyed their experiences and will return to do battle once more this summer. We’re immensely grateful for their enthusiasm, patience, and dedication.

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne is scheduled to be on store shelves beginning July 1st. Please note that it will be necessary to uninstall the beta before installing the commercial release of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

Blizzard Entertainment

WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne

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The folks behind the action FPS Realm Wars have recently made the WWDC builds for both the Mac and PC available for free download. Hosted by Maxgaming LLC, these latest builds include several new features, including the following:

• Improved hand to hand combat code
  
• Improved hand to hand combat animations
  
• New in game UI
  
• Motion trails for hand to hand weapons
  
• New Map: Port of Encalias (and Island map for fast and furious team CTF action!)
  
• Other bug fixes, game play improvements and new items for maps.

GarageGames

Realm Wars - News

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UbiSoft recently announced a new patch for Shadowbane, their popular MMORPG title. The update, among other things, adds a new Mac game client as well as some other fixes:

• New Macintosh Game Client with fixes
  
• Barbarian and Templar powers with secondary heal effects are not working, so this will be corrected
  
• Additional Login server fixes
  
• Closing down several game exploits
  
• Correcting the bonus training points issues with characters

More information on this latest patch, as well as reader comments, can be found at UbiSoft's Shadowbane site.

Shadowbane - New Shadowbane Patch Today

Ubisoft

Wolfpack Studios

Shadowbane

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Readers interested in the announcement earlier this month that the Gary Coleman frag fest Postal 2 is coming to the Mac might also be interested in the latest court proceedings involving the game's developers.

On Wednesday, the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board of the U.S. Department of Commerce informed game developers Running With Scissors that the case held against them over their 1997 game Postal by the United States Postal Service has been dismissed with prejudice (the case or any similar case against the defendant cannot be filed again).

For those who might not remember, Postal was surrounded by controversy when it was initially released, due to its extremely violent nature and graphic visuals . The game, seen from a high third-person view, required players to walk around levels and commit random acts of violence. Tame compared to some of today's video games, Postal was banned in over ten countries, including Australia, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand, and the UK, and was blacklisted in the United States. The USPS also took the developers to court over their trademark of the word "Postal".

Reaction to the decision has generally been positive, a decision welcome by Vince Desi, Running With Scissors' CEO:

We're pleased with the ruling, although everyone involved knows we never should have had to fight this frivolous lawsuit in the first place. Our game is funny. Theirs is sick.

RWS: Postal Court Case Dismissed

Postal 2

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