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Russian developer White Elephant has announced the release of an OS X version of RIP, an overhead perspective 2D arcade shooter. As a defender of hell players choose one of three unique characters and wage war against the forces of humanity.

Not afraid of the Death? What if he is accompanied by Halloween and Rock'n'roll? Play the part of these antiheroes and go to war in this great action experience! Special Offer! 50% off! Get the full version for only $9.99 The full version is:

- Unlimited and unrestricted gamelpay
- 40 levels of murder and mayhem
- A greater variety of guns and battle magic
- 3 chilling characters
- A toned-down, less violent kid's mode

RIP

White Elephant Games

Download RIP Demo

With over 1 million copies sold worldwide, Mystery Case Files: Huntsville is one of the most popular casual games around. Macgamestore.com today began offering the game as a digital download. In addition, the latest version of the game, version 1.5, is available for download from Macgamefiles.com.

Mystery Case Files: Huntsville provides gamers with a collection of intriguing mysteries and brain-teasers to solve. There are picture puzzles to ponder, strange crime scenes to explore, and much, much, more! With thousands of hidden clues it's a new game each time you play!

To check out a free trial of Mystery Case Files: Huntsville, head over to Macgamestore.com. The full version costs $19.99 to register.

MGS: Mystery Case Files: Huntsville

MGF: Mystery Case Files: Huntsville 1.5

IMG has posted two new reviews today including Big Kahuna Reef and World Dominos Championship. Since I'm trying to finish an iMac review which we will be posting tomorrow, I'm going to skip the chatter and just tell you to check them out by following the links below. :)

IMG Review: Big Kahuna Reef

IMG Review: World Dominos Championship

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David Rosen has updated the Wolfire development blog once again with many new additions to Lugaru 2. The latest update showcases underwater effects as promised, specular relflection, and trees.

I am working on in-engine tree and plant growth based on terrain nutrients, water, and sunlight, and it is still in very early stages, but starting to come together. It is focused more on gameplay applications (climbing, breaking,etc.) than on graphics, but will look good too once shadows and lighting are working on the leaves.

Wolfire Development Blog

Wolfire Software

Lugaru 2

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In a post on the official World of Warcraft forums Shane Dabiri, lead producer of WoW, revealed the third World of Warcraft Battleplan. Unlike the two previous installments, this plan focuses more on upcoming hardware changes than on teasers of future content. In an effort to deal with ongoing server difficulties Blizzard has developed a multifaceted plan which will include hardware upgrades, a focus on individual problem realms, and releasing the much sought after paid character-transfer service to allow easier realm to realm character migration.

Going Retro
The new zones added to the game in The Burning Crusade will increase Azeroth's current land mass by 25 percent. To insure that Azeroth continues to feel vibrant and populated, we will be increasing the player caps on all our realms by the same percentage. The new hardware installed on our 5th and 6th sites will be able to handle this increase in concurrency with some adjustments, but the hardware on our mature sites cannot. Therefore, over the next few months we will also be retrofitting our mature sites with the same top-of-the-line hardware deployed at our new sites. Players won't need the expansion to notice the performance boost this new hardware will bring to these sites.

Upcoming Character-Transfer Service
On top of our efforts to evenly disperse our player population through coordinated realm transfers and migrations, we've begun testing our paid character-transfer feature. Scheduled to go live this summer, this feature will allow players to move their characters, within certain restrictions, to a realm of their choosing. This means that player's will now be able to join their friends on other realms without the need to wait for a pre-set mass realm transfer. In addition, this will also contribute to a balancing of the player load from realm to realm, which again is a specific way for us to reduce realm queues and lag. We know that many player's are eager for this service to be implemented, so we'll share further details as soon as more information becomes available.

World Of Warcraft Battleplan Vol. 3

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft

Buy World of Warcraft

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Last week Eurogamer posted a preview of the PC version of Ubisoft's upcoming Heroes of Might and Magic V, the latest in the fantasy strategy series. HoMM V introduces 3D gameplay and a new world with a host of unique heroes and units to send into battle.

Looking at this preview incarnation of the game, we find it familiar, halfway between Starcraft and Magic the Gathering, with a turn-based split-level world. Your heroes (accompanied by an army consisting of a certain number of stacked soldiers and various war machines) travel the map collecting minions and resources, and claiming buildings and cities. There's the traditional slightly-awkward mechanic of telling your hero to move or attack, followed by a bash on the space bar to execute your order; it feels like something of a throwback when you don't get an instant response to your diktat. Then you remember it's a turn-based strategy game and all becomes clear; this is designed for multiplayer.
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When you encounter an enemy army, the map zooms into an eight-by-ten grid-based battlefield where your hero and his or her minions manoeuvre and battle. You move your units so that they strike or shoot your enemy while your general (in a nod to Heroes III) sits back from the battlefield, casting spells and causing small amounts of damage anywhere on the battlefield. Like Magic the Gathering, as your levels go up and your armies expand, battles get increasingly complex, Heroes and their magic become all the time more potent. After you win a battle, your hero gets experience and gets to level up and expand their range of powers. Then you can move some more heroes, gather more troops and hit the End Turn button to give your opponent(s) a go.

Eurogamer: HoMM V Preview

Freeverse

Ubisoft

Heroes of Might & Magic V

Buy Heroes of Might & Magic V

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Gamers Info has posted a review of Ultima V: Lazarus, a fan created Dungeon Siege mod and complete remake of Origin's Ultima V. Allowing players to experience old school dungeon crawling cloaked in the guise of a modern game engine, Gamers Info found UV:L to be a nostalgic and fun adventure.

From the review:

As with all the Ultima games I’ve played, you create a character and read through the background story. Once finished you come upon a gypsy who reads some tarot cards, upon which questions are posed to you. This gives you a basic alignment on how your avatar will act while traveling and interacting in the world around them. You’ll also meet up with old friends from the past, who will travel with you. They’ll offer suggestions on various decision making objectives, which can be ignored if so desired. You are able to ask questions from the local population, that may give you further clues as well.

There is a difference in the magic system that Lazarus uses, which may confuse you at first. Before you are allowed to cast any spells, you must have the necessary reagents that make up a spell. When you open up your spell book, below that will be an area that carries all of your magic supplies. If you don’t keep an eye on that from time to time, you’ll get a rude awakening when you cast a spell. You can buy these reagents from stores as well as harvesting them from the surrounding terrain, once located. Some of these reagents are rare and may not be sold in all shops, so be careful on what spell you cast.

Gamers Info: Ultima V Lazarus Review

Ultima V: Lazarus

MacSoft

Westlake Interactive

Dungeon Siege

Buy Dungeon Siege

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