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Aspyr Media has released a patch for Quake 4, bringing the popular shooter up to version 1.2 and adding native support for dual-core Intel Macs. According to the company, this should give owners of these machines a 15-30% jump in performance.

Additionally the update fixes some other bugs with the server and display modes of the game. Here's a list of things that changed in this version:

dual core support

a fixed pure server system

fixed widescreen and aspect ratio support

fixed server IP information within non-dedicated server

Download Quake 4 Patch

Aspyr Media

Quake 4

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Diner Dash is now available as a digital download purchase from Macgamestore.com for $19.99. A free demo of the popular casual game is available on the site.

Ditch your desk job, roll up your sleeves, and serve up some grub! Help Flo the former stock broker build her dining empire from a roadside diner to a five-star restaurant. 50 challenging levels that allow you to grow your restaurant through 4 complete re-models.

Macgamestore: Diner Dash

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Call of Duty fans will want to check out our hands-on preview of Call of Duty 2. The preview is based on a recent near final beta of the game. Here's a clip from the preview:

A few days ago, much to my delight, a postman dropped a beta copy of Call of Duty 2 into my eager hands. Several minutes and nearly four gigabytes later, I prepared to pla—er, analyze the sequel to the esteemed Call of Duty in order to unofficially determine whether or not this title is simply another case of sequel-itis, an improvement, or something completely different than the game that still stands head and shoulders above the sea of WWII-themed shooters out there.

Call of Duty 2 is scheduled to ship at the end of this month. It is available for pre-order from Macgamestore.com for $49.95.

IMG Preview: Call of Duty 2

Aspyr Media

Call of Duty 2

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Registration has recently opened for the Myth World Cup 2006. An annual event, this year's competition features a $1000 grand prize as well as other offerings. Changes have been made to the rulesets as well in the interest of fairness.

The MWC's general format features a two-team format, with Myth 2 being the game used during play. Teams will be sorted based on skill level, or "threat rating":

Once registration is complete, all teams will be divded up into pools. The pools will be balanced according to the threat ratings assigned by tournament officials. Each pool should contain a rough mix of power teams, weak teams, and average teams. The number of pools, and the number of teams in each pool, will depend upon the number of teams that enter the tournament. Over the first three to five weeks, each team will play every other team from their pool once. There will be one match each week.

Registration will stay open for the next three weeks, or until the roster has been completely filled. Those interested in competing are encouraged to register at the official MWC site.

Myth World Cup 2006

BBC has posted an article on persistent problems in World of WarCraft and how Blizzard is attempting to fix them. These problems revolve around connection glitches, sluggish performance, and server loads due to the influx of millions of gamers playing the popular mmorpg.

These tiny delays often occured at the most inconvenient times, said Mr Woleslagle. For instance, he said, they could mean that healing spells were not cast in time and player-controlled characters got overwhelmed by foes.

"It's no secret that Blizzard's a victim of its own success," he said adding that the game maker was "tight-lipped to the point of creepy" about the problems.

Mr Woleslagle said some of the problems were caused by poor management of the numbers of players on each server - each one of which is a copy of the Warcraft world.

BBC News Article

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft

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Aspyr Media is now taking preorders for the upcoming Civilization IV and has also released a new web page for the game. The latest in the world building strategy series has received glowing reviews on the PC side of the fence and is likely to be popular with Mac gamers as well.

Some of Civ IV's features:

3D Living World
Detailed environments where animals roam and smoke billows from small huts, set in a vibrant and colorful world.
Overhauled Interface
RTS style, intuitive interface allows you to manipulate units and cities with greater control and faster speed.
Multiplayer
Built from the ground up for multiplayer with Era Starts, variable game speeds, hot join, team play and a bevy of connectivity options: Internet, LAN, Play by Email (PBEM), hot seat and more. The best multiplayer Civ experience ever developed means hundreds of hours of gameplay for you and leaders across the world.
Customization
An unprecedented level of modding power allows you to customize the units, environments and gameplay to meet your vision, including: a WorldBuilder editor, XML and Python scripting language editing.

Aspyr: Civilization IV

Aspyr Media

Civilization IV

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Blizzard Entertainment has revealed a new piece of lore for World of Warcraft, their extremely popular fantasy MMORPG. The new lore explains the nature of the undead plague unleashed by the Lich King's experiments.

The plague of undeath, a product of the Lich King's morbid experiments, quickly made its presence felt after it was unleashed upon Azeroth. Its first victims were humans from a village that was unluckily situated near Icecrown Glacier. As the horrifying plague spread, it converted humans into undeath, but left the other denizens of Azeroth alive, though diseased and decaying. Was this an unintended aspect of Ner'zhul's diabolical plan, or was humanity the plague's only intended target?

WoW: Lore of the Undead Plague

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft

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Ventrilo, a Voice-Over-IP program that allows users to chat was recently updated to version 2.3.2 prototype 14. This small update adds the following.

2.3.2.Prototype.14:

General:

• Modified so that caps-lock key will not cause Shift, Control, Command and Option keys to get stuck in the “on” position if they are used as the PTT Hotkey.
• Corrected scrolling problem in Chat and Rcon windows.

Setup-Voice:

• Added support for Test button. Will now compress and playback what ever is recorded.
• Added support to play Key clicks, if selected, while using the Monitor and Test buttons.

Menu:

• Added support for Server Admin -> User Editor
• Added support for Server Admin -> Rcon
• Added support for Server Admin -> Ban List
• Added support for Channel Admin -> Ban List
• Added support for Channel Admin -> Kick
• Added support for Channel Admin -> Ban Add
• Added support for Channel Admin -> Mute

Requirements:
Operating System: OSX 10.3 or higher.
Platform: PowerPC or Intel.
Processor: 1.0 GHz or higher.
Sound Input and Output device.
Amplified Microphone or USB Microphone

Visit the links below for more information and to download the latest version (2MB).

Ventrilo For Mac

Ventrilo Download

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