Apple today began shipping Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X. The new OS boasts over 300 new features including Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; and a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock.

If you've received your copy of Leopard, we'd like to hear your thoughts and experiences on Apple's new OS. But sure to follow the forum link below to participate in the discussion with fellow Mac gamers.

IMG Forum: Apple Ships Mac OS X 10.4 Leopard

Apple

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Inside Mac Games has posted a review of Electronic Arts' Battlefield 2142, the recently released online shooter that was brought to the Mac using TransGaming's portability technology, Cider.

To check out the review, please follow the link below.

Inside Mac Games Review: Battlefield 2142

Electronic Arts

Battlefield 2142

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Earlier this week Virtual Programming announced an updated release date for the Mac version of Europa Universalis III. The game is scheduled for release in the 4th quarter of 2007. Europa Universalis III is the latest in the popular strategy series focusing on exploration, trade, warfare and diplomacy.

Here's a list of some of the game's features:

• Players can enjoy over 300 years of gameplay by starting at ANY date between 1453 and 1789.
• Nation building is flexible: decide your own form of government, the structure of your society, trade politics and much more. The possibilities are endless.
• The great people and personalities of the past are on hand to support you. Take history in your hands and call personalities like Sir Isaac Newton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or René Descartes to your court.
• A lush topographic map in full 3D allows for a rich and complete world view, and contains more than 1700 provinces and sea zones.
• Lead any one of more than 250 countries that originally existed during the game’s extensive time span.

Head over to Virtual Programming at the site below.

Virtual Programming

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Blizzard Entertainment has added another unit to the growing list of buildings and units featured on the official StarCraft II website. This time Blizzard unveils the Sensor Tower, a terran building offering long range detection of enemy units. The site update features new visuals, animations, and sounds.

Top terran military analysts all agree that "Knowing is half the battle" and that early warning is one of the keys to victory. The sensor tower is a vital tool for long-range surveillance of enemy movement and the detection of stealthed aggressors. Sensor towers are a lynchpin of terran base defenses, and as such, they need to be heavily guarded. A smart attacker will try to destroy sensor towers as the first priority.

A sensor tower processes a whole battery of input, constantly updating a commander's knowledge of the battlefield. By using both passive and active thermal and electromagnetic scanning mixed with millimetric radar sweeps, input from seismic sensors, and Doppler analysis, a sensor tower can quickly pinpoint any target within range. Even foes that are out of sight behind terrain can be detected, although a visual verification will still be required to positively identify them.

The downside to all this multi-spectrum output is that foes can easily detect the presence of a sensor tower and use it to identify the whereabouts of a terran base. Other strategies revolve around "spoofing" the tower with decoy units or simply staying outside its range. Terran commanders have been known to counter by erecting sensor towers in fake base locations just to keep enemies guessing.

StarCraft II: Sensor Tower Featured

Blizzard Entertainment

StarCraft II: Wings Of Liberty

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GamesIndustry.biz has posted a new article describing a recent Will Wright lecture on the differences between games and other forms of storytelling. The legendary game designer's discussion also touched on concerns about violence in video games and design philosophy.

"Well, in some senses I think games have a very different evolutionary heritage from what I call linear storytelling media.

"Games are rooted as far back, if not further, than the printed word, and sports as well, then the idea of toys and general play.

"Now if you actually look at play, obviously it evolved for a reason. Animals play in the wild, it's a form of education – they play out little scenarios which help them survive into the future.

"And then you can look at babies and one of the first things they do is to start interacting with the real world, they wave their arms around and at some point they understand that they can control this thing that's beating them in the face, that they can pick up things and manipulate them - then interactivity with the environment is their first natural form of education."

"Storytelling is a little bit different, it's based upon these functions that we have as humans – language, imagination and empathy, and these are all prerequisites for story, and in some senses it's learned behaviour."

GamesIndustry.biz: Will Wright, Games Are Not Stories

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Blizzard Entertainment recently unveiled the World of Warcraft Online Atlas on the official website. The resource helps players navigate the many locations and regions around Azeroth and Outland using a Flash interface. The map display a variety of information including towns, dungeons, level ranges, and transportation paths.

The Atlas has two display modes:

Detailed Region Info: See all the regions of Azeroth and Outland by clicking the minimap on the upper left. Each region is marked with cities, towns, dungeons, and other points of interest. Clicking on each marker displays additional information -- for example, clicking on a town shows you what resources are available there, such as trainers, flightmasters, and repair merchants. Detailed capital city maps are also available from each continent's drop-down menu.

Customized Region Info: Clicking on the Customized Region Info tabs displays an overlay on the world map highlighting only the particular type of information you select. For example, clicking on the Transportation tab brings up all the flight paths and boat/zeppelin stops in the world, and the Region Levels filter displays the appropriate level range for all regions in the world.

WoW: Online Atlas

Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft

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Runesoft has started shipping Got Game Entertainment's first person adventure game, RHEM 3: The Secret Library, for Mac and Windows. The game drops players into a huge, fantastic world full of strange vehicles and buildings, unknown mechanisms and machines, secret passages and doorways. Adventuresomeness, logic, attentivness and the ability to solve engimas will help players slowly unveil the mystery of this new adventure on Rhem.

"Rhem3: The secret Library" continues the story from its two predecessors "Rhem" and "Rhem 2: The Cave", but can of course also be played without having played the previous two titles. Your task is to once again help the brothers Kales and Zetais to discover a new part of their fascinating world. After you have found a letter from Zetais with instructions you start the journey to Rhem once again...

On your arrival you meet Kales who has discovered that a mysterious artefact, a black gem, is hidden somewhere on Rhem. Because the doorway must be opened by two persons but remains open just long enough for only one person to slip through, you are the only one accessing this new part of the island. Once again, left on your own you must uncover these new secrets of Rhem.

- Mac OS X 10.2.8 - Mac OS X 10.4.10
- 500 MHz G3, G4, G5, IntelCore
- 256 MB RAM
- 16 MB Video Card
- (depends on version) CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
- mouse, keyboard
- 800x600 32 bit
- Hard Drive Space: 700 MB

GotGame

Runesoft

RHEM 3

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