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Aspyr Media has announced a new patch for Civilization V. Among other things the update brings the game to version 1.0.1.383 and for the first time includes support for cross-platform multiplayer, giving Mac players the chance to face off against their Windows PC counterparts.

Aspyr has also announced the release of two new DLC packs for the game: Korea Civilization and Scenario Pack, and Wonders of the Ancient World Scenario Pack. The Korea DLC adds a new scenario and the Korea civilization, while Ancient World adds three new wonders and its own scenario.

The time has come! After much demand, Civilization V players now have the ability to play cross-platform multiplayer!

The latest patch (1.0.1.383), which will be live shortly if it’s not already, not only brings the cross-platform multiplayer goodness, but also a whole host of other changes and improvements as well. Players can expect a change in the pacing as well as more challenging gameplay on the higher difficulty settings. There are also multiple balancing tweaks and other additions like the Policy “Finishers” which provide a bonus effect for completing a Policy Tree. As with other patches, Civilization V will update automatically whenever you connect to Steam. For a full (and long!) list of changes, hit the jump below.

In related and totally awesome news, Civilization V Mac gamers now also have access to the two latest pieces of DLC: the Korea Civilization and Scenario Pack and the Wonders of the Ancient World Scenario Pack. These new pieces of DLC bring even more depth and fun to the already massive game!

*Please note that the latest patch and DLC are for the full, Steam-connected version of Civilization V and not Civilization V: Campaign Edition on the Mac App Store.

Korea

The Korea Civilization and Scenario Pack brings you both the Korea Civilization and the new Scenario: The Samurai Invasion of Korea, to further enhance your Civilization V experience. Rule the world as Sejong, King of the Choson Dynasty, with your invincible Turtle Ships and Hwach’a artillery!

Scenario Description

The great warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi has unified Japan. To keep his Samurai busy, his eye now turns west to Korea. Will he be able to expand his empire? Or will Korea’s Chinese allies arrive in time? Play as one of four Civilizations: Korea, China, Manchuria, or Japan.

Korea Ruler – Sejong the Great

The fourth king of the Choson Dynasty of Korea, and considered by many to be the greatest king in Korean history. His reign was marked by his deep care for his people’s welfare and his encouragement of sciences and technology. He is credited with the creation of the Korean written language.

Wonders of the Ancient World

The Wonders of the Ancient World Scenario Pack adds three new wonders to Sid Meier’s Civilization V: The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Statue of Zeus, and the Temple of Artemis. Each of these early wonders brings powerful benefits to the civilization which can construct them!

The Wonders of the Ancient World Scenario is a race between civilizations at the dawn of time. Each Civilization is competing to be the greatest builder of Wonders of the Ancient World. Play as one of the five civilizations and leave an indelible mark on history, or fade away into the dust of the past!

Civ V Cross Platform Multiplayer, New DLC

Aspyr Media

Civilization V

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Inside Mac Games has posted a new interview with Advanced Micro Devices' Chris Bentley, the company's Mac 3D Manager. In the first of the two part interview Bentley discussed a variety of topics including AMD's relationship with Apple and Mac game developers, the transition to Apple's new Lion OS, and the design of graphics card and drivers.

IMG: Do you work closely with Mac Gaming companies?

CB: We work really closely with Mac game developers, especially Blizzard, Transgaming, Valve, Feral, Aspyr, Telltale, and Unity. I type like #$%@, so I'm on the phone with folks from these companies all the time. I sometimes joke that the phone is my best coding tool. Fundamentally, the only way users get a good out-of-the-box (or out-of-the-download) experience is if we work with game developers to resolve issues before the games ship. We worked for over a year with Blizzard on making sure everything worked in Starcraft 2. This included integrating a completely new shader compiler for the Radeon X1600 and Radeon X1900 cards! When Transgaming was working on Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 they told us they need us to support hardware accelerated texture fetches from within vertex shaders, so we added this support. When Feral shipped Bioshock our QE team practically functioned as an extension of their testing group, feeding back bug reports on the beta hardware and drivers that we had access to. Laminar Research has dropped us beta versions of X-Plane which we have included in our automated test suite, so we can make sure we don't have any performance regressions on any of our nightly builds. The Unity engine folks have done the same thing.

Chris Bentley AMD Interview

AMD

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Desctructoid has released a new preview for the upcoming story based DLC for Dragon Age II, Mark of the Assassin. The new content will feature a new assassin character named Tallis, new items, new enemies, new environments, and the return of stealth based gameplay.

With this DLC come new side quests, enemies, character interactions, items, and lore. The DLC is also playable anytime within the original game after the prologue. In the Dragon Age chronology, it's set right after its companion web series, Dragon Age: Redemption, which should be released around the same time. This time around, the game will be greatly expanding upon the Qunari and Orlesian cultures. Since we're not in Ferelden anymore, Mark of the Assassin also offers brand new environments for those of you who are still taking digs at DAII's recycled sets.

Tallis is based on her namesake from Dragon Age: Redemption, a short web series written by and starring Felicia Day . According to Day, there is a lot of continuity between what occurs in the show and in the game. For starters, the costume that was used by Day in Redemption is also used in Mark of the Assassin, as well as the weapons, fighting style, music, and facets of the character's personality. As a Dragon Age aficionado herself, she said that seeing her and her work used for the game was probably "the most awesome thing" that has ever happened to her.

Desctructoid: Mark Of The Assassin Preview

TransGaming

BioWare

Dragon Age 2

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Ctrl-2-Crouch recently posted a new review of Spiderweb Software's latest RPG, Avadon: The Black Fortress. The first chapter of a new saga, the game puts players in the role of a spy and warrior tasked to defend the homeland from its many enemies. The game features four different character classes, dozens of sidequests, hundreds of items to discover, and many different possible endings.

From the review:

The atmosphere as well as the general overview of the game’s world can get a little annoying, seeing as how this is the 21st century, and there isn’t any voice acting. Everything is done through text. To fully understand your quests that you get, you have to ask about them. That can require a fair amount of reading, but it’s not all that bad. The games atmosphere is magnificent, and there’s a bunch of little hidden stuff that you really gotta look for. Exploration in this game is FAR from unrewarding. I don’t really want to spoil anything about the story either, but it’s incredibly well written.

Ctrl-2-Crouch: Avadon Review

Spiderweb Software

Avadon: The Black Fortress

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