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More Mac Jedi Knight II Details
8:34 AM | Galen Wiley | Comment on this story
Following the recent announcement that Jedi Knight II, the very anticipated sequel to Jedi Knight, had reached Final Candidate status, Westlake Interactive has posted more news concerning the game's progress, including some features the game will have gamers might not have been aware of yet: Jedi Knight II lead coder Brad Oliver has this to say about the game: "The Mac version of JK2 has a lot of cool features, including "Services" support on OSX, a new dedicated server console window for the multiplayer app, the ability to paste text into the JK2 console from the clipboard in both the single-player and multi-player games, HID Manager support for joysticks and gamepads on OSX, support for widescreen resolutions, and FSAA support for both ATi and nVidia cards, including Quincunx modes on the nVidia cards. Oh, and the addition of SMP support for dual-processor Macs in the multiplayer game." In an IMG forum thread, Brad Oliver has also answered questions regarding the system requirements of the title. He notes that the game needs as much video memory as possible because of its very high resolution textures, and though it may theoretically be playable on video cards with less than 32MB of VRAM, the details would need to be turned down. There is some uncertainty regarding the state of texture compression in OS X (also noted in a story on Friday), but Oliver has confidence this will be fixed in the near future:JK2 has code (from the PC side) to take advantage of pre-compressed textures (dtx1, dtx3, dtx5, etc) and upload those straight to the card. We can't do that on the Mac, so we have to take an alternate approach. I should interject that I don't expect this limitation to be present on the Mac for very much longer. He notes later in the thread that he's already found some workarounds for the pre-compression issues, and also explains some of how the game will (or won't) take advantage of multi-processor machines. Be sure to give it a read if you're interested, and also remember Aspyr is already at work on a demo, though no release date is yet known.
 Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast™ At Final Candidate
 IMG Forum: Discuss Jedi Knight II
 IMG Preview: Jedi Knight II
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (add to watch list)
IMG News: Aspyr: Jedi Knight II at FC, Updated
IMG News: Mac Texture Compression Explained
 Buy Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
IMG Previews Clone Campaigns
1:41 PM | Tuncer Deniz | Comment on this story
Inside Mac Games has posted a preview of Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns, the upcoming expansion pack from Aspyr Media. Here's a snippet from the preview: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones delivered on anything, it was insane amounts of sci-fi action. My eyes were proverbially glued to the movie screen during the film’s epic battle at Geonosis. All of those lightsabers whizzing about, droids armed to the teeth, blaster bolts flying everywhere and the clones, my God, the clones, made me giddy as a nerdy school girl. Some may criticize the story, but Episode II delivered in the action department… in spades! If only there was a way to combine the thrill of the grandiose battles from Episode II with the fun of gaming on my Mac… If only I had access to the Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns expansion pack. Until recently, the previous was but a wish for me. However, thanks to the Jedi Knights at Aspyr Media, I’ve had the chance to take Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns (SWGBCC) on a test mission. Adding new units from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, 2 full Episode II related campaigns, new combat locations, a wider array of unit upgrades and enhanced graphical effects to the original Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds, Clone Campaigns is shaping up to be one Star Destroyer of an expansion pack. Be sure to check out the rest of the preview by clicking on the link below.
IMG Preview: Clone Campaigns
Aspyr Media (add to watch list)
SWGB: Clone Campaigns (add to watch list)
More Vendetta Changes
9:05 AM | Andy Largent | Comment on this story
The space shooter/strategy title Vendetta has received a few updates of late, fixing more issues with their major milestone 3 revision. Version 3.0.6 is the latest patch for the game released over the weekend, though another was done earlier last week as well. Both versions add fixes and other gameplay tweaks for the game, as well as hopefully fixing the problem some Mac users were having with the updater. Here is a breakdown of changes for both: Cargo limits, based on ship class (light/medium/heavy) are now in place. Weapons availability is now limited, per ship class (much as pre-3.0). Directed messages and Team messages now work across sectors. Global messages now indicate the character's team and do not indicate the character's sector. Docking at home Nation stations (sectors 1, 2 and 3) is now limited to the respective home teams. Updated the HUD to display character's Credit account standings. Characters can no longer launch from stations without an engine or power cell. Robot scores no longer increase, only bounty now increases. Ships may (again) be damaged by their own weapons, such as rockets or mines at close proximity. Rebuilt the Updater and Bug Reporter for MacOS, hopefully solving the "re-download" problem. Other misc fixes and improvements....[Version 3.0.6] adds some very basic CTF support. It also adds some bugs. Please read the message board for more information about the game and bugs. Also don't forget to submit bug reports if you can't get the game to run or run correctly. If you haven't yet tried out the open beta test of Vendetta, sign up on their web site for an account and give the game a look. It runs on OS X, Windows, and Linux, and has a very active messageboard with users and developers talking about the direction for the game.
Guild Software (add to watch list)
Vendetta Online (add to watch list)
WWIIOnline Patch, Mac Status
8:50 AM | Andy Largent | Comment on this story
Two new posts of interest for Mac players of World War II Online, the massively multiplayer online war sim, have been made recently by Cornered Rat. The first is a long description of the upcoming major patch revision to the game, now at version 1.68. This latest update will add a number of new features and improvements, including an overhauled graphics engine with new textures, over 30 new towns, and many bug fixes and gameplay tweaks. The post with a detailed description of the changes also contains a number of new screen shots showing off the new graphics, so be sure to give it a look if you're interested. Mac gamers currently playing the free beta might be interested to hear about another message in the Mac forum from the company which notes they will be able to update the OS X client independently of the PC version without breaking compatibility: Yes. One of the major (and utterly unemphasised) reasons for the live test is to introduce a new versioning system that will alow us to upgrade the Mac and PC versions independantly through PlayGATE. For instance, a new OS upgrade must be dealt with but there is no essential game data that needs to be updated, we can update the Mac and not the PC. For those trying out the World War II Online pre-release beta test for OS X, be on the lookout for more about 1.68 and the Mac version to be released soon. The full retail box for the title will be available for the Mac later this year and will be published by Infogrames.In a related note, another thread in the Mac forum is calling for users to list all devices they are using and find compatible with World War II Online and Mac OS X. If you see something not yet on that list, be sure to head over and let it be known.
Version 1.68 Dev Update, Screen Shots
Mac 1.68 Beta Information
Mac-compatible Devices Thread
Strategy First (add to watch list)
Cornered Rat Software (add to watch list)
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Pre-order Mac Heroes of Might & Magic IV
8:34 AM | Andy Largent | Comment on this story
The 3DO web site now has the Mac version of Heroes of Might & Magic IV available for pre-order. The title is set to ship in "late November" and costs $49.95, though the first 250 orders will also receive a free T-shirt. Heroes of Might & Magic IV contains many new improvements above earlier incarnations of the popular fantasy strategy series, including a completely revamped graphics engine, new heroe abilities, as well as many new quests, classes, and schools of magic. The game is being ported by Contraband Entertainment, and the system requirements follow: Operating System:MacOS 8.6, 9.x or greater, 10.1 or greater
CPU:Power Macintosh G3 350 MHz or Greater
Free Hard Disk Space: 750 MB
Memory:192 MB RAM
CD-ROM Drive: 4X Speed
Video Card: 800x600 video display (thousands of colors)
Peripherals: Keyboard and mouse
Modem: 28.8 KBPS or greater Look for more on Heroes of Might & Magic IV from IMG as the game gets closer to release.
3DO (add to watch list)
Contraband Entertainment (add to watch list)
Heroes of Might & Magic IV (add to watch list)
 Pre-order Heroes of Might & Magic IV
Buy Heroes of Might & Magic IV
Tuncer and Andy on The Gamesome Mac
8:34 AM | Sean Smith | Comment on this story
On tonight's broadcast of The Gamesome Mac, the weekly Mac gaming radio program, Inside Mac Games editor-in-chief Tuncer Deniz and senior editor (and former Gamesome Mac producer) Andy Largent join hosts Sean Smith and Omaha Sternberg for a roundtable discussion of current issues and developments in the world of Mac gaming. Sean and Omaha will also take questions from listeners in The Gamesome Mac's chat room; offer Mac gaming news, commentary, and reviews; and give away some great games to their listeners. The Gamesome Mac can be heard on Mondays from 6 to 8 pm Pacific Time, 9 to 11 pm Eastern Time (Tuesdays at 01:00 UTC) on MacRadio.com. You can tune in live at The Gamesome Mac's web page, where you'll find archives of past shows as well. QuickTime 5 or 6 and a 28 kbps or faster Internet connection are all that are required.
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