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Running with Scissors has announced plans to port Postal 2 to the Mac. The game is anticipated to be released this fall. In a short Q&A with Inside Mac Games, the company's Vince Desi confirmed that a Mac version is currently under development by an outside developer.

When released in 1997, the original Postal was one of the first ultraviolent games to hit the PC. The controversial game was banned in several countries, was blasted by Senator Joe Lieberman, and the company, Running with Scissors, was even sued by the US Postal Service. Now six years later, the long-awaited sequel was released last month on the PC.

Postal 2 is described as a psychological thriller with a punch line ending built using Epic's Unreal Warfare Engine. The game features liquid dynamics like pours, drips, runs and puddles. Sophisticated AI supports people and animal interactions. Postal 2 is about humor with absurd, over-the-top, violent content. It even includes special guest star Gary Coleman of Different Strokes fame.

Here's our Q&A with Vince Desi of Running with Scissors:

IMG: Tell us a little bit about the Mac version of Postal 2. Is it currently in progress? When do you expect to ship it?

Desi: If everything goes ok, it will be availble in the fall.

IMG: Postal 2 uses the Unreal Warfare engine. Do you folks plan on porting the game in house?

Desi: We're working with an experienced Mac developer who has ported other Unreal engine titles. We've done Mac ourselves before but I don't see the need to try to do it ourselves when someone with better Mac experience can help us out, the key is to preserve the gameplay and all the things Running With Scissors is known for.

IMG: Will you be publishing Postal 2 or will you find a Mac game publisher to publish and distribute it?

Desi: For now, I'm concentrating on getting it done right, and initially we will make it available ourselves from our website gopostal.com. So the Mac publishing license is available, its my goal to get in on Mac, and then hopefully it will get picked up for retail distribution.

IMG: Many Mac users are unfamiliar with Postal 2. Can you tell us a bit about the gameplay?

Desi: It's really a First Person Adventure, not a FPS, its based on the original POSTAL that came out in 1997, and was banned in over 10 countries, its filled with adult humor, and absurd violent content, if you have a soft stomach forget about it!

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Inside Mac Games has posted Snowball Run, a budget-priced arcade game from MacPlay's parent company, Mumbo Jumbo. Here's a clip from the review:

What we have in Snowball Run is a fairly standard cute animal 3D marble roller from MacPlay's budget line, but the good news is that in this case budget doesn't mean it's bad. Snowball Run comes in a very scaled-down package, but its simplicity is also its elegance. All of the documentation is provided through in-game tutorials, eliminating the need for a separate print manual. It has modest system requirements despite being OS X-only, and should definitely be kind to older machines. It also has a very useful feature for the mobile gamer - once installed it does not require the CD to run.

IMG Review: Snowball Run

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For those soon to be out of school for the summer and looking for some gaming action, MacPlay may have just what you're looking for. For a limited time, you can pick up some classic MacPlay games for only 10$. The offer only lasts until this Friday though. The games on sale are:

Big Money Deluxe

Black & White

Fallout 2

Icewind Dale

Jinni Zeala Pinball

Mummy Maze Deluxe

Power Chips & High Roller

Sheep

Snowball Run

Super GameHouse Collection

Worms Blast

Zork

MacPlay Summer Special

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Digital Eel has released a beta demo of Strange Adventures in Infinite Space for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. In anticipation of the final release of the game, the developers are asking Mac users to try out the beta demo and to send feedback to the company.

So what is Strange Adventures in Infinite Space? Here's a description from their web site:

Sail the high sea of stars in your own deep space exploration vessel. Explore exotic star systems; seek out new technologies, artifacts and lifeforms; boldly blow up stuff where no one has has blown up stuff before!

SAIS is different every time it is played. Stars, planets, black holes, nebula mass, alien patrols, items, lifeforms and other encounters are randomized for each new Strange Adventure.

Strange Adventures in Infinite Space

CodeBlender today announced Epsilon Tahari: Reign of the Machines, their latest game under development for the Macintosh. The game is described as a simulator/action sytle game.

Here's more from the official press release: "You have been sent on a mission to the planet Epsilon Tahari. Your mission is to steal the anti-gravity technology developed by an alien race. You will engage in battles with attacking robot machines and other defense systems while trying to complete your mission. The future of Earth may well depend on your bringing back what you came for. If you fail, you are not returning home.Epsilon Tahari: Reign of the Machines is now in beta and is expected to
be available soon. To check out screenshots of the game, head over to CodeBlender's web site.

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Pangea Software today began shipping the CD version of its popular arcade/puzzle game, Enigmo, six weeks after the release of the downloadable version of the game.

"Our original plan was to release a CD version of Enigmo in the fall, closer to Chiristmas," said Brian Greenstone, President of Pangea Software, "but the response to the game has been absolutely tremendous so we decided to get it out right away instead."

The CD version of Enigmo will be in stores soon (including the IMG Store), or it can currently be ordered directly from Pangea Software's web site for just $24.95. The Enigmo CD also contains unregistered copies of almost every other game Pangea Software has ever done for the Macintosh.

For more information visit Pangea Software's Enigmo web site.

IMG Review: Enigmo

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Enigmo (add to watch list)

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Epic's Ryan Gordon, the mastermind behind the port of Unreal Tournament 2003 for the Mac recently posted a .plan update which goes over some of the various projects he is currently working on.

First up is Unreal Tournament 2003. According to Gordon, the game is at Release Candidate 4:

Release Candidate 4 is looking like it'll be going Gold in a few hours (whew!) so we are definitely on track to ship on June 11th. Thanks to James Robrahn and his crew (at MacSoft) for busting my balls to fix all the little things...they found a ton of bugs that Infogrames (and a couple hundred thousand gamers) missed in the win32 version.

MacOS X port is in CVS now, but it's not nearly done (but you _can_ limp through the game...I played through the first few levels on the Mac).

To read Gordon's entire .plan, be sure to check out the link below.

Digital Extremes (add to watch list)

MacSoft (add to watch list)

Unreal Tournament 2003 (add to watch list)

Ryan Gordon's .plan

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Mac developer and publisher Aspyr Media has posted the May edition of their monthly newsletter, revealing the latest news on the status of their current projects. This last installment counts no less than eight status updates on Aspyr titles, including three shipping, two at final candidate, one in duplication and two more announced as Mac bound.

Also, and as it has become Aspyr's custom, the newsletter provides information on their latest giveaways, as well as the names winners of the past month's.

Here are some of the headlines found in the newsletter, as quoted from Aspyr's web site:

• Zoo Tycoon Mac bound!
  
• Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer in the works for PC & Mac
  
• NASCAR Racing 2003 Season shipping next week
  
• SpyHunter for PC & Mac shipping!
  
• Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2003 in duplication!
  
• Medal of Honor Allied Assault? Spearhead Expansion Pack Shipping
  

Aspyr Media (add to watch list)

Aspyr Media May Newsletter

On tonight's broadcast of The Gamesome Mac, the weekly Mac gaming radio program, hosts Sean Smith and Omaha Sternberg talk with Michael Rogers, president of Aspyr Media, about his company's expansion to cross-platform game development and publishing.

Founded in 1996 to publish games for the Macintosh, Aspyr Media has grown to become one of the giants of the Mac game industry. The past three months have seen Aspyr branch out to cross-platform publishing, with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer, and SpyHunter announced or shipping for both the Mac and PC.

Moreover, the company recently announced its plans to begin developing games as well, not only for the Mac and PC, but also for consoles and handheld devices, hiring Glenda Adams to lead the development of the former and Chris Norden that of the latter.

Sean and Omaha will also offer Mac gaming news, reviews and commentaries, and together with their guest will take questions live from listeners in The Gamesome Mac's chat room.

The Gamesome Mac can be heard live on MacRadio from 6 to 8 pm Pacific Time, 9 to 11 pm Eastern (Tuesday from 0100 to 0300 UTC), and on demand thereafter. You can tune in at The Gamesome Mac's web page, where you'll also find archives of past broadcasts. QuickTime 5 or 6 and a 28 kbps or faster Internet connection are required.

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The Macintosh programmer Derek Arndt has brought another free Linux game to the Mac. This time it is the game Barrage, a small, simple, but above all fun arcade-style action game with the goal to cause as much destruction as possible within a limited timeframe.

From the official site:

Barrage is a rather violent action game with the objective to kill and destroy as many targets as possible within 3 minutes. The player controls a gun that may fire small and large grenades by ''point and click'' at soldiers, jeeps and tanks while it must be reloaded from time to time. As the vehicles are fast and shots take a bit of time to hit the target position it is not that easy to get high scores. And I know a one-gun barrage is not really a barrage but I like the title, so what? :)

Barrage (add to watch list)

Barrage for OS X

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