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Runesoft today announced that it has begun shipping ANKH, a cartoon adventure Mac game. The game, which was named the 2005 German Game of the Year, was originally developed by Deck 13. The boxed version of the game is available through Runesoft and will be available as a digital download shortly.

Ankh, which won the prestigous "German Game of the Year" award last year, is athird-person, 3D point & click game set in ancient Egypt. With its tongue-in-cheek humour, quirky characters and cartoony graphics, Ankh is a lighthearded adventure that casts the player in the role of a young man named Assil. Players must help Assil reverse a death curse by seeking an audience with the Pharoah, and then Osiris himself, which of course requires a good many shenanigans along the way. The game is a humourous romp that takes you around ancient Cairo and introduces you to bizarre characters and wacky obstacles.

The game was originally developed for the PC by Deck13 and published by bhv. ANKH for the Mac comes as a Universal binary and is available now!

Story: Egypt. Many, many years ago. Young Assil has a problem: he partied too much and as a result, a curse has been cast upon him. Although Assil actually just wanted to spend a night out with his friends - he managed to enter a new pyramid, threw a humongous party and has now promptly fallen from grace with the gods. The consequence: a curse has been cast upon him and he has to find a way to break it...

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Nostalgic Software has released SteamTRAIN 2, a game which puts players in control of an 1800's era steam train consisting of a steam locomotive and tender, baggage car, coach, and freight cars. Would-be engineers take command of the action with a variety of controls including the throttle, boiler pressure, traction sand, and track switches as they travel between stops and negotiate the tracks.

If you want a >$40 game, with heart-pounding sound & the latest 3D pro-graphics; that requires Macs & OS X released in the past 3-6 months; needs a controller that vibrates or senses motion; plus abundant blood and mayhem -- there's nothing here for you. Kindly move along.

On the other hand, if you like trains or just inexpensive "fun time waster" games, welcome aboard! ST2 customers range from 3 years to ..... those old enough to read. The Help files are extensive, but the first 3 sections should get your train rolling. Night runs are new.

Several Mac sites classify ST2 as PPC only. Customers with Intel Macs claim otherwise (including entry MacBooks). If ST2 runs smoothly on your Mac near 60 fps -- it just doesn't get better than that.

Head over to Nostalgic Software's site to learn more about the game.

SteamTRAIN 2

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Applelinks has posted a new preview of Age of Empires III for Mac, MacSoft's port of Ensemble Studios latest in the popular real time historical strategy series. In addition to eye pleasing new 3D graphics and a New World setting, AoE III introduces the concept of a home city which offers supplies, reinforcements, and feedback during the course of the game.

The biggest change is the home city. Unlike before, you're not entirely on your own. Your home city will send you supplies and reinforcements as you set out to accomplish your goals. It's a good feeling, knowing it's not you against the world. The game's not necessarily easier as a result of this, just different, and a bit more fun as it adds another level of strategy to the game. Your home city grows as you do, and can then provide you with new solider types, technology, etc. Visiting the home city will give you an idea of what to do next, as you can get an opinion of what you're doing wrong and right. Just what every world conquerer wants, right? The opinions of the people?

Back in the new land, you're able to play as eight civilizations: Spanish, French, Dutch, Russian, British, Portuguese, German and Ottoman. Each civilization will force you to adapt different strategies in order to exploit its strengths and compensate for its weaknesses. Native American Indians will also play a part, but interestingly, you can't control them or kill them. They just help out from time to time if you befriend them. You know...because that's how it happened in American history.

Applelinks: Age of Empire III Preview

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Computer and Video Games chats with of Human Head Studios, developers of Prey, which is currently being ported by Aspyr. Co-Founder Chris Rhinehart and CEO Tim Gerritsen discuss the postmortem of the popular Sci-Fi shooter.

Prey tells the story of Tommy, a Cherokee garage mechanic stuck on a reservation and going nowhere. His life changes when an otherworldly crisis forces him to awaken spiritual powers from his long-forgotten birthright. Abducted along with his people to a menacing mothership orbiting Earth, he sets out to save himself and his girlfriend and ultimately his planet.

Rhinehart: The idea was that the children were being taken over by the dishonoured dead, who were following Tommy back from his Death Walk. He's upset the balance in a way - the fact they come back with him is causing this to happen to the children. There's a bit in the sphere where the ship's voice says, 'These abominations weren't here before your sudden return, human', which is implying that he brought them back with him. There were certain things we wished we could have explained a bit better, and with hindsight this is one of them.

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