Blizzard Entertainment has released an update for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and its expansion The Frozen Throne. Version 1.21 features native support for Intel Macs as well as the usual bug fixes and content updates.

Because of changes introduced in the new patch Mac users who will be installing The Frozen Throne must follow these steps:

The file layout inside the game folder is changed significantly by Patch 1.21. As a result, in order to be able to install the Frozen Throne expansion from CD, you must install Reign of Chaos first, then install Frozen Throne from CD, and then patch to version 1.21, in that order. If you patch to v1.21 and then attempt to install Frozen Throne after that, it will not install correctly.

Warcraft III RoC 1.21: Download

Warcraft III TFT 1.21: Download

Blizzard Entertainment (add to watch list)

WarCraft III (add to watch list)

Buy WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne

Buy WarCraft III

Click to enlarge

Macgamestore.com has begun shipping Aspyr's newest first-person shooter, Prey, a groundbreaking first-person shooter that turns the genre upside-down with new gameplay features and next generation graphics.

Tommy is a Cherokee garage mechanic, refuting his heritage and undecided about his next step in life. His world comes to a halt when an extraterrestrial crisis forces him to awaken spiritual powers from his long-forgotten birthright. Abducted with his people to a menacing mothership orbiting Earth, he sets out to save himself, his girlfriend, and eventually, the entire planet.

For more information on Prey, follow the link below.

Buy Prey

Click to enlarge

Inside Mac Games has posted a review of RuneSoft's Cold War, a stealth espionage action game for the Mac. Here's a clip from the review:

Cold War takes place, you guessed it, during the late stages of the Cold War. In the game, you are Matthew Carter (who might look more than a little like one Gordon Freeman), a regular MacGuyver who has decided that freelance photography is his calling and has spent many years traveling the world, getting the hard shots. Matthew’s latest assignment is the one that gets him into trouble, though. He’s lured to the USSR by a shifty KGB agent, then framed for an assassination attempt. The game picks up as Matthew attempts to escape and unravel the truth along the way.

Inside Mac Games Review: Cold War

Runesoft (add to watch list)

Cold War (add to watch list)

Buy Cold War

Click to enlarge

Planewalker Games' latest update for The Broken Hourglass gives an in-depth look at the creation of basic dialog and store interactions using the game's mod friendly WeiNGINE engine. The upcoming RPG will feature a 2D isometric viewpoint, detailed character development, and a rich storyline reminiscent of classics in the genre.

Last month, we introduced Harika the shopkeeper as a CREATURE--she has basic stats, a sprite, some equipment, and an assigned area and X/Y position in the game. We also assigned her a dialogue and store resource, but we did not actually create those resources. We will do that now.

Dialogue in WeiNGINE is a state machine simulating a conversation between one or more gameworld characters. Participation from the player character is done through multiple-choice reply options.

Inside The Engine: Introduction To Dialogue

The Broken Hourglass (add to watch list)

Gamasutra has posted an interview with Mumbo Jumbo's CEO Mark Cottom, formerly of MacPlay. They discuss the reasons behind stepping away from AAA game titles and developing casual games instead, game development, publishing, and the general state of casual gaming.

GS: Okay! Well, my next question was along the lines of 'How do you sell these retail games without the immediate demo exposure,' but what you're telling me is that your basis for publishing these games is based on brand recognition already existing. Is that accurate?

MC: That's correct. It certainly was how we launched the casual game category into retail, by bringing the top brands to market. And what we found was that there really were two distinct buyers. There was a buyer that was comfortable going online, downloading a file and paying for it over the Internet, and then there was another customer that was still not comfortable playing games over the Internet. The consumer may have become aware of it coming out on the Internet, or through the recommendation of a friend, but they were not really an online customer. We still get a tremendous amount of mail delivered by post; handwritten letters from customers that don’t have access to the Internet or don't know how to download a file, but who want more of the games that they've been able to find at Wal-Mart, Target or Best Buy. We still see that although the world's becoming more connected, there's a huge part of the population that is not, or doesn't feel comfortable downloading content and transacting over the Internet.

Gamasutra: Interview

Mumbo Jumbo

Search for other Mac games news stories or browse our Mac Games News Archive.