 Quake III: Better on the Mac!
PC Zone has posted a preview of id Software's Quake III: Arena. The preview also features an interview with some of the id Software members. Of note is this question that was posed to John Carmack about the performance of the Mac version:
PC Zone: "What's the score with the Mac version? Rumor has it that it's faster and better than the PC version. How can this be? How does the Mac handle those graphics?"
John Carmack: "The game plays very well indeed on new Macs. At the moment, a new G3 plays as well as any PC system and better than most. The Rage 128 in the G3 systems is only running at 75MHz, so it does hit its ultimate fill limit about 20 per cent sooner than a TNT in a wintel box, but the driver throughput is absolutely top-notch."
Coupled with recent reorts about 400 Mhz G3 machines beating 500 MHz Pentium III systems in many benchmarks, it looks like we made the right choice in sticking with the Mac, eh? [Deniz]
Galactic Patrol Re-Released
Monkey Byte Software has re-released Galactic Patrol. The game was temporarily pulled from the server to fix a few problems, but everything should be A-OK now.
Galactic Patrol is a new 3d homage to the classic arcade hits of the early 80's. The look and spirit of such legendary games as Space Invaders, Galaga, Phoenix, and Galaxian pulse through Galactic Patrol's 25 levels in over 300 waves of shoot 'em up fun. Reflex-burning top view action, frenzied side scrolling , and comin' right at ya' rear views are all here in this retro-styled alien invasion. [Deniz]
 Galactic Patrol (3MB)
 Blue Byte expands Settlers III
Blue Byte Software, publishers of the Settlers series and Mac version of Settlers II, announced today an expansion kit for their PC title Settlers III, which is coming to the Mac OS this Summer.
From the press release:
"THE SETTLERS III EXPANDS AGAIN! Mission CD in production as Blue Byte reveals 4th Race in Settlers Series Expansion Disk...
"THE SETTLERS III MISSION CD is scheduled to hit retail shelves from April 14, 1999. The MISSION CD offers three new SETTLERS III campaigns, 10 new single player maps and over 20 Multiplayer maps! Demands on the strategic skills of gamers will multiply, not only from a more challenging mission design but also from a more flexible artificial intelligence. Even for the original single player maps, players will be dealing with a more formidable computer opponent...
"In addition, the MISSION CD also presents the SETTLERS III LEVEL EDITOR for creating both single and multiplayer maps with surprising ease...
"Blue Byte has also let the "cat out of the bag", disclosing the identity of the fourth Settler race to be populating the screens of Settler players in September 1999, when THE SETTLERS III: QUEST OF THE AMAZONS hits the shelves. "Fans of the series have been bombarding us for ages with requests to finally let female Settlers pit their skills against their male counterparts," reveals Erik Simon, Development Manager at Blue Byte. "The new Amazon race will no doubt introduce some turbulence into the previously male-dominated Settlers world."
Fans of the cute, cartoony and very addictive Settlers II now know that they have even more reason to look forward to this Summer's release of Settlers III. It isn't entirely clear from the press release but it seems very likely that the expansion set mentioned will also available for the Mac version, as well as TCP/IP play on the Settlers III server against Mac and PC opponents. Blue Byte also mentioned that they will have a booth at upcoming industry conference E3, which IMG is going to attend. We'll let you know what we find out about this upcoming title. [Eilers]
 Have a Chat With Douglas Adams!
World Without Borders.Com, a chat and discussion site, will be holding a chat with esteemed author (and Macintosh user) Douglas Adams, creator of the Hitchhiker's Guide "trilogy" of novels and the recent adventure game Starship Titanic. The chat is scheduled for 9:00 PM Eastern time tonight. There will also be product giveaways and chat moderators from major Mac gaming websites. Make sure you stop by and check out one of the most hilarious—and certainly one of the tallest—Mac advocates of all time. [Eilers]
Mac Starcraft Owners Get a Bonus
Back in the days when PC Starcraft was in its infancy, an incentive was offered to prospective gamers: A free Starcraft action figure. [ed note: if you can't seen these action figures yet, you should, they are amazing!] All a Starcraft owner had to do was send in a coupon (from the box) and a proof-of-purchase.
With the recent release of Mac Starcraft, Blizzard has announced that it would be extending this offer to Mac users as well. Simply e-mail sales@blizzard.com, stating that you are a Mac user and that you own Starcraft, and include your home address. Your coupon will be sent to you. [Daranciang]
 Deal to Port Baldur's Gate Near!
IMG recently emailed the CEO of Bioware, the company that brought the world the incredible AD&D adventure Baldur's Gate. We wanted to know if there was any progress being made towards having this fantastic RPG ported to the Mac. Here's what they had to say:
"Dr. Ray Muzyka" wrote:
"Yes, I think so. Interplay (our publisher) is now talking with one main company and it looks pretty good at this point. We're not too involved with the port ourselves other than answering questions as needed, packing up the code for others to use, etc."
A Mac OS version of this award-winning game would certainly help to boost our platform's credibility as a serious gaming solution. We'll let you know when a port is confirmed. [Howell]
Ambrosia Games Fun for the 21st Century!
In a recent press release, Ambrosia Software, publisher of many excellent Mac games such as Slithereens and the upcoming Cythera, confirms that its games are Y2K compliant:
"Ambrosia Software, Inc. has tested its 3 utilities and 12 games for Y2K readiness and determined that no critical failures should stem from the use or deployment of the latest versions of the aforementioned products.
"Because Ambrosia developed its software exclusively for the Macintosh operating system, and followed standard MacOS programming conventions, the software does not fail when tested under simulated Y2K conditions. Ambrosia Labs performed the tests on a Macintosh running MacOS 8.5.1. The date was set to the years 2000, 2001, and 2010, and each of the programs operated properly at these dates.
"Aside from a purely cosmetic glitch involving the high scores list in the fast-paced action game Slithereens, Ambrosia Labs did not notice any major or minor failures, and the software was still usable."
Nice to know that we can continue playing those great games far, far into the future, is it not? [Deniz]
News on Railroad Tycoon II Demo
Mark Adams of Westlake Interactive sent us this note on the status of a demo for Railroad Tycoon II:
"As far as a Mac demo, we have been working on one, so it looks there should be one, although Gathering hasn't made an official decision yet. The only downside is that the demo would be pretty big (about 50 megs compressed)."
You know that no matter how big it is, that demo will be on IMG's CD-ROM edition, so subscribe today! [Deniz]
Mac Quake Model Maker Updated
Slowly but surely, all the tools Mac users need to create their own Quake maps and Total Conversions are making their way to our platform. The latest in the arsenal is MeQanno, a 3-D model maker that helps you to convert and import 3-D animated models into Quake.
From the press release:
Mac Quake Modeller - V1.10b Release Now Available!
The Beta release of meQanno resolves all the (relatively few) problems with the Alpha release and adds several significant new features including:
• HTML documentation, and an illustrated tutorial.
• Enhanced direct support for DXF files - import and export models with most 3d modelling apps.
• Revised skin construction, neater packing and Quakeworld compatibility.
• Enhanced animation editing: import and export frame sequences and reorder animations via an elegant 'frame browser'.
MeQuanno is shareware, and can be downloaded here and registered with Kagi.com. [Eilers]
ATI Announces Pro Line of Rage 128 Cards
ATI Technolgies, makers of those screaming Rage 128 boards in the guts of Apple's tasty Blue and White G3 Pro models, announced their Rage 128 Pro line of add-in graphics cards yesterday. From the press release:
ATI Technologies Inc. announces the performance-enhanced RAGE 128 PRO™ AGP 4X chips: the best of class RAGE 128 PRO GL™ for entry level workstation and high end PC markets and the cost effective RAGE 128 PRO VR™ for mainstream commercial and consumer markets.
"The RAGE 128 PRO combines architectural enhancements with higher clock frequencies to achieve a 50% improvement in 3D performance", said Phil Eisler, Director of Component Marketing, ATI. "This accomplishment reinforces ATI's high-end leadership already established by the RAGE 128 accelerator..."
Unlike other competitors, the RAGE 128 PRO is fully optimized to operate in 32-bit true color. And it does so without performance degradation, providing true color with a performance level equal to that of a card that supports only 16-bit color...
"The RAGE 128 PRO's feature list is amazing. In addition to delivering industry-leading frame rates, stunning images, 32-bit rendering performance, and a whopping 32MB of memory, it also has a digital flat panel out support, and DTV de-coding - all that in one chip is unmatched in the industry." Dr. Jon Peddie, President, Jon Peddie Associates, Tiburon, CA. ...
With the industry's only integrated IDCT and Motion compensation, DVD decode can be accomplished with an absolute minimum of CPU usage. Also, 4-tap video scalers enable DVD playback at near perfect visual quality. Video Capture and Display features include: support for simultaneous capture of two video streams; the capability to capture video data rates up to 150MBytes/sec at 75 MHz for resolution up to 1920x1152 and HDTV support. In fact, the RAGE 128 PRO is unique in its ability to capture and display all 18 ATSC formats...
The RAGE 128 PRO GL is priced at $42 each in units of 10,000. The RAGE 128 PRO VR is priced at $32 each in units of 10,000. Both chips are sampling April 1999 and full production slated for July 1999.
While no mention of PCI/Mac OS versions of these cards were made, one can safely assume they will be announced shortly considering Apple and ATI's close relationship. It is hard to imagine that anything could run 50% faster than the Rage 128 chips in the Blue G3s, but we certainly aren't complaining! It looks like Apple's decision to stick with ATI will pay off hansomely for Mac gamers now and in the future. [Eilers]
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