The full version of this game is due at the end of the month; we assume this means Mac as well as PC, considering that the demos were simultaneously released. So stop by the GameCenter page and give the demo a download right away! (it's about 30 MB.) If that's too large a download for your connection, you can be darn sure this demo will be on the next issue of IMG, so subscribe today! [Eilers]

Quakeintosh Gets Fragged by Their Own Server
Quakeintosh, once the most comprehensive Mac Quake resource on the Internet, has closed its doors following a server crash which resulted in the loss of almost all its data. An attempt was made at recovery, but in the end it was too much. Here's the official word from the staff:

Exit, stage left!

Well the time has come and though it pains us all to do so the sad reality is that Quakeintosh will never recover from the loss of most of it's hosted sites and files and we just have to give in for once and admit that.

The simple truth is that we have bigger and better projects that we are working on and we can't devote the time required to both recover Quakeintosh and finish these other projects on schedule so it's time to say good-bye.

Well, maybe not good-bye, actually we'll say so-long because we will be around for a good long time after this and you can find most of us still working together at our new home macgamer by the end of the month.

So until macgamer opens, so-long and thanks for all the memories.

The site may be gone, but the people and creativity remain. Here's hoping the best to the Quakeintosh staff in their new endeavor. [ed note: that makes four sites named macgame(something). Could a copyright battle be far away?]

In related news, Unrealintosh, Quakeintosh's sister site, also appears to have bitten the dust, as the two sites merged after the server crash. In any case, Unrealintosh now shows the same message. [Daranciang]





Mac Railroad Tycoon II Demo Leaves Station
You've read our preview, you've seen the pictures and you've waited anxiously for your train to come in... now it has! That's right, Gathering of Developers has released the Macintosh Railroad Tycoon 2 Demo!

All aboard, this is one railroad simulation that you cannot afford to pass up. Get ready to spend countless hours planning and building your own railways, watching your budget, and crushing the competition. Watch the world grow up around you from New York to South Africa as you forge through new frontiers. Connect distant cities and bring technology to everyone... or go broke trying.

That's the fun part -- but don't listen to us, try it for yourself. And of course, this demo wil be on the next IMG CD-ROM... [Kester]

[ed note: as of this time the demo server is overloaded. Several readers have written to report that even when they did get the demo, the file was corrupted; download at your own risk at this point. We'll update the news page when mirrors for the demo become available.]

Railroad Tycoon II Demo (54 MB)





Douglas Adams Pulls for the Mac Down Under
Recently it was reported by SemperMac (an Australian Mac news site) that the Macintosh version of Starship Titanic - the brainchild of Douglas Adams - will not be released in Australia. Starship Titanic is an epic adventure game featuring Adams' unique brand of humor and the voice of Terry Jones (of Monty Python).

Since Douglas Adams is currently 'down under' for the Australian National Science Week, Aussie IMG writer David Simon had a rare opportunity to speak to Adams during an interview on 2BL (a local radio station.) Adams said that he was quite disappointed when he first heard that the Mac version of Starship Titanic would not make it to Australian shelves and declared that he would personally speak to the distributors in an attempt to change their minds. Being an avid Mac user, Adams was always disappointed that the PC version of the game was released first, making him have to visit a friend to play his own game!

During the interview, Adams also talked about the making of the game, including the recording of many thousands of lines of dialogue which the computer mixes to create a seemingly endless variety of conversations. He particularly remembered working with Terry Jones to record the voice of the Parrot and recording Jones saying the names of hundreds of species of birds, so the Parrot could berate his feathered brethren during the game.

Douglas Adams has always been a strong force in Mac evangelism as well as Sci-Fi writing, so if you have any questions or comments for him you can drop by his personal forums where he sets aside time to answer questions from the public. [Simon]





Shareware Updates at IMG
We've got a slew of software updates today! Let's get right to it.

SNES9X 1.1.9 hit the streets yesterday, thanks to the porting efforts of John Stiles. The Super Nintendo emulator has undergone many changes since its last update almost 2 months ago. First and foremost, the graphics code has almost been completely rewritten, in anticipation of including OpenGL support in an upcoming version. This has had the side effect of improving overall graphic quality. In addition, the emulator's sound code has been reworked, and several more games are now compatible.

Access Software's Links LS recently received an update to 1.11, addressing many long-standing issues with the golf simulator. The use of 640x480 as a resolution is now possible, and the code for online play has been reworked. Statistics are also much improved.

FIDIM Interactive made its first jump into the Mac games market yesterday with the strategy game Chromosomethingorother. The play was inspired by Othello (also known as Reversi), but adds a twist: The objective is to gather 24 different chromosomes, for final inclusion in a complete DNA strand. The winner is rewarded with a healthy body. As for the loser? Well...I'm sure we've all seen what happens to people with faulty DNA.

Brad Quick recently released a new version of his veteran shareware game Dirt Bike, as well. This beta version (1.6b) adds OpenGL support to the motorcycle simulation. Quick has indicated that it doesn't work very well yet, even cramping his iMac. Still, if you're a cutting edge kind of person, it's worth a try.

And as always, your one stop shop for the latest Mac game updates is IMG's Updaters page. It is updated immediately whenever a new version is released, including weekends. [Daranciang]

SNES9x 1.1.9 (364k)

Links LS 1.11 (788k)

Chromosomethingorother 1.0 (2.9 MB)

Dirt Bike 1.6b (959k)





Bleem! Release Due Very Soon
The creator's of Bleem! this weekend posted a Bleem! engine release date, thus laying down the gauntlet for all of those who are eagerly anticipating the release of this amazing PC based (and soon to be Mac based) Sony Playstation emulator. The magic number? 5/5/99 at 5:55pm. They claim this number is the official release date and time and back it up with their own "Guaranteed, pinky-promise, cross our hearts and hope-to-die. Or we fully expect you to string us up and use us as pinatas" promise.

The distribution method chosen by Bleem! to thwart piracy and to keep Sony at bay is somewhat interesting. It seems that when you order Bleem!, you are sent a "Key CD" which contains nothing more than installers for Microsoft's DirectX 6 (which is required to run Bleem!) and some hidden code that tells your copy of Bleem! to run when the CD is available. To use Bleem!, you have to download the engine itself, run it, and insert your Key CD for authentication, remove Key CD, and insert PSX game CD. [ed note: it is not clear whether you have to do this each time you play, or only once after purchase.] This seems like a lot of extra work, and a hassle for owners, but it can be understood why they might have chosen this route.

Let's hope they have this system "tweaked" for the MacBleem! release. [Kester]





Unreal Mission Pack Previewed
PC game site Adrenaline Vault has a preview of the upcoming Unreal Mission Pack, Return to Na Pali. This is supposed to be the final release before Unreal Tournament, using the Unreal 224 update. While no Mac version of this pack is mentioned, Unreal's support for cross-platform modification is well-proven, and we expect it will function perfectly on our platform as well. Return to Na Pali seems to mainly be an extension to the solo play aspect of Unreal, something which will be nonexistent in the forthcoming Unreal Tournament.

Some Features:

• 14 single player levels.
• Six deathmatch maps.
• Three new weapons.
• Three new creatures.
• Unique story and protagonist within the Unreal macrocosm.

The mission pack is due for release sometime in May (we're guessing near the end) but won't be usable by Mac unreal players until Westlake Interactive updates our version of Unreal to 224. [Eilers]