Welcome to the latest incarnation of IMG's Mac Games on the Internet listing. I'll be writing a monthly column on the Web, and in addition I'll be maintaining this list each month. Unfortunately, many of the links contained herein will change or become invalid over time. I'm only human, and I'm sure there'll be a few bad links here and there. Please, let me know! If you find any errors, or even if you just have a site to add to the list, please drop me a line at afn02635@afn.org. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!
Table of Contents:
The Essential Bookmarks. These Web and FTP sites are invaluable for any Macintosh user exploring the Internet. Pay close attention!
Sumex Archives: This is the mother of all Macintosh FTP sites. If you're looking for shareware or freeware on the Internet, chances are it's here. The main server is consistently swamped with anonymous users. For this reason, there are numerous "mirror sites," each of which maintain a copy of the Sumex archives, updated regularly.
Mac Games Related Sites. The following list provides several major sites that are devoted to a particular game. Note that many entertainment companies provide home pages for their own games; these sites will be listed with the companies later in this article. I have tried to select the best sites available for each game, so that you can go straight to the best possible source of information.
Bolo: This game has been a favorite of 'net users for a long time simply because it can be played over the Internet using a direct connection. The site below provides information about the game, new maps, map editors, tools for Internet play... You name it, it's here.
Sites for Computer Games in General. Many pages are devoted not to a single game but to a certain type of game or just games in general. Here are a few such sites.
Jumbo: A HUGE index of shareware games. Contains a search function or a regular ol' index. Everything but the kitchen sink can be found here.
GamesDomain: This site is a comprehensive collection of info for every major gaming platform, including the Mac. Although the Mac files are a bit thin compared to others, it's still a useful address to know. This site now has a U.S. mirror, but I still get a faster response time between the U.K. site and my home in Florida. Happy Puppy Macintosh Games Page: This page provides lots of demos and product information. I'm surprised how much they managed to dig up, especially for a site that seems to be more PC oriented. Give it a try! Mac Gamer's Haven: This guy sent me mail notifying me of his Mac games site on the Web. Actually, it's a pretty cool index (in HTML table form) of Macintosh games, demos available on the Internet, pages devoted to them, and corporate pages. A bit confusing at first, but once you figure out how it's organized, it becomes very easy to use. Enjoy! Flargh's Mac Arcade Games List: This page has a tabular index of old coin-op arcade games and their Macintosh equivalents. A useful resource for nostalgics who are fed up with Microsoft Arcade. Macintosh Games Index: This page in Finland provides a rather large list of links to sites related to Mac games. If you don't find what you're looking for in my list, try this site. Macintosh Recreation: This site has lots of information about Macintosh games, especially shareware. Contains links to walkthroughs and FAQs on the Internet. Well-done, overall. Macintosh 3D First Person Games: A page devoted to all 3D, texture-mapped Macintosh games. Lots of links. Informative, and worth your time. Macintosh Flight Simulators: Need I say more? If it is a Macintosh game where you must pilot an airborne vehicle (or spacecraft), there's some info on it here. Games Patch and Hack List: The GPHL has been around for a long time on the Internet. It is a listing of modifications to games that can be performed with ResEdit, created to allow legitimate purchasers of games to remove the annoying copy protection. Keep out of reach of small children (or those who act like them). comp.sys.mac.games FAQ: This document contains some of the most frequently asked questions in the comp.sys.mac.games.* hierarchy (listed above). If you have a pretty simple question about a game, look here first instead of annoying people by asking the question for the millionth time. Mac Game Resources on the Internet: This listing is actually part of the csmg FAQ (see previous). It has been converted to HTML format in much the same manner as this listing in order to allow Mac gamers on the Internet to find information about particular games. This list tends to emphasize FAQ (frequently asked questions) documents for games while my list is dedicated primarily to Web sites. If you can't find what you need in my list, check out this one. Mac Game Gurus: The recently released book called Tricks of the Mac Game Programming Gurus provides several chapters of information to potential Mac game authors. This site, established by the publisher of the book, provides visitors with some excerpts form the book as well as several links to Mac programming sites on the Internet. Karl Bunker's Shareware: This page contains concise, well-organized information and links concerning several games and utilities created by Karl Bunker (Snavely, Floor Tiles, Deco, etc). This page doesn't have a lot of flair, but it certainly delivers an appropriate mix of information, screen shots, and downloadable goods.Corporate Web Pages. These pages are maintained the companies who create Macintosh games. Get the information straight from the horse's mouth...
Ambrosia Software: This Macintosh shareware giant has recently established their presence on the Internet. They provide an extremely well-organized and aesthetically pleasing site with loads of information about their products. They also allow you to register your shareware online. Ambrosia plans to establish their site as a center for the Macintosh community in general; this link should soon prove to be an essential bookmark for any Mac user on the Web.
Atomic Software: The makers of the V for Victory series and several other war games has a fairly well-designed site with information about their products. Potential customers, enjoy! Broderbund Software: Wow, I'm impressed. Cool imagemaps, lots of product info, and Macintosh information as well as PC stuff. A cool site. Bullseye Software: The makers of Dogfight City have made demos and screen shots available for your enjoyment. Not the most appealing site on the Web, but gamers interested in Dogfight City might find this page appealing. Bungie Software: After the tremendous wait and immense secrecy behind this project, Bungie has opened their Web site to the public. Well, you can go here if you want to. Personally, I'll stick to the Marathon sites listed in one of the previous sections. CGI animations and tremendous amounts of visitors slow this site to a crawl, and the only useful information or products that can be found here are the software bundles (straight off the CD), which can easily be obtained elsewhere. They do have a contest available for those who register Marathon 2 online, though. Oh, and for anybody who's seen the Bungie guys (i.e. been to MacWorld conventions), the caricatures of the Bungie personnel are a riot. Casady & Greene: Wow! Very nice. Beautiful graphics, and lots of them. Information on many of their products, such as Glider Pro and Zone Warrior. Check out the collection of Glider houses! Cerberus Development: The makers of the Mac shareware game Fracas have established this site as a center for information, product registration using online credit, and for downloading the latest version of their software. A worthwhile visit for those who enjoy their games. Cyberflix: Makers of Jump Raven and Dust, Cyberflix makes available several documents containing enormous amounts of product information. Beyond the main page, it's not very pretty. Don't expect much more than huge text files for each of the products. Delta Tao: The publisher of Spaceward Ho! and Dark Castle maintains this home page along with Outland's pages (see below). Informative and good-looking. Domark Software: The makers of Flying Nightmares, Out of the Sun, and the upcoming Absolute Zero have developed this page as a source of information for many of their games. Rough around the corners; the graphics are decent, but it doesn't display very well when using Netscape. Dongleware: The foreign company that has brought to the Macintosh such titles as Oxyd, Per.Oxyd, and Tubular Worlds is now on the Internet. Well-done and informative. Please select your language. :-) Electronic Arts: Much improved over previous visits. There's plenty of info and eye candy for the curious visitor, but the connection's too slow for even those small gifs on the PC/Mac page, and I found several bad links. Graphic Simulations Corporation: F/A-18 Hornet 2.0 has landed, and this site provides updaters, information, and is generally good-looking and interesting. id Software: I must say, those Quake screen shots look incredible. LucasArts: A well-designed site, but just try to find any information about Macintosh products on this page. I can't even find the Macintosh Dark Forces Demo! If you still insist on trying, be my guest. MacPlay: Well done, and very informative. Demos and product descriptions for most (if not all) of MacPlay's products. Press releases, messages boards, technical support, and even a "decide what should go in the trash can" contest. Pretty graphics, too. Maxis: Need information about a Sim game? Want to download demos or look for job opportunities at Maxis? This is the place. The wizards at Maxis have been extremely busy lately; this site looks very nice. Highly recommended. Microprose/Spectrum Holobyte: This site provides information for both of these companies. The pages aren't very well-organized, and can easily become confusing. It's hard to find information about Mac games here, but if you're interested, see what you can find. New World Computing: Makers of Might and Magic and (more recently) Chaos Overlords have set up this Web page with a few (make that "very few") references to the Macintosh. NovaLogic: A well-designed site with a good balance of eye candy and information. Most of the products here are PC products, but you'll find what you're looking for if you want the scoop on Comanche or WolfPack for the Mac. Origin Systems: Like many of the other PC-dominated companies on this list, the Macintosh gets the short stick at this site. Actually, I don't know if it's even mentioned. Outland: This online service allows Mac gamers to play games over the modem against distant opponents. Find out more about the services available at this site. Well designed, with impressive graphics. Papyrus Software: This site is maintained by the makers of IndyCar Racing II. Not an incredible amount of information, and that image of an Intel processor on the bottom of the screen is an eyesore. I dunno. If you like the games, you might want to take a look. Parsoft: A-10 Attack's creators are on the Web. The connection is pretty slow, which makes it very annoying to wait for all those large imagemaps to appear. They've got some nice information pages, though some areas are still under construction. Presto Studios: Woohoo! I LIKE it! Very slick, nicely done, etc. The makers of the Journeyman Project and its sequel have created a very nice-looking site to promote their games. Not too heavy on the text aspect, but it does what it needs to. Users of text browsers may be disappointed; the graphics are the high point here. Sanctuary Woods Multimedia: These guys also worked on the Journeyman Project. I don't have much to say about them as I'm not really familiar with other things they've done (if any). If you feel any attachment to these guys, you could have a look. It's actually a nice site... Trilobyte: These guys made 7th Guest and 11th Hour. Very cool-looking. A must for any fan of the games.Online Stores. These links represent some of the first companies who have ventured out onto the Internet as mail order services. They will actually take you credit card information and ship a product to your door without having to pick up the phone. Cool, eh?
Cyberian Outpost: One of the pioneers of this method of purchasing products. Well organized and visually pleasing. These are the people who know what they're doing. If you have Netscape and can establish a secure connection (i.e. it encrypts submitted credit card numbers so they can't be intercepted in transit), you might enjoy shopping for computer supplies from the safety of your comfy chair (you have one near your computer, don't you?).
Egghead: The software giant goes online. Lots of products, great graphics, and even a decent Mac selection. Another good source for Mac software. The Mac Zone: The mail order house goes online. Like the others, it has some cool software that allows you to put items in your virtual shopping cart and then pay via credit card over a secure link. Take your pick of the three. Personally, I find this site less aesthetically appealing...Home Pages of People You May Know (Of). I've found a few of the home pages of some well-known game developers. Most are both entertaining and interesting...
john calhoun: This is without a doubt the best page I have ever seen on the Web. Period. (And that's saying a lot; I've been around quite a bit.) For those who don't know him, John Calhoun is the guy responsible for such Mac classics as Glider, Glypha, Spaceway 2000, and Pararena. Great graphics, lots of cool stories, anecdotes, and interesting things to try. The text is well written and enjoyable, and the graphics and art are very well-done. Kudos to John!
Matt Burch: The creator of the upcoming Ambrosia Software game Escape Velocity has set up his home on the Web on Ambrosia's Web server. Some great links (for some great laughs, check out the Mentos link). Chris De Salvo: This guy is responsible for many of the games coming to you from MacPlay, including many of the Star Trek titles. Read about him and what he does for MacPlay... David Wareing: The creator of Ambrosia's Swoop now has his own home page as well. Meet the programmer... Andrew Welch: Yet another link to a page on Ambrosia's server. This page is a must-see, if only for the picture at the top of the page. I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my seat.And They All Lived Happily Ever After... Another Mac Games on the Internet article comes to a close. As usual, you can mail me at afn02635@afn.org with your suggestions or comments.
Last updated: April 27, 1996
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