THE DISMAL MAC 
                                                 GAME MARKET











					We all know that the Macintosh isn't		supposed to be a game machine.  The fact remains,	however, that there are many Macs in the home, and	many people wanting to play games on them.  Many	games have supposedly been released, but are		nowhere to be found!  The only place I personally		have come across these games are on various pirate	boards around the country.  For instance, Test Drive	II, has supposedly been out for the Mac for months.	Yet I have yet to see it anywhere.  What about		Karnov, Mission Starlight, and SkyShadow?  Ive		downloaded all release versions of these wonderful	games yet dont even see them in mail-order houses.	And the software companies wonder why people		pirate software.  Some of these games I would be		willing to pay 40 or 50 dollars for.  
When I heard		Test Drive II was available for the Mac, I rushed out	to all the local software stores, but could find it no		where, not even in mail-order.  The only place I have	seen Karnov is in Data Easts Karnov, and to buy it you	have to pay their full dealer price.  Maybe people		wouldnt be so inclined to pirate Mac games if we		could actually buy some 
of the new games.  And the	two new Cassidy and Greene titles seem to be		non-existant.  Egghead clerks didnt know about them!	(that doesnt suprise me however).  Yet software		vendors still complain that the pirate community		steals millions of dollars from them 
every year.

					On top of these horrible distribution		problems, there is the haunting reality of so-called	vapor-ware.  Sierra released Kings Quest IV for the	MS-DOS lineover a year ago.  
They claimed KQ IV		would be out by winter 89.  In the next issue of		Sierra magazine, the release date was spring 90.  The	current release date is winter 90.  They're a full year	behind schedule.  Sierra claims that software release	scheduling is an inexact science but just how inexact	can one get?  Will KQ IV ever see the light of day?  If	so, it will probably be when KQ VI is out for the IBM.	The simple fact.