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.