2002 Games & Gaming Info

[*]   Bugdom 2.0

[*]   Coffee Break Arcade

[*]   Doody36

[*]   Games FAQs

[*]   Fewer computer games

[*]   Quotable Heinlein

[*]   A-N-I-M-A-L-S for Mac Kids

[*]   Soldier of Fortune II comes to Mac X

[*]   New MacPlay site with online games and more

[*]   Mini-Putt

[*]   Station.com

[*]   Train simulators

[*]   Looney Tunes

[*]   Unreal Tornament

[*]   Video Games

[*]   Xbox Live connection issues
 

Bugdom 2.0

The new version of Bugdom is currently available by download only. PangeaSoft is only going to be selling it direct. In a couple of weeks it will be available as a CD as well as the download. Sounds like another fun game.
http://www.pangeasoft.net/bug2/index.html

Coffee Break Arcade

This is a cool web site for wasting time. The games are in Java, Shockwave and Flash format, so they should all work on the Mac if you have those plug-ins installed in your browser.
Check it out at: http://www.coffeebreakarcade.com/

Doody36

One of my old AOL buddies, Amelia sent this one to me. At first it reminds me of an early arcade game. But as she says it is "happy making." Enjoy it at:
Entertainment and pastimes: http://doody36.home.attbi.com/liberty.htm

Games FAQs

This site doesn't list Mac games, but since most Mac games have been on other platforms, it still should work for hints and tips. I downloaded a walk through of Return to Zork. Check it out at:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/

Fewer computer games

According to the Boston Globe, the game consoles are getting all the new software and many of the games are not making it to the PC (or Mac). The article points out that 40% more games were sold for the consoles last year than for the PC.
Full story at: http://www.boston.com/

Quotable Heinlein

I have mentioned in the past. (A couple of years ago now.) That Robert Heinlein was one of my favorite authors and that he has a number of great quotations. Like: "Sure the game is rigged, but if you don't play you can't win." Here is a web site dedicated to his quotes.
Info, learning, training http://www.quotableheinlein.com/

A-N-I-M-A-L-S for Mac Kids

If you know any Mac owners with young children A-N-I-M-A-L-S would make a superb gift! This new educational game makes letters of the alphabet talk and lets children play with them to build words. Educators and parents will be pleased to know it is based on research by leading scientists and educators encouraging children to play even before they can use the mouse. A significant aspect is the game is available in English, French, German and Spanish -- so it could be instrumental in ESL programs. The starter package is $29 and a free demo is available for each of the languages. Works on any Mac OS! (OS: 7, 8, 9 and Mac OS X's Classic)
Full story at: http://www.marcmoini.com/

Soldier of Fortune II comes to Mac X

Get ready to kick some X butt...

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE II: Double Helix COMING TO MAC OS X
     MacPlay has announced a deal with Activision to bring Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix to the Macintosh OS X.
     Developed by Raven Software, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix drops players into the ranks of America's shadow soldiers in a gritty and intense battle for survival. Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix is rated M for MATURE (17 and above) for animated blood, violence and gore. (Just what we need.) New recruits are being called to active duty for an early summer release.
     In Soldier of Fortune II, players once again assume the role of John Mullins, a military consultant working for the top-secret agency known as The Shop. In the game, players must make use of stealth, as well as firepower, to tackle a wide-range of missions including hostage rescue, intelligence gathering and search-and-destroy. To fully immerse players in the experience, Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix brings the grittiness of combat to the PC like never before with incredibly detailed skeletal animations that enable lifelike character movements and per pixel hit locations for ultra realism.
     Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix also advances the genre with the introduction of a new random mission generator technology for both single and multiplayer. By entering variables into the game’s random mission generator players can create millions of single or multiplayer maps on the fly for endless replayability. In addition to the RMG maps, multiplayer in Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix offers nine professionally designed maps, more than 100 unique model/skin combinations and four different game modes including and deathmatch, team deathmatch, elimination and infiltration.
SEE IT:
screen thumbnail
screen full: (HUGE)
Read all about it... URL = http://www.macplay.com/games/sof2.shtml

New MacPlay site with online games and more

The Mac gaming expert, Peter Cohen is reporting on MacCentral that MacPlay is developing a new site, which will have online games that Mac users can play.
See the story at: http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0209/23.macplay.php

Mini-Putt

Sly at "Your Mac Life" mentioned this one on their "links page." A fun game:
Entertainment and pastimes: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/%7Epyang/flash/miniputt.swf

Station.com

Finally an online game company has recognized that Mac gamers ar ou there. Sony's Station.com now has 20 games available for the Mac with more to come.
(Thanks to Shawn King for having them on YourMacLife.com last Wednesday night. You can listen to the archives from his web site.) Details at:
Entertainment and pastimes: http://www2.station.sony.com/en/

Train simulators

London's The Guardian has a computer advice column and got this question:
"I'd love to buy my father a train sim, but he has a Mac. The only train sims I can find are for PCs."
The response was pretty good: "The best non-Japanese game seems to be Microsoft Train Simulator, which was written in the UK by Kuju Entertainment. No Mac version has been announced, but your father may be able to run it using Connectix's Virtual PC for Mac, which Mac users buy so they can run Windows software. Alternative gifts include Abracadata's Train Engineer Deluxe and 3D Railroad Concept And Design (www.abracadata.com/maclist. html ) and Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon II, which may be old but is still a great game.
For more on train sims, see http://www.trainsim.org.uk

Looney Tunes

Of course, there are other word games there as well. The New Looney Tunes: Funny stuff. Thanks to Sly the IRC babe at YourMacLife for including it in their link list.
Entertainment and pastimes: http://looneytunes.warnerbros.com/web/all_new_toons/home.jsp?ID=lt_2002_01

Unreal Tornament

Meanwhile, Ron Carlson over at Insanely Great Mac is talking about the public demo now available for Unreal Tournament for OSX. It is something that a lot of Mac gamers have been waiting for. The story is at:
http://www.insanely-great.com/news/01/1450.html
Get more details from Westlake Interactive at http://westlakeinteractive.com/download.html

Video Games

The old arcade games of Dragon's Lair, Space Ace and TimeWarp will soon be available for Mac OSX 10.1 users. These were the first games to use laser disks in the arcades and most were available at one time as CD games for the earlier Macs. (Thanks to AOL's clipping service, NewsProfiles, for pointing this story out.)

Xbox Live connection issues

Microsoft's new online service for the Xbox has created headaches for some users. Especially those who have modified their systems. When MS launched Xbox Live, (a $50-a-year service that allows Xbox owners to play games online) the problems began. Microsoft is using Xbox live to detect and bar those machines.
Full story at GameSpot.com: http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2898034,00.html

pau

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Also see: MUG NEWS bursts from the AACUG Mac User Guide (MUG)

The Info Manager is a veteran of the UGN (AOL User Groups Forum) and User Group Network. He's been a supporter and volunteer on many, many UGNet and User Group Academy projects. As a long time user group member, he's served as volunteer from Honolulu to Boston and many points in between. Currently working with the Apple Corp of Dallas, the Dallas Mac Pack, Cowtown MUG of Ft. Worth and TUMS (the Tulsa Users of Macintosh Society) doing newsletter articles and the monthly CD-ROM Update. Post a lead Info Manager should follow up on.

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