Best of Both Worlds: Games you won’t find on the Mac

Some computer games never appear on the Mac. Sometimes the game makers don’t think the limited Mac market is worth it. Other games depend so much on Windows-specific technologies that it’s not feasible to port them without major reengineering. Whatever the reason, here are Peter Cohen’s ten top reasons you might want to install Windows on your Mac.

Appletell review - Jeopardy! Deluxe and Wheel of Fortune Deluxe for Macintosh

Section: Software + Apps, Games, Mac + Computers, Software, Features, Review Genre: Quiz/Game Show Format: Download or CD Developer: Encore Publisher: Freeverse Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3.9, PowerPC G4/G5 or Intel Mac, 256MB RAM, 50MB hard disk space Review Computer: 2GHz 20” Intel Core Duo iMac, 1GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon X1600 Network Feature: No Processor Compatibility: Universal Price: $19.95 each ($24.95 for CD versions) ESRB Rating: E Availability: Now Demo: Jeopardy! Deluxe, Wheel of Fortune Deluxe Official Website: Jeopardy! Deluxe, Wheel of Fortune Deluxe One of the perils of being a fake Mac journalist is that if every four or five years you have to review new versions of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Together, they’re the death and taxes of Macintosh gaming. Now it’s Freeverse’s turn with them, and I’m afraid they’ve gone all ironic on us. Freeverse games, you see, are normally all about personality. Well, not all about, but the personality of the Freeverse cast of characters is often enough to drive fans to purchase one of their games even if they have no interest in the genre. So, it’s ironic that Freeverse would be the company to publish the most personality-free versions of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune to date. And this isn’t just because Alex Trebek, Pat Sajak and Vanna White are nowhere to be found. The video snippets of Alex and Vanna killed the MacSoft versions of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, respectively. The load times were annoying, and the live motion video overtop of the computer animations were disjointed and kind of creepy. Even though technology has progressed since then, I’m still quite certain I wouldn’t want live video of these people in the game, but CGI characters or even voiceovers could work. Instead, we get nothing. As I mentioned, though, that’s not the real problem here. The problem is that the games are just dull. With no money to actually be won, the focus falls mostly on the puzzles, with the remainder shifting towards the characters. I’ll deal with them, first. In both games, you get to customize your character, to a certain extent. You get a few options for shirt color, hair style, complexion, etc. The choices fall short of what you see in other games, but I’m not sure they should be more robust. These are casual games, after all, and most casual gamers aren’t interested in tweaking character skins. Once this is done, you can choose to play a few different single player or multiplayer games. In single player Wheel of Fortune Deluxe, for instance, you can go against computer opponents or just play by yourself, solving puzzles without competition. It seems odd, but considering the fun in Wheel of Fortune is doing just that, computer opponents can actually get in the way if you’re playing by yourself. There’s no such feature in Jeopardy! Deluxe, and there shouldn’t be. Jeopardy! without opponents is just trivia; at least Wheel of Fortune offers the random luck of the spinning wheel. So, the Jeopardy! version is more cut and dry, and having at least one other person to play with is pretty much key to enjoying the game. Yes, you can track your progress and save your scores and so on, but considering there’s nothing you can do with this information other than...well, have it, these features really don’t bring anything to the game. So, we look specifically at the games themselves. Both play exactly like their TV counterparts: Wheel of Fortune starts you off with a couple quick puzzles before getting to the wheel, offers the same style of gameplay, and places the same style of rewards/traps on the wheel itself. It’s familiar and it’s fun and fans of the show will have a good enough time. In fact, even if you don’t watch the show, Wheel of Fortune Deluxe can be a pretty fun time killer or party game with the right crowd. Because it’s played in turns, for the most part, you don’t have to crowd three people around the computer for 15 minutes. But Jeopardy! Deluxe...oh, man. Jeopardy! is easily my preferred show of the two, but the developers here made a decision that kills—absolutely kills—this game. The problem with Jeopardy! games of the past, you see, is that you had to type in questions, and the games were never very forgiving. If you misspelled a word or phrased something differently from what the computer wanted, you’d be considered wrong even if you were right. It was very annoying, but Encore’s method of removing this problem is just terrible. Rather than force you to type in your question, they present you with multiple choice options. That’s right. Multiple choice Jeopardy! It’s not just that you’re no longer rewarded for actually knowing stuff, which is the main appeal of Jeopardy!, it’s that multiple choice totally kills the gameplay and strategy. With multiple choice, there’s absolutely no reason to not immediately buzz in on every single question. Don’t even read it, just buzz the moment you can. It’s multiple choice. You’ve got a 25% chance of being right on everything...possibly higher, considering many of the questions couldn’t possibly be right. And so, Jeopardy! becomes 80% speed, 10% luck, and 10% knowledge. It’s exactly what the show isn’t, and that makes the game somewhat pointless. A better solution would’ve been to just offer a manual override. If the game thinks you’re wrong, but you and your opponents know you’re not, you should just be able to hit a button to tell the game that one misspelling doesn’t make a correct answer wrong. It may slow things down, but at least it wouldn’t strip away Jeopardy’s very soul. Also, why has nobody figured out how to add online multiplayer to these games? You’d think the networks would be able to offer these games online, throw in some commercials, make some real prizes available, and watch the money roll in. Instead, we get games that look much prettier each time they roll out, but that really offer nothing that wasn’t in the versions we played back in the late 80s on the Apple IIGS (aside from more content: over 2,000 puzzles in Wheel of Fortune Deluxe and 3,000 clues in Jeopardy! Deluxe). Wheel of Fortune Deluxe is serviceable; fans of the show will be entertained and casual gamers in general will be able to kill some time with it. But Jeopardy! Deluxe is best left alone. You’ll have more fun just watching the show, and you’ll feel better rewarded for having done so. There. I’m done with these games for another five years. By then, maybe the developers will finally get them right...or perhaps bring us something new. The Gong Show, maybe? One of those crazy Japanese game shows? Perhaps not. Appletell Rating for Wheel of Fortune Deluxe Buy Wheel of Fortune Deluxe Appletell Rating for Jeopardy! Deluxe Buy Jeopardy! Deluxe Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

The Web's best free stuff (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - Free: It's the magic word for an ever-expanding wealth of downloadable software and online services. Free doesn't necessarily mean good, however, and hunting for freebies can mean sifting through a lot of junk.

Appletell review - Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties

Section: Software + Apps, Games, Mac + Computers, Software, Features, Review Genre: Real Time Strategy Format: DVD Developer: Ensemble Studios, Big Huge Games Mac Port: Microsoft Game Studios Mac Publisher: Macsoft Games System Requirements: Age of Empires III full version, Mac OS X v10.4 or higher, 256 MB RAM, 1.4GHz processor, 2GB free hard drive space, 64 MB video card with support for hardware transformation and lighting, 56K dial-up Internet access or LAN for online/multiplayer Review System: Apple 13” MacBook, 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 4GB RAM, 64MB VRAM Network: Yes ESRB Rating: Teen, for Blood and Violence Official Website: The Asian Dynasties Price: $29.99 Gather ‘round, folks, for the latest installment of the acclaimed Age Of Empires series is upon us. Whether its the intricate plot line or the strategic gameplay that floats your boat, chances are this game won’t disappoint the AOE fanatic. Whether you’re conquering Feudal Japan, or fighting the betraying Zamorins, a lot goes on in this one little game. When I first received the review unit, my first impressions were something along the lines of “sounds like a cool game, but not really my type.” I went in optimistically, hoping to find a fun game. Overall, The Asian Dynasties was a pretty decent game, albeit boring and repetitive at times. And, for those of you who get bored with the game and have destruction on your mind, there are some wonderful little cheats to help the game along (I won’t spill the beans here, but you can easily find them through Google). On my MacBook, one thing that I noticed was that it always took a bit of time to get from inserting the disc to the main menu. Overall, it takes about 45 seconds. Within that time, there is an intro video to familiarize yourself with the plot and characters throughout the game. Once at the menu, you have options to learn how to play the game, play single player (more on single player game modes later), play multi player, view options, and quit. The main menu is well-organized and not too busy. I always find a neat and pleasant-on-the-eyes interface to be a big plus.  If it’s been a while since you’ve played through Age of Empires III, I suggest you refer to the how to play tab in the menu to re-familiarize yourself with the game. Here, there is a tutorial and a practice game mode. My only complaint about this section is that the tutorial is quite limited. I went through it in about 3 minutes, and did not get nearly enough information. Many times throughout the game, I had to refer to internet resources. This may be due to the fact that I am very un-versed in the way of the gamer, or maybe it is expected that you have extensive past knowledge of the game before you install the expansion pack. Either way, should the makers of this game want to successfully attract and maintain a playership, they should look into expanding the tutorial. Once you have finished the tutorial, it is suggested that you play a practice game. For this mode, no complaints. It is pretty much a skirmish match with hints given along the way. Now, on to the many single player modes. The first mode is Campaign Mode. From this, you can play the actual game, in which you slowly progress through the levels of Japan, China and India. Each country has about eight levels which increase in difficulty. In each country, you assume the identity of a “good guy,” and subsequently lead your troops on land and sea to victory. If Campaign Mode isn’t for you, you can try the next mode: Skirmish. Skirmish Mode presents the user with a randomly created terrain and enemy, and the idea is simple: destroy the opponent’s Town Center before he destroys yours. Finally, there is Custom Match, in which you can customize your own skirmish to your likings. For Multiplayer, you have the option of playing against fans from around the world.  The multiplayer version of the game is pretty much the same thing as the single player game, only some people find it more interesting to play against a living person. For this game, my main complaints had to do with the game play. I couldn’t stand how close the camera view was zoomed, and even on Far View, I felt that the view was very cramped. Another gameplay complaint I have has to do with confusing and ungainly controls.  t took me about two hours of playing the game to finally master the basics of building and controlling units.  Overall, this game was somewhat enjoyable, but those who aren’t fans of the genre may find it sometimes getting repetitive and boring.  Appletell Rating: Buy The Asian Dynasties Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Wii Fit Puts the Fun in Fitness (BusinessWeek Online)

BusinessWeek Online - Nintendo's (ntdof.pk.PK) Wii strategy was conceived from the get-go to encourage a less sedentary form of gaming. Now the company is unveiling its calorie-burning coup de grce, Wii Fit.

Feral releases Battlestations: Midway video walkthrough

Section: Software + Apps, Games Following their recent announcement of Battlestations: Midway shipping Friday, June 27th, Feral has released a single-player video walkthrough that gives further details of the games capabilities and features. To see the single player walkthrough, visit the Feral Interactive website. You’ll find the video at the bottom of the page after the other video trailers that were previously released. Created by Eidos Studios Hungary, Battlestations: Midway invites you to take command of the greatest battles of the war in the Pacific. Players will experience every aspect of combat in a superb blend of action and strategy as they lead a host of US and Allied air, sea and underwater units through intense, action-packed missions in hotspots from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway itself. “Battlestations: Midway offers a compelling experience,” said Feral Interactive’s David Stephen. “It’s an unusual mix of action and strategy with a sophisticated multiplayer mode, and we are confident that the Mac audience will find it an excitingly different take on World War II gaming.” “We are delighted to have Feral bring Battlestations: Midway to the Mac platform,” said Trevor Burrows, Brand Manager, Eidos. “It’s a game that delivers a new type of game play experience, and one that deserves to be seen and played by as wide an audience as possible.” The game will retail in the U.S. for $49.95, £29.99 (inc VAT) in the UK and 39.95 Euros throughout Europe. It is currently available for pre-orders from Feral’s online store. Minimum system requirements call for a 1.83GHz Intel-based Mac, 512MB RAM, 128MB graphics card and Mac OS X v10.4 or later. More details and selected trailers of the game are now available at Feral’s website. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »