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.

Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up - October 6, 2008

Section: Software + Apps, Miscellaneous, Third-Party, iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone + Communications, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Mac + Computers, SoftwareMacintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for October 6, 2008: Freeverse has announced they will be temporarily be reducing the price of their popular iPhone racing game, Moto Chaser. Moto Chaser will be available for $0.99, less than the price of a gallon of gas. Developed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod touch, Moto Chaser provides a unique racing experience in the palm of your hand. Utilizing the device’s built-in accelerometer, Moto Chaser features intuitive motion sensitive control, which allows you to steer your vehicle by physically tilting the device either to the left or to the right, giving you the extra precision that you need to make it to the checkered flag in one piece. Berbie Software has announced an update for TrailRunner 1.8, the outdoor oriented route-planning and journaling software for Mac OS X. Among other improvements, the latest update has a full integration with GPSies—a community web site to store, view and share outdoor activities and routes. With this new release, TrailRunner users can easily find routes in their neighborhood and share their own with other hikers, runners and mountain bikers. Subatomic Studios has announced the release of Fieldrunners, an action-based strategy game in the much-loved tower defense genre. In Fieldrunners, you defend and control a field under heavy attack by enemy forces. At your disposal lies a wide array of devastating upgradeable towers, each providing their own unique advantages. You must plan out your strategy wisely in order to stop the oncoming fieldrunners from infiltrating your base. With multiple levels of difficulty, Fieldrunners offers both casual and hardcore players alike a challenging and enjoyable experience. Code Line has a great reputation for outfitting designers with software applications to make their jobs easier. Now, artists on the go can turn to their iPhone or iPod touch for Code Line’s newest creation, Color Expert. Color Expert contains powerful tools to help artists and designers identify, translate, capture and showcase color. And now they can do that anywhere. Opcoders has announced Toolbox 0.8.2 for advanced editing tasks involving bitmap and vector graphics. Toolbox can be used as a texture generator, as a logo editor and more. Focus for this release has been to make Toolbox user friendly. A new Light block has been added that has 12 parameters. The new Light block accepts up to 4 inputs allowing for fine grained control of ambient, diffuse and specular. The Dream Apps has announced Dream Capture 2.2, an update to their video recording utility for Mac OS X. Dream Capture is a simple and intuitive utility to record videos that are perfect for uploading to various video sharing websites, importing into iMovie or GarageBand for the creation of Podcasts or burned to DVD. This makes Dream Capture a great compliment to Apple’s iLife Suite. Dare to be Creative today announced the release of Dragoman 1.4, a universal batch file conversion utility for Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. Dragoman is a utility application that batch converts images, photos, PDFs, music and archive files with a lightweight drag and drop interface. Big Stone Phone’s audio and photo recorder TalkingPics 1.2 is now available. Create projects with many audio, photos, maps and notes, and make slideshows. Upload files to Mac or Windows via browser. New MP3 compression option. This version adds a new preference to choose either the ultra high quality lossless format or the WAV compressed format. Big Stone Phone’s compelling painting and public art sharing app iGraffiti has been enhanced and is now available at the AppStore. New features include a pick any color from photo option and view the Public Art right from within iGraffiti. Key features include the use Library photos, take snapshots, or use a simple colored canvas. iGraffiti offers unique paint brush controls, choose color from crayons or pick a color from anywhere in the photo and more. Freeverse today announced the release of their acclaimed puzzle game, Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab, for the iPhone and iPod touch. Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab combines multiple game modes that have been enjoyed by millions, all in one great game, and priced at only $0.99. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Live coverage notes from Apple's WWDC 2008 Keynote

Apple on Monday held its opening keynote at its Worldwide Developers Conference where it talked all things iPhone and unveiled its new-generation 3G handset. Rough and dirty live coverage notes are included below. 2:50pm: That's it. Folks. iPhone...

Appletell review - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Section: Software + Apps, Games, Features, Review Genre: First-Person Shooter Format: DVD Developer: Infinity Ward Mac Port: Aspyr Studios Mac Publisher: Aspyr System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.5.4, 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 128MB ATI Radeon X1600 or Nvidia GeForce FX 7300 graphics card, 8.0GB free hard disk space plus 1GB swap file, mouse and keyboard Review Computer: 2.4GHz 24” Intel Core 2 Duo iMac, 2GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 Network Feature: Internet (TCP/IP) or LAN (TCP/IP) multiplayer supported Processor Compatibility: Intel only Price: $29.99 ESRB Rating: M (intense violence, strong language, blood and gore) Availability: Out now Official Website: www.callofduty.com As has been noted numerous times here at Appletell and throughout the gaming world, there are three things you can kill in computer games without fear of reproach: Nazis, zombies and Nazi zombies. If you like, you can lump aliens in with the zombies, and you can lump robots in with the Nazis. But you can’t use cops, hookers, marching bands or video game reviewers without expecting to eventually stand before Arlen Specter to explain why the downfall of modern civilization is not because of your little video game. And yet, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (CoD4) is set in a realistic, timely world in which the battles you’re fighting don’t really stray from those you might hear about on “All Things Considered.” The developers get away with this for two reasons. First, then invent militant organizations to serve as their bad guys. Second, this game is a brutal depiction of war. Brutal to an unsettling degree. It doesn’t glorify war, and it doesn’t even really lionize soldiers. If this were a movie script, John Wayne and Chuck Norris would run from it in terror. Is that the appeal of CoD4? Not entirely. It’s the gameplay itself that drives CoD4 to the upper echelon of first-person shooters. More specifically, the multiplayer gameplay, because although the single player are varied and intense, they never really feel like more than a training session for the multiplayer game. In CoD4, you play the role of a United States Marine and a British S.A.S. operative. As with other Call of Duty games, you’re sent on different missions in which you will have different roles, usually assigned to you by your commanding NPC. Sometimes you’ll snipe, sometimes you’ll lead an attack, but almost always you’ll be accompanied by a squad of fellow soldiers who help you in your quest. Keeping your comrades alive can make things easier for you, but there’s never really an emotional involvement with them. You don’t get to know the bulk of them, you just see their names over the head as they run in front of you. Although there are some powerful story elements that make this game smarter than most war games, a little more care with the story leading up to these moments would have greatly improved their emotional impact. But, the developers made the decision—and probably correctly—that a combat-based game should focus on combat. Here, CoD4 delivers. You thought previous Call of Duty games were wild? Huh uh. The action on many of these levels is just insane, with enemies attacking you from all angles and using terrain and weapons better than any AI characters I’ve ever seen. Yes, they’ll occasionally poke their head out from around the wall to give you a chance to shoot them, but by the time they do, you’ve already been killed by a grenade that seemed to come from nowhere. Even a lot of the cover provided in the game won’t protect you long. In CoD4, bullets can travel through items such as wood, so it’s no longer enough to hunker down behind a table and wait for your shot. You’ve got to create your shot by making better use of the terrain and your weapons. This makes CoD4 quite difficult. In many cases, you’ll have to die multiple times before you can even figure out who’s killing you, let alone develop a strategy for killing him/them. It’s frustrating in that matter, and I anticipate that some gamers will be turned away early. Those who stick around, however, will be rewarded with a satisfying gaming experience, and the practice necessary to compete in the multiplayer game. Thankfully, there’s a lot there to satisfy. Mac users can play PC users online, first of all. And, unlike most multiplayer first-person shooters, CoD4 is somewhat RPG-like in its approach; the character you create is rewarded for kills, assists and such, allowing you to accrue experience points that unlock further levels. These, in turn, unlock new weapons, accessories and abilities. My favorites are “Martyrdom,” in which a dying character can go all Jennifer-Grey-in-Red Dawn by blowing up the enemy with a grenade, and “Last Stand,” in which a dying character will be able to get off a few more shots before dying. It’s all very Hollywood. I expect it won’t be long before they release the “I can’t move my legs, go on without me” mod or the “Tell my wife I was thinking about her” extension. What brings all of this together, of course, are the visual and audio effects. If you’ve got the system for it, CoD4 looks fantastic, even when the action is at its most intense. The smoke and particle effects are especially amazing, and really do become strategic elements. The audio is equally stunning, totally immersing you in the action in a way that graphics alone couldn’t accomplish. Using just my iMac’s speakers, I was impressed. Playing the game with headphones, I was floored. If you’ve got a decent set of speakers, your neighbors will be hiding in their basements. Of course, all of this comes at a price. My test computer is at the high end of the system requirements, and I still couldn’t max out the graphics. My home computer, which is my normal test system, is at the bottom end, and I had to dumb things down to the point where I knew I wasn’t doing the game justice. The game still plays, but it looses a lot of its punch. I’ve read numerous reports/reviews that claim Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is the greatest first-person shooter of all time. I attribute that more to the emotional impact of the surprising turns along the way, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t an amazing game. The single player game seems shorter than previous Call of Duty games (setting aside all the restarts, of course), but flows well and serves as excellent training for the multiplayer version. There, you’ll be able to kill hours at a time, if you’re inclined to do so. You could also pop in and out within half an hour and still have plenty of fun. Well, as much fun as one can have in a game without zombies and robots. Appletell Rating Buy Call of Duty 4 Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Microsoft isn't doing all it should to help PC gaming

Microsoft may be responsible for the foundation of Windows-based gaming, but its recent efforts to help the waning PC gaming industry have done little: developers and gamers alike are clamoring for more love from Microsoft.Read More...

OpenCL gets touted in Texas

Attendees at the SC08 high-performance computing conference in Austin got a progress report on OpenCL, the the Apple-spearheaded parallel computing API that figures to be a prominent new feature in the upcoming Snow Leopard update to OS X.