Games for Windows Live now free

Interesting that this didn't get announced at E3, but Games for Windows Live is now free for all. Yep, totally free, cross-platform multiplayer with the 360 included -- which obviously raises the question of whether Live will ever be free on Xbox. We think that's a pretty safe no -- unlike Games For Windows, Xbox Live actually makes money, which is pretty hard to turn down, and without a ton of competitive pressure from, say, Playstation Home, it's hard to see why Microsoft would turn that funtime cash fountain off. Still, there's always hoping, right?Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Appletell Review - Fable: The Lost Chapters for Macintosh

Section: Software + Apps, Games, Mac + Computers, Software, Features, Review Genre: Action/RPG Format: DVD Developer: Lionhead Studios Macintosh Developer: Robosoft Technologies Publisher: Feral Interactive Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4, 1.6GHz Intel Mac, 512MB RAM, 64MB video card, 3GB hard disk space, DVD ROM, mouse Review Computer: 2GHz 20” Intel Core Duo iMac, 1GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon X1600 Network Feature: No Processor Compatibility: Universal Price: $49.95 ESRB Rating: M Availability: Now Demo: No Official Website: www.lionhead.com/fabletlc/ It’s not long into Fable: The Lost Chapters before you realize you’re in for something different. As if the words “Action/RPG” aren’t already enough to warm the soul of Mac gamers everywhere (oh, we’ve tasted action and we’ve tasted RPGs, but we rarely have them served in the same meal), the dramatic conclusion to the otherwise light and cartoony introduction will let you know that maybe this game is special. And it is. First off, I’m not sure what’s “lost” about these chapters. The original version of Fable was for Xbox, and the original version of Fable: The Lost Chapters was for Xbox, so it appears as though this was basically the same game with some additional content thrown in. I only bring this up to let you know this isn’t a sequel. There’s nothing out there you need to play first to avoid being lost in The Lost Chapters. Now, Fable: The Lost Chapters comes to us via Peter Molyneux and Lionhead Studios, the guy and the company that also developed the over-hyped Black & White and the under-hyped The Movies, both of which found their way to the Mac. Fable is quite a different from both, and is quite a bit different from pretty much any other game available for the Macintosh. It plays more like a console game than Mac game; more like The Legend of Zelda than Tomb Raider: Whatever. Fable is very big in both gameplay and in the world it creates, and those who play it will find themselves immersed for quite some time. As with most role-playing games, you start out as a young lad completely unaware of who he is and what he’ll become. Indeed, your first quest is to buy your sister a birthday gift. How quaint. It’s not long, however, before destiny leads you to one of those Harry Potter schools so you can learn to fight and use magic and gather fruit. At this early stage, the game does unfortunately bog down a bit as it seems you’re just going through the motions to master the controls, your inventory system, etc. Pay attention, though; the relationships you form here, good and bad, play a part not only in the game’s plot, but in who your character will grow to be. What’s more impressive is that this customization of character not only happens naturally throughout the game, but is reflected in how your character looks. If you fight most of your battles with melee weapons, he’ll become muscular. If you prefer archery, he’ll remain slim and dress in brown. Focus on magic, and he’ll...grow old? I guess using magic is the fantasy equivalent of having kids. No worries, though; looking old doesn’t change your ability to fight or remain attractive to non-player characters (who don’t seem to age, by the way, while you do...which is a welcome design choice when you enter the brothels). Although it’s fun to watch your character grow, it’s purely cosmetic. Your decisions throughout the game, however, are cosmetic. Everything—from how to talk to/deal with people to what tattoos you wear to your haircut—affects how others react to you. Hell’s Angel, metrosexual, or anywhere in between, you pick the outfits (and obtain the scars) to play the part. Likewise, if you generally run around doing good, you’ll acquire a nice glow and people will dig you. Behave poorly, and you’ll grow some devil horns and get those shifty eyes that spell trouble. Would that real life worked the same way, we’d all know from whom to buy our cars. The dilemmas that affect all of this are presented to you almost immediately, and continue throughout. But that’s not the focus of the game. This isn’t The Sims, thank goodness, it’s an action game, and there’s plenty of fighting to be done. The control system for this, unfortunately, is awkward and quite rigid. You pretty much need a multi-button mouse if you want to be any good, and that’s not even enough, by default. The game maps your block maneuver to the click wheel of the mouse, which is all well and good, but I have my click wheel mapped to duplicate the “double-click” command of the side buttons, so it doesn’t work. Fable seems to base its commands on the button’s assigned function, not on the action of clicking the button, so you my find yourself facing some messy reprogramming to get the controls to work properly. For a game that was originally released for the Xbox, you’d think the controls would be much simpler to manage. Despite the epic feel of Fable (epic, in the RPG use of the word, meaning to grow from boy to man and exact some revenge along the way), there’s no real sense of urgency. With the wide availability of health and resurrection vials, dying is both avoidable and pointless. The main story is fine, if a bit tired, and the side quests seem to be there solely to extend the life of the game. This is all okay, though, because the real joy comes from watching your character grow and seeing how he interacts with others. It’s just as much fun to find a wife as it is to chop off some monster heads, as fun to explore new lands as it is to accomplish the quests when you get there. That’s what the RP in the G is all about, after all. And to top it off, the game looks fantastic. Again, as with Tomb Raider: Anniversary, the folks over at Robosoft Technologies have done a fantastic job of porting the game to the Mac, taking advantage of the Mac’s strengths. The animation is smooth and the environments are wonderfully detailed with great lighting effects, which is key in a game that wants you to buy into a mystical world. It may take a bit to get used to the cartoonish appearance of the characters, but it’ll happen. It doesn’t hurt that the ambient sounds are very natural sounding and effective, and the music score is the type you could listen to outside the game and still be impressed. Arriving late as it did (the PC version was released nearly three years ago), I’m glad Feral stuck with Fable: The Lost Chapters to bring it our way. I’m hard pressed to come up with a Mac equivalent, but there’s really no need to, considering how generally well this one was done. The story is a bit tired, the quests can get repetitive, there are some control issues, and character management gets burdensome, but the game’s atmosphere and the connection you’ll develop with your character and the world around him create an immersive gaming experience we haven’t had for quite some time. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait this long to experience it again. Appletell Rating: Buy Fable: The Lost Chapters Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Appletell review - Enemy Territory: Quake Wars

Section: Software + Apps, Games, Mac + Computers, Software, Features, Review Genre: Team-based first-person shooter Format: DVD Developer: Splash Damage and Nerve Software Macintosh Developer: Aspyr Studios Publisher: Aspyr Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.5.1, 2GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 1GB RAM, 128MB ATI Radeon X1600 or NVidia GeForce 7300 graphics card, 5.5GB hard disk space, DVD ROM, mouse and keyboard, broadband Internet connection for Internet play Review Computer: 2GHz 20” Intel Core Duo iMac, 1GB RAM, 256MB ATI Radeon X1600 Network Feature: Internet and LAN Processor Compatibility: Intel only Price: $49.95 ESRB Rating: T (mild blood, mild language, violence) Availability: Out now Demo: No Official Website: www.enemyterritory.com Playing Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (ETQW), I find myself empathizing with Roger Ebert when he has to go see one of those Diary of the Princess Pants movies. I am not the target audience. This game is not meant for me. It’s meant for gamers who not only have the time to spend mastering the controls and strategies required to be effective, but the desire to do so. Perhaps a side-effect of reviewing Mac games for over 10 years is that I’m so used to being forced to move along quickly, that I now get bored if I don’t. Which isn’t to say that ETQW is boring. Far from it. The action is relentless, the graphics are some of the best available in a Mac game (provided your computer can handle them), both the single-player and multiplayer versions are intense. This is a great game; most likely the best team-based FPS currently available on the Mac. I just wish I didn’t suck at it so badly. There’s kind of a story in ETQW, but it’s as pointless as adding a story line to Wheel of Fortune. No one cares about why you have to kill all these Strogg fellows (other than that the name just sounds like something you’d want to kill), it just matters that you do. Strogg invade Earth, Earth fights back. Roll credits. There are two ways in which you can defend the Earth: alone, or with a little help from your friends. No matter which component you’re playing, the layout is the same. After receiving a briefing on the mission goals, you pick what type of soldier you’d like to be, and you’re then dumped on the battlefield. Go. Even in the single-player mode, the class of soldier you pick directly affects your role in the mission. Obviously, if you’re a sniper, you can’t be expected to hop into an armored vehicle and tear straight through enemy lines. Rather, it may be your job to take out someone who would prevent that vehicle from getting through. This adds a lot of replay value to the single-player version, as playing a different class of soldier greatly alters the gameplay of each level. And believe me, there’s plenty to do. You can play as any of five classes of human soldiers or Strogg soldiers. There are over 40 types of vehicles you can commandeer, such as tanks, alien walkers, helicopters and anti-gravity ships. Your missions will see you establishing bases, destroying bases, taking out enemy defenses, defending your own, etc., and will often change multiple times during a mission. It’s actually an interesting comment on the industry. There was a period of time when first-person shooters such as this sought to one-up each other on graphics alone. The big news was always the new graphics engine, or perhaps the addition of two new types of guns. Yippee! Now, it seems the graphics are a given, so attention has focused to actual gameplay. With locales that vary greatly and a huge number of weapons and vehicles to employ, the gameplay has to be able to fill all of this up or risk being dwarfed by the design. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is up to the task, which is why it can focus its attention on the multiplayer component, with the single player component feeling tacked on. See, adding a story line to play through can give a game purpose and drive if there’s really not much to do. But, there’s so much you can do in ETQW that the story isn’t needed. Indeed, as I mentioned above, it just gets in the way. I could go into the benefits of team-based play in ETQW, but there’s really no point. I mean, it’s fairly obvious, isn’t it, that a game centered around squad combat would be more fun with an actual, you know, squad? You get a rush from fighting alongside other human players (especially if you have some sort of VOIP set-up, such as TeamSpeex or Ventrilo). The action in ETQW just feels more urgent when played with humans and against humans, and is ultimately more satisfying. So, why a single-player version at all? Because the game is hard. Learning when and how to use all of these vehicles and weapons takes plenty of practice, and I don’t need to tell you that multiplayer action can be a horrible experience when you’re not any good at the game. Practicing will pay off, too, as you’ll be rewarded in the multiplayer version with special weapons and abilities as you rise through the ranks. This helps the multiplayer version remain fresh, and gives you incentive beyond simply completing each individual mission. Aspyr Studios did a fantastic job with the Mac port, bringing us parity with the PC version (which provides a huge online gaming community). The graphics provided by id Software’s MegaTexture rendering technology are stunning, but they come at a price. I wasn’t able to get decent enough performance on my 2GHz Intel Core Duo iMac with 1GB RAM and a 256MB ATI Radeon X1600, and had to install the game on the 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with 2GB RAM and 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 at the office in order to do the game justice. What a difference it makes to be able to play ETQW without handicap. It’s somewhat playable at the lower range of the recommended system specs, but you’ll really have to dumb down the graphic in order to avoid series hiccups during the battles. And the last thin you need during these battles are hiccups. As far as I know, MacSoft still plans to release Unreal Tournament III for the Mac. The UT series has been Quake’s rival for some time now, so I’m curious to see if it’s able to top the features and gameplay of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Until UT III’s release, though, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars stands without competition on the Macintosh. Just be sure you set aside a lot of practice time, and perhaps a few paychecks to cover the purchase of a Macintosh that can handle the game. Me? I have to move on to the next game...thank God. A man can only take so much embarrassment, even if those mocking his FPS abilities are half a country away. Appletell Rating: Buy Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Top Video Games For Gamers Of All Ages (TechWeb)

TechWeb - We look at World of Warcraft, Desktop Tower Defense, Orange Box, Wii Sports, Civilization IV, and other top video games to see why video gamers of all ages are getting hooked.

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 »

Appletell review - Battlestations: Midway

Section: Apple, Software + Apps, Games, Features, Review Genre: Action, real-time tactics Format: DVD Developer: Eidos Interactive Mac Port: Robosoft Technologies Mac Publisher: Feral Interactive System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4, 1.83GHz Intel processor, 512 MB RAM, 128 MB VRam, DVD ROM. Review Computer: 17” iMac, 1.8 GHz Intel Core Duo, 2 GB RAM, 128MB ATI Radeon X1600 Network Feature: Yes Processor Compatibility: Intel Only Price: $50.00 ESRB Rating: T Availability: Out now Official Website: www.battlestations.net Whether you’re in a warship, aircraft or submarine, you control the battle and lead it every step of the mission. Battlestations: Midway allows you to choose a different path on which to play the game. U.S. Campaign, Naval Academy, Ship Challenge, Plane Challenge and the Submarine Challenge are the five different battles of which you can take control. So, if you’re playing the Ship Challenge and are really getting annoyed from the submarine shooting missiles at your cruiser, play as a submarine and demolish a ship. This fast, action-packed game has stunning graphics that make you wonder if they could get any better. Leading and controlling your ship, submarine, aircraft, shipyard or airfield requires more skill than pointing and shooting, such as creating tactics to avoid the emenies and complete your mission. Each unit has its own unique features which change gameplay and keeps it interesting. The graphics of all of the units are filled with incredible detail, whether it be a “Brewster F2A Buffalo” aircraft from the American fleet or a Japanese “Akagi” warship. Even when zooming in, the textures on all of units have great levels of detail. You don’t need a powerhouse Mac Pro to crank up the graphic settings. Some games require heavy processing power, but my two-year-old iMac (Specs above) handled it quite nicely. While I did see a slight increase in graphics quailty when I ran it on a newer iMac with twice the graphics memory, it isn’t CPU intensive. Robosoft Technologies did a great job porting the game to the Mac. I’ve played a bunch of games that are ported to the Mac poorly and they hog up your RAM and CPU usage. Some of those games are virtualized for the Mac, which gives you sluggish gameplay and doesn’t take full use of your computer. In addition, Robosoft gave the game some traditional Mac features, such as automatically pausing the current iTunes Song when launching the game. As for the action, I found it hard to hit opponents when moving fast, but slowing down makes you more vulnerable to being gunned down. But, what’s the fun when it’s too easy? The only thing I struggled with was my Mighty Mouse, which kept throwing me off the screen. It ended up having dirt in the clickwheel. Before playing, I’d suggest cleaning it out, if you’ve got one. On another side of controlling the game, each unit has a different method of controlling it. While they all may be reletaviely easy, it does take some time and would’ve been easier if they had standardized controls for all units. Let’s get a little deeper into the gameplay. When you initially choose a path to play, you’ll be asked to complete certain missions, such as travel to the US ship or “Bomb the Mini-Sub!” Some tasks take quite a while and require lots of planning and thought, while others can be simple and quick. In addition you’ll be switching to new units almost every task. As previously mentioned, you may feel the need to pause to the menu for a second to review the new controls for the unit. Since you switch units so often, you’ll eventually get used to it, but it does get annoying. Leading battles alone in a variety of units is plenty of fun, but multiplayer makes it all the better. The game uses GameRanger for online play, which allows up to 8 players to play together anywhere in the world. Online play can get fun with up to 100 different warships, aircrafts and subs all fighting it out. Multiplayer gameplay gets players to work together, where each player would control a different group of units. Loading screens are quick on just about every Intel Mac, so you can get in to the game fast after every mission. Whether you’re playing a sub, aircraft or one of the other 60 units, or leading massive battlefields you’re sure to have plenty of fun in the war. Appletell Rating: Buy Battlestations: Midway Full Story » | Written by Nicholas Montgomery for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »