" This update improves performance for PowerPC based systems and some Intel systems, fixes graphical errors, custom multiplayer game type issues and also allows the program to run properly from a case-sensitive drive. Version 2.0.2 also fixes an issue with the "A" key and incorporates a VSYNC fix.
Download the Update: Halo 2.0.2 update

(May 24th, 2007) Star Wars: Empire at War 1.05 rev A update:

" Version 1.05 rev A:
• Fixes issue where there was no discernible difference between low and medium water detail
• Adds support for pixel shader 3.0
• Enables the Heat distortion and soft shadows features
  Requirements:
  Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later, Intel Mac, Video Card (ATI): Radeon X1600, Video Card (NVidia): Geforce 7300, Video Chipset (Intel): GMA 950 or better, 64MB VRAM.

(May 22nd, 2007) There's a World of Warcraft 2.1.0 (huge) update today with several new features - Blizzard's WoW Patch Notes page has now been updated to include the 2.1.0 changes. (While on the subject of WoW, someone sent a link to a WoW Mod for Texas Holdem. I don't have WoW to try this personally and it almost seems like an ad for online Poker sites...)

(May 21, 2007) StarCraft II coming to the Mac: The previous rumors were true, as Saturday Blizzard announced Starcraft II and the official Starcraft2.com website has screenshots, wallpapers, gameplay movies and trailers (DIVX) and a FAQ which confirms "As with all of Blizzard's recent releases, StarCraft II will ship on both PC and Mac simultaneously."

(May 16, 2007) Blizzard has posted Mac StarCraft (and BroodWar Expansion) Patch 1.15.

(May 2, 2007) There's a Mac Demo of Lego Star Wars II with one complete level from the full version. Requirements listed are OS X tiger, G4 1.67GHz or better, 512MB (or more), and 64MB Vram (or more) graphics card. Apple also has a page with Lego Star Wars II info and screenshots.

(Apr. 27, 2007) The Halo 2.0.1 update promises significant performance gains:

Version 2.0.1:
• Overall performance on PowerPC Macs has been improved by up to 35% over the original Universal Binary version, depending on graphics configuration.
• Overall performance on Intel Macs has been improved by up to 25% over the original Universal Binary version, depending on graphics configuration.
• Cinematic full-screen effects run much faster.
• Many more enhancements.

Also released today are SimCity 4 Rush Hour 1.1revA update (univ) and Strategist (a turn-based strategy shareware game).

(Apr. 19, 2007) Blizzard has a WoW: The Burning Crusade 10-Day Trial available to World of Warcraft subscribers.

(Apr. 18, 2007) RuneSoft announced there's a Mac demo available for their Chicago 1930 game. Requirements listed are OS X 10.3.9 or higher, 800 Mhz (or better) G3/G4/G5 or Intel Mac, 256MB RAM, 32MB Vram or better graphics card.

(Apr. 11, 2007) CaveDays game (Insolita Studios), GooBall 1.0.2 and X-Moto 0.2.7 (side-scrolling motocross racing game) released.

(Apr. 5, 2007) SketchFighter 4000 Alpha 1.0.2

(Apr. 4, 2007) LEGO Star Wars 1.0 rev A patch is a universal binary for Intel Macs.

(Apr. 3, 2007) Apple's Age of Empires III updates page has a demo download (420MB) added today. The demo reportedly has 2 single player missions and a single-player skirmish game where you can play as British or Spanish in the New England and Texas maps. System Requirements listed as Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, 1.4GHz PowerPC G4 or Intel processor or higher, 512MB of RAM, 64MB video RAM.

(Apr. 3, 2007) The World of Warcraft Client Patch 2.0.12 notes mentions "Improved memory usage and stability under Mac OS X 10.4.9 using multi-threaded OpenGL" (also notes several general bug fixes)

(Apr. 2, 2007) Quake 3: Urban Terror Mod 4.0, OSX SkyFighters 1945 1.0.4, Tri 2: Tri Again 2.0 (game).

(Mar. 21st, 2007) MU lists a Demo download (892MB, ouch) of Aspyr's Star Wars: Empire at War for Macs. The MU page lists OS X 10.4.8 or later as required and now says Intel-CPU Macs only.

(Mar. 20th, 2007) Tribal Trouble 1.8 (battle game with w/humor) and Poing 1.1 (3d-version of the classic video-game "Pong")

Quicktime 7.1.5 Problems w/Games in 10.3.9: The QT 7.1.5 update released on Mar. 5th has caused major problems with some apps/games (won't run). See notes/workarounds on reinstalling QT 7.1.3 using Pacifist (not recommended for 10.4.8 users). Also see posts on Workaround for Age of Empires problem in 10.3.9/QT 7.1.5 and World of Warcraft problems w/QT 7.1.5/10.3.9 (w/workaround notes) and Full Tilt Poker Workaround for QT 7.1.5/OS X 10.3.9. (FYI: Most problems were reported under 10.3.9, however for 10.4.8 users that see QT 7.1.5 related problems, reinstalling QT 7.1.3 in 10.4.8 caused major problems)

(Mar. 1st, 2007) Game Updates:

• Mac Alice (game) patch v1.12 (Univ binary and other fixes)
• Civilization IV 1.61revC (fixes sound bug in 'rev B')
• Civ. 4: Warlords v1.0 Rev B (fixes sound bug in 'rev A')
• Freeverse ships Mac Heroes of Might and Magic V

(Feb. 7th, 2007) Mac Age of Empires III 1.0.1 lists several bug fixes.

(Feb. 2nd, 2007) Quake 4 Community Map Pak: ID's website front page has an update (dated Feb 1st) with a download (86.2 MB zip file) of the 34 community submitted Maps for Quake4.

"Q4CMP Submissions Pak
With the deadline having been reached, all of the entries for the Quake 4 Community Map Pak have been submitted. We have compiled the 34 maps into one pak for play testing prior to the upcoming voting process. Thanks to all of the contestants for their submissions and good luck! "

I don't own Quake4 (Mac or PC) to try these but the download includes a readme on usage, listing of maps, scripts etc. in the Docs directory of the download.

(Feb. 2nd, 2007) There's a Mac Doom3 v1.3.1 rev A patch available now at 3Dgamers Doom3 downloads page and MGF. The 3dgamer's Mac 1.3.1 rev A changes are different than the MGF page. (MGF page changes match the 1.3.1 changes at 3Dgamers.) Not sure which is correct. (v1.3 was the first Univ. Binary version released in Feb. 2006.)

(Jan 24th, 2007) MU lists Civilization IV: Warlords 1.6.1revA (Expansion pack - "Version 1.6.1revA contains over 100 bug fixes and changes") and Civilization IV 1.61revB ("Fixes Gamespy issues and more").

(Jan 24th, 2007) I've updated the Mac WoW performance page with a reader's comparison of a 24in iMac vs his older G4 tower with 1.2GHz CPU upgrade and 9800 Pro card.

(Jan. 22nd, 2007) Blizzad's Warcraft III v1.21 Patch Notes mentions the game now runs natively on both PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macs and has other notes on changes/fixes/new Maps/Map changes - including an important note on patching for Mac players:

"Important Note on Patching for Mac Players: The file layout inside the game folder is changed significantly by Patch 1.21. As a result, in order to be able to install the Frozen Throne expansion from CD, you must install Reign of Chaos first, then install Frozen Throne from CD, and then patch to version 1.21, in that order. If you patch to v1.21 and then attempt to install Frozen Throne after that, it will not install correctly."

(Jan. 16th, 2007) Universal Binary of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory for Mac OS X released

(Jan. 15th, 2007) MU lists a Prey 1.0 demo download (465.1MB - ouch). Their page lists requirements as G5+, Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, ATI Radeon 9600 or better/NVidia GeForce 6600 or better.

(Dec. 6th, 2006) Command & Conquer Generals 1.0.3 patch + Zero Hour v1.0.4 patch (Universal)

(Dec. 6th, 2006) The WoW 2.0.1 patch notes page has a huge list of changes/fixes - here's a copy of the Mac specific ones:

Mac

• Added support for Multi-Threaded OpenGL on Intel Macs running OS X 10.4.8 or higher. Depending on hardware, scene and graphical settings, this can raise frame rates up to a factor of 2X.
• Improved video hardware detection and default settings, especially with Intel video.
• Vertex Animation Shaders have been disabled for systems with Intel video.
• Improved iTunes key-binding feature for smoothness and track name display.
• Fixed a bug where Tutorial Tips would not be marked as viewed correctly on PowerPC Macs.
• Fixed a rare crash bug in the audio code.
• Improved support for Weather Shaders.
• Added support for changing the mouse sensitivity in WoW.
  Previously, the Mac version ignored the value from the slider in the Interface Options dialog.

I've added a MacBook Core Duo 2GHz (2GB Ram) user's comments (raves) on the update to the Mac WoW performance page.

(Nov. 29th, 2006) Aspyr is publishing Prey for Mac, although their page today doesn't have anything much other than a note it's to ship in Jan 2007. (BTW - Aspyr's new site age check for "mature" rated titles requires cookies enabled in browser.) For more info on Prey, see www.prey.com. (Prey site also has age check.... and requires flash.)

(Oct. 25th, 2006) Mac Pro/X1900XT (stock+OC'd) UT2004 & Quake 4 FPS Tests and Quake 4 FPS tests with 7300GT vs X1900XT (stock and overclocked).

(Oct. 13th, 2006) Mac Quake 4 Patch v1.3 Re-released A revised v1.3 update (huge download) for Mac Quake 4 is available from MGF and 3dgamers.com (they have multiple mirrors and separate English-French and German downloads). The original release on 10/6 was pulled due to a Multiplayer issue. The v1.3 update "includes several new multiplayer maps, two new game modes, and the new Napalm Gun."

(Oct. 11th, 2006) Eddie sent a note there's a 1.34rc2 release of ioquake3:

(intro to the project first for those that are not aware-Mike)
" This project, ioquake3 (or ioq3 for short,) aims to build upon id Software's Quake 3 source code release. The source code was released on August 20, 2005 under the GPL. Since then, we have been cleaning up, fixing bugs, and adding features. Our permanent goal is to create the open source Quake 3 distribution upon which people base their games and projects. We also seek to have the perfect version of the engine for playing Quake 3: Arena, Team Arena, and all popular mods. This distribution of the engine has been ported to many new platforms and has had a slew of new features added, along with massive bug extermination. While we don't have PunkBuster (and never will), we do have more security for servers and clients from various bugfixes which aren't in id's client. Check out some screenshots!

Calling all testers! ioquake3 1.34 rc2! - September 11, 2006
Installers are getting updated for the second release candidate version. There is also a tag in SVN for developers. Check out the mailing list for more information. Subscribe to it via the discussion link. All installer/binary/whatever downloads should be rc2 if they aren't already. Please test them, and report back to bugzilla if you find problems. "

(Oct. 3rd, 2006) Tips on running Half-Life 2 (and CounterStrike, etc.) on a MacBook/Mini w/Crossover

(Sept. 27th, 2006) Aspyr's new website is totally redesigned and much improved.
Today there's also a Santaduck UT2004 Toolpak v3.3 update (benchmark util and more).

(Sept. 26th, 2006) Blizzard's forum has a note on a WoW 1.12.1 PowerPC OpenGL Tweak. (Update: OS X 10.4.8 is released now and has multi-threaded OpenGL, but apps/games other than Doom3 have to request that mode, so an update to WoW will be required for that.)

(Sept. 25th, 2006) Civilization IV 1.61revA Demo (444MB, Univ. binary) avaiable. Demo allows 100 turns of play (per session).

(Sept. 22nd, 2006) Eddie sent a note that Ambrosia has a new 3D auto racing game available for download called Redline, with support for network play.

"Redline features a dozen racing challenges such as acceleration, slalom, graduating you to real-world tracks with a variety of racing conditions. With each progressive challenge, your performance earns you new challenges, and new cars to drive. Your performance is also ranked among other Redline players from around the world via an Internet leader board"

Requires OS X 10.2 or later and is universal binary. Shareware price is $25.

(Sept. 18th, 2006) Recent Game related news:

• iPod Games Review Roundup at Gamepro
• iPod games reviews, How Apple's DRM Works
• Blizzard Licenses Havok Physics Technology for both PC and Mac platforms
• An Interview with PopCap Games: Now on the Apple iPod

(Sept. 13th, 2006) Aspyr has posted a Mac Call of Duty 2 v1.3 patch (Thanks Eddie) that " fixes some multiplayer game and level issues, raises the gamestate from 16k to 128k and addresses the PunkBuster GUID issue". See the linked page for complete list of changes/fixes and download.

(Aug. 31st, 2006) Myth II: Soulblighter Updater 1.6b1

" Version 1.6b1 includes a Mac OS X Universal version, the ability to run in a window under Windows 2000/XP, MacOS X native versions of Bungie’s Fear & Loathing tools, and the ability to share the CPU with other processes by capping the frame rate. Myth II 1.6 includes a 1.5.1 compatibility mode allowing online game play with both versions in a single game. There are too many bug fixes to mention."

(Aug. 30th, 2006) Aspyr has posted a Civilization III Complete v1.22 Rev A (Universal) update. See the linked page for a complete list of changes and fixes.

(Aug. 29th, 2006) MU lists Jedi Knight II 1.03c with similar changes (Univ. Binary, etc.) as Friday's Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Update.

(Aug. 25th, 2006) Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy Update:
Macupdate's page mentions it's a Universal App now, however checking Aspyr's support page on the Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy 1.01 / 1.03 Rev E update shows a much longer list of changes. (But no working download link there as of 3PM Eastern on 8/25/2006. Hopefully to be added soon, otherwise use the MU page.)

(Aug. 23rd-24th, 2006) D2X-XL 1.6.157 (OpenGL version of Descent 2) and World of Warcraft 1.12 (long list of changes plus Mac specific iTunes note)

(Aug. 22nd, 2006) World of Warcraft 1.12 has a long list of changes plus this Mac specific note: "Added support for controlling iTunes from within World of Warcraft. You can bind a set of keys for play/pause, next track, back track and volume up and down."

(Aug. 17th, 2006) Halo Universal Binary Available (for a fee)

(Aug. 9th, 2006) Macsoft announces Age of Empires III for Macintosh

(Aug 7th, 2006) Apple announces Mac Pro Towers (w/2 Xeon Dual Core CPUs, up to 3GHz). (The Mac Pro Graphics page has Doom3 and Quake4 benchmark results.)

(Aug 4th, 2006) Macgamefiles has a Mac Quake 4 Demo dated today.

(Aug. 4th, 2006) There's a Cars: The Video Game 1.0u update:

" Version 1.0u: Makes the full game a universal binary for compatibility with both PowerPC and Intel Macs."

They also have Armagetron Advanced 0.2.8.2.1 (Tron lightcycle game) and Tennis Elbow 1.0.

(Aug. 3rd, 2006) TransGaming's Cider Mac portability engine promises "video game developers and publishers can extend their content to the Intel Macs quickly, cost-effectively, and with little to no effort on their part". (Almost sounds too good to be true...) They also have a FAQ on Cider.

(Aug 3rd, 2006) Mac Neverwinter Nights Updater 1.6.8b2 and StarCraft: Brood War 1.14 released.

(Aug 1st, 2006) There's now a "Rev A" of the Mac Civ. IV 1.61 beta patch, although the change list is the same as the original 1.61 beta from mid-July. Get info shows (9565) vs (9220). See July 18th news post below for a G5 owner report on performance improvements.

(July 30th, 2006) MU lists Rise of Nations 1.0.1, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 1.1a and Second Life 1.11.1.1 updates.

(July 28th, 2006) There's a Mac Cold War Demo 1.0 (445MB) The page notes "the Demo currently supports only Power PC-based Macintosh computers (the demo is NOT universal binary but will run under Rosetta)." The final Cold War game will be a universal binary.
Requirements listed are Mac OS X v. 10.4.x , G4, G5 or Intel CPU at 1.6GHz (or faster), 3GB hard disk space; nVidia GeForce3 (not Geforce 4MX) / ATI Radeon 9600 or better; video card with 64MB video memory or better.

(July 18th, 2006) First Feedback on improved performance with Mac Civilization IV Patch (Beta)

(June 30th, 2006) There main news page has a Reader review of Civilization IV for Macs

(June 30th, 2006) Mac Call of Duty 2 Demo There's a Call of Duty 2 demo (Universal) available now, but it's a big download - 660+MB. (There's a bittorrent download link there also.) Page lists requirements as G5+, Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, Radeon 9600 or better graphics card.

(June 23rd, 2006) Eddie sent a note that Blizzard has posted info on Warcraft III 1.20e and Frozen Throne 1.20e (available via battle.net or the download pages linked there). The update fixes an exploit that could happen in multiplayer games and also has some minor map changes.

(June 21st, 2006) World of Warcraft 1.11.0 patch notes.

(June 20th, 2006) Aspyr announced that Civilization IV for the Mac is Gold and will ship to stores within a week.

(May 8th, 2006) Mac Quake 4 v1.2 Update Adds SMP and Core Duo support, timedemo and more. See Mac Quake4 v1.2 page here which also has reader's timedemo performance tests.

(May 8th, 2006) The Quake III Arena 1.3.2c update includes some security related fixes.

(May 8th, 2006) There's a Quake II X 1.1 update (thanks to Fuitz of Dojo) that's now a Univ. Binary:

" Changes for v1.1:
-Recompiled as Universal Binary.
-Redesigned startup dialog.
-Optimized the software renderer for windowed modes.
-Windowed modes (software renderer) are now resizeable.
-The game will renderer inside the Dock document icon (instead of the application icon) if minimized.
-Screenshots are now saved in PNG format.
-Minor bug fixes.
Requirements:
Mac OS X 10.1 or later, Quake II (retail version)."

(April 19th, 2006) Eddie sent a note there's Mac Neverwinter Nights 1.6.7b4 Update at Bioware. (See linked page for list of changes.)

(April 19th, 2006) Intel CPU iMac owner updated comments on Sims2 Univ. Binary Performance

(Apr. 6th, 2006) I've updated the page of Mac WoW performance reports to include of WoW performance in Win XP native install vs OS X on an Intel Core Duo 2GHz iMac. (WinXP installed using Apple "BootCamp") and other Intel CPU Mac OS X WoW tests.

(Mar. 1, 2006) Spider-Man 2 1.1 (Universal Binary) and Neverwinter Nights 1.6.7b2 update (several bug fixes) released today.

(Feb. 23rd, 2006) I've updated the page of Mac WoW performance reports to include notes on FPS from a Dual Core 2GHz G5 w/Nvidia 7800GT card user, comparing performance to a previous Intel Core Duo 2GHz iMac user's rates.

(Feb. 21st, 2006) Mac Doom3 Univ. Binary Timedemo FPS results and Mac Doom3 Universal Binary Update download

(Feb 15th, 2006) World of Warcraft 1.9.4 Patch Here's the info from Blizzard's patch notes page:

" World of Warcraft Client Patch 1.9.4 (2006-02-14)
General

• A new Guild Recruitment channel has been added. This channel will be off by default.
• Fixed a bug that could cause players to appear to be porting around in a small area.
  Mac
  
• Addresses a timing accuracy issue on Intel-Mac systems that affected the perceived speed and/or progress of transports and other moving objects in the world; PowerPC-Mac systems were not affected.

I've added this to the Mac WoW performance/reports page which has previous reports from PowerPC and Intel CPU Mac users.

(Feb 14th, 2006) MacSoft has posted a Zoo Tycoon 2 1.1.0 Universal Binary Update (down the page there).
There's also a Quake III 1.3.2 Universal Binary patch for owners of Intel CPU Macs. (See the Feb 14th news page for the first report on Quake3 Universal App FPS w/Intel Core Duo iMac.)

(Feb. 10th, 2006) Experimental Graphics Tweak (M2Faster) in WoW v1.9.3

(Feb. 8th, 2006) Intel Core Duo iMac report on Univ. Binary World of Warcraft Performance

(Feb. 6th, 2006) First Intel Core Duo iMac Benchmarks with UT2004 Univ. Binary

(Feb. 3rd, 2006) Mac Unreal Tournament 2004 v3369.2 update (Univ. Binary w/Mega/ECE bonus pack)

(Jan. 26th, 2006) MacGlide 0.1.2 Update:

" Hi Mike, Here's the latest release of MacGLide, version 0.12. (3Dfx Glide to OpenGL wrapper) Available at http://macglide.sourceforge.net/
It provides gamma correction, performance improvements and fully working map view / retro mirror for Carmageddon.
Adds FutureCop, Quake, Descent 1 & 2 to the list of fully supported games

Features:

• Gamma Correction (ColorSync has to be installed)
• Better performance (Especially in Carmageddon)
  
  Bug fixes:
  
• FutureCop radar and dispatcher window working, V1.02 not crashing anymore when pausing the game
• Carmagddon retro mirror working
• Carmageddon Map 3D-View working in all situations
• Fixed crash when moving the cursor in Carmageddon Movie mode
• Quake 3Dfx is working (actually it did all the time but it just wanted exactly 2M framebuffer/texture RAM)
• Descent 1 & 2 display the cockpit and instruments
• Switching between (emulated) Glide display and Mac-Passthrough display preserves the color depth
• Full support for undocumented Delta0 mode
  (no more special cases for Tomb Raider and Carmageddon)

Download: http://macglide.sourceforge.net/
Cheers, Jens "

(Jan. 25th, 2006) Feral sent a note that they've released a Chessmaster 9000 1.0.2 patch (a beta version was available earlier this month.)

"Version 1.0.2

• Resolved incompatibilities with Mac OS X Tiger, allowing personalities to be loaded.
• Fixed the calculation of time spent on game analysis.
• Resolved issues with invalid FSAA settings.
• Clipped windows and dialogs have been fixed.
• Chessmaster 9000 will suspend operation when in the background.
• Added tick-box to toggle less CPU usage when in background

If you're running v1.0 you will need to download the 1.0.1 Patch before installing the 1.0.2 update.

(Jan. 19th, 2006) MU lists Starcraft X 1.13f and Starcraft Broodwar X 1.13f updates today. Version 1.13f "fixes several bugs that contributed to game exploits".

(Jan. 18th, 2006)

"Freespace 2 released for OS X as freeware
... Just wanted to pass this off to you since this might be of interest to your readers, Freespace 2 (http://freespace2.com for game info) was released for Mac OS X as free ware:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/28874

I downloaded it last night but I've yet to run it... just warn the readers that it's a 1.4GIGAbyte download!
Peace, Ralph M. "

(Jan. 17th, 2006) Nanosaur 2: Hatchling 2.0 update is now a universal binary for owners of Intel CPU based Macs.

(Jan. 13th, 2006) A reader posted a note that Arstechnica has comments on World of Warcraft on the Mactel iMac.

(Jan. 11th, 2006) It's macworld SF week so check the main news page for the latest news on new macs, OS X 10.4.4, etc. but just a FYI there's a Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos 1.20c and Warcraft III: Frozen Throne 1.20c update out now.

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- Check the 2005 Game News/Update Archive Page

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