Half-Life. To this day the series stands as an iconic and fairly revolutionary gaming release that’s legacy commands all the attention of the industry press whenever there’s a whisper of its third iteration. The original Half-Life was released to much critical acclaim and remains a classic in the eyes of gaming history, albeit not one that was ever released for OS X.
While the 1998 game was indeed never introduced on the Mac, the 2004 sequel, Half-Life 2, was released alongside Steam’s debut on the platform. Half-Life 2 and its subsequent episode takes a familiar gameplay setup and key characters while throwing them into a significantly developed storyline and new environment. As we begin to wrap up our coverage of the state of OS X gaming, its time to dedicate some time to one of gaming’s most iconic products and take a history lesson in the Half-Life universe. (more…)
Spore is far from a new game. It was released almost four years ago to a tremendous amount of hype, in part due to it’s lead designer having a history of simulation games including the blockbuster SimCity and The Sims franchises. It received some criticism due to that hype, but it still turned out to be a fantastic game even if it hasn’t been awarded the same legacy and future that The Sims holds.
Spore is a simulation game based around evolution where you take a species from being a mere cell in an ocean to a galactic, space-bourn empire. Through the game you are slowly introduced to more civilised concepts of unity and, through hostile or friendly measures, eventually achieve world and galactic domination. As part of our look back on some of our favourite Mac games as part of Gaming Month, let’s take a look at this ambitious game. (more…)
Bills are an inevitability of life, but spending a lot of time trying to keep track of them isn’t. It’s not unlikely that, throughout your life, you’ll have to pay mortgage payments, phone service contracts, credit card repayments, etc, and all at different intervals, costs, and dates. It can be a confusing financial landscape, but staying on top of things is something you have to do.
Enter Chronicle, a bill management software now in it’s fifth version that eases the process of keeping track of your due payments, and ones past. With the app, you can add payments of all sorts, be reminded when they’re due and log them once they’re paid. It’s on sell for just $9.99 to celebrate the new launch, and it’s a pretty nice, all-in-one solution, so let’s take a look. (more…)
The Sims series is an undeniable icon of PC gaming, selling more than 150 million units and earning a place amongst the best-selling video game franchises of all time. Controlling the lives of virtual people (the “sims”) has become somewhat of a phenomenon and, while hardcore gamers might laugh it off, The Sims has introduced gaming to whole new demographics.
The Sims 3 was released in 2009 as the latest base game of the franchise and the first to be simultaneously released on both Mac and PC. In this review, we’re going to take a look at a game that remains immensely popular on the platform and that’s role in it’s franchise makes it an icon of Mac gaming.
Minecraft is a popular game, one that we awarded a perfect 10/10 in our review late last month. Many gamers choose to play the game in its single player mode, but the collaborative, multiplayer building is an immensely popular feature that powers hundreds, if not thousands, of gameplay servers.
You too can host a Minecraft server right on your Mac and, in this article, we’ll show you just how!
So you want to play games but you don’t want to settle for Windows? Don’t let the stereotypes of the gaming community dissuade you from buying a machine running OS X and don’t feel that you’re going to have to make compromises just to do so. I play games on my Mac and have a great experience doing so, but picking out the right machine can be pretty critical to ensuring an optimum time.
In this article, we’re going to take a look at each of Apple’s Macs and discuss why you might choose them and when you shouldn’t. (more…)
The Mac App Store launched back in January last year and amongst apps from all categories, it’s home to a number of games from both indie and big name developers. From iOS games that have found their way to the Mac to new games created just for the App Store, the Mac App Store seems to definitely have been a positive development for Mac gaming, at least Mac casual gaming.
In this roundup, we’re going to highlight a few games that are both bestselling, highly rated, and personal standouts from the many games in the App Store today. We’d love to hear your own recommendations in the comments section below. For now, here’s some of our favorite App Store games. (more…)
In 2008, Apple kicked off the transition away from physical media. The lack of an optical drive in the MacBook Air eventually influenced the removal of it in the Mac Mini and, more recently, the next-generation MacBook Pro.
With all these Macs ditching their optical drive in order to achieve a thinner form factor, it’s time to take a look at which is better: disk or download? (more…)
Steam is one of the predominant forces in digital distribution of games, and it launched on the Mac just over two years ago. In our continuing effort to dispel the myth that Macs are no good for gaming, today we’re going to take a look at our favourite games available through Valve’s store that you simply must download. (more…)
Macs have never been regarded as machines built for gaming, and are often mocked in the community for their aptitude in this area. In fact, just earlier this day I saw a thread on Reddit mocking the Mac’s ability to play games. That may be true; the Mac certainly isn’t the best platform out there for games.
However, what is undeniable is the improvement the platform has been making in the last 18 months or so. That time has seen the release of two pretty big outlets for games, the Mac App Store and Steam, as well as a steady improvement in the hardware that makes up the Mac family. (more…)
