News Archive for 01/02/02

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CodeWarrior 6.1 available online

02/02, 11:55pm

CodeWarrior 6.1 available online

Metrowerks yesterday released CodeWarrior 6.1, Professional Edition, an update that includes CW IDE 4.1.0.3, MetroNub IDE Plugin build 0467 (Mac only), and MSL C++ 6103, and brings bug fixes to the IDE and the MSL C++ Library. [full -- 14.7MB; Web installer -- 540KB]

VideoChat 4.0 available for Mac

02/02, 10:38pm

VideoChat 4.0 available for Mac

nanoCom's iSpQ "Eye Speak" VideoChat 4.0 is a Mac OS X-compatible version of the company's videoconferencing software. Version 4 adds multi-person videoconferencing, chat rooms and a broadcast function to the existing one-on-one videoconferencing and video messaging features. A trial version is avalable as well as limited time purchase special of $30.

New Adobe PostScript printer driver v8.7.1

02/02, 9:35pm

New Adobe PostScript printer driver v8.7.1

A new version of the Adobe PostScript printer driver, Adobe PS 8.7.1, which allows you to print documents to printers with PostScript Level 2 or Adobe PostScript 3, is now available. It provides support for USB PostScript printers, OpenType fonts when using ATM 4.6, and support for a Transverse option for printers that support custom page sizes. (Several international localized versions of v8.71 are available as well.)

Tape 1.6a1: preview of package/bundle editor

02/02, 9:28pm

Tape 1.6a1: preview of package/bundle editor

Tape 1.6a1, a preview version of the next version of the Mac OS 9 Package and Mac OS X Bundle editor, adds an auto-detect option for building appropriate packages and features a built-in text editor to view the "raw" XML in the Info.plist file of OS X Bundles. Tape is a $10 shareware from Public Access Software.

PGP Freeware 7.03 available online

02/02, 9:20pm

PGP Freeware 7.03 available online

PGP Security has posted PGPfreeware 7.0.3, a major update its security application (for non-commercial use). It brings several enhancements, including AES and IKE support, peer-to-peer VPN on multiple adapters, a new RSA key, key reconstruction options, support for X.509 certificates and many other features. (The commercial PGP Desktop Security 7.0 was released last fall, while a PGP Desktop v7.03 updater was made available earlier this month to registered users.)

SF Gate: Upgrade to an iMac to enter DV age

02/02, 8:20pm

SF Gate: Upgrade to an iMac to enter DV age

Henry Norr's latest SF Gate column says that upgrading to an iMac is best for older Performa users to dive into the digital video age. It also covers the stealth Mac OS 9.1 upgrade. (While unmentioned, our Mac OS forum is another resource for Mac OS 9.1 assistance and troubleshooting.)

SiN Sequel Possibility

02/02, 6:22pm

SiN Sequel Possibility

Voodoo Extreme has received word from Ritual Entertainment's Robert Atkins that the company has a strong desire to create a sequel to SiN, its first-person shooter that was released on the Mac late last year. "...right now, we are focused on obligations for EA, which keeps SiN2 on the backburner," replied Atkins. "As soon as we have the bandwidth, Ritual will make SiN2 happen."

RC: New Rune Skins

02/02, 5:59pm

RC: New Rune Skins

Rune Center has posted three new skins -- Tiger King, Conan and Cloud 9 -- for Human Head Studios' third-person 3D action game, Rune.

WarCraft novel expected next week

02/02, 5:52pm

WarCraft novel expected next week

WarCraft #1: Day of the Dragon, a novel by New York Times bestseller Richard Knaak, is expected to debut next week. The novel is set in the WarCraft universe and is based on characters and locations first introduced by Blizzard Entertainment in its WarCraft game series.

Apple quietly drops 500MHz Cube price

02/02, 5:37pm

Apple quietly drops 500MHz Cube price

As noted in our forums yesterday, the Apple Store has quietly dropped the price on the 500-MHz G4 Cube by $300 to $1999 (128MB/30GB) and has added a high-end configuration, which includes 256MB of RAM, a 40GB drive, and an ATI Radeon Graphics card for $2399.

WWII Online Development Update

02/02, 5:29pm

WWII Online Development Update

World War II Online HQ has posted a brief update on the development of World War II Online, a massively multiplayer online war combat game. "The confidence here is high, and we thought the end of the month [for a public beta] was no problem, but alas, integration of the strat system, the mission system, and map technologies have turned out to be quite a bite," says Cornered Rat Software's "Mo". "Riding in trucks is done, as is towing vehicles and a large maturity pass on the FPS. But the biggies mentioned above are very complex, and as such, have more quirks and places to break."

OS 9.1 Patch for The Sims coming

02/02, 3:55pm

OS 9.1 Patch for The Sims coming

A reader notified us that Aspyr Media is planning to release a patch for The Sims and The Sims: Livin' Large in the next couple of weeks to address an issue with rendering black and white pixels after a user upgrades to OS 9.1.

Diablo II 1.05b Released

02/02, 3:10pm

Diablo II 1.05b Released

Blizzard Entertainment has released Diablo II 1.05b, a second update to the phenomenally popular role-playing/action hybrid Diablo II updated just earlier this week. The new version fixes a video driver crash encountered when displaying graphics in the Battle.net chat room, copy-protection for various CD, DVD and CD-R drives, a problem where character avatars were left in the list after that character had left a channel and several visual glitches with the character select screen. The patch, which includes all of the changes made in 1.05, is available both as a download and an auto-update by logging in to Battle.net.

Giants Interview with Ken Capelli

02/02, 3:04pm

Giants Interview with Ken Capelli

The Corporation has published an interview with Planet Moon Studios' Ken Capelli, Lead Artist on Giants: Citizen Kabuto. Ken comments on the game's unmistakable bright look as opposed to the dark themes of many other games. "The first time I saw giants I was like "holy-! what the-! all the color, mine eyes... hey, wait, that's pretty."

R2 update to Quicken 2001 available

02/02, 2:50pm

R2 update to Quicken 2001 available

Stephen Williams reports that Intuit has released an R2 update to Quicken 2001 :"I updated my copy of Quicken 2001 and it didn't fix a problem I have had since upgrading to MacOS 9.1 where the Online Banking option runs very slow, it still works but takes several seconds to complete each task after hitting the 'Get Online Data' button where under 9.04 it ran fine."

GA-RPG: Rob Bartel Interview

02/02, 2:31pm

GA-RPG: Rob Bartel Interview

A brief Q&A with Bioware's Rob Bartel, Lead Designer on the company's cross-platform 3D role-playing game Neverwinter Nights, is up today at GA-RPG. The Q&A begins by asking Rob about the current status of the title:

As for where we’re at right now, the system itself is almost in place. We have a graphics engine, we have most of the underlying system in place for a rules engine, we have a solid networking layer, our interface is becoming increasingly present and functional, the basic art content is almost complete, and the Neverwinter Toolset will soon reach a point where the Design Team can start making final game content.

Custer's Corner completes Oni Week

02/02, 1:40pm

Custer's Corner completes Oni Week

Custer's Corner has been updated with the final two desktops in its Oni Week, "Knockout" and "Virtual Reality", completing a full week's worth of desktops celebrating the release of Bungie's third-person 3D action game.

Games Forum: UT Tweaks, Optimizing Diablo II

02/02, 1:35pm

Games Forum: UT Tweaks, Optimizing Diablo II

Hot topics in our Mac Games forum include tweaking Unreal Tournament for the best possible performance, getting an Nvidia GeForce2 MX to work properly with Rune and tips for optimizing performance in Diablo II.

Roundup: WarCraft III release date and more

02/02, 1:30pm

Roundup: WarCraft III release date and more

Yesterday Dark Shadow Software announced that Star Conquest is in the final stages of beta testing and preparing for release, new details emerged on the expansion pack Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos was reduced to four playable races with the Mac version now expected in early 2002. We published a review of Rogue Spear, the tactical, SWAT team-based first-person shooter sequel to the award-winning Rainbow Six, and Custer's Corner was updated with a new desktop picture featuring Oni, "Dark Future".

Q3:A Eternal Arena 3.7 Released

02/02, 1:03pm

Q3:A Eternal Arena 3.7 Released

Eternal Arena 3.7 is the new version of the mod for Quake III: Arena which combines a variety of different features from other mods. Version 3.7 adds a new Pain Factor game mode, a guided rockets toggle in rocket duel, more blood and gibs, a new spectator camera and other gameplay tweaks and bug fixes.

X-Plane 5.60 Beta 4

02/02, 12:47pm

X-Plane 5.60 Beta 4

Laminar Research has released X-Plane 5.60 Beta 4, a new version of its professional-level flight sim for the Mac. The new version includes a different aircraft directory structure, further propwash/downwash improvements, a fix for a rare runway light bug, new city textures, further reduction to the RAM requirements and more.

Mac Summoner web site opens

02/02, 12:39pm

Mac Summoner web site opens

Graphic Simulations Corporation has opened the official web site for the Mac version of Summoner, the 3D role-playing game from Volition. "[Summoner's multiplayer is] a party-based hack-and-slash-type mode. The players can travel from level to level, killing monsters and collecting items and experience. There will also be relatively short quests they can perform. There won't be an encompassing storyline for multiplayer, however."

Blizzard co-founders interview

02/02, 12:34pm

Blizzard co-founders interview

pc.ign.com has published an interview with Blizzard Entertainment's three co-founders, Allen Adham (chairman), Michael Morhaime (president) and Frank Pearce (company director and Warcraft III team lead) about "Blizzard's ten-year history and what the next decade holds in store for the game development juggernaut." "I'd also like to see Blizzard Entertainment become more widely known to people outside hardcore gaming circles," says President Michael Morhaime. "Maybe we will even prove that a feature film based on a game license doesn't have to be bad."

WarCraft III Fan Site Chat

02/02, 12:25pm

WarCraft III Fan Site Chat

WarCraftIII.Net has posted a log from the most recent Blizzard fan site chat concerning its role-playing strategy game for the Mac and PC, WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos. "Yes, we are intending to provide support for recording and playing back games. We feel that there is so much to be learned from watching great games and players that a record feature is well worth the effort to include."

Oni Key Configuration Utility

02/02, 12:12pm

Oni Key Configuration Utility

Oni Central has debuted a Key Configuration Utility online which allows players to easily customize the keys for Bungie's third-person 3D action game, Oni. The web form outputs your desired key configuration as text which you can then save as key_config.txt and place in your Oni folder.

Interview with Epic's Steidling

02/02, 11:57am

Interview with Epic's Steidling

German site Macolodeon has published an interview (available in German and English) with Epic Interactive's Thomas Steidling on the company's debut releases for the Mac, Earth 2140 and Simon the Sorcerer II. Steidling also reveals that the sequels to each title, Earth 2150 and Simon the Sorcerer 3D, will be released on the Mac by the end of the year. In addition, the company is preparing to announce an additional adventure game and real-time strategy game for the Mac.

New Myst III: Exile release date

02/02, 11:56am

New Myst III: Exile release date

The official web site for Myst III: Exile has been updated with word that the title's worldwide release date has been delayed one week to April 16. A DVD Collector's Edition will be made available in Q3 2001 with the inclusion of a 22-minute "Making of Myst III: Exile" movie included, among other things.

New Majesty Quest Released

02/02, 11:42am

New Majesty Quest Released

Cyberlore Studios has released a new quest for the Mac version of Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, The Wrath of Krolm. Once installed, the challenging quest can be accessed from the silver compass rose in the low left-hand corner of the Quest Selection Map.

Tech: virtual supercomputer, 1GHz Crusoe

02/02, 11:35am

Tech: virtual supercomputer, 1GHz Crusoe

Afternoon tech news: Internet provider Juno will underwrite its struggling free service by requiring subscribers to leave their computer on all day as part of a plan to create a "virtual supercomputer" that will utilize unused microprocessing cycles and hard drive space and sell it to research institutions and corporations that require intensive computation power; Transmeta later this year will launch 1-GHz Crusoe microprocessors that offer similar battery life and power-consumption capabilities as its predecessors; and Intel is funding a $24 million Open Source Development Lab where developers can gain access to enterprise class Intel hardware just west of Portland, Ore.

iMac DV+ 'temporarily unavailable' at Apple

02/02, 10:12am

iMac DV+ 'temporarily unavailable' at Apple

Matt Van Drie notes that the iMac DV+ is listed as "temporarily unavailable" at the Apple Store. Meanwhile, Apple is running a promotion for education customers through March 24th, offering $500 savings on purchases of a 10-pack of the Indigo 350 MHz iMac and $1,000 savings on purchases of a 10-pack of 400 MHz Ruby or Indigo (Apple's choice) iMac DV. [updated]

IBM unveils "fastest hard drive"

02/02, 10:09am

IBM unveils "fastest hard drive"

IBM yesterday unveiled its Ultrastar 36Z15 drive, which matches the 15,000 rpm speed of Seagate's fastest models, but offers better seek times. Seagate, however, claims that it will soon leapfrong IBM: "By the time that IBM actually steps into the ring and starts shipping these drives, we'll have introduced our next-generation product, and we'll be back on top in terms of the specs they've quoted."

ID3 tag editor updated

02/02, 9:30am

ID3 tag editor updated

Three-2-One has released ID3X 1.2, a freeware editor for manipulation of ID3 tags in MP3 music files. This version fixes numerous bugs and offers easier handling and better performance.

OneApp Slide Show updated to 5.6.6

02/02, 9:30am

OneApp Slide Show updated to 5.6.6

OneApp Slide Show 5.6.6 is a minor update to the $25 shareware slide show and presentation application for Mac. This version improves the soundtrack stability and adds a Slide Show Problems Message Board.

Tech: Corel earnings, privacy concerns

02/02, 9:25am

Tech: Corel earnings, privacy concerns

Morning tech news: Corel reported a net loss of $8.6 million for its fourth quarter on revenue that came in under analyst expectations; the Congressional Privacy Caucus is looking to ban some internet tracking techniques; and privacy group Truste is keeping a close eye on Disney's sale of its Go.com portal to make sure customer rights are not violated.

Pixelpalooza public voting begins

02/02, 8:25am

Pixelpalooza public voting begins

Pixelpalooza, which received more than 125 icon set submissions before the entry deadline yesterday, has begun public voting for the best icon sets in each of the contest's four categories.

Apple offers OS X PB buyers $30 coupon

02/02, 8:15am

Apple offers OS X PB buyers $30 coupon

Some more details are emerging on Apple's $30-off coupon for Mac OS X Public Beta purchases, which reads: "Thank you for being one of the pioneers who beta tested Mac OS X. Your feedback has helped make Mac OS X the world's most advanced operating system. To show our appreciation, we are offering you a $30 discount on the final version of Mac OS X." We have a few more details...

Tog's top 10 reasons why the dock "sucks"

02/02, 8:15am

Tog's top 10 reasons why the dock "sucks"

Bruce Tognazzini, founder of Apple's Human Interface Group and noted authority on interfaces, has published his "top ten reasons the Apple dock [still] sucks" and offers insight on what should be done to correct it. (For more OS X news, see osx.macnn.com)

Apple legal takes on OS X skins

02/02, 8:15am

Apple legal takes on OS X skins

Apple is putting legal pressure on Windows skinning-environment Stardock as a result of its Aqua-like DesktopX theme, according to The Register. Apple is reportedly demanding that not only the theme be removed, but that all traces of its existence, including screenshots, be pulled down as well.

Upside: Apple should abandon the PowerPC

02/02, 8:15am

Upside: Apple should abandon the PowerPC

An Upside article proposes the consolidation of the PC industry and mentions that Apple should abandon the PowerPC architecture in favor of Intel, although without any further explanation or supportive evidence. The article also suggests that IBM abandon the PC business, Dell buy out Gateway, and HP take over Compaq.

Morse Mania 1.9.6 adds minor improvments

02/02, 8:10am

Morse Mania 1.9.6 adds minor improvments

Black Cat Systems has released Morse Mania 1.9.6, a $20 shareware Morse code tutor for Macintosh. This version adds improvements to its ability to convert text files into morse code practice sessions that you can listen to.

Games: New Myst III: Exile Release Date

02/02, 8:00am

Games: New Myst III: Exile Release Date

games.macnn.com has posted information on a 1.05b patch for Diablo II, more information on WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos and a new release date for Myst III: Exile. Custer's Corner completed its Oni Week with two new desktop pictures featuring Bungie's third-person 3D action game. [updated]

Roundup: Analyst recap, DVD Studio Pro, OS X

02/02, 7:24am

Roundup: Analyst recap, DVD Studio Pro, OS X

Yesterday we posted a recap of Apple's analyst meeting, a review of Rogue Spear, and noted shipment of DVD Studio Pro from Apple, new Fuji digital cameras, and several OS-X related articles in the mainstream press as well as forthcoming free version of Opera for Mac later this year. Other updates included Heat Firewire Utilities 1.2, NetBarrier 2.0, and Fetch 4.0b5.