X3: Reunion sports new 3D engine, uses Cider

With the help of TransGamings' Cider portability engine, Virtual Programming has brought X3: Reunion, the 3D space strategy/adventure game to Intel-based Macs. The sequel to X2: The Threat, X3: The Reunion introduces new 3D engine as well as a new story, and revised gameplay. The new release makes use of DirectX 9 technology, which is possible on Intel-based Macs because the use of Cider, wich works by directly loading a Windows program into memory on an Intel-Mac and linking it to an optimized version of the Win32 APIs.

According to the developer, X3 sports hundreds of goods to trade in a universe with real economic simulation, the ability to pilot ships in dogfights or command a fleet of many ships into battle with strategic controls, and a newly simplified learning curve.

The game requires Mac OSX 10.4.8, a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo Processor or better, 512MB RAM, and ATI or NVIDIA graphics chipsets wih 128MB. It costs $40.

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