MacSoft - now we know

One of my favourite games publishers has acquired MacSoft. Destineer (AoE2, etc) will now give us PTW and the Editor and patch parity -- one hopes.

This explains all the delays and lack of updates -- perhaps we can now get some great support from a Mac-friendly parent company.

Let's hope so. I definitely have been enjoying AoE2, since Christmas (gift). This probably means AoM will be ported to the Mac. I noticed a post by Brad Oliver, over at IMG, in which he stated he'd like to work on the port. I bet he knew.

Sid, where did you hear the news? Link?

It's the lead story here:

http://www.insidemacgames.com/

Originally posted by Sid
This explains all the delays and lack of updates -- perhaps we can now get some great support from a Mac-friendly parent company.

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Bingo. It's been difficult for me to bite my tongue when I see the lashing that MacSoft has been getting. From the consumer standpoint, it's probably somewhat deserved, but knowing what kind of behind-the-scenes stuff was in play, it definitely casts things in a different light.

It's a great move all around. I don't know if some of you are aware of the history here, but Peter Tamte actually started MacSoft before they were bought out by Infogrames. It's come full-circle again, with Peter now owning MacSoft. The MacSoft guys are all a class act, at least from my business dealings with them, and my expectation is that they'll have much more freedom to do their thing now that they're out from under Infogrames. Peter has also shown a pretty good ability to sign titles for Bold (which I guess has been merged into MacSoft) - Age2, Halo, Dungeon Siege and Links come to mind. I'm pretty excited about what Peter brings to the table in terms of getting things done and running a successful Mac gaming business.

As for how this relates to PTW and Civ3, I'm guessing there are still unresolved business issues. We'll probably have to wait a little bit before we hear anything. At a minimum, I don't expect that this will make things worse.

OT spurious prediction: watch out for Brian Reynolds' Rise of Nations coming to the Mac in 2003 as Peter Tamte puts the 'macro' in his relationship with Microsoft (publishers of RoN) -- pure speculation on my part. Then we'll have to make some tough decisions every time we boot up for a game-playing session. OMG: how am I going to decide between Civ3; Neverwinter Nights; MOO3 (will MacSoft now be the publisher of the previous two?); Dungeon Siege; RoN; Halo and Ghost Recon. [Not to mention old replays of Starcraft and SMAC/X]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver

As for how this relates to PTW and Civ3, I'm guessing there are still unresolved business issues. We'll probably have to wait a little bit before we hear anything. At a minimum, I don't expect that this will make things worse.

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Uh-oh. Does this mean the editor's held up? As in just where exactly would we download it from?

Hurry up and wait, I guess.

Tenshi and I took the kids out this past tuesday to avoid the craziness of the Buccaneer's parade and party.. while we were out we saw Civ III right next to the PTW expansion module.

Can't believe it comes to this, but this is really getting frustrating... I understand things had to be kept quiet, but at least some update would have been nice.

My Mac's still out of commission until the addition is done anyway. I'm just going to go and get the PC version as well as PTW. Sorry guys, it's been fun, but I'm really tired of being the red headed stepchild in the software release world.

Grey Randall is going to the dark side!! :-«

...quick, call the apple swich team so that they could rescue him in time...

Originally posted by Grey Randall

My Mac's still out of commission until the addition is done anyway. I'm just going to go and get the PC version as well as PTW. Sorry guys, it's been fun, but I'm really tired of being the red headed stepchild in the software release world.

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Grey, think of your family! Besides, you really shouldn't make any purchases until the addition is done, right! I know Tenshi would support me on this one.

Oh, what the hell. I too have the PC version of Civ3 and PTW, using my school's toshiba laptop. Not mine, I'll have you know.

Its not about the PC, its about Civ3!

, while we're on the subject, my dad recently purchased his "dream machine," a 2.8 ghz peecee. Anyway, some of my friends let me borrow their Civ 3/PTW, just to try it out... Oooh, I just can't wait for the Mac version...

Its not about the PC, its about Civ3!

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Exactly. Please hurry with that PTW port before we lose any more people to the dark side!

It's not just over Civ... but yes, I will admit, the Editor is kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

I've been using an Apple computer in one form or another for 25 years now, and I really do think the Mac is the superior platform.

However, the software development world doesn't seem to think so. I'm getting really sick and tired of everything from graphics, database applications, peripherals, and everything else I can think of coming out either first on the PC, or exclusively for the PC. I'm tired of hurrying up and waiting. I'm tired of little or nor support from developers and vendors.
In short, I'm just tired.

Actually, it's not a matter of going over to the dark side because of Civ III for me, it's now becoming a matter of going over to PCs so I have the tools my PC using competitors have at the same time they have them. It really is a pain in the neck developing skills with application a year to two years later than your PC counterparts...especially when that experience affects whether or not I get hired, and how much my paycheck is.

Randall, I feel your pain... I'm sticking with a mac though, getting a UNIX-based OS with a great UI is so great I cant surrender that, even if that means waiting for the editor.
Concerning that, I suppose we are going to get it now... *fingers crossed*
Or maybe Brad will ship me a top-secret version at my email?
BTW, sorry to answer so late to your latest post, but I'm at university during the week and those stupid X-terminals running Netscape 4.7 cannot render civfanatic's webpages! I managed to read your reply in the source code, but had no way to reply...

Originally posted by Kinniken
Or maybe Brad will ship me a top-secret version at my email?

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Given that the Big MacSoft Secret is out of the bag, I'll see what I can do about getting it posted somewhere until things get sorted out. If I do that, it'll probably be sans documentation and with the caveat that if you contact MacSoft support about it, they'll probably be confused and ignore you.

Originally posted by Brad Oliver


Given that the Big MacSoft Secret is out of the bag, I'll see what I can do about getting it posted somewhere until things get sorted out. If I do that, it'll probably be sans documentation and with the caveat that if you contact MacSoft support about it, they'll probably be confused and ignore you.

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Am I reading what I am reading?

Brad,

That would be awesome!

Now, if we say PLEEEEEEEAZE!!!!!!!!!!! really loud and hard, do we have any hope of the PTW port?

JP

Originally posted by Brad Oliver
...If I do that...

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You will be canonized and children will sing your name in all the lands of the realm. Would you like your statue in bronze or marble?

Originally posted by Brad Oliver
Given that the Big MacSoft Secret is out of the bag, I'll see what I can do about getting it posted somewhere until things get sorted out. If I do that, it'll probably be sans documentation and with the caveat that if you contact MacSoft support about it, they'll probably be confused and ignore you.

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That would be wonderful if you could arrange it. I won't engage in hyperbole and offer to kiss your feet or anything like that, but I would certainly be extremely appreciative!

Brad, if you need a dot.Mac Public iDisk, let me know. [Yeah, I used a girlfriend's credit card to sign up for one more year]

s_starr@mac.com

Just... Just upload a large movie file of your dog or something, if you know what I mean.

Jeez, I thought it sad microsoft, not macsoft.