Debut of the Best Mac Game Ever

Ten years ago the best game ever released for the Mac, Myth II Soulblighter, came out of the award-winning Bungie game development house (birthers of such titles as Marathon and Halo). It also was released for PCs, and in fact I played Myth III on one, but never tried II on a PC for comparison.

Myth II kept me playing for well over a year, during which I’d sometimes be found dragging my 35-pound “Bondi” iMac 233 home from work to play at night. I’ve revisited the game several times, as it’s been updated (by an unpaid support community) to work on Mac OS X, and even the Linux operating system. If 3rd-party support is a measure of how much a game is liked, this game was loved. I’ve played it on five successive Macs now, installing it as the feeling strikes at some point on each of the Macs. It was that good.

The engine could be used to “skin” your own games, and a WWII Mod was released for the game. I played that back in 2000 and found it to be pretty damn good, though not as fun as regular Myth II.

Gameplay

It was a “real time strategy” game with a strong anime influence, really really outstanding small touches, and a surprising sense of humor. It was a joy to learn, to play, and to play (with and against) others over the (sadly, gone) Bungie Net Myth network. It was extremely “environmental”, meaning the sounds, characters, and graphic details made you feel like you were there. Rain, snow, semi-transparent fog, it was all there.

The gameplay was superb, the graphics were cutting edge… even the tutorial and cutscenes were enjoyable to the point I’d play them for folks who stopped by, with or without their consent. The view/camera was controlled by your left hand via the keyboard, and character actions were done with the mouse (and some keyboard). You could pan, zoom and orbit the camera, and the terrain was fully 3D, making high ground very tactically valuable.

Because the camera control was so granular and smooth, you could really take advantage of your terrain and characters’ abilities. Best of all was the fact that the developers infused a real sense of humor into the game, but one that didn’t get in the way of gaming.

Cinematic Video Compilation

Messing Around

It was — and I’m sorry if the term is overused — a work of art. If you’d like to get into it, I’m sure copies can’t be more than $5 on eBay. It might even be free… I have no idea. Use this to get your bearings because the game won’t install on OS X right out the box. But the install tool you’ll find on that site makes it simple.

For those wondering, I never played Myth I, and found Myth III “The Wolf Age” to have none of the charm of Soulblighter. It was too dark, visually, and lacked the sheer enjoyment that Soulblighter had.

I haven’t fired it up for a year now; it’s about ti…

I think that’s more of a statement than a question these days. Vista is, at best, seeing lukewarm reception in the OS marketplace. And the Zune? Hmmm. Not much to say about that. Microsoft has seen a string of music services go down in flames to Apple’s iTunes Store and iPod juggernaut.

So how about that core?

If Microsoft resolves all those concerns, no one (including the Open Document Format camp) will have a problem with it. Microsoft doesn’t seem to grok that true openness breeds trust. If it were submitting a truly open standard, it wouldn’t matter what anyone thought of the company submitting it.

It looks like Microsoft’s days of rolling over opposition with a superior lobbying budget and the lack of clear alternatives is over. It might actually have to play nicely now with the other children. Imagine that.

To me the question isn’t so much is the core business fading, but rather can its new businesses and related services like Xbox make up the difference? If Microsoft can iron out significant manufacturing problems with the Xbox 360, and keep its (very) healthy share of the server and corporate desktop markets, it’ll be ok for the next half decade. If not, watch out.

Thanks to GamePolitics.com we are now privy to the knowledge that Bill O’Reilly thinks that PS3, Xbox and iPod use contributes to the downfall of the United States.

If the overblown FOX hack lunatic had any credibility to lose, he lost it with this:

I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life – the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America… did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there.

Note to O’Reilly: your premium content pay site offers podcasts for download.

My buddy at work is a Sony fanatic, and he’s always on the very positive end of the Outcome Possibility Curve™ for the PS3, so I’ve been keeping an eye on news to get a balanced scoop.

I’ve been guessing — even with the news (see below) — that Sony’s replacement to the wildly popular PS2 game console would come in close to Xbox price. I think Sony knows a $600 price tag would be a disaster, especially with the next Nintendo device already slated to appear under Xbox’s price.

At first the PS3 was certain to debut just after Xmas 2005, six months ago. But you know how these things are: delicate balances between expectations, features, and competitor intimidation.

Then it was Spring 2006. Then about two weeks ago I read a September 2006 launch was likely. Now news that the launch may be as far away as 2007 in the US.

Let’s look back at the current Xbox’s development for a minute. With this latetes PS3 delay news firmly in our data buffers, it’s clear one thing that MS did right was learn from their experience developing software. To get out Xbox II (”Xbox 360″), they knew they could fart around (add features) or they could get it out before PS3. They got down to business and got the thing out, hitting the Xmas 2005 target even.

Farting around would have probably seen a next-gen HD DVD drive incorporated into the 360, and would have seen it match the PS3 in horsepower, for bragging rights if nothing else. Also, MS passed up matching PS3’s 1080p video signal, settling for 1080i.

IMHO Sony’s plan to cram in a little bit more into their console than their competitor was risky. Hindsight is 20-20, but adding an unreleased technology — like say something as massive as The Next Home Movie Format — should set off alarm bells in anyone’s head. Now, it looks as if that decision could really hurt Sony because it’s still changing.

Big players in the arena are still making changes in the anti-backup OOOPS I mean anti-piracy used in Blu-ray

All MS’s non-farting around worked. I think the team was focused, and the results are tangible.

A bird in the hand…