News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
News, Reviews and more from Australia's Macintosh Authority
Do have any unidentified tracks in your iTunes collection? How about mislabeled albums? Tune Up can help. Tune Up is a why-didn’t-I-think-of-it-first iTunes add-on that cleans up your iTunes library by identifying missing information in your iTunes library.
Chris Holt | Feb 15, 2010
You’ll spend a lot of time in Dragon Age: Origins covered in blood. Your characters, as one later acknowledges, engage in regular slaughter and mayhem. So you’ll have to endure watching your player-created character and his party members engage in important conversations while covered in buckets of blood. It’s morbid, a bit humorous, but quickly establishes the tone of this dark fantasy role playing game.
Chris Holt | Feb 9, 2010
I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t review every Sims 3 expansion pack that comes out. The Sims, as a money-making enterprise, is brilliant. An addictive simulator with millions in sales that comes out with seemingly quarterly expansion packs for people to gobble up. As a gaming experience, the new stuff and new jobs that are available through the expansion packs usually don’t change the fundamental gameplay of the original release. Thus, my trepidation on reviewing a Sims expansion. That said, World Adventures' promise of exciting new locales to investigate was just enough to get my hopes up.
Chris Holt | Jan 11, 2010
“I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?” So begins the player’s descent into the underwater dystopia of Rapture, an art deco world choking with Ayn Randian political philosophy and steam-punk scientific wizardry. Bioshock was the breakout first-person shooter of 2007 and has become arguably the most anticipated port to come to the Mac platform this year.
Chris Holt | Dec 16, 2009
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning doesn’t give you a pony to ride. When you first enter the game, you won’t be greeted by a smiling, reassuring Elven woman who will tell you that you are the chosen one. You won’t get a chance to frolic in the meadows of your pristine home, allowed to playfully learn to fight.
Chris Holt | Nov 19, 2009
The climactic final chapter to the X Universe saga arrived on the Mac this month with the release of X3: Terran Conflict for the Mac by Virtual Programming. In this expansive single-player space exploration and combat simulator, players take on exciting missions, develop trade networks, and engage in epic battles to gain supremacy of the galaxy.
Chris Holt | Oct 22, 2009
Western Digital announced Tuesday the launch of its new WD TV Live HD Media Player. The WD TV Live is an upgrade over the previous WD TV model, now adding Ethernet connectivity and digital theatre sound to its extensive features. Available now for $US149.99 ($A179), the WD TV Live hopes to transform your television into a home media hub.
Chris Holt | Oct 14, 2009
It’s finally time to enter a world where undersea cities bloom, where gene splicing is a reality, where staggering technology and a promising utopia spiral into a hellish nightmare world. It’s time to enter Rapture. Because in two weeks, Feral Interactive will bring Bioshock to the Mac.
Chris Holt | Sep 25, 2009
If you’ve always thought that despite the allure and wonder of previous Star Wars games, you didn’t get to blow up enough things or really tap into the dark side of the Force enough to satisfy your darker, destructive urges—stop whining. Sith Lords don’t whine.
Chris Holt | Sep 7, 2009
Finally combining my love of gardening and my need to slaughter the undead, Plants vs. Zombies is a unique tower defense game from PopCap Games.
Chris Holt | Jul 28, 2009
Designed for release on the same day as the movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the latest in the series of adventure games based on the Happy Potter books by J.K. Rowling and their movie equivalents. Originally slated for released last Fall, both the movie and the game were delayed by several months. This extra time seems to have served the game well and makes Half-Blood Prince arguably the best of the series to date. Unfortunately, young Mr. Potter's games still fail to capture the magic and wonder of their source material.
Chris Holt | Jul 27, 2009
For some, a roomy amount of storage space at an affordable price is top priority in a hard drive-you don’t care if a hard drive looks functional but not stylish. If this is the case, Western Digital’s My Book Mac Edition fits the bill. The My Book Mac Edition is bulky but offers faster-than-expected USB connectivity.
Chris Holt | Jul 27, 2009
This morning Apple released a new version of its iPhone SDK for developers. iPhone SDK beta 2 includes Interface Builder, a component of Apple’s development tools that lets developers create the interface for their applications. That seems to be the only major change in the latest build, according to the SDK’s read me, which continues to list some known issues. Apple says “this second beta is known to be incompatible with installation folders other than the default /Developer.” Given the importance of UI on the Mac, Interface Builder is a pretty critical tool in the development process, and some developers had chosen to hold off on their efforts until the SDK was revised. Apple unveiled the iPhone SDK at a special event earlier this month, allowing developers to begin building applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Several high-profile companies have already jumped onboard, demoing their applications at the event. Highlighting the demos was AOL with a native AIM client; other applications from Electronic Arts, Salesforce.com, and Apple were also shown.
