Feature

Aspyr Media talks porting games to OS X, Mac App Store & the future of Mac gaming (+ Borderlands 2 giveaway!)

Jordan Kahn

Aspyr-Borderlands2-Interview

The introduction of the Mac App Store, at least for the Mac’s biggest game publisher Aspyr Media, hasn’t been entirely smooth. Aspyr recently outlined some issues with bringing multiplayer to Mac games due to Game Center and sandboxing restrictions of the Mac App Store, and developing separate versions of games for Steam and the Mac App Store continues to be a hurdle. An example is Borderlands 2. It took Aspyr just two months to ship the Mac version, but the Game Center multiplayer won’t arrive until sometime early this year. However, executives at the company promise Apple’s enthusiasm toward gaming on Mac is stronger than ever thanks to the Mac App Store. Aspyr also said it has much planned for 2013 in Apple’s store and remains platform agnostic, despite running its own competitive GameAgent store.

9to5Mac recently had the chance to speak with Aspyr Vice President of Publishing Elizabeth Howard, with input from CEO Michael Rogers and other execs, about the process of porting games to the Mac App Store, the company’s relationship with Apple and publishers, and the possibility of bringing iOS titles to OS X.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Aspyr is one of the biggest Mac game publishers bringing PC and console titles to OS X. It regularly leads many of the top paid and grossing charts on the Mac App Store thanks to high-profile releases such as Borderlands 2, RAGE, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and much more. Go below for the full interview and a chance to win Borderlands 2 for Mac. Read more

Apple seeds OS X 10.8.3 build 12D43 to developers

Jake Smith

Screen Shot 2012-12-18 at 4.12.52 PMShortly after releasing iOS 6.0.2 to the masses this afternoon, Apple seeded build 12D43 of OS X 10.8.3 to developers. The folks in Cupertino have not listed any new features or known issues, but they asked developers to focus on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. The last pre-release build was released on Dec. 5. You can check today’s release out on the developer center, while the full release note is below:

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Apps & Updates

Carmageddon, Steam, Fring, Angry Birds Star Wars, Sonic Jump, more

Jordan Kahn

Carmageddon: Thanks to a Kickstarter project, Carmageddon makes its return today as a universal iOS app with iPhone 5 support and most of the features of the original Mac and PC title. In case you’re unfamiliar, the game was banned in many countries for its gory vehicular combat gameplay (by 1997 standards anyway). The game clearly still has a cult following and the iOS version comes with a few enhancements over the original including Game Center support, leaderboards, and customizable controls. Carmageddon is free today only to celebrate the launch and will soon increase to $2.

Steam version 1.1.0: With the latest update to Steam’s iOS app we finally get native iPhone 5 support. However, the biggest addition is the announcement all Steam account users worldwide can now access the app. Also included in version 1.1.0 is support for 25 new languages and a few fixes:

* Access via the Steam mobile app is now available to all Steam account holders
* Native support for iPhone5
* Increased robustness of Chat in unreliable network conditions
* Fixed issues with global menu rendering, notably the inability to select “Settings” after device rotation
* Support for 25 langauges
* Improved general stability

Fring version 6.0: The popular Fring messaging, calling, and video calling app gets an improved UI, better fringOut rates, iOS 6 support and 4-way group calls:

* Phone number only registration (no username/password login)
* Improved look and feel
* Even better fringOut rates
* Group calls with up to 4 users
* Improved security
* iOS 6 compatible

Sonic Jump: SEGA is releasing a new Doodle Jump-style Sonic title today. The game features familiar Sonic stages and characters, boss battles, and other elements of Sonic games, but switches to an all vertical gameplay style made popular on iOS by Doodle Jump. It’s already available in New Zealand and will hit all App Stores by midnight tonight.

Checkmark 1.1: We recently had good things to say about this new take on Apple’s Reminders app in our review. Today it gets a number of new features including recurring and snooze reminders, map improvements, and iOS 6/iPhone 5 support:

• Recurring reminders (NEW FEATURE)
• Snooze reminders (NEW FEATURE)
• Support for iOS 6 and iPhone 5
• Map improvements (Satellite/Hybrid views, Drop a pin anywhere)
• Improved radius control for locations (larger radius options, new slider UI to choose radius)

Angry Birds Star Wars lands on November 8th and Rovio just posted another teaser: Read more

OS X Game Center launches with few, yet notable, game titles

Mark Gurman

One of the big new features in OS X Mountain Lion is the Game Center. This Game Center is cross platform between OS X and iOS. Unfortunately, only a few compatible titles have made their way into Mac App Store for today’s launch. However, some of them are very notable. Some of our favorites include Real Racing 2, Sky Gamblers, and Cut the Rope.

Oh, and don’t forget about… Chess!

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Apple killing developer access to UDID in iOS 5

Seth Weintraub

As noted by TechCrunch, Apple has alerted developers in recent documentation that it is in the process of deprecating access to the uniqueidentifier alphanumeric string that is unique to each iOS device.

Apple recommends developers create a UDID specific to apps.

Obviously,  UDIDs were a security threat as marketers and advertisers (and worse) could follow your usage patterns and gather data through different apps.

Apple likely will continue to use the UDID for its iAds, GameCenter, subscriptions and other services it offers across iOS devices, or so one industry CEO thinks:

 “I guarantee Apple will not stop using UDID,” predicts one mobile industry CEO. If Apple does continue to use UDID for itself but denies it to developers that would be an “extremely lopsided change.” It would give Game Center and iAds yet one more advantage over competing third-party services.”

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