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

Apps & Updates

Chrome gets background audio, Google+ 4.0, The Witcher 2 for Mac, GoPro App, Slashtop for Business, Rovio 99 cent sale, more

Jordan Kahn

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kinds Enhanced Edition (for Mac): Developers of critically acclaimed RPG The Witcher 2, originally released on PC and consoles, announced that an OS X port of the game is now available on the Mac App Store for $20.

The Witcher 2 is one of the most sophisticated games ever presented on Mac computers. Prepare to test out the gaming potential of the new iMacs in one of the best looking games for Apple’s computers. We have prepared a special app to test the game’s performance before players can buy it. To check it out just click here

Chrome version 23.0.1271.96: Google has updated its Chrome iOS app today with one highly requested feature- the ability to play sound when the app is running in the background. That means content with sound that you are playing in the browser, such as a YouTube video or mp3, would continue play when multitasking. The update also includes a fix for a character encoding bug.

-Allow sound to play when app is backgrounded.
-Fix character encoding bug.

GoPro App version 1.1.13: GoPro has updated its iOS app to include support for features exclusive to the HERO3 camera lineup.

-Supports features in HERO3 cameras

Wreck-it Ralph version 1.1:

NEW ARRIVALS IN GAME CENTRAL STATION!
• Turbo Time is here! Enter the race for gold, and drive at turbo speed in this all-new arcade racer!
• New achievements are in! Earn new achievements for Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero’s Duty, Sweet Climber, and Turbo Time.
• Added language support for Dutch and Russian

Splashtop for business version 2.2.0.1:  Read more

Apps & Updates

Adobe Lightroom 4.3 update includes Retina, bugfixes and support for lots of new cameras/lenses

Seth Weintraub

Adobe last night updated its Photoshop Lightroom photo manipulation and organization Mac application to 4.3, which includes support for Retina display, a ton of bugfixes (documented below), and support for new cameras. A beta with partial Retina support was released last month.

If you installed Lightroom from the Mac App Store, here’s your link. Otherwise, head over to Adobe.

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Apps & Updates

Clear, Pinterest, Jingu Friends, Square Wallet, Fantastical for iPhone, iDisplay, more

Jordan Kahn

News:

Pay with Square at Starbucks: We already knew Starbucks was signed up to bring Square payments to 7,000 of its stores via the newly renamed “Square Wallet” app. Starbucks just confirmed in a press release that starting today it will officially begin accepting Square payments via a scanned QR.

Fantastical for iPhone: Those familiar with the Mac OS X desktop version of the Fantastical app will be pleased to know developers Flexbits have announced an iPhone version is in the works and coming soon. The Mac version is a slick, menu bar item calendar app for access to reminders and calendar functions, but also has support for iCal, BusyCal, Entourage, Outlook, iCloud, Google Calendar or Yahoo! Calendar. You can sign up to find out when it becomes available here.

New app releases:

Clear for Mac: We knew it was coming and today the Mac App Store version of the popular Clear to do app for iPhone officially makes its way to the Mac.

Jingu Friends:Originally available as a BlackBerry app with more than a million downloads since May 2011 and 3.5 million messages sent monthly, the developers of the Jingu Friends app have released an iOS version of the app today on the App Store. The app allows you to discover new people to chat with through a lounge environment that “immediately drops you into a global conversation stream where you can listen or participate.” From there you can find out more about the messaging apps participants use:

All messages posted on Jingu Friends are public, but users can take their conversations private through seamless integration into smartphone messaging apps like BBM, Hookt, WhatsApp and Kik.

Dragon’s Lair: The classic arcade game already made its way to iPhone and iPad earlier this year, and now the Mac version is available on the Mac App Store for $9.99 now.

FreshBooks for iPad: FreshBooks is coming to the iPad today with version 1.1 introducing a universal app that now supports both iPhone and iPad.

FreshBooks – The Fastest Way To Track Time, Organize Expenses & Invoice Your Clients, Anytime, Anywhere.

Updates: 

Pinterest version 2.1: Pinterest is introducing a new feature today that allows users to create up to three secret boards to share with friends and family. In a blog post, Pinterest explained how to use the new feature: “go to your profile, tap on the Boards tab, and scroll down to the bottom until you see a button that says Create a Secret Board.”

• Block or report other users
• Create up to 3 secret boards
• Edit boards from your device

Clear version 1.2: Clear for iPhone gets a big update today that brings iCloud support, the ability to share quotes on Twitter and Facebook, quick list switching, and more: Read more

Apps & Updates

GTA: Vice City for iOS, Tweetbot, Hipchat, Instamac, 99 cent deals, more

Jordan Kahn

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City: Rockstar Games announced on its blog today that Grand Theft Auto Vice City’s will officially make its way to iOS in celebration of the title’s 10th anniversary. Rockstar is promising a release this fall and more details in the weeks to come:

In conjunction with the anniversary, we’re pleased to announce that we’ll be releasing an Anniversary Edition of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for select iOS and Android devices later this fall. This upcoming version will bring the full experience to mobile devices, featuring native high-resolution graphics and several enhancements unique to the iOS and Android platforms. Stay tuned for more details in the weeks ahead including a list of compatible iOS and Android devices.

Tweetbot version 2.6: 

-Support for Twitter’s new header image
-Ability to create custom locations
-Various other fixes and improvements

Instamac: Released on the Mac App Store today, Instamac is a streamlined Instagram client for Mac that is currently selling for 99 cents. We’ve been playing with it and have nothing but positive first impressions. It will go up to $4.99 after 24 hours, so we suggest picking it up now.

HipChat version 1.8: 9to5′s favorite group chat app gets a big update today with iPhone 5 support:

* Lots of performance improvements, especially for large groups
* iPhone 5 support
* Fix edit mode for Active Chats
* Start app on Active Chats display instead of Lobby
* Clear password on signout
* Mark users as away when they background the app (ensure notifications get sent when app is not visible)
* Keep reconnect banner displaying until app reconnects (even when switching views)

American Express version 3.1.0:

-Get fraud warnings, account alerts and credit-related notices delivered to your mobile device.

Evernote 5 for Mac: Evernote is teasing the latest version of its Mac app today that boasts over 100 new features (via MacStories). A video introduction of the redesigned app is below: Read more

Apps & Updates

TweetDeck, Calendars by Readdle, Recall, Ustream, Yelp, more

Jordan Kahn

TweetDeck version 2.0.0: Popular Mac App Store Twitter client TweetDeck gets a big update today that brings a revamped UI with “Improved clarity of columns and Tweets”, the ability to change font sizes, and redesigned profile panels with images. The updated app, which includes a toggle to switch between the classic dark and a new light view (pictured above), also now allows unfollow, block, and report spam actions to function for tweets in all columns. Features of new app are highlighted in a blog post on the TweetDeck blog, and the full release notes from iTunes are below:

• Redesigned UI
• Improved clarity of columns and Tweets
• New option to choose the app colour – dark or light
• Ability to change font size under Settings > General
• Redesigned & improved profile panel, including profile header images
• Unfollow, Block & Report spam actions now remove tweets from all columns
• Popup windows can now be repositioned using drag handle in top-left corner
• Repeated retweets are no longer displayed in Timeline columns
• Reduced the volume of the notification sound
• Tweet actions now available on Tweets in the Add Column menu
• $Tags are now linkified
• Fixed some display issues with Growl notifications
• Plus lots of other fixes and smaller updates

Calendars by Readdle: Readdle is re-launching its Calendars app that it calls the “most elegant and easy to use Google Calendar client available on the AppStore.” In other words, the app is now fully iPhone 5, and iOS 6 compatibility, fixing a crash some of the app’s 400k users had been experiencing.

Snapseed version 1.4.2:

-Snapseed now supports iOS 6 and the iPhone 5

-Flickr Support has been temporarily disabled due to a violation of the Apple App Store Guidelines. We are working with Flickr and Apple to find a solution to bring Flickr support back to Snapseed. 

Recall: Launching today in the App Store, Recall is an interesting new app that allows you to store and get notifications for recommendations you have received for movies, music, apps, books etc. For example, you can search for and save movies to a “My Items” list, allowing you to receive notifications when a specific movie is released. The idea is to save items as people recommend them to you, so in the future the app will act as a quick way to recall those recommendations and get notified of availability. It will also allow you to share recommendations with other Recall users via email and social networks, as well as browse new releases and top charts. The app essentially works as a wish list for iTunes content and new movies with built-in reminders and sharing, features the App Store and iTunes on iOS are currently missing. A promo video for the app is below:

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