[4:00 PM] Mac Gaming News: The Sims Heads Into Final Beta Testing & RUNE For Mac Is Official
by Cory Harrison
The Sims Goes into Beta Testing
Over the weekend, Westlake Interactive made a big announcement that The Sims, a popular "life building" game where you create and shape people according to your idea, has gone into the Beta stage. Want to sleep with the neighbors wife? Go ahead. Want to be a grocer? So be it.... See what it is like to have kids.... Be a cat burgler.... The open flexibility to this title on the PC has had people shouting from rooftops that this will be game of the year. According to Westlake Interactive:
The Sims for Mac is now in Beta testing (please no gamers asking to test!). We're rapidly finishing the project, with our goal to have it ready for MacWorld New York. So far it has been testing well, and a few optimizations in the last week have really sped up gameplay.
Mac users can expect to see The Sims on store shelves very shortly if everything goes well at Westlake. You can read a review of The Sims at GamerSyndicate.
RUNE for Macintosh Official
Westlake Interactive and Human Head Studios of God Games announced their latest title to be ported over to the Macintosh. RUNE is a game built on an advanced Unreal engine that is a "heroic fantasy action" game based on Viking Mythology. Slated for a late fall release on the PC version, Mac gamers can expect to play this title shortly after... Maybe by Christmas. According to Westlake Interactive:
Westlake is pleased to be able to officially announce a new project, Rune. Rune is an intense 3D action game developed by Human Head Studios and published by Gathering of Developers. Rune uses the Unreal Tournament engine, so it will have stunning graphics and action, and is based on a Viking world created from Norse mythology.
Rune Mac is scheduled to be released right around the time the Windows version ships in the Fall of 2000.
