RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Reaches Beta

Aspyr Media on Thursday announced that RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 has reached the Beta stage of development. The first in the RollerCoaster Tycoon series to come to the Mac, the third iteration brings 3D graphics to the world of amusement park creation and management, enabling player to ride the roller coasters and other amusements from the point-of-view of their patrons.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 features over 170 rides, including several new types of roller coasters, day and night cycles complete with realistic lighting effects and Fireworks MixMaster, which enables players to create fireworks displays for their theme parks and synchronize them to music. In addition, players can capture still images and digital video of their parks in action, much like they can in Aspyris The Sims 2.

Other features in the game include five types of theme parks -- generic, spooky, western, adventure and sci-fi -- as well as animated individual child, teen and adult park attendees who register their likes and dislikes. Players can even create visitors based on family members and friends and add them to the crowds. Sandbox mode gives players unlimited funds to build the theme park of their dreams while Career mode challenges them to achieve the title of Tycoon.

Aspyr expects to ship RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 in November for US$49.99. System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.3.9, a 1GHz G4 or G5 processor (1.2GHz recommended), 256MB RAM (512MB recommended), 2GB free hard drive space, 32MB Video RAM (Radeon 9000 or GeForce FX5200 or better) and a DVD drive.


One of the many rides in the game