A: This is a thorny question. The President of Westlake, Phil Sulak, has been quoted by Macteens as saying that:
While we don't have any plans to release Mac-based tools, the Mac version of Halo should be fully compatible with the Mods released by the PC Halo community.
However, shortly thereafter, Peter Tamte of Destineer Studios / MacSoft, who are publishing Mac Halo, said the following:
A: PC Halo does not have bots in its initial release form, although it is conceivable that a post-release patch could support them. Gearbox has on staff programmers responsible for bot support in several other games. It is not yet known if Westlake Interactive would attempt to port a bot multiplayer patch if Gearbox could produce one.
A: Xbox Halo supported 5.1 surround sound because the Xbox hardware itself supported it. PC Halo supports Creative 5.1 surround. The Macintosh G5 has support for 5.1 surround, and there are external boxes that can provide such support for other Macintoshes. It is not yet known if Mac Halo will support 5.1 surround.
A: Xbox Halo supported a split-screen-only, two-player-only, one-Xbox-only cooperative play mode that, while quite a lot of fun, was a relatively late addition to the game. It was decided during the development of the PC port not to create a splitscreen cooperative mode for PC Halo, as this would not match the expectations of most PC gamers. Gearbox intends to attempt adding a networkable cooperative mode to the game, but not prior to the initial release.
A: Xbox Halo shipped on one DVD. PC Halo, it has been announced, will ship on one CD. It is expected that Mac Halo will ship on one CD as well. It is not known if there will be a simultaneous release or a hybrid CD, as was previously done with Bungie's Myth games.
A: As of September 9, 2003, Mac Halo was listed as Alpha status on Westlake's Project Page. Original plans called for a "near-simultaneous" release.
A: Unknown. As of this writing, the "unofficial" release date for PC Halo is September 21, 2003. Mac Halo will be released after that. SketchFactor from Bungie, in the PC Halo Faq, said:
The Mac version is in the capable hands of our friends at MacSoft and Westlake Interactive and is scheduled for a near simultaneous release with the PC version. All of the new features and extras that are being added for the PC will also be available when Halo makes its way to Macs later this year.
[image:4252 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]OK, you've probably already seen this-- but if you haven't, head right on over to HBO and read the interview of Destineer's president, Peter Tamte. Destineer is publishing the port of Halo for the Mac that Westlake Interactive is coding, and Tamte himself is an alumnus of both Bungie and Apple.
Among other tidbits, he does leave open a crack of hope for editing tools on the Mac:
About a year ago, MacSoft made the mistake of implying that it might make editing tools available for the Mac version of Neverwinter Nights before these editing tools were actually done. When it turned out to be unrealistic to make these editing tools available on the Mac, the Neverwinter Nights community thrashed MacSoft loudly and repeatedly. Since then, we've made the decision never to talk publicly about editing tools until they're pretty much done. Sorry I can't offer better info than this. But, it's the honest truth. Do we want to make editing tools for Halo available on the Mac? Of course we do. Am I going to imply or promise that they'll be available? Not until they're pretty much done.
Gah, did he have to bring up the fact that there are no NWN tools on the Mac again? Gee, why not just talk about Half-Life while you're at it...
That aside, it's a great interview that provides a lot of perspective on the journey that Bungie began by announcing Halo on the Mac at MacWorld New York in 1999, and is just now coming full cycle with the upcoming release of Halo on the Mac.
[image:4208 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]In an interview with Macteens (a site for teen mac users) the President of Westlake Interactive, Phil Sulak, gave a few details about the upcoming release of Halo for the Mac. Among them:
We currently don't have any plans to do this [release tools] for two reasons. First is the cost. The Halo tools are fairly complex and would require a great deal of programmer time to bring them to the Mac. Second (and more importantly) is approvals. We'd need approval from all parties involved (not just MacSoft and Bungie, but Microsoft and Gearbox) to bring the tools over.
Sulak does note, however, Mac Halo should be compatible with mods made on PCs, and that if coop is rolled into a patch post-release, they will try to incorporate it into the Mac version. Thanks Louis Wu at HBO.
[image:4108 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]In addition to the new releases and new additions, Project Magma has announced two upcoming projects. Both are still early in production and have no release date as yet.
WWIIi is to be a port of the WWII: Recon plugin by Santa's Head to Myth 3. It should be available "in a few months".
The Siege of Or'Garnen, centered on the holding or recapture of Or'Garnen, will be the first Myth scenario with a branching storyline, and will have four different endings. Also promised is an extensively upgraded enemy AI that will seek advantageous terrain and retreat when overwhelmed.
[image:4108 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Three new projects for Myth II: Soulblighter have now been completed by Project Magma.
The first, a complete conversion of the Myth: The Fallen Lords single-player levels to Myth II, is called The Fallen Levels. It brings the entire TFL experience to the Soulblighter engine, including the secret level and the tutorial. The entire level pack can be downloaded from Project Magma or their mirrors. We're mirroring the patch file for those who already have a TFL CD; you can download it here or from Rampancy Hotline in the myth folder.
Carnage Islands is a brand-new plugin by Ozone featuring Special Forces action using the Green Berets units.
Blue and Grey is a Civil War conversion by IronDuke and Teepens; it features four team and four FFA meshes, new units, and new capabilities of the Myth II 1.4 engine.
In addition, Project Magma is welcoming several new members: khrome, Ozone, Haravikk, lank, PPE, Khellek, Nae'blis and BlackAngel.
Thanks to teep who tipped us off in our forum; if you've got any questions or comments about these projects, you can post them there or in Project Magma's forum.
[image:4043 left hspace=5 vspace=5 border=0]Zandervix at MBO has written up a state of the community address for Myth. After, of course, appointing himself President. (Hey, how come we never thought of that?)
For the most part, this seems to have been prompted by Clem's recent statement at the Mill, that those critical of the Mill and the MythDev team should remove their creations from the archive:
Clem, just the other day, posted a rather wordy point about the use of The Mill. I won't re-cap it all here, but I will say that I agree with it for the most part. It basically states that if you want to post to The Mill, you should be free of problems and issues with it's management and members. Also meaning philisophical differences with these same individuals. I won't pretend to know exactly what that means, but I get the point.
I don't know. To me, this sounds as if I dislike President Bush I shouldn't expect my garbage to be collected. On the other hand, you pay taxes to the government, and the Mill is free-- which I think is more or less the point. Somebody gives you something for free, be nice to them.