It's June, and that means 2006 is already almost halfway over!  We'd like to take this opportunity to recap Mac titles we've released the past six months and briefly list what to look for through the remainder of the year.

January through June has been a flurry of activity here at Aspyr, with a number of great Mac titles released.  Quake 4™ is an outstanding first-person shooter and was our first Mac Universal release.  The Sims™ Complete Collection, a bundle of the original The Sims and all expansion packs and Command & Conquer™ Generals Deluxe Edition, containing Command & Conquer™ and Command & Conquer™ Generals: Zero Hour, shipped out in early March. The Sims™ 2 Nightlife, the second expansion pack to The Sims™ 2, was made available to Mac later that month. And, most recently Call of Duty® 2 and Sid Meier's Civilization® IV shipped for Mac and are great additions to your Mac games collection.

Just a few weeks ago, we also announced The Sims™ 2 Open for Business coming to Mac, set to ship in September.  Look out for news on more Mac titles we'll be releasing over the next few months and a large gaming project that we already have underway.

Sid Meier's Civilization® IV comes-to-life like never before in a beautifully detailed, living 3D world that expands the gameplay experience. This latest installment takes the franchise to new heights with the addition of new ways to play and win, new tools to manage and expand your civilization, all-new easy to use mod capabilities and various multiplayer modes and options.

With Sid Meier's Civilization® IV, rule throughout time and create your own legacy as you guide your civilization from the dawn of man through the space age and beyond. Implement new technologies, conduct diplomacy or wage war to grow your society and become the most powerful leader the world has ever known.

Key Features:

• Faster-Paced Fun - Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster, and more compelling experience.
• Greater Accessibility and Ease of Play - An easy-to-use interface will be immediately familiar to RTS and action game players, and newcomers to the series will be able to jump in and play.
• Tech Tree - Flexible Tech tree allows players more strategic choices for developing their civilizations along unique paths.
• Grow Bigger Empires - More Civilizations, Units, and Improvements to enhance and grow your empire.
• Multiplayer - LAN, Internet, and Play-By-Email offer players all-new strategies and ways to play when competing or cooperating with live opponents.
• Team Play - Whether playing multiplayer or single player, team play offers a new way of setting locked alliances that result in shared wonder effects, visibility, unit trading, and shared territory that delivers a plethora of new strategic and tactical options.
• Beautiful 3D world - Sid Meier's Civilization® IV comes to life with a beautiful 3D world, dozens of fully animated units (including culturally unique units), and totally customizable armies. Cities and wonders will appear on the map. Wonder movies are back!
• Mods and Community Tools - Designed from the ground up for modability, the game contains a powerful map editor with XML and Python support.
• Choose Your Leader - Most Civilizations now have two leaders from which to choose, with each Leader having traits that provide various bonuses to the player.
• Civics - With the discovery of new techs, civic options can become available. Freedom of speech or slavery? Hereditary rule or open elections? This creates endless government choices and possibilities!
• Religion - Now there are seven religions in the game that are unlocked through researching. When unlocked, the religion spreads through a player's empire allowing them to use the religion to help manage happiness, gain gold and create Great Prophets.
• Great People - As the player uses specialists they gain Great People points in the city that is utilizing the specialists. Great People include the Artist, Tycoon, Prophet, Engineer, & Scientist. They can be used to get free techs, start Golden Ages, or join a city to increase its output.
• Promotions - Each unit has a promotion path that emphasizes specific unit traits. Promotions include bonuses to Attack/Defend on specific terrains/features, movement bonuses, sight/visibility bonuses, and increased withdrawal chances.
• In-Game Cinematics - Sid Meier's Civilization® IV has over 40 in-game cinematics.

Sid Meier's Civilization® IV is rated "E10+" for "Everyone 10 and older" by the ESRB and is available for the Mac at $49.99 at www.aspyr.com.  For more information, fans can visit Aspyr's site, or 2K Games' official Web site.

These exciting titles are available for preorder!

Sid Meier's Civilization® IV
The Sims™ 2 Open for Business

Civ® IV will be our third Mac game (after Quake 4 and Call of Duty® 2) to ship as Universal, both Intel and PowerPC native, in the box.  We recently released system requirements for Civ IV Mac, and there was concern among Mac gamers about the fact that they were higher that expected.  This is a good opportunity to take a look at how we sent system requirements at Aspyr.

As a game finishes up full testing for PC or Mac, we begin the process of deciding the final system requirements.  If it is a game that started on the PC, we usually take a look at the original system requirements as a base. If it is an original game, or ported from the Xbox or other consoles, we start with some initial estimates of the minimum CPU, RAM, and video card.  The testers who have been playing the game for months on a variety of systems can then give feedback about playability with those specs.  Our goal in setting minimum requirements for a game isn't to set the minimum to launch the game and start the first level.  We strive to set realistic requirements that will allow you to play through the complete game, all levels, on the minimum machine.  Often (in the case of PC to Mac ports), this means the requirements are higher than the original platform.  Civ® IV is a very good example.  The CPU and RAM required to just play a simple, small world for a dozen turns is much different than playing a larger world very late in the game.  While by its very nature Civ® IV slows down later in the game, with more units, cities, and technologies, we still wanted the minimum machine to provide a fun, and playable experience all the way to the end of the game.  Once we have set the system requirements, we do another round of testing on the exact configuration we've specified, to verify that a game is playable all the way from start to finish.

We’ve also been putting a lot of work into a new gaming application for Mac users. From a development standpoint, this is a massive project and will occupy a lot of time at Aspyr Studios over the next few months as we work to complete it before the end of this year. Look for more information on this project from Aspyr over the next few weeks.

Patches
Universal patches for Sims™ 2 University Mac and Sims™ 2 Nightlife Mac were released, and are available at http://www.aspyr.com/support

Allow us to introduce Glen Gilley, a member of Aspyr’s IT Support Team.

ASPYR: What is your biggest pet peeve?

GLEN: Pretentious users of cell phone Bluetooth headsets

ASPYR: What was your first car?

GLEN: 1989 Ford Escort, which shook uncontrollably past 55 mph

ASPYR: What was the best music to come out of the '80s?

GLEN: Well since all music that came out of the 80s is fantastic, I will be generous enough to share my top ten.

1.  Survivor - Eye of the Tiger

2.  Europe - The Final Countdown

3.  Eddie Murphy - Party All The Time

4.  Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out

5.  A Ha - Take On Me

6.  Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

7.  Hall and Oates - Out of Touch

8.  Outfield - Your Love

9.  Marvin Gaye - Sexual Healing

10. Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

ASPYR: What is/was your favorite sports team of all-time?

GLEN: I'm not a big sports guy, but I can tell you my favorite Star Trek movie of all-time if you are interested.

ASPYR: If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

GLEN: Las Vegas

ASPYR: Any nicknames?

GLEN: TB - Use your imagination.  I acquired it by humbling coworkers in multiplayer games using tactics that were considered cheap and barbaric.

ASPYR: Letterman or Leno?

GLEN: I don't have a TV

ASPYR: What is your crowning athletic achievement?

GLEN: Making the game-ending shot from the opposite free throw line in a high school basketball game.  Unfortunately it was bittersweet since we lost by 80 instead of 83.

ASPYR: If you weren't working at Aspyr, what would be your dream profession?

GLEN: Lead singer in a popular band

ASPYR: What has been your favorite work experience at Aspyr?

GLEN: I have enjoyed the overall work atmosphere.