Earlier this month, we shipped The Sims™ 2 Open for Business for Mac and Bad Day L.A. for PC.  We also announced the development of the first expansion pack for Civilization© IV, Warlords, and hope to have that title on retail shelves before Thanksgiving of this year. On top of that, we released Universal binary patches for Civilization© III: Complete, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast – all available as free downloads through www.macgamefiles.com.

GET DOWN TO BUSINESS WITH YOUR SIMS!

The third expansion pack to The Sims 2 shipped in early September as a Mac Universal title

In The Sims 2™ Open for Business expansion pack, your Sims can create virtually any kind of business, from a trendy clothing boutique, hip beauty salon, blooming floral shop, high-end electronics store, or bustling restaurant chain. Hire staff as the business grows and put talented Sims to work in a variety of different jobs, from making toys and running the register, to crafting floral bouquets and manufacturing robots. From clever tinkerer to master craftsman, develop your Sim's talents to best suit your business needs. Will they build a thriving business empire or become eccentric entrepreneurs designing the next big thing?

The Sims 2 Open for Business is rated "T" for "Teen" by the ESRB and is available for the Mac at $34.99 at www.aspyr.com.  For more information, fans can visit Aspyr's site, or The Sims™ 2 Open for Business official web site.

Requires The Sims™ 2 to play.

These exciting titles are available for preorder!
Sid Meier's Civilization® IV: Warlords

Aspyr's Windows development teams have been working hard for many months on two new games, both which should be announced in the coming months.  Work is also due to ramp up on some future console and PC games this Fall as well.  

On the Mac front, several of our Mac developers recently attended Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), where we got to take a peek at new technology Apple is working on for the next version of OS X, Leopard.  There are some interesting technologies coming along, and we've been looking at ways to take advantage of the new Leopard features and OS level optimizations for our 2007 games.  New updates to Apple's developer tools, including XCode, look like they will make our Mac development efforts even more efficient.  We've also begun making some foundation level changes to our future digital distribution technology to make sure it is ready to work well with Leopard. 

One of the highlights of WWDC was Aspyr receiving the Apple Design Award for Best Mac OS X game, for The Sims 2.  This was quite a coup for us, because even though we produce more Mac games than any other company, most are games that originally started their life on Windows or the Xbox.  Apple has very high standards, and not being an original Mac game meant Sims 2 had to show even more polish and take advantage of Mac specific features.  We're very proud of the work we did with Sims 2 to make it feel like a home-grown Mac game, and want to keep that attention to detail in all our future Mac titles.

Patches & Demos
Recently released patches include the final Civ III Universal Binary and Jedi Knight II & Jedi Academy Universal Binaries.  Updates for the Mac that are in testing and due to be released soon include Call of Duty 2 1.3 and Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Universal.

Meet Eugene Medellin, Aspyr's System Administrator.  Eugene has been an Aspyr employee since way back in 2000, and has created his own tradition of celebrating every Friday afternoon by playing "Papa Loves Mambo."

ASPYR: What was your first car?

EUGENE: 1994 Toyota Camry LE with over 190,000 miles on it. Bought it off a friend for $900. I still use it.

ASPYR: What was the first concert you ever attended?

EUGENE: Deftones at Liberty Lunch. I remember it well, Chino Moreno lost his shoe when he was crowd surfing. After he noticed his shoe gone, the crowd received a 5 to 10 minute lecture on how stealing people's shoes is not cool.

ASPYR: Do you have any nicknames?

EUGENE: Hmm, where to start? The usual ones of Gene and Geno. Then there are the more creative ones: Euj, Euky, Huge-jeans, and Eugenious.

ASPYR: How did you celebrate your last birthday?

EUGENE: My last birthday fell on a Saturday, so I pretty much went around Sixth Street looking for bars that gave birthday people free drinks. I don't remember much of the evening beyond that.

ASPYR: What is your favorite month or time of the year?

EUGENE: Summer is definitely my most favorite time of the year. Traffic is much lighter when all the university students have gone home.

ASPYR: Letterman or Leno?

EUGENE: Letterman. I still hold some resentment towards Leno back when he would occasionally sub for Johnny Carson. Leno is no Johnny Carson.

ASPYR: Dogs or cats?

EUGENE: Large dogs. I'm allergic to cats, and I can't stand yip-yip dogs.

ASPYR: What is your favorite way to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon?

EUGENE: Sleep till 2 PM. Wake up. Shower. Invite a few friends over for lunch where I cook.

ASPYR: What is your favorite cereal?

EUGENE: Cookie Crisp. I still remember the Cookie Crook mascot for the cereal to this day.

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

EUGENE: Wow. It would definitely be seeing the company grow and change over the years. I've actually caught myself telling new hires, "Back in my day...."