Ubisoft and Mac developer TransGaming have partnered to release Ubisoft-published games on Mac, the two companies have announced.

Initial offerings will include ports of Ubisoft's pet simulators Catz and Dogz, along with Telltale's CSI-themed adventure effort Hard Evidence. Other titles were not disclosed, though some Ubisoft PC games due out this fall would hit Mac simultaneously.

Ubisoft PC titles due this fall include the open-world shooter Far Cry 2 and the air combat effort Tom Clancy's HAWX.

Specializing in PC-to-Mac ports through its Cider technology, TransGaming works with multiple developers. Recent and upcoming Mac efforts handled by the company include CCP's space MMO EVE Online and EA Maxis' evolution simulator Spore.

A couple of bits of happy news for the Mac gamers out there. GameRanger now has OSX support as of today, and to make it a double feature here's another toy for you today.

Apple has a preview of their next QuickTime6 up on the Apple website. You can download it now, the most astonishing new feature in QuickTime6 is that it is in fact a full version number higher than QuickTime5.

Well after what I perceived as a big let down for all that hype Apple was putting out for the launch of the iLamp, they've quietly done something very cool. If you check out the Apple store right now they have just put out Dual 1GHz machines with GeForce4 cards. They are still just using SDRAM but hey, it's something and real solid confirmation that the GeForce4 is ready to roll.

The official NVidia launch of the GeForce4 card is February 5th/6th and we'll see just how fast that card is then. Here's a bit about the on-chip DDR memory:

Graphics performance is off the charts, with hot new graphics processors and dual display support across the product line. The ATI Radeon 7500 (available on the 800MHz model) and NVIDIA GeForce4 MX (standard on the 933MHz and dual 1GHz models) deliver riveting effects, with fluid motion and photorealistic 3D images. The GeForce4 MX, a phenomenal graphics processor with 64MB of on-chip DDR memory, pumps out 1.1 billion textured pixels per second to kick your projects into overdrive.

Even some benchmarks!

Here's one for the evening that'll make you wonder. There have been some pretty strong rumors about the big stuff coming from Apple but it looks like we're getting somewhere. It's pretty much a given that they will announce the new LCD iMact with the revelation that Apple has been buying 15" LCD screens in bulk from Taiwan for the past month. Also there is the whole iWalk thing that may or may not be true. But the latest gossip (Ok a couple days ago) is the possible Apple switch from Motorola to Intel.

Perhaps the most compelling buzz surrounding the upcoming show, however, is the possibility that Apple might move its platform from the Motorola (NYSE: MOT) PowerPC chip to Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) chips. Although Enderle does not expect Jobs will surprise attendees with such an announcement, switching to Intel could transform Apple's position in the marketplace by removing the cost disadvantages it presently faces relative to other PC makers.

It seems like a pretty slim chance, but the the whole OSX migration by Apple it's a feasible possibility that would really shake things up. Considering how hyped up Apple seems to be about things (more so than usual) the announcement of a LCD iMac or a PDA just doesnt seem deserving, there could be something more.

Looks like Apple just cant keep a secret. The details of what most people are pretty sure is their next big announcement have been leaked a few places. Jason pointed the way to this page. It looks like in addition to the mobile MP3 player market the Apple folks are now launching a PDA being called the iWalk. Looks quite a bit like the Compaq iPaq.

Apple fans should be happy to hear that the iWalk is not based on the Palm OS. The OS shown in the video looks like a blend between traditional PDA operating systems and Apple's OS X. Some other interesting observations: The iWalk accepts handwriting input with a silver stylus. The user is able to write on the entire screen to input information, and is not limited to a small "text box" like of the Palm line of PDAs. The iWalk is larger than PDAs currently on the market, with the majority of the extra size being given to screen real-estate.

Damn, was hoping for the G5 system breaking in to the 1GHz range. update: Last time I trust Jason! Ok a lot of people are convinced this is fake, much like the Cube stuff. It wouldnt be far fetched to say the video is fake from looking at it, but that doesnt rule out the possibility of the iWalk coming to light at the next show.

Apple is planning to release a new 'digital device' that is not a Mac. Maybe it's a crazy new engine powered scooter that will revolutionize the world?

A .plan update by Graeme Devine mentions that the Mac OSX build of Quake3 v1.30 was snuck out on to the FTP yesterday. Performance is said to be improved.

I've been hearing about this for a while from friends and through the grapevine but couldnt ever really find anything about it on the web to point you guys to. Back when Mac OSX came out it touted a few features that werent quite ready (DVD playback, etc) which was promised later in the 10.1 patch. It just recently got interesting though...(Thanks Zoid)

First of all, Steve Jobs introduced Mac OS X 10.1 during the MACWORLD Expo New York keynote last month. Mr. Jobs called it a free upgrade, and said that we would be able to get that update on CD for US$19.95. I wasn't worried at the time, because it was obvious that getting the CDs were going to be an *option*. [snip]

Allegedly according to Apple, due to the size of the patch (over 600megs!) They have decided the patch that was announced as free, and includes features that were promised in the original OS and not delivered... will no longer be free. They are going to want $20 a pop for the 10.1 upgrade of their OS. Remember those commercials? You Mac guys remember that speech where OS10.1 was announced as a free upgrade? We've got a Mac with OSX and a DVD player sitting here at the apartment... guess we're gonna have to pay another $20 huh?

The MacWorld event kicked off today. Every once in a while the key note address by Steve Jobs will include a game announcement or something else cool. This time around nothing hugely new was announced for people around here but there was a mention that Warcraft3 will be showing up on the Mac at the same time as the PC (Whenever that is) Thanks Mitchell

MacWorld NYC is underway tomorrow and some of the PR is coming out a little early. the guys at IMG have gotten a hold of a PR announcing that Duke4Ever will be ported to Mac. Along with Max Payne and Myth3. Also since The Carmack and id have such a history with MacWorld shows I asked about any possible id Software presence at MacWorld. I also asked about MacWorld Tokyo while I was at it.... Doesnt look like it:

No, we don't have any MacWorld plans for a while.
John Carmack

Looks like Apple's little cube computer deal didnt do so well. They are canning the entire product line according to TheRegister.

Early this week a report came out that Apple Computers will be moving into the retail store business, much like the Gateway Country stores you see scattered across the country except for instead of looking like a big cow the stores will be pretty shades of pink and aqua. Cant wait!

Mac OSX is coming out on shelves this weekend. This is a big big deal. The new OS is based on the *nix architecture and is a huge departure from what we are used to with Macs. Apple has lately been positioning themself to hopefully finally break out of their niche market (relative to PCs that is) and make a real splash. OSX is the first step. You combine the new OS with the possibility of Apple ditching Motorola to play with AMD and Intel finally and things may get interesting. The OS has been in development for a staggering 7years and boasts some pretty good features, although curiously missing a number of others.

"The interface is just astounding and makes Windows pale in comparison, but I got so frustrated with the limited software support, I booted to Mac OS 9.1 and left it there,"

That seems to be the general consensus among testers, even guys with PC backgrounds. The OS is looking great, they just need more stuff ported to it. Considering Apple is going to be putting a lot of eggs in this basket it could happen. I just hope they dont waste dev time on 50 different 'pretty' themes for the OS and put those resources into getting more things working. Oh yeah, in case you guys didnt notice (a lot of people didnt) When Carmack demonstrated DOOM technology, it was running on Mac OSX.

Word from Westlake Interactive is that a Mac version of Unreal Tournament has been completed (Thanks Eric) and will be showing up around shelves in a few short weeks.

Word from the guys at AppleInsider is that ATI is about to lose their throne as the Apple posterboy for graphics. NVidia is going to be snatching up the big Apple contract and providing future graphics cards.

Graeme Devine over at id Software has a .plan update for the Mac Quake3 users, he says the next build of Quake3 for Mac users will have a pretty significant speed boost once it is released. Check it out.

Macgamer is sporting a video interview from their collection with the folks at NVidia as well as ATI. It mostly talks about Mac related stuff but if you're in the mood or something worth a look.