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Diablo II Gets Native Mac OS X Installer

Posted by simoniker on from the huzzah dept.

Sutekh-Acolyte writes "Blizzard Entertainment just released a native Mac OS X v10.2+ Diablo II installer, so Mac users no longer have to use the Classic environment to install the game and its expansion set. At 25 megabytes, it's not a small download, because it includes patch files and installs as version 1.10b. PlanetDiablo has a set of screenshots of the installer in action. Download it from FilePlanet (login required) or directly from Blizzard."

3 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Is there a market for this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There's a reason they don't kill their games like that:

    The last three non-expansion pack games they released are

    Warcraft III (2002)
    Diablo II (2000)
    StarCraft (1998)

    They MUST support these games with patches and expansion packs or they'll have no source of revenue! Cut off StarCraft and Diablo II and all you've got is Warcraft III! Also, their games typically stay at full retail much longer than games from other developers. That's just their business strategy.

  2. Re:Is there a market for this? by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful
    A DirectX game which runs on Windows 98 which does not run on Windows 2000 is by definition poorly programmed. If you want to optimize everything, write console games. If you're going to produce PC games, you have to accept that the PC is a moving target, and you have to target the API and not the PC.

    In general I have been very happy with Blizzard but if they had games which don't work on 2k then clearly they did something wrong. (The only Blizzard game I ever played on 2k was the original Diablo.)

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  3. Re:Is there a market for this? by gamgee5273 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Let's step in the way-back machine for a moment, Sherman:

    It's the April after Windows 98 has been released and Microsoft, quietly, announces "The Death of DOS." DOS is over. DOS is done. The next consumer release of Windows will be NT-based.

    Suddenly, less than nine months later, MS announces Windows Me. Which is DOS-based (granted, it doesn't look like it, but that's another story).

    Why?

    Because the game manufacturers screamed bloody murder as they were not ready for that large of a move. Thus, because the manufacturers dug their heels in and told Microsoft not to release only an NT-based OS. Thus, they didn't.

    I don't disagree that it is sloppy on the manuafacturer's part. But, if your buyers are going to be overwhelmingly 98/Me installs, are you going to put compatibility with 2K (an OS that MS was actively saying was for business, not home) on the front burner? No, you aren't.

    As a Mac user and an avid gamer, I can say that I wait, and choose to wait, for games because of the same principle: the manufacturer is looking at who their largest possible customer base is first. I'm comfortable with that... it's a fact of life, and the reason I also have a Windows 98SE machine. :)