Slashdot Mirror


G5 iMac To Come With Marble Blaster Gold

Ophelea writes "Anyone who knows Jay Moore of Tribes fame may know about his great company Garage Games. Today it was announced that Marble Blaster Gold, one of their best games was bundled on the iMac G5. Woot! Go Go Garage Games!"

29 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Err... wrong person? by dalabrat · · Score: 5, Informative

    Umm.... that would be Jeff Tunnell of Dynamix / Tribes fame. Jay Moore never worked for Dynamix, nor had anything to do with Tribes. But he along with the other guys at GarageGames are all great people.

    1. Re:Err... wrong person? by venicebeach · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, I think he did.

      This is from an interview with Jay Moore.

      Jay Moore - Marketing Director for GarageGames Jay's wildly diverse background includes serving as Marketing Director for a computer magazine publishing company, Sales and Marketing Director for a K-12 educational software distributor, and President of a small advertising design firm. Jay started his gaming career with "The Even More Incredible Machine!" when he took the game into the classroom. Jay worked to bring all the Sierra educational games into the educational channel. Then worked with Dynamix in 1997 to successfully launch category-creator "Driver's Education." Jay joined GarageGames in July of this year. He has a BS is Biblical Studies and lives in Eugene, Oregon.

    2. Re:Err... wrong person? by GarageGamer · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well ok... I lived in Eugene, would work out of the Dynamix office (although I never had a desk), I actually was employed by Sierra Online in Bellevue (recently closed), but always as a 'hired gun' my work for other clients at my design firm kept me from signing any 'you own my every thought and idea' employment contract.

      --
      Independent game developers because we WANT TO BE... not because we're wannabes.
  2. Cool! by commodoresloat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now nobody can complain about the Mac having no games. Between this and the puzzle-thing they are re-introducing in Tiger, the Mac now has both shoot-em-up and strategy games covered!

    1. Re:Cool! by bpbond · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hey, mods, either mod the parent Funny or Flamebait...but not insightful. Jeez.

      --
      "Science is a tribute to what we can know although we are fallible" -Jacob Bronowski
    2. Re:Cool! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I threw together a quick list of Mac games. Not that you care, I know you just went for the quick and cheap "funny" karma points by repeating one of the oldest jokes on Slashdot. But there are games, enough to keep a causal gamer like me happy.

      Coming soon:

      Doom 3
      Homeworld 2
      Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

      Notable titles released over the past year or so:

      Republic
      James Bond 007: NightFire
      Battlefield 1942: Deluxe Edition
      America's Army: Special Forces 2.1
      Black Hawk Down
      The Sims: Makin' Magic
      TRON 2.0
      XIII
      Medal of Honor: Breakthrough
      Call of Duty
      LOTR: The Return of the King
      Dark Horizons: Lore
      No Limits Roller Coaster Simulation
      Command & Conquer: Generals
      Unreal Tournament
      Nanosaur 2: Hatchling
      Northland Strategy & War
      Law & Order: Dead on the Money
      Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
      Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield
      Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal
      Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos Adventure
      Halo: Combat Evolved
      Ghost Master
      Age of Mythology
      No One Lives Forever 2
      WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne
      Shadowbane
      Warrior Kings
      Neverwinter Nights

    3. Re:Cool! by Dot.Com.CEO · · Score: 2, Informative
      There are invitation-only torrent sites (that are well know but whose existance I shall not spell out, use google) that have about 50 new torrents A DAY for the mac. That's about as many PC apps come out at suprnova per day. Not bad.

      The purchase price thing is a joke. A Mac is worth 200-300USD more of your paycheck. It really is a superior machine.

      --
      Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
  3. i belive the title of the game is actully ... by rhino_badlands · · Score: 5, Informative

    i belive the title of the game is actully ... "Marble Blast GOLD", not marble blaster gold.

    but who cares still cool, and those iMacs look nice

    --
    - MOSKIE
    1. Re:i belive the title of the game is actully ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The fact that this was reported in the Apple section of Slashdot, but not in the Games section, tells you pretty much everything you need to know about how significant this game really is, and also tells you everything you need to know about the sad state of Apple gaming. At the very least, it tells you what the Slashdot editors think about this story.

      A game which Slashdot game enthusiasts are not likely to care about is bundled on the new iMac, but Apple enthusiasts are likely to want to read about this sensational announcement.

      Meh.

  4. also! by focitrixilous+P · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It comes with Nanosaur 2!

    God knows how many hours we wasted in computer tech on nanosaur when my Jr. High got a shipment of orange iMacs. Until the teacher wised up and deleted the game on every computer.

    Yeah, it's kind of old, but I loved that game in Jr. High, and I'm glad to see it's still around. It even has split screen multiplayer! Rocking good mac game, Nanosaur.

    --
    SAILING MISHAP
  5. Geee... by shfted! · · Score: 4, Funny

    First it's GarageBand. And now it comes with Garage Games. What next? Is Apple going to return to building computers in the garage?

    --
    He who laughs last is stuck in a time dilation bubble.
    1. Re:Geee... by mrseigen · · Score: 3, Funny

      The sad thing is, it'd probably be faster to fab the G4 yourself from cobbled-together equipment than Apple's current wait times for new shipments from Motorola.

    2. Re:Geee... by mh101 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Nope... They're taking over the Monster Garage show. Watch Steve and the gang take an old station wagon and turn it into a giant mobile Beowolf Cluster of XServes... complete with an air-powered cannon for shooting apples at various Redmond, WA landmarks!

      --
      Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
    3. Re:Geee... by bdash · · Score: 2, Funny

      Highly relevant considering that the iMac is using a G5 made by IBM.

  6. Funky color? by watanuki · · Score: 5, Funny

    I first read the title as "G5 iMac to come in marble blaster gold" and thought Apple was going back to making funky-colored computers.

    1. Re:Funky color? by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2, Funny
      Marble and gold is a good start, but Apple would really start grabbing marketshare with some rubys set in a platinum case.

      Titanium and the like are so....Pour le type inférieur de personnes, if you know what I mean.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    2. Re:Funky color? by sg3000 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > I first read the title as "G5 iMac to come in marble blaster
      > gold" and thought Apple was going back to making funky-
      > colored computers.

      No kidding. Dammit, Apple! Do you know how many types of iPods you'll have to develop and sell to live down the 'Flower Power' iMac? Don't do this to yourself again.

      --
      Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
  7. Quite a few errata in this post... by alexandyr · · Score: 5, Informative

    The title of the game is Marble Blast Gold, not Marble Blaster. Jay Moore is a GarageGame employee and head of marketing, but the company is run by Jeff Tunnell, former head of Dynamix, as noted by alabrat above. The game WAS at one point released under the title Marble Blaster in its windows-only retail boxed version by eGames, whose marketing department thought the "er" made it more appealing or somesuch. More info on this story and Marble Blast for Xbox available here.

  8. Plenty of games by kajoob · · Score: 3, Funny

    "On the mac, I can play plenty of great games that you just can't find on the PC anymore. You know, like Zork, Breakout.............Super Breakout..........photoshop..."

    with much respect to the drunk gamers ;-)

    again, i keed!

    --
    Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur
    1. Re:Plenty of games by merdark · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wow, that's four games more than I can play on Linux! Awesome!

    2. Re:Plenty of games by Naffer · · Score: 3, Funny

      There is this one game that I've been playing a lot on my new gentoo box. The game is called emerge. First you type emerge and guess the name of the program you really want to install. Then you watch your computer do all kinds of crazy shit for somewhere between 10 minutes and 6 years before you get dumped back to a shell with no idea as to what just transpired!

  9. All I can say is....'WOW!' by jericho4.0 · · Score: 3, Funny
    Wow....a $19.95 value. This is makeing that iMac look unbeatable!

    O.k. I didn't post in the first article about the iMac 'cause I was only going to be a fanboy anyway, but the new iMac looks like a great value, so why this story?

    $2500 Canadian for a 20 inch lcd widescreen + 64bit + linux + comboDrive? Screw the bundling, sign me up!

    --
    "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
  10. Re:Proof the mods are insane. by DAldredge · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have gotten only one email for my political and antiabortion stance. I have gotten dozens of posts from /. apple fantics.

    They are insane.

  11. Garage Games are cool... by cujo_1111 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They have a kick-ass commercial game which looks a lot like Mech Warrior, and it runs nicely and natively under Linux. They also have redone the classic Doom game which runs under Linspire's Click-And-Run installation.

    --
    If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
  12. Well, for what it's worth by TomorrowPlusX · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...sidestepping the snarky threads about the number of Mac games and so on...

    Anyway, I want to say Marble Blast GOLD is a really, *really* fun game. It's original, it's nicely done, and it's based on the Torque engine which is something I've considered buying the developer license for. When you buy it, for 99 dollars, you get FULL source code.

    I'm developing behavioral AI for robotics and my self-taught, home-brewed opengl is pretty crufty. While I could use an open source system like Ogre, there's appeal to using a proven API, even if it's not "free".

    Well, really, what I want to say is give the Marble Blast GOLD demo a try. It's a kick in the pants.

    --

    lorem ipsum, dolor sit amet
  13. looks fun! by theMerovingian · · Score: 2, Informative


    I'll be downloading this when I escape from work this evening!

    Those games look nice, I'm looking forward to checking out your stuff.

    --
    "If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
    1. Re:looks fun! by OSeXy · · Score: 3, Funny
      Download it heck!

      Buy Marble Blaster Gold for $1299 and get a free iMac 17".

  14. Games on Mac by CaptainPinko · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I think what kills Macs for gamers is not the amount of games for Mac, but probably individual specific games themselves. For example Doom 3 for Mac may be great and all but all I really want is Mechwarrior 4, Civilisation 3, Morrowind, and Empire Earth. I mean there are tons of other games out there but I'm tied to those. I'm betting that for most people like list would include Counter-Strike/Day of Defeat/Half-Life, and Half Life 2. I mean how many people just play CS? Actually, come to think of it it might be in Apple's best interest to get Valve to port their engine to Mac since CS is a scary *HUGE* deal for a lot of people (yes I realise that it is unfeasible since Source is Direct X base IIRC). So the argument is not really about whether Mac has games, but whether Mac has the games people want.I'd be interested to be a list of the games people want by percentage and compare that to your availibility list.

    Also another thing is that Mac ports come out later. People can't wait for games to come out and they don't want to wait longer. For example Doom 3 was huge and all the rage, but now most people I know have beat it (myself included) and are kinda bored of it. By the time it comes out for Mac it will be passe.

    None the less, unless new versions of the games I mentioned come out soon and force me to upgrade my next computer will be a Mac.

    --
    Your CPU is not doing anything else, at least do something.
  15. For the wanabee civil engineers ... by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 3, Informative

    Another game that makes use of Torque and has recently been ported to the Mac is Bridge Construction Set from Chronic Logic. They have only just recently started porting their, Torque based, games to the Mac and Linux.

    Torque, from Garage Games is great for anyone wanting to start getting into game development, since it is relatively affordable. There is a demo of what the engine can do on the web site.

    --
    Jumpstart the tartan drive.