cider posts

Developer Riot Games' multiplayer free-to-play action-RTS game League of Legends has generated a solid fan following on the PC and it looks like Mac gamers will get their shot at playing the fantasy themed game. Today Riot Games announced plans to release a Mac native port of League of Legends sometime this summer.

The port will allow the Mac users to play the game against their PC counterparts. The port will be handled by Transgaming's Cider engine tools. League of Legends is also expected to launch its official competitive phase this summer as well which means both Mac and PC players will be able to participate.

It's pretty rare that a PC game is ported to the Mac these days and its even rarer when the PC and Mac versions are released at the same time. However that's exactly what's happening with the strategy-sim game The Settlers 7. The Mac port of the game is now available to purchase at GreenTreeOnline.com

The port is being handled by TransGaming who used their Cider tech to allow the Blue Byte-Ubisoft title to run on Macs. Both the regular and Gold Editon of The Settlers 7 are available to purchase and download with the standard edition also available in retail stores. There's no word if the Mac port will require that the game be always connected to the internet like the PC version.

Macintosh gamers have yet another MMO that will soon run natively on their platforms. Mythic Entertainment announcement this morning that a Mac version of their fantasy MMO Warhammer Online will be released for that platform sometime this fall, allowing Mac owners to play the game on the same servers as their PC counterparts.

The Mac port of the game is being handled by TransGaming using their Cider technology to put a "wrapper" around the code so it can run on Intel-based Mac computers. A beta version of the Mac client is already available to download. Current Warhammer Online players will be able to check out the Mac beta client in full but new players are limited to a 10 day free trial.

Mac gamers wanting more native games for their systems may be getting a break thanks to publisher Ubisoft and TransGaming. Today the two companies announced an agreement to use TransGaming's Cider software to port a number of Ubisoft titles to run on Macs.

Among the games included in the new agreement are Prince of Persia and Shawn White Snowboarding, both of which will be released in March via digital download."Select retail establishments" (and we certainly hope your retail establishment has been selected) will also be selling Mac versions of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Hard Evidence, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Petz Sports. These ports will also ship out in March.

Bioware's action-RPG Jade Empire was released originally for the first Xbox console in 2004 and in 2006 a "special edition" was released for the PC with some extra content. Now that PC special edition version has finally been ported over to the Mac platform via TransGaming's Cider tech and is now available via digital download.

In case you are unfamiliar with Cider, it basically acts as a "wrapper" that enabled the game to be run on Intel-based Mac computers. Unfortunately, Jade Empire for the Mac is a rather expensive title to download compared to the current price of the PC version. Transgaming is offering the title via its own download service for $39.95.

Transgaming Inc. and Ubisoft have announced a deal that allows Ubisoft games to be ported onto the Mac via Transgaming's Cider portability engine. After being squeezed for Cider, titles will be distributed through TransGaming's gametree.com.

Ubisoft senior vice president of publish Jay Cohen says the publishing and developing giant is "extremely excited about the partnership with TransGaming to bring our titles to the Mac. This is the perfect opportunity to reach the growing Mac community so they can enjoy games such as CSI: Hard Evidence and our Petz franchise with Catz and Dogz. To expand our business position and serve the growing Mac gaming community, additional key titles will follow later this year, including several day-and-date releases this Fall."

Transgaming CEO and President Vikas Gupta also expressed delight over the collaboration, touting Cider's ability "to bring [leading publishers'] high quality content quickly and efficiently to the growing Mac community."