Spore

The creators of The Sims present the next big bang - SPORE. Create your unique creature and guide it on an epic journey through a universe of your own creations. Play any way you choose in the five evolutionary phases of Spore: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space. How you play and what you do with your universe is entirely up to you. Spore gives you a variety of powerful yet easy-to-use creation tools so you can create every aspect of your universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even starships.

PC Minimum - Windows XP/Vista, 6 GB Hard Drive Space, 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent, 768 MB RAM, 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 Mac Minimum - Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard or higher, 4.7GB Hard Drive Space, Intel Core Duo Processor, 1024 MB RAM; ATI X1600 or NVidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars A really enjoyable game
This game is really good. I really don’t understand the snobby remarks about not being able to install it on more than 5 computers. If you go through that many computers, then yes that is a problem, but I’m sure the majority of us use one, maybe two.

I really like the game play, and it’s fun to replay the game to see what different creatures you can create and how they progress. I recommend this game.

5 Stars how can you rate this 1 star?
this is the best game ever! i have no idea how you can rate this 1 star. the people that did so probably have realllllly old/bad/crappy computers or something because it runs fine on my PC. READ THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS BEFORE YOU BUY SOMETHING! DONT ACT LIKE BECAUSE IT DOESNT WORK OR UR PC, ITS THE GAMES FAULT!

1 Star Awful
Look, even if this game DIDN’T have the securom and install limits which reduce your purchase to a mere rental, the fact is it isn’t FUN. I unknowingly installed this on my laptop on day one, excited about all the promises made to me by EA. I thought this would be on the verge of an MMO, with other people to interact with and the ability to create planets, and customize terrain, plants, animals, and the weather. Boy, was I wrong. You get 5 skimpy minigames that could have been put into separate flash web based games. Instead you rent them for 50 bucks! Absolutely horrible value, and without a doubt the biggest disappointment I have ever had with any purchase, ever. I plan on throwing it out as soon as I’m done grimacing with disgust at the packaging. EA said one thing and delivered another, and I’ll never forget that. I am not buying any EA games ever again until they remove SecuROM and the limited installs.

1 Star All Hype! Don’t listen to game review magazines.
This game got a lot of hype. Game magazines gave it 5 out of 5 stars, but I believe those magazines never played the game.

Spore is like a giant game of “Simon Says”. (You know, the colorful blinking light game with sounds…?) The game is supposed to be open ended, but you’ll be glad the game is over when you reach the space ‘exploration’ stage in less then a day.

This game has a lot of neat technology behind it. Making a creature seems to be the most appealing part of the game. However, people can make their own creatures with the free creature creator; Or go buy a package of play-doe and you’ll have just as much fun.

5 Stars Spore Rocks!
This Spore game is so much fun for my and my brother. We figured out how to have two different accounts on the same game. We enjoy creating some of the weiderst animals and other things. I reccomend this to anyone you likes to create their own little world!

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Call of Duty World at War

Go to war in the final tension-filled, unforgiving battles against a new ferocious enemy in the most dangerous and suspenseful action ever seen in WWII. Call of Duty: World at War completely changes the rules of engagement by redefining WWII gaming. It brings an uncensored edge to combat, as soldiers face the most harrowing and climatic European and Pacific battles. From the remains of Russia and the ruins of Berlin, to the beach and jungles of the deadly Pacific Theater, the volatile action takes on added depth as you employ new features that previously were only available in multiplayer, including perks, rankings and online stats in up-to full four-player cooperative gameplay.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Bought 2 copies and feel doubly stupid
This is my first product review ever.

I actually bought 2 copies of this game so we could play co-op over the LAN.

I was such a COD fan. COD1, COD1:UO, COD2, COD4. They were all great.

COD5 stinks. I can’t believe that I can’t get my money back. We have two computers that easily meet the minimum specs, but the game is essentially unplayable with incredible long, long load times and choppy performance if you’re patient enough to wait for the game and level to load. We both run COD4 at the highest settings with super smooth game play.

I combed every forum and tried every possible fix. Forget Activision’s own site. It’s worthless.

I think I’ll put the DVD’s in the shredder. That’ll surely be the most fun I’ve had with this game.

4 Stars A good WWII sim, with Co-op
I know the software developer got raked over the coals for Call Of Duty 3, but this was a good game. By splitting the 15 missions between the Eastern Front and the Pacific Islands, you get to alternate flavors.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Call of Duty “limitless enemies until you move to the next checkpoint”, which is one of the few things keeping this from a 5 star rating. If you attack a small bunker, Japanese soldiers should not be able to continuously pour out of it like its a circus clown car. But the overall game is tense, action-packed and has a wide variety of missions.

The zombie level is a bit disappointing after playing Left 4 Dead, but still an interesting spin. If the loading screen didn’t announce what it was, it would have been a fun one to surprise my friends with who had just got the game when we did a LAN session.

The flamethrower is great for the trench fights. You SHOULD be able to pick one up from a German flamthrower that you headsniped, but I guess they are saying it is too much for your Russian peasant brain to handle. A pity that. Plus, it seems strange that the Russian you play is considered to be quite the hero, yet he never gets past the rank of Private.

The single player was enjoyable, but coop brings it to an all new level. Most of the time I am stuck with single player due to time constraints (playing on a laptop at lunch) but online and LAN games are the best. I am very glad they made a coop mode, instead of just the team versus team or deathmatch modes. Now, how about a sequel letting you play as Germans or British in North Africa?

5 Stars COD has done a good job again
All I can say is I am still playing it and it is cool with the zombies, flame thrower, bazooka and bayonet action. Graphic are good especially when you use the flame thrower. Thank God they made a PC version I have them all now and hope the next one they dont wait to put it out in PC as well as Xbox playstation versions. The game is worth playing.

2 Stars No Controller Support
I picked up this game for PC because I really enjoyed it on XBOX 360, but don’t feel like spending the money for the console. The box for this game states that it has game controller support, specifically support for the XBOX 360 controller when used via USB in a PC. This is not the case, and the PC version actually offers no game controller support, despite the fact Activision says it does on the game box. Just a heads up. I was pretty disappointed, and got a pretty lame excuse back from Activision when I inquired about it.

4 Stars Great Game
COD5 is a great game with great graphics, especially with DX10. If you can find the game for under 40 bucks– get it, u’ll love it.

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Spore

The creators of The Sims present the next big bang - SPORE. Create your unique creature and guide it on an epic journey through a universe of your own creations. Play any way you choose in the five evolutionary phases of Spore: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space. How you play and what you do with your universe is entirely up to you. Spore gives you a variety of powerful yet easy-to-use creation tools so you can create every aspect of your universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even starships.

PC Minimum - Windows XP/Vista, 6 GB Hard Drive Space, 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent, 768 MB RAM, 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0 Mac Minimum - Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard or higher, 4.7GB Hard Drive Space, Intel Core Duo Processor, 1024 MB RAM; ATI X1600 or NVidia 7300 GT with 128 MB of Video RAM, or Intel Integrated GMA X3100

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars how can you rate this 1 star?
this is the best game ever! i have no idea how you can rate this 1 star. the people that did so probably have realllllly old/bad/crappy computers or something because it runs fine on my PC. READ THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS BEFORE YOU BUY SOMETHING! DONT ACT LIKE BECAUSE IT DOESNT WORK OR UR PC, ITS THE GAMES FAULT!

4 Stars A really enjoyable game
This game is really good. I really don’t understand the snobby remarks about not being able to install it on more than 5 computers. If you go through that many computers, then yes that is a problem, but I’m sure the majority of us use one, maybe two.

I really like the game play, and it’s fun to replay the game to see what different creatures you can create and how they progress. I recommend this game.

1 Star All Hype! Don’t listen to game review magazines.
This game got a lot of hype. Game magazines gave it 5 out of 5 stars, but I believe those magazines never played the game.

Spore is like a giant game of “Simon Says”. (You know, the colorful blinking light game with sounds…?) The game is supposed to be open ended, but you’ll be glad the game is over when you reach the space ‘exploration’ stage in less then a day.

This game has a lot of neat technology behind it. Making a creature seems to be the most appealing part of the game. However, people can make their own creatures with the free creature creator; Or go buy a package of play-doe and you’ll have just as much fun.

1 Star Awful
Look, even if this game DIDN’T have the securom and install limits which reduce your purchase to a mere rental, the fact is it isn’t FUN. I unknowingly installed this on my laptop on day one, excited about all the promises made to me by EA. I thought this would be on the verge of an MMO, with other people to interact with and the ability to create planets, and customize terrain, plants, animals, and the weather. Boy, was I wrong. You get 5 skimpy minigames that could have been put into separate flash web based games. Instead you rent them for 50 bucks! Absolutely horrible value, and without a doubt the biggest disappointment I have ever had with any purchase, ever. I plan on throwing it out as soon as I’m done grimacing with disgust at the packaging. EA said one thing and delivered another, and I’ll never forget that. I am not buying any EA games ever again until they remove SecuROM and the limited installs.

5 Stars Spore Rocks!
This Spore game is so much fun for my and my brother. We figured out how to have two different accounts on the same game. We enjoy creating some of the weiderst animals and other things. I reccomend this to anyone you likes to create their own little world!

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The Sims 2 Mac

The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You’ll get to direct an entire Sims’ lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken?

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great Game
Cheaper to buy it here than it is going to be at most places that carry a Mac version of the game even with priority shipping it came out to be less than the retail price of [...]

3 Stars Sims 2 for Mac
Well, it still didn’t work well with the mac. I’ve removed it from the computer. It would freeze and some characters, after a while, I’d lose the ability to move them no matter what I’d do.

5 Stars Sim happy
What a game!

That’s my main point, but I’ll go more in depth for you incredulous SOBs.

If you don’t know the Sims premise, here it is: I’m a deity, lets mess around with people’s lives.

Being the evil, domineering, and downright cruel person that I am, the Sims is my greatest fantasy. You don’t have to share my personality to have this game cater to your desires; if you like RPGs, simulations, life and style games, career games, or all of the above, the Sims is what you want, nay, what you NEED.

For anyone who has ever played the original Sims and thought: “Man, I wish there was…” or “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” say no more, Sims 2 has got your back.

Game-Play is wonderful: the Sims are very customizable, their lives are manageable, the game is lovable, nuf said. Asypr did let some glitches slide though, there are a few problems with changing households, but they don’t subtract too-much from the game.

I have a decent fast computer, a 13 inch 2.4 Ghz MacBook with 2 GB RAM, and Sims 2 runs like a dream. I only wish I had a better graphics card to improve the frame rate on the 1200×800 screen setting; whatever.

Finally, the service was great. I got my package in 2 days with expedited shipping. If you can’t stand waiting 5 or 6 days, cough up the extra 3 bones: its worth it.

If you haven’t guessed by my review, I rated the whole thing 5 stars. If this game interests you even a little, buy it.

2 Stars Simple Sim…
It’s okay… This was my first Sims purchase — I take that back! This was my 2nd Sims purchase; I HAD to buy it because I purchased another Sims product that wouldn’t work without having this one installed first! After installing this one and then installing the 2nd one, I’m unable to use this one… It’s like the 2nd one wrote over the 1st one. I assumed that having both installed, I’d have access to both (?)….

5 Stars I loved this game
We have both the Mac version and Playstation versions of this game. I love them both. We have gotten hours of entertainment from them. Highly recommended.

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Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare

Join the battle in Call Of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare for Macintosh. Featuring a tense storyline, filled with plot twists, the game thrusts you into battle like never before. With amazing special effects, including rim-lighting, depth of field, texture streaming and character self-shadowing, you are enlisted into one of the most photo-realistic gaming experiences imaginable. The community-oriented multiplayer gameplay features a robust leveling system, variety of unlockable perks, hot-join and matchmaking, as well as create a class and party capabilities. Over 100 challenges and a host of environments and modes deliver unlimited possibilities. Kill-Cam, a feature from Call of Duty 2, allows for spectator instant replays.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Love it!
I bought this game for my husband and he won’t leave it alone. He loves it.

5 Stars The Best Macintosh Computer Game Ever
I wood Buy This Game Its is amazing or mac, It runs like nothing you have ever seen before on my 2.4 ghz 1 gb of ram imac and runs ever well on white 2.4 ghz 2 gb of ram macbook. Buy you will love it!!!

4 Stars Great game play, but should have been longer.
Everything about this game is amazing except how long it takes to win. Yes there is the multiplayer, but I still think that it should have been longer.

5 Stars Great Game, Lousy Shipping
The product is amazing and I will probably start playing it in the next few minutes. The problem was that I was shipped the wrong game! I was shipped Civilization IV instead. When I tried to return it, the website would not respond to my emails and would not answer their phone!!!! I tried for almost 2 weeks to return it and finally read in their return policy that it had to be returned within 10 days in order to trade it for the correct game. By then it was too late. It was sent from Go Gamer.com, of which I will never buy another product from again. So the game is amazing, but I didn’t buy the actual game from you. I bought it off the Apple website.

4 Stars A New Spin on an Old Classic
I owned both COD the first, and COD2, and was a little skeptical when getting this if I’d experience anything new, or just the same old maps and game dressed up in new graphics. This is not the case at all; COD4 is a totally new game if not a totally new concept obviously. The graphics have certainly been improved but you’ll need a pretty powerful card to get the most out of it IMO. Gameplay is very realistic and the shear number and type of armaments, maps and characters are great, if a bit intimidating at first. Unless you’re a total gaming stud, expect to get your butt kicked the first couple days of playing this game until you get used to the physics and its quirks.

Many aspects of this game have added realism, such as the ability to call in CAS choppers, gillie suits for snipers, different types of camouflage for weapons, different weapon behaviors depending on whether you have certain handles or silencers attached, knives, etc. Also, it has the interesting twist in the MP variant that as you get better and acquire more kills from game to game, you unlock more weapons and weapon options (like advanced scopes or stun grenades) for yourself. Then as your skills and weapons available both get better, the effect tends to snowball a bit and you can really start kicking tail when you get up into the officer ranks.

Couple new game types alongside the classic DM, TDM, Domination, etc… basically all variations on Search and Destroy. One where you locate a constantly updating HQ, capture and defend it, another where you have one bomb that constantly gets “swiped” by the other team, each in an attempt to blow up their specific objective, and the traditional Search and Destroy model where you just switch sides, taking turn attacking and defending the same target locations. The Single Player game is very slick and life-like with a variety of different mission types and locations around the world, and good lead-in / lead-out video sequences.

My one beef with this game is there seems to be some sort of inherent lag in the online game where even if you’re ping is good, there can be a slight delay in the actions you take, resulting in quick and constant death. AFAICT it has more to do with how many people are on the server than the average ping. Servers with more than about 15 or 16 players can get this problem a lot and it will degrade game play in that case.

All in all definitely worth the money if you’re a long time MOHAA / COD fan.

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The Sims 2 Mac

The Sims 2 is an incredible sequel to the best-selling PC game of all-time! You’ll get to direct an entire Sims’ lifetime, and try to get them to reach their goals in life. Will they have a long, successful and happy life - or will they end up poor and heartbroken?

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Sims 2 for Mac
Well, it still didn’t work well with the mac. I’ve removed it from the computer. It would freeze and some characters, after a while, I’d lose the ability to move them no matter what I’d do.

5 Stars I loved this game
We have both the Mac version and Playstation versions of this game. I love them both. We have gotten hours of entertainment from them. Highly recommended.

5 Stars Sim happy
What a game!

That’s my main point, but I’ll go more in depth for you incredulous SOBs.

If you don’t know the Sims premise, here it is: I’m a deity, lets mess around with people’s lives.

Being the evil, domineering, and downright cruel person that I am, the Sims is my greatest fantasy. You don’t have to share my personality to have this game cater to your desires; if you like RPGs, simulations, life and style games, career games, or all of the above, the Sims is what you want, nay, what you NEED.

For anyone who has ever played the original Sims and thought: “Man, I wish there was…” or “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” say no more, Sims 2 has got your back.

Game-Play is wonderful: the Sims are very customizable, their lives are manageable, the game is lovable, nuf said. Asypr did let some glitches slide though, there are a few problems with changing households, but they don’t subtract too-much from the game.

I have a decent fast computer, a 13 inch 2.4 Ghz MacBook with 2 GB RAM, and Sims 2 runs like a dream. I only wish I had a better graphics card to improve the frame rate on the 1200×800 screen setting; whatever.

Finally, the service was great. I got my package in 2 days with expedited shipping. If you can’t stand waiting 5 or 6 days, cough up the extra 3 bones: its worth it.

If you haven’t guessed by my review, I rated the whole thing 5 stars. If this game interests you even a little, buy it.

2 Stars Simple Sim…
It’s okay… This was my first Sims purchase — I take that back! This was my 2nd Sims purchase; I HAD to buy it because I purchased another Sims product that wouldn’t work without having this one installed first! After installing this one and then installing the 2nd one, I’m unable to use this one… It’s like the 2nd one wrote over the 1st one. I assumed that having both installed, I’d have access to both (?)….

5 Stars Great Game
Cheaper to buy it here than it is going to be at most places that carry a Mac version of the game even with priority shipping it came out to be less than the retail price of [...]

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Civilization IV Warlords Expansion Pack

Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Warlords is the first expansion pack for the Firaxis Games’ award-winning title, Civilization IV. Paying homage to some of history’s greatest military leaders, the expansion delivers eight unique and interesting scenarios, giving players the chance to change the course of history with the help of their new powerful ?warlord? unit. Civilization IV: Warlords includes new civilizations, leaders, units, and wonders that offer even more fun and exciting ways for players to expand their civilization’s military power as they strive for world domination. Leader Traits - In addition to the many existing leader traits in Civilization IV, two new leader traits accompany the expansion. New Wonders - There will be three new awe-inspiring wonders, all contributing new benefits and culture to your civilization. Unique Buildings - Players will now be able to construct buildings unique to each civilization. Units, Resources, & Improvements - Many new items not available in the core game will be introduced in the new scenarios Core Game Tweaks and Additions - Expanded features and gameplay tweaks will be made to the core game Requires the full version of Civilization IV for Mac OS X to play Requires Operating System - Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later with PowerPC G5 or Intel running at 1.8 GHz or faster

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars end of game is slow, requires disc
you will need to have the disc to start this game. a bummer when you’re on a laptop on the road and you just want to play a video game. most people don’t carry around the cds that come with their software anymore. it also doesn’t stop people from copying games illegally or cracking them to use without discs (do a google search).

that said, the game play is good, the graphics are nice, but the end game gets to be pretty slow moving. i have a fairly recent macbook pro and this game gets really sluggish as there are more units and map revealed. kind of sad since that’s when it gets more interesting.

buy world of warcraft instead. this game is a poor port to the mac platform.

5 Stars Great
My sons have spent hours creating their civilizations. This game seems to be very entertaining.

3 Stars Great game but terrible programming
Civ IV is a a lot of fun. Similar to old PC games like Master of Magic.

Unfortunately, the Mac version is moderately buggy. Let me count the ways:

1) Audio glitches. Occasionally an old sound will seemingly ’stay in the buffer’ as an annoying buzz for several minutes.

2) Video. After playing for a few hours some of the terrain improvements turn completely black. Restarting the game works for this one.

3) Video. After a few hours it gets slow and the video glitches. The menus become partially unreadable. Restarting also works here and there is no noticeable corruption of the autosave files.

4) Complete Crash. Several times I have had my whole machine lock up when playing in full screen mode. Its interesting in that its not a complete freeze, but instead the mouse slows down to 1/100 of its normal speed. However, I am unable to exit the game at this point and am forced to Hold Down the Power Button !!! to hardware restart. This is atrocious and the only program I know of that actually crashes the OS.

I have a 2.4 GHz iMac Intel Duo with 2 GB of RAM and running Tiger.

1 Star Will not run and Amazon will not help
I received this program and loaded it into my Mac Book. The software gives an error message when starting up and cannot use. I tried to contact Amazon but they do not answer and make it very difficult to find them. I had no option but to begin a dispute through American Express.

A waste of time and money.

1 Star Terrible, until Aspry decides to support this game…
Im going to start by saying that the Mac port compared to the windows version is ok at best. What I am truly frustrated by is the lack of support Aspyr is placing in its software. I bought this game with the intention of playing multiplayer with my friends, all of which own PC’s and were able to buy the gold edition for half what I payed. Regardless, I put up the absorbent amount of money for this three year old game and attempted to play multiplayer with my friends. To my dismay I discovered that Mac users were not allowed to play multiplayer with PC users because Aspyr has not released a patch compatible with the windows patch 2.13. To make matters worse I also discovered that gamespy is no longer supporting the internet play of the Mac version. So even when the patch is finally released I will only be able to play direct IP connect. After learning this crucial information I called Aspyr support to find out if they plan on releasing a patch soon so I could make my $80 investment worth while. But to no avail, the tech support told me that the incompetent Aspyr “is working on it” but have no definite date for release. The final nail of the metaphoric coffin was the fact that Mac users could also not get the latest Expansion beyond the sword. What makes it even more offensive is the fact that Aspyr has no plans of releasing this half year old expansion pack in the future. Please heed my advise and do not buy this game until Aspyr gets their act together!!!

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