[Deinhard]

I read PC Gamer's recent article on the "upcoming" (read that as "when we get finished) release of AoE III. No...I don't normally read PC Gamer, but the British soldier on the cover made me stop and look.
I know it's impossible to guess when a Mac version might be released, but how long was the lag between PC and Mac releases for the first two editions?

[Rugby]

well AOE II was released October 16, 1999 for the PC
( http://pc.gamespy.co...e-age-of-kings/ )
and 10/31/2001 on the mac (well rough selling date...)
so well ermm 2 years ???
having said that I think that any Mac version will most likely me quicker this time.

[Deinhard]

I certainly hope so. The release date is "Late 2005" which means "Spring 2006." I'd hate to have to wait until "Fall 2008" to play on my Mac. Of course, by then I won't still be using a G3 iBook /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[FallenApple]

I'm going to take a guess here and say it will take longer due to the increased reliance on advanced DX9 features.

[Little_C]

The only problem i can see besides a long wait, is that if the online multiplayer works between mac and PC, then us mac users will have a severe strategic disadvantage because of PC players had a long time to Level up their Home Cities. (If you do not know what these are, read about them here) AOE3

[Peter Cohen]

I can almost assure you that if AOE3 comes to the Mac, Mac to PC multiplayer capabilities won't be there. Just about any PC game that's emerged from Microsoft's own game studios for the past few years (with the possible exception of Halo) depend on DirectPlay for online multiplayer, and that stuff just doesn't work cross-platform.

[Little_C]

Does AOM work cross platform?

[Peter Cohen]

AOM does not work cross-platform, no -- another victim of Microsoft's DirectPlay API.
Also, I've confirmed that Age of Empires III is using the Havok SDK for its physics engine. This greatly reduces the likelihood that AOE 3 will be available on the Mac platform, at least until Havok's developers ready a Mac-compatible version.
Apparently the Mac conversion of "Uru" wasn't enough to make them do it, so here's to hoping that someone with deeper pockets or a greater sense of urgency that Ubisoft steps up to the plate to poke the Havok developers.
Historically speaking, Microsoft's premium games have come to the Macintosh through licensing arrangements via Destineer's MacSoft subsidiary. Here's to hoping that MacSoft steps up to the plate with a license for AOE 3 and some sort of equitable arrangement to get Havok finally done on the Mac. If it happens, it'd be an important step forward for this middleware to be made available to other Mac game developers and publishers as well.

[Little_C]

ok sorry, but im just curious, does AOM only work through Game Ranger? Because i hardly see anyone play AOM in game ranger

[Peter Cohen]

No, not just GameRanger -- you can also go direct TCP/IP-to-TCP/IP, if I recall. But GR is the preferred matching service for that game, clearly. I just checked a few moments ago, btw, and I saw about a half-dozen AOM games in progress. Certainly not as popular as AOE2, but still a few...

[graphifred]

HI
It seems pc users have a lot of problems with the age of empire III and also civilization IV. Especially with the video/graphics card. They need the latest one to play correctly. Plus all kind of bugs. It won't be for mac soon. We will need at least the last G5 to play correctly. I really don't want to buy a new computer just for a game. Usually the mac version of online pc games is not supported.