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Mac Game of the Week: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Most of the games I've covered for this feature so far have come down on the casual side of things, mostly iOS titles that have made their way over to the Mac App Store. But not so with this pick -- The Witcher 2 is a great game, but it is definitely not for the faint of heart (or GPU power). CD Projekt's epic RPG famously made its way to the Mac a few weeks ago, and we're definitely glad to have the game (and the company) on our platform. But this is a high-end game that comes from a genre background that doesn't just enjoy complexity, it revels in it. The Witcher 2 is part of the tradition of European PC RPGs, which offer up hundreds of hours of notoriously twisty quests and story lines, and lots of combat and crafting mechanics. The game definitely follows in this tradition, telling the continued story of Geralt, a "Witcher" who's been trained and conditioned to fight monsters in all of their forms. The plot starts with Geralt being accused of the assassination of a king, and then winds out from there, with multiple branching paths and options to take. Combat is open -- Geralt can cast spells or slash away with a sword as he sees fit, and as with a lot of these RPGs, there are multiple schools of magic and lots of different specializations to choose from. The Witcher 2 is as far from a small, casual undertaking as it gets. It offers up a huge experience, and will likely demand that you're running a very fast Mac to play it on. If you're interested in a vast, sprawling story with the gameplay chops to keep it interesting all the way through, definitely give it a look. You can buy it from Steam or directly from CD Projekt's GOG.com site for US$29.99.
The Witcher 2 coming to Mac, GOG.com adding DRM-free Mac games
Polish video game developer CD Projekt is here at the MacTech Conference in Los Angeles this week because they're making a few big announcements today about the Mac platform. First, the company's biggest and most popular game, The Witcher 2, is finally arriving on the Mac platform. The Mac version was announced earlier this year, but it's now available -- if you're interested in playing the award-winning and critically acclaimed RPG, you can pick it up on the company's website right now, or grab it over on Steam. It's arriving with a Mac launch sale for just $29.99. And speaking of the company's website, CD Projekt also distributes PC games under the GOG.com banner, and the other big Apple-related announcement today is that GOG.com will now carry DRM-free Mac games as well. We cornered representative Trevor Longino here at the MacTech Conference, and as he says in the video below, GOG.com will start out with over 50 different Mac games and will add even more as time goes on. There are also a number of sales available, including an offer of six different Mac games (including Sim City 2000, Postal Classic, and Crusader: No Remorse) for 50% off right now, as low as $2.99. New users to the site will also get eight games for free, and there are some other sales going on as well, including an incredible pay-what-you-will sale on all Interplay games (!). Since the arrival of Steam on the Mac platform, Mac gamers have had many more options for their playtime, and GOG.com's move on the Mac is just as valuable.
New Witcher 2 trailer details new and improved newness, Dark Edition
There are plenty of non-PC gamers out there anxiously awaiting the April 17 release of The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings Enhanced Edition for the 360, but you PC gaming types who've played Witcher 2 already may be on the fence about whether the new version is worth your dollars. Perhaps this latest trailer, which runs through the Enhanced Edition's new features and content, can help aid in your decision making process.The trailer also briefly teases the game's Dark Edition bundle, which includes the game, its soundtrack, a making of DVD, stickers, a world map, a "Witcher Medallion," a quest handbook, game manual and art book.
4.5 million pirated copies of Witcher 2 out there, according to CD Projekt
Polish developer CD Projekt claims that its Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings has been pirated more times since release than you might have expected. In a recent interview with PC Gamer, CEO Marcin Iwinski does some quick back-of-the-hand calculations according to what he saw on illegal downloading sites, and comes up with 4.5 million copies of the game obtained illegally. He also says, however, that "as of today we have sold over one million legal copies, so having only 4.5-5 illegal copies for each legal one would be not a bad ratio." He then suggests "the reality is probably way worse." Still, CD Projekt isn't interested in digital rights management, and Iwinski says that it would cause more trouble for legally paying gamers than it would stop any piracy. The solution, he says, is to both add value to buying games legally, and educate users about why it's the right thing to do. "We started offering high value with the product -- like enhancing the game with additional collectors' items like soundtracks, making-of DVDs, books, walkthroughs, etc.," he says. "This, together with a long process of educating local gamers about why it makes sense to actually buy games legally, worked. And today, we have a reasonably healthy games market." Iwinski's got a point -- it's often an easier battle just selling more legal copies of a game (by providing a better value to customers) than preventing would-be pirates from beating even oppressive DRM.
