In case you haven’t heard, we’ve put together an awesome string of FLASH SALES for tomorrow, Cyber Monday.  While nearly our entire store has been discounted 33% all weekend (hint: you’ve still got time to take advantage!), the discounts from our Cyber Monday FLASH SALES will be even better!  The trick, however, is taking advantage before each individual sale ends or while supplies last.  Here’s a breakdown of how the FLASH SALES will work tomorrow:

• We are implementing a special shipping discount all day tomorrow.  Any purchases of $25 or more will be eligible for FREE shipping!
• It will be absolutely critical to follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter.  We’ll be posting the FLASH SALES on these social networks all day, and you will need to follow us to keep up with what games are on sale at what times.
• All FLASH SALES have an associated #coupon code.  It will be necessary to use the supplied coupon code at checkout in order to take full advantage of the sales.  IMPORTANT: This includes using the hashtag (#) at the beginning of each coupon code!
• We have 14 different FLASH SALES scheduled for tomorrow. We’ll be posting one every hour on the hour, starting at 9am CST.  Each FLASH SALE will last only one hour before the associated coupon code no longer works.
• Most FLASH SALE coupons have been limited to 50 uses. That means once 50 people have used the coupon code, that FLASH SALE is done.  Act fast before anyone else!

We hope you’ll be able to take part in our grand day of FLASH SALES.  Remember–act fast!

First, happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  We’re all thankful that Civilization V Mac has been released, and now we’re giving everyone even more of a reason to be thankful! Starting TONIGHT at 12:00am CST, we’re discounting almost the entire GameAgent store by 33%.  That’s right–you’ll be able to grab popular titles like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Mac), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Mac), and even The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (Mac) at awesome prices! We’re also selling RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum (Mac) at $10 off the normal price + FREE shipping! Finally, we’ve been able to redeploy our bundled products.  Like the other games in our Black Friday line up, you’ll be able to save at least 33% off the price of these already-discounted bundles, and each bundle will also come with FREE shipping!  These bundles and discounts include:

• Civilization IV: Complete Bundle (Mac) – Only $45
  • Civilization IV: Gold (Civ IV + Civ IV: Warlords)
  • Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
  • Civilization IV: Colonization
• Civilization IV: “Expansions” Bundle (Mac) – Only $35
  • Civilization IV: Warlords
  • Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
  • Civilization IV: Colonization
• The id Pack (Mac) – Only $33
  • Doom 3
  • Quake 4
  • Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• Call of Duty Bundle (Mac) – Only $46
  • Call of Duty: Deluxe Edition
  • Call of Duty 2
  • Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

All of these deals and more will be good starting Friday (Thursday night @ midnight CST) until the end of the day (11:59pm CST) Sunday, 11/28. Of course, there’s also more. We’re giving away all sorts of Civilization swag over the weekend via Facebook and Twitter!  All you have to do is follow us on either or both for a chance to win Civ Anonymous t-shirts, posters, mugs, stickers, and, oh yeah, a FREE Civilization V Mac Special Edition signed by Sid Meier! Need more reason to catch us on Facebook and Twitter? How about Cyber Monday FLASH SALES?  We’ve got the entire day (Monday, 11/29) lined up with FLASH SALES where we’ll be offering some of the best deals ever for a limited time (*cough* Civ V Mac *cough*).  If you want to catch the deals while they’re good, you’ll need to keep up with us on your social network of choice!  Don’t miss out!

Big thanks to everyone that pre-ordered Civilization V Mac from GameAgent!  We threw all of your names into a pool and then picked out 11 of them, one by one, at random.  One grand prize winner is getting the Civilization V Mac Special Edition signed by Sid Meier himself, while 10 runners-up will be receiving an Aspyr t-shirt!  So who are our winners?  Drumroll, please…

• Grand Prize Winner
  • Igor L. of Malibu, CA

• Runners-up
  • Heli T. of Palo Alto, CA
  • Seth R. of Salem, MA
  • Steven H. of Little Falls, MN
  • Elba-Maria S. of El Paso, TX
  • Yigit K. of New York, NY
  • Stephen S. of Waltham, MA
  • Gerry B. of Baton Rouge, LA
  • Brent S. of Portland, OR
  • Eric H. of Stillwater, MN
  • Al M. of Ann Arbor, MI

BIG congratulations to all of our winners!  We will soon be contacting you directly to confirm your contact and shipping information.  And thanks again to everyone that’s purchased Civ V Mac!

The day has finally arrived–Civilization V Mac is HERE! We first want to thank the rest of the team here at Aspyr for working so very hard on getting the Civ V Mac port finished!  These guys worked their butts off to ensure a very quality game with a super short turnaround.  In addition, they’re still working what’s left of their butts off to get the Mac version up to speed with the PC via all the necessary patches and DLC.  Here’s to you, guys (and gals)–we wouldn’t be here today without you! Next we want to thank the legions of fans that have supported Aspyr, GameAgent, and the Civilization series!  Everyone’s been super awesome since the Civ V Mac announcement, and we thank everyone for their thoughts, comments, and, most of all, their patience! Finally, we want to thank 2K and Firaxis for putting together one of the finest strategy titles ever created.  And we’re especially thankful that we could be a part of it! Now with the thanks out of the way, this is the part where I tell you guys to go buy Civilization V Mac if you haven’t already!  If you’ve still got questions about the game, be sure and check out our previous Civ V Mac FAQs posts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).  The third Civ V Mac FAQ has been updated with some new questions and information, including new information on supported video cards, so check it out again to get the new scoop. Also, to anyone that pre-ordered the game from GameAgent.com, we’ll be announcing the winner of the Civilization V Mac Special Edition signed by Sid Meier tomorrow (Wednesday, 11/24)!  If you’re unaware of this giveaway, anybody that pre-ordered the game from GameAgent.com (either boxed or digital) was entered in a random drawing, with one grand prize winner coming away with a Sid Meier-signed copy of the Civilization V Special Edition.  Ten runners-up will be receiving Aspyr t-shirts. Didn’t get your pre-order in time?  Well, we’ve got good news–you’ll have another opportunity to win a signed Special Edition and other awesome Civilization swag this Thanksgiving weekend!  In addition to the Civilization V Mac Special Edition, we’ll be giving out some Civ Anonymous t-shirts, mugs, stickers, and posters through Facebook and Twitter, so start following us to get FREE stuff! Finally, we’ve got some fantastic deals planned for Thanksgiving/Black Friday weekend, including, among other promos, 33% off nearly the entire GameAgent store!  We’re also planning a whole new round of FLASH SALES on Cyber Monday (11/29), so be prepared for a weekend of super cheap Mac and PC gaming!  You can get the full skinny by signing up for and/or reading our newsletter! Thanks again to everyone, and happy Civ V Mac Day!

With the Civilization V Mac release upon us (tomorrow!), we wanted to publish one final Civ V Mac FAQs post to answer any lingering questions about the game.  Obviously, the BIG question was about whether or not Civilization V Mac would support SteamPlay.  As mentioned before, we’ve been having intense, internal discussions on the matter, and we even opened the subject to comments from any and all fans of Aspyr, GameAgent, and the Civilization series.

We want to take a quick moment to first thank everyone that dropped us a line to let us know your thoughts and expectations.  Again, we’ve been absolutely thrilled to have such passionate followers and fans.  Many, many of you had excellent, well-written, thought-out posts, and we took all of your comments into consideration when coming to a final decision.  To say the least, you guys spoke, and we listened.  And with that, I won’t waste any more of your time—let’s get to the FAQs!

So, what’s the deal—is Civilization V Mac supporting SteamPlay or not?

Yes!  Civilization V Mac will indeed support SteamPlay, meaning that anyone that purchases the Mac version will also have access to the PC version.  This also means if you have already purchased the PC version, you will now have access to the Mac version.

From the comments that poured in, it seemed clear that many of you had purchased the PC version, even though it was the Mac version that you really wanted, and either expected that Civ V Mac would support SteamPlay or that Civ V Mac would not even be released for some time.   Obviously there was a lack of communication on our part, and, quite frankly, we don’t want you guys to have to pay for our mistakes.  So for those of you to whom we failed to communicate properly, and those hold outs that just waited anyway, PLEASE ENJOY THE GAME!  And if you like your Mac version then please consider purchasing Mac DLC when it becomes available!

And keep talking to us.  We love it.

Does that mean the game will be sold via Steam, too?

Yes, you will be able to purchase Civilization V Mac from the Steam Store when the game launches, November 23, 2010.

That being said, we want to reiterate that your origin of purchase will not affect the way the game operates and plays.  No matter if you buy the game from GameAgent, the MacGameStore, Apple stores, or Steam, digital or disc, it is all the same product.  The game will use SteamWorks to manage DRM, achievement tracking, etc, no matter where you purchase the game.

[Update 11/23] What about other retailers?  Can I find the game in brick and mortar stores?

The game should also be available at your local brick and mortar retailer that sells Mac software, such as the Apple Store.

Will the Mac version use SteamCloud for saving?

Our dev team is working hard to release a patch that will enable SteamCloud saves soon after the Civilization V Mac release.  However, the feature will not be available at launch.

Will these game saves be accessible by the PC version?

Save games won’t be accessible between platforms because of the issues raised with incompatible save game files in the case where the PC version is a later version than the Mac client.  The files will need to have different names.  This issue is something we are discussing for future patches.

[Update 2/11/11] Will existing DLC for the PC version work with my Mac version?

All available DLC for the PC is now also also available for the Mac.  All DLC supports SteamPlay, meaning that those that have already purchased DLC for the PC will be able to get the Mac DLC free of charge.  For more details on DLC, please see Civilization V Mac FAQs: DLC Edition.

What about mods? Will there be access to a complete set of SDK tools and/or 100% mod compatibility?

Unfortunately, user-created mods are not a component of the Mac version of Civilization V.  User mods would require us to build custom versions of the full application ourselves in order to support a limited number of specific mods and still leave others unsupported.  Similarly, modding tools are implemented with Microsoft .NET, and would present a significant porting challenge involving total rewrites.  Bottom line: There is no way to create a Mac experience that allows for a good end-user experience for user-created mods.  Believe us—we tried.

What about a demo?

As previously mentioned, there are currently no plans to offer a demo for Civilization V Mac.  However, we will revisit this issue some time after the New Year.

Okay, so what are the final system requirements?

These are the minimum system requirements for playing the game without experiencing any performance issues:

• Operating System: 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard)
• CPU Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (Dual-Core)
• CPU Speed: 2.4 GHz
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Hard Disk Space: 8 GB
• Video Card (ATI): Radeon HD2600
• Video Card (NVidia): Geforce 8600
• Video Memory (VRam): 256 MB
• Media Required: DVD-ROM (Physical, boxed copies only)
• Peripherals: Macintosh mouse and keyboard

Other Requirements: Initial installation requires one-time Internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include Steam Client.

Internet Connection and acceptance of Steam™ Subscriber Agreement required for activation. See www.steampowered.com/agreement for details.

[Update 11/23] Recommended System Requirements

• CPU Processor: Intel Quad Core
• CPU Speed: 2.6 GHz
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Video Memory (VRam): 512MB

*Apple original CPU’s only, CPU upgrades not supported.

Supported Video Cards:
NVIDIA GeForce® 8600, 8800, 9600M, GT 120, 320M, 330M
ATI Radeon HD 2600, HD 3870, HD 4670, HD 4850, HD 5670, HD 5750

NOTICE: Apple Intel Chipsets only. Power PC Processors (G4 and G5) are not supported.
NOTICE: Intel(r) integrated video chipsets are not supported.
NOTICE: This game is not supported on volumes formatted as Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive)

Thanks for the system requirements! But I still don’t know if my machine will be able to play Civ V Mac…

Between the near-incomprehensible naming conventions of video cards and other computing parts and the fact that some of you are just missing a minimum requirement, we totally understand that it may still not be clear whether your machine will support the game.

To help out, we are currently in the process of updating our GameAgent application for the Mac.  This application will look at all of your system specs and help you determine whether or not you’ll be able to play Civ V Mac on your machine.  Though we don’t have a set date for Civ V Mac compatibility, this app works for our other games available on GameAgent.com, so check it out if you haven’t already!

You can also check in with our support folks on their Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/Aspyr_Support.

[Update 11/23] So I got the game installed, but I’m having some technical difficulties. Can I get some help?!?

If you run into any problems with the game running properly, we want to direct you to our excellent support staff.  You can open a help ticket at http://support.aspyr.com, or, as mentioned above, you can hit them up on Twitter (@Aspyr_Support).

Anything else?

Just a HUGE thanks to everyone for their patience in waiting for the answers to all these burning questions!  If you still have questions, we first want to direct you to our previous two blog entries, Civ V Mac FAQs and Civ V Mac FAQs, V2.  If your question still hasn’t been answered, let us know!  You can leave a comment, drop a line on our Facebook page, tweet @gameagentstore or @Civ5Mac, or shoot us an email at gameagent@aspyr.com.

Also, don’t forget to pre-order Civilization V Mac, either boxed or digital, from GameAgent.com!  Civ V boxes will get FREE shipping.  In addition, pre-ordering from GameAgent will enter you into a random drawing for a chance to win a FREE copy of the Civilization V Mac Special Edition signed by Sid Meier himself!  Act now–you’ve only got until midnight CST EST!

Finally, thanks again, and have a happy Civilization V Mac Day!

Despite the fact that the top 3 teams were all off this week, the college football weekend still saw some great matchups and hard-fought games.  The Texas A&M Aggies were able to defeat the higer-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in a strong defensive battle.  Ohio State was able to survive its trip to Iowa.  And the Arkansas Razorbacks were able to finish off Mississippi State. Of course, the important matchup was between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Miami Hurricanes.  Despite a close game through the first 3 quarters, the Hokies were able to pull away in the final quarter, winning 31-17.  Virginia Tech’s star QB Tyrod Taylor sealed the game with an 18-yard touchdown run in the middle of the fourth quarter, while the Hurricanes were forced to play with back up QB Stephen Morris.  Morris was intercepted three times in the game.  The win gave the Hokies the top spot in the Coastal Division of the ACC, and they’ll play for the conference championship in a couple of weeks. The win is also giving GameAgent fans a special something–discounts on all of our Sims titles!  Between now and the end of the day (11:59pm CST) Wednesday, November 24, you can grab any title labeled The Sims (this does not include The Sims 2) for 25% off with coupon code #VTech.  In addition, each title you add to your cart will cut shipping costs by $5, meaning that 2 or more will get you FREE shipping!  Don’t miss out! *The Sims catalog includes:

• The Sims Complete (Mac)
• The Sims: Castaway Stories (Mac)
• The Sims: Life Stories (Mac)
• The Sims: Pet Stories (Mac)

And just like that, the season is one week closer to ending.  With only two games left on the regular season schedule for most teams, this season has seen its share of highs and lows.  Some teams have surprised and marveled (Auburn, pre-Cam Newton controversy), while others have floundered in spite of themselves (Texas).  But the saddest part?  This is the last CFB Game of the Week we’ll be posting until the bowl season starts!  Read on to find out what discounts are at stake and what teams you should keep an eye on.

The Discounts

We’re going Sims-style this week, featuring our entire Sims (Mac) catalog* vs our entire Sims 2 (Mac) catalog*.  Both games feature tons of replayability, and with the extensions and expansions, these games will definitely keep you busy through the holidays (or at the least, provide a fun and inexpensive gift)!

• If the team representing The Sims catalog wins, then all of our games pertaining to The Sims will be 25% off.  Furthermore, each Sims title you buy will cut your shipping costs by $5–that means buying two or more Sims titles will net you FREE shipping!
• If the team representing The Sims 2 catalog wins, then all of our games pertaining to The Sims 2 will be 25% off.  Furthermore, each Sims 2 title you buy will cut your shipping costs by $5–that means buying two or more Sims 2 titles will net you FREE shipping!

The Football Game

This week we’re featuring the matchup between the #16 Virginia Tech Hokies and the #24 Miami Hurricanes.  The Hokies have come on strong in the second half of the season, winning eight in a row after losing their first two.  However, the Hokies will have their hands full when they travel to Miami, as the Hurricanes are on a bit of streak themselves having won their last two games.

• If the Virginia Tech Hokies win, then the Sims deal will kick into effect Monday, November 22.
• If the Miami Hurricanes win, then the Sims 2 deal will kick into effect Monday, November 22.

The game is set to kick off at 3:30pm ET on ESPN/ESPN3.  You can catch a full preview here. (more…)

Good news, everyone!  Those of you that have signed up for our newsletter already know, but if you haven’t heard, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum (Mac) has arrived, and it’s better than ever!  The game is a RCT3 compilation and includes:

The original RollerCoaster Tycoon 3

RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3 is completely updated and redesigned to take the series to all-new heights. Featuring incredible 3D graphics and the exclusive new Coaster Cam™, you can now see your park from any angle and ride the coasters you build. From street level to blimp, see your park pulse with fun and excitement like never before.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Soaked!

RollerCoaster Tycoon® 3: Soaked! is the expansion pack that lets you design, build and operate the ultimate summertime fun park with exciting water rides, the wettest, wildest attractions, and, of course, heart-stopping roller coasters.

And the brand new-to-the-Mac RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Wild!

RollcerCoaster Tycoon® 3: Wild! is an incredible expansion pack that brings the majesty of Nature to your amusement park. Now you can do more than just add water parks, you can create an incredible circus filled with animal attractions. Build animal enclosures, cages, and attractions like a choreographed lion tamer show set in an arena.

Even better, if you buy the game from GameAgent.com, you’ll receive FREE shipping!  You can check out the newsletter here, or you can read the full press release after the jump.

Finally, if you haven’t already, we highly encourage you to sign up for our newsletter!  Among major announcements such as new game releases and special promos, we’ll be sending out our Black Friday deals soon, and newsletter subscribers will be the first to know!  Don’t worry–you can unsubscribe at any time.  Though with the deals we have planned, you won’t want to!

(more…)

Since the Civilization V Mac announcement, we’ve been trying hard to field the mountain of questions we’ve received about the game, and while we’ve been able to answer most of them, we’ve so far avoided definitive answers on the full integration with Steam, particularly SteamPlay.  First, we apologize for not addressing these concerns sooner; however, we are still in intense, internal discussions about the pros and cons of utilizing the system. As some of you may be aware, we recently started a discussion in the comments of our most recent Civ V Mac FAQs post regarding the use of SteamPlay and buyer expectations.  As a result, we’ve received some awesome feedback from some of our readers and fans, and thus have decided to more formally invite others to comment on the situation by creating a dedicated post to the discussion.  Below is the comment that sparked the talk.

Hi Guys We obviously have had a lot of people inquire about SteamPlay, which is buy the PC version get the Mac version free (and vice versa). As I’m sure most folks would understand, as a company who invests heavily in the licensing, development and support of great Mac content giving content away for free is a difficult business model to support. We are still weighing the options but out of curiosity, how many of you have already purchased the PC version and expect a free Mac version? Did you purchase it on the PC to play via BootCamp in hopes you’d get the Mac version? Or did you purchase on the PC and just assumed you’d get a Mac version? Wondering what the expectation is out there. Thanks

As noted above, we would love to hear from more of you about your thoughts on the subject.  We know many of you will feel very passionately one way or another, so we do ask that anyone leaving a comment try to follow a civil and/or cordial level of discourse.  That being said, thanks for your time and your thoughts! Update: As BlogLady has noted below in the comments, we first want to thank everyone for their comments and thoughts, and we’re absolutely thrilled to have fans with such passion for Mac gaming.  Second, we do want to clarify that because Civilization V Mac will feature SteamWorks, the DRM and playing experience will be exactly the same no matter where you purchase the game, disc or download.

You will have Steam authorization rules and Steam encryption and access to Steam save game files, etc., no matter where you purchase it. So GameAgent DRM is not on the digital build and disk check is not on the disk.

Next, we want to let everyone know that we’re taking your comments very seriously, and that they have already made an impact on our internal discussions.  After all, where would we be without you guys? Finally, we want to take the discussion a step further:

Out of curiosity for you two machine owners – do you guys have PC home and Mac mobile? Or vice versa? I have to admit, I can’t even navigate a PC anymore I”m so entrenched in my Mac world.

Update #2: Again, thanks so much to everyone for their thoughts and comments!  We’ll be posting final decisions regarding SteamPlay, etc, in a final Civ V Mac FAQ on Monday, November 22.  Please stay tuned!

Things remained steady in the top 10 this week, as there were no upsets to shake the balance of power.  There were some close calls, however, as #1 Oregon barely skated by California, #2 Auburn struggled early with Georgia, and #3 TCU almost dropped the ball against San Diego State.  The question, of course, is how did our featured CFB Game of the Week turn out?

In a battle that initially looked like it would be close, the South Carolina Gamecocks emerged victorious over the Florida Gators, 36-14.  The Gators jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but the Gamecocks soon came back with RB Marcus Lattimore running in for a touchdown late in the first quarter to go up 9-7; it was a lead that South Carolina would not relinquish.  Lattimore would end up running for a career-high 212 yards as the Gamecocks handled the Gators at their home turf of Gainesville for the first time in 13 tries.  South Carolina will play in the SEC Champsionship game as winners of the East Division.  Catch a full recap here.

Since the Gamecocks won, we’re discounting Civilization IV: Warlords (Mac) through Wednesday, November 17.  You’ll be able to buy the Civ IV expansion, shipping included, for only $12!  Just add the game to your cart and use the coupon code #Gamecocks at checkout!