Category: Mac

Bills are an inevitability of life, but spending a lot of time trying to keep track of them isn’t. It’s not unlikely that, throughout your life, you’ll have to pay mortgage payments, phone service contracts, credit card repayments, etc, and all at different intervals, costs, and dates. It can be a confusing financial landscape, but staying on top of things is something you have to do.

Enter Chronicle, a bill management software now in it’s fifth version that eases the process of keeping track of your due payments, and ones past. With the app, you can add payments of all sorts, be reminded when they’re due and log them once they’re paid. It’s on sell for just $9.99 to celebrate the new launch, and it’s a pretty nice, all-in-one solution, so let’s take a look.

Your First Bill

Once you’ve grabbed Chronicle from the Mac App Store, you’ll want to jump straight into adding your first bill. Fortunately, doing so is only a click of the large + button away. A modal window will popup where you’ll give your bill a name and select one of the app’s nice icons to categories it.

The form will also ask you for a few key details about the payment, such as it’s next due date, the interval in which it’s repeated and, optionally, the amount due, method of payment and a URL if it’s online. You can also be chosen to get reminded a variable number of days prior to it being due, and even tag it to be categorised or found easier later. This is a really simple feature that allows for simple sorting of bills, so you can, say, tag all your entertainment bills together even if they don’t share the same category icon.

Adding a new bill in Chronicle 5 is a painless process.

You can continue to add as many bills, of as many types, as you want to build up a long list of where your money goes.

Logging Payments

Once you have all your various payments setup in Chronicle, it’s time to use it. Perhaps that’s the wrong phrase, though, as Chronicle isn’t an app you necessarily “use”; you just sit back and wait for the time to come when you’re reminded to make a payment.

Through the reminder you setup when adding the initial bill, Chronicle will remind you when a payment is due. Once you’ve made that payment — through any medium — you’ll want to check it off by hitting the Log Payment button for that particular bill. This action results in a new modal window which allows you to enter details such as date paid, the amount you paid, a note and attaching a receipt or invoice to record the payment. Just like when adding the bill itself, logging a payment is a seamless, simple process.

The bill view, with a countdown to the next due date and some statistics of payments past.

When you log a payment, the countdown will be reset to the next due date and that payment itself will begin to show up in the payment history and influence the other figures presented to you for that bill. These figures include a breakdown of payments by season and year-on-year.

Income, Balances and Other Features

Chronicle also allows you to log income sources and figures which will calculate an expected balance after your bills have been paid. This isn’t too much of a complex system — you pretty much just enter a date, interval and amount, nothing more — but gives you a helpful enough figure.

In the main dashboard of the app, you’ll also get to view the Month at a Glance, which consists of a calendar marked with due payments and the amount of paid/due payments in both number and currency.

The “dashboard” of the app lists all your bills — sortable by amounts and due dates — and the “at a glance” views.

There’s little else to Chronicle, which certainly isn’t a disadvantage. Anything more would be a little superfluous above Chronicle’s otherwise simple and intuitive setup.

Design and Interface

Chronicle 5 features a tweaked interface that is more aesthetically pleasing than the versions that lived before it. There are aspects that are both particularly nice — such as the bill icons — and ones that are less than favourable, such as the choice of non-standard ultralight typeface. It’s far from a terrible design, but isn’t perhaps the very best designed OS X app. For a financial app, though, it’s rather nice looking in comparison to its competition!

Part of Chronicle 5′s user interface, demonstrating the app’s icons and choice of fonts, amongst other elements.

Final Thoughts

Chronicle 5 does what it says it will, namely allowing you to manage, record and plan payments for recurring services. It’s intuitive, even though it deals with financial data, and doesn’t overcomplicate things as to block of any potential demographic from using it.

It’s a rather minimal update from version 4, with the bulk being it’s new refreshed interface that, while still not excellent, is significantly better than the previous iteration. Overall, however, it remains one of the best finance apps available on the Mac App Store and get’s a definite recommendation from us!

The Sims series is an undeniable icon of PC gaming, selling more than 150 million units and earning a place amongst the best-selling video game franchises of all time. Controlling the lives of virtual people (the “sims”) has become somewhat of a phenomenon and, while hardcore gamers might laugh it off, The Sims has introduced gaming to whole new demographics.

The Sims 3 was released in 2009 as the latest base game of the franchise and the first to be simultaneously released on both Mac and PC. In this review, we’re going to take a look at a game that remains immensely popular on the platform and that’s role in it’s franchise makes it an icon of Mac gaming.

Editor’s note: Yes, The Sims 3 is far from a new game, but its very existence on the Mac shows that mainstream gaming can’t help but work with the Mac today. That’s why we thought it’d be good to include in our Gaming Month articles!

The Sims Concept

The Sims is a life simulation game born from the same mind as SimCity, the game that had you building up a city and making sure it ran efficiently, safely, and within budget. However, instead of running a city, you manage the simulation of a much more micro-level: the sims themselves. As a sandbox game, you set your goals and objectives for the gameplay, all while working towards the sole aim of the game — survival — that’s achieved by performing the more mundane tasks of life (eating, going to the bathroom, etc).

The first iteration of the game, The Sims, was originally designed as an architecture simulator and that aspect of the game lives on in The Sims 3. Outside of Live Mode — the main gameplay mode that consists of the actual controlling of sims in your enviroment — there’s also Build and Buy Mode. These modes are formed of the tools needed for constructing buildings and lots with a sprawling, constantly expanding catalogue of objects and items, from the normal to the completely supernatural.

The Sims 3 still includes all the fundamental parts of the franchise standard.

It doesn’t look attractive at face value: who really wants to spend time in front of their computer simulating the boring parts of their life when they could be shooting zombies or racing through the streets of a well-known city? However, the more zany aspects, enhanced through a series of expansion packs, combined with the notable The Sims charm produces an engaging and addicting experience.

Third Time’s The Charm

The Sims and it’s successor, The Sims 2, were by no means bad games. In fact, their charm captivated many hours of gameplay and continues to live on in the hearts of many. However, The Sims 3 brings some radical improvements to the series and — while taking the risk being condemned for a premature conclusion —  is a fantastic update to the series overall.

Firstly, the most notable change is significantly improved graphical quality that still looks great three years on from it’s original release. From The Sims 2 there’s an increased level of detail and an overall ameliorated presentation value. Sims look a little more real and natural without even getting close to the Uncanny Valley, as does all aspects of the environment. The presentation is overall more detailed while still retaining the fundamental series charm.

At a gameplay level, The Sims 3 brings an “open neighbourhood” that allows players to explore a dynamic town without ever encountering a loading screen. Alongside the player’s own game, the town is populated with NPC sims — you can play these sims, but not simultaneously with another household — who live their own lives, moving around the town to give the traditional gameplay a burst of newfound dynamicity.

The Sims 3 allows you to explore an open neighbourhood, without the need for loading screens that were consistently evident in The Sims 2.

You really feel like you’re participating in a living world and not one limited by the size of your current lot. So-called “community lots” no longer feel like an afterthought that are really just a pain to visit; instead, it feels so much more natural to hail a taxi, let your camera follow as it drives around town before finally arriving at the library, which provides communal resources that actually benefit a player’s progression.

Creation Plus

The “Create-a” tools are fundamental part of The Sims experience, being used to design the sims themselves, the lots that combine to form the game world and, now, the designs of objects in the world.

All of these tools are enhanced with both new and improved features. For example, while you still have the option to merely selecting a preset tool, there’s an insane amount of detail in which you can manipulate aspects of a sim’s bodies, voice and personality, down to the finest details imaginable.

The Sims 3 sees much improved creation tools.

Speaking of personality, The Sims 3 replaces a fairly haphazard personality system that was increasingly messed up by expansion packs of it’s predecessor with a simple traits system that dictates core aspects of a sim’s person. You can make a sim anything from a vegetarian workaholic to a art-hating angler, and these have knock-on effects to gameplay. For example, a vegetarian may throw up or otherwise react negatively if they eat meat while a positive moodlet — moodlets can be negative or positive  and form the sim’s mood, which in turn has effects to their activities in the game — will be awarded to someone who Loves the Outdoors while they’re outside. This all contributes to the sense that everything you decide makes a real difference to events in the game.

The Create-a-Style tool is new, and allows the easy recolouring of any object in the game. You can’t quite create new objects, but you can apply different textures and colours to any of the official in-game items. This translates to an unprecedented level of co-ordination and design perfection that will give architecture fans a kick.

Still The Sims

The Sims 3 doesn’t deviate too far from the basic setup of a The Sims games. It does, however, include a lot of the more minimal content added in The Sims 2 expansions that weren’t the flagship, such as the treadmill, fishing, gardening, mobile phones, etc. This is all welcome and provides a larger set of features from the start, without having to wait for EA to get around to adding them as additional features in expansion packs.

The Sims 3 doesn’t deviate far from the norm of the series.

The Sims 3 builds on a successful paradigm in gaming with a whole host of new features that caters for even more play styles. All the skills and careers offer even more for players who play to achieve progression in that area while Create-a-Style and other build/buy mode features makes for a better experience for the builders in the community. Yet, the game retains the franchise’s notable charm and attraction.

Cider Woes

The Sims 3 is made possible on OS X through a technology called Cider. A sort of emulation package, Cider allows Windows games to be run on OS X which powers quite a few of EA’s games on the Mac.

Playing The Sims 3 reveals some significant performance disparities between the emulated version on OS X and the native version on Windows. From a performance standpoint, The Sims 3 on OS X is satisfactory at best; it’s certainly possible to play the game and have a good time doing so, but there’s noticeable problems. For example, when focusing on a new area of the game world it can take a few minutes for the textures of objects to load in, with just a solid grey colour taking their place. It’s not life-threatening to your game experience, but it’s avoidable.

I’ve switched to playing the game in Windows through Boot Camp because none of this “laggy” loading is evident. The Sims is notable for it’s love of expansion packs and additional paid content, so you’ll probably end up spending hundreds of dollars on the series over time. Because of that, I would honestly recommend buying a copy of Windows and using Boot Camp and Windows to play. In an attempt to be fair to the game, I’m awarding The Sims 3 a 9/10 — it’s a very good game — but the performance concerns really only afford it a 6/10 as a Mac game.

Although it’s a vastly different game in reality, be sure to also give our review of The Sims 3 for iPhone a read!

Our weekly sponsor this week is Pixelmator, the most beautiful image editor designed for the Mac. Its got more features than ever, has been designed for the Retina Display, and for a limited time, is available for only $14.99!

Pixelmator has been a leading Mac image editor for years now, and even won an Apple Design Award in 2011. The team hasn’t sat still since then, quickly adding new features and enhancements to the app. The most recent update brought a number of new features to Pixelmator, including iCloud support, a Retina Display ready interface, a ton of great new effects in a dedicated Effects Browser, alignment guides, and Mountain Lion native sharing.

That’s in addition to the great editing features that users already love in Pixelmator. With advanced layer support, drawing and retouching tools, file versions, web export features, and more, there’s something for everyone to love. Best of all, it’s built on the best OS X technology, letting it take advantage of your GPU to speed up your work and helping you work faster with Automator integration.

Go Get It!

If you’re ready to get started editing photos and creating beautiful digital art on your Mac in an app that’s designed to make the most of OS X, head over to the App Store and pick up a copy of Pixelmator before the summer sale ends! Pixelmator usually costs $59, but you can get it for just $14.99 right now. You can even download a free trial from their site to try out all of Pixelmator’s features for free for 30 days.

So, you got a Macbook Pro with Retina display. Congratulations, we are all jealous of you — no seriously, we are. But as you look at those pixels or, well, the lack thereof (that you can see anyhow), you are probably wondering what is the best way to showcase that amazing looking 2880×1800 resolution display. If so, you are in luck. This roundup will give you some of the most amazing Retina-ready wallpapers.

We’ve gather 100 wallpapers to choose from, in every category you can think of. We’ve also heard your problems with loading the page when there are too many big images, so we’ve place the wallpapers in thumbnails. Then, we’ve put all the wallpapers found in this roundup in a handy zip file that you can grab after the break. How’s that for a great wallpaper roundup?

Without further ado, here are your Retina-ready wallpapers:

• Animals
• Art
• Games
• Landscapes
• Movies
• Music
• Nature
• Random
• Space
• Vehicles

• Animals

Art

Games

Landscapes

Movies

Music

Nature

Random

Space

Vehicles

Conclusion

This is the part where we usually say something like “there you go”, but there’s more this time! If none of these wallpapers do it for you, check more over at Interface Lift, Wallpapers Wide, and Wallpaper FX. They all have the option to look for 2880×1800 resolution wallpapers, so go nuts!

Oh, and here is the zip file containing all the images in this roundup. Happy hunting!

Most of my solo work time passes with music in the background. Sometimes I’m playing music from my iTunes library, and sometimes I’m streaming music from online radio stations or subscription services. Controlling it all can be a pain. Whether I’m writing a review for AppStorm or balancing Excel spreadsheets at work, I normally have to switch back to the music program to pause a song if someone walks in. If a song comes on that I’m not in the mood to listen to, then it’s even worse since I have to swap to the player to skip and then back to my work. Even this brief interruption can take me out of flow and require time to pick up where I left off.

Skip Tunes is a simple menubar app that offers a solution. It runs in your menu bar to let you control the your music from the menu bar or with keyboard shortcuts. How well does it work?

Skip Tunes: Controlling All Your Music Together

Skip Tunes is compatible with iTunes along with the Rdio and Spotify’s Mac apps. If no supported music application is running, Skip Tunes simply shows as a musical note icon in your menu tray. Once you start a supported music application, Skip Tunes automatically notices and allows you to control it. Your default player, chosen in the program’s preferences, can be started either through the menu or with a key press.

Clicking the menu bar icon shows the album art for the currently playing song title. Here I also have the play/pause and skip icons in the menu bar.

By default, Skip Tunes will display controls, letting you play and pause your music with it’s menu bar icon once a supported player runs. If you do not want to display these controls, you can turn them off in the preferences menu. Using these controls is optional as you can also define keyboard shortcuts to do the same thing. I found having the controls in the menu bar was worth the small amount of space taken, but it’s good to have the option to customize the setting.

Hovering the mouse over the album art shows controls for the current song.

Clicking on the note in menu bar will drop down box showing the album art for the current song (or a generic musical note icon if no album art is present) along with the song name, artist, and album name. Hovering your mouse over the album art displays additional music controls with a play/pause toggle along with buttons to skip to the previous or next track. You also have a scrubbing bar where you can move to any point in the song along with a button letting you toggle shuffling tracks. The gear icon let’s you set your default music player and access the program’s preferences.

Making Your Music Listening More Productive

While this control is handy, Skip Tunes really becomes useful thanks to support for keyboard shortcuts. In preferences, you can set keyboard shortcuts to toggle play/pause the music along with skipping to the next or previous track. These allow you to pause music and skip (or replay) a track without leaving the application you’re in and breaking your flow. This one feature is worth the price of the program for me. If I’m writing and a song I don’t like or doesn’t fit my current mood comes on, a quick keystroke skips to the next song without taking me away from my work.

The preferences window for Skip Tunes.

The preference options are few to match the simplicity of the program. A check box let’s you can turn on and off the presence of the play and skip forward control in the menu bar. You can also choose optional keyboard shortcuts for play/pause track, previous track, and next track. There are also links to the Facebook and Twitter links for Skip Tunes.

A Few Complaints…

The biggest fault I found with Skip Tunes would be the relatively few supported music applications. The very popular Pandora service is not supported. Neither is Slacker. The lack of a native Mac OS app for many services admittedly makes this support difficult or impossible, but it still doesn’t help those who primarily listen to music on those services. While I use iTunes often and Spotify some, the lack of support for Slacker reduces how much use I will get from this app.

I would also like the ability to control the volume of the music app from the program with keyboard and mouse options. Users should also note that Skip Tunes 2.0 only works with Mountain Lion. Mac users still running older versions of OS X are out of luck. Less than a month into the life of the new OS seems a bit quick to me to cut support for older version.

Conclusion

Skip Tunes does a simple job well. When using the supported music players, it allows a quick and convenient way to access, pause, and skip your music without having to return to the native app. The lack of support for Mac OS before Mountain Lion presents an obstacle for many users still waiting to move to Apple’s newest OS. I wish it supported more players, but it’s earned a spot on my menu bar.

Fresh off the presses, here is MacAppStorm’s weekly news roundup.

Happy reading!

Tweetbot Alpha 5 released

The developers at Tapbots sure have been busy over the past several weeks ever since the first public alpha for Tweetbot for Mac was released, and this week has, again, been no exception. On Monday, version 0.7.0 (or Alpha 5) was released to the public, however due to sandboxing requirements this version of Tweetbot has to be installed manually (i.e. you’ll have to download it from their website, unpack and install it over your previous installation). The update is unfortunately not found if you simply head over to the Check for Updates option in Tweetbot’s menus.

One of the new features in the Alpha 5 version is the ability to drag tweets out onto the desktop, where they are saved as a .webloc file.

The new version brings support for drafts, keyword muting, profile editing and Storify support. It is also the last alpha that will support Lion – from the next version Tweetbot will run on Mountain Lion only. One of the developers at Tapbots, Paul Haddad, also hinted on his Twitter feed that development for Tweetbot for Mac is on track and a beta version will be ready soon.

The tweet sent out by Tapbots developer Paul Haddad, readying us all for a beta version sometime soon.

Given the fast turnaround for alpha updates, we can be pretty sure that the beta version will be heading our way soon. To grab the latest alpha, head over to the Tapbots website (direct download link).

Microsoft is not updating Office 2011 for retina displays

If you’re craving after an alternative to iWork on your retina MacBook Pro, then you may be waiting quite a long time unfortunately. Although Microsoft Outlook, the default email program in Microsoft’s popular Office 2011 productivity suite for OS X, has been updated to support retina graphics, the three remaining program’s (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) haven’t and still continue to offend owners of the new MacBook Pro with their blury interfaces and pixelated icons.

And unfortunately it looks like it’s going to stay that way. An official post from the Office for Mac team stated that they cannot comment on any future updates for Office 2011, effectively putting a spanner in the works and stating that nothing is in development at the moment.

Office 2011 will not, for the time being anyway, be updated to support the new retina display on the MacBook Pro.

Microsoft aren’t the first ones to do it, either. The developers of Postbox have repeatedly refused to comment on future updates to their popular email program, stating that they will monitor demand to see whether optimising Postbox for the retina MacBook Pro is worth it – there are, according to one member of the Postbox development team, over “300 icons to optimise” for the new, high-resolution screen.

Cheddar for Mac beta finally unleashed

Nothing Magical, the developers behind the popular iOS task management utility Cheddar, have now released the public beta of the Mac version. At the moment, it’s only available to Cheddar Plus users (which is billed via a monthly subscription of $1.99 per month) however once the demo becomes public it will be free to everyone.

The Mac version integrates with your Cheddar account and allows you to manage all your tasks on your Mac. Once you’ve altered them, the changes will be visible across all your devices (Cheddar is available for iOS and also has a web version).

You can keep track of the beta development via Cheddar’s blog and for a full list of changes, head over to the changelog. To download the beta, click here (direct download link, OS X 10.7 and above required)

Java finally fully supported for OS X

On Tuesday of this week Oracle, the developers of Java, announced that the latest update to Java, Java SE 7 Update 6, has been released for OS X, which finally brings along full native support for the Mac. The release includes the Java Runtime Environment for OS X, which allows users to run Java applications and applets, the Java Development Kit (JDK) and the JavaFX 2.2 rich client platform, which allows programmers build Java software natively within OS X and the new JavaFX Scene Builder.

Java is now finally fully supported for OS X with the release of SE 7 Update 6

Java was natively bundled into every single release of OS X until Lion, when the responsibility of updates was transferred from Apple to Oracle and since then there has been a lull in the development of Java for OS X (with the Windows platform most notably receiving more attention), and this may potentially have resulted in a rise in the number of Java exploits for OS X, the most notable of these being the FlashBack trojan.

The update to Java can be freely downloaded from Oracle’s website.

Heard Anything Else?

If you’ve heard anything else exciting that’s happened this week then go ahead and post a link to it in the Comments section below for the benefit of our other readers!

Macs may be used by everyone from NASA to the White House, but they can’t shake the perception that they’re designer goods. People readily accept that Macs are good for creatives, but not for real business work, no matter how many times they’ve been proven to simply be great computers for anyone that cares about a good computing experience.

But maybe it’s because Macs are really just so good for creatives. There’s so many little things in OS X that make it great for writing, for one thing, that I think you can easily say it’s the best OS for writers.

The Keyboard is Mightier

For the most part, Apple’s more known today for touch screens and touchpad gestures than they are for keyboards. iOS is designed around the idea that you only need a keyboard for the times you’re typing text, and OS X gets more iOS-like with every release.

But you’d be very mistaken to think the keyboard isn’t important in OS X. If anything, OS X is the best OS for keyboard usage. There’s so many keyboard shortcuts in the OS, from standard copy/paste shortcuts and ways to switch between apps and spaces to shortcuts to automate tasks and jump between words, lines, and more when editing text.

You can even tweak most of the system keyboard shortcuts in OS X to make it work like you want

Some of the best shortcuts are Emacs-style, while others are specific to OS X. You can find many of them listed on Apple’s official OS X Keyboard Shortcut page_US). They’re all designed to make it easy to jump right to the text you need to edit, including the following ones I use all the time:

• Alt-left or Alt-right – jump to the beginning of the last word or the end of the next word, respectively
• CMD-left or CMD-right – jump to the beginning or end of a line
• CMD-up or CMD-down – jump to the top or bottom of the text you’re editing
• Control-a – jump to beginning of paragraph
• Control-e – jump to end of paragraph
• Control-n – move down one line
• Control-p – move up one line
• Control-b – move one character backward
• Control-f – move one character forward
• Shift + any of the above shortcuts – select text while moving your curser
• Control-d – delete the character in front of the cursor (much like the Delete key in Windows)
• Control-t – transpose the character behind the cursor and the character in front of the cursor
• Control-o – insert a new line in front of the cursor (like the return key)
• Control-l – center the cursor and line you’re currently editing in the visible editing area (much like focus mode in many plain text editors)
• Option-Delete – delete the word behind the cursor, including any punctuation after it

Transform Your Text

If editing shortcuts aren’t enough to help you write quicker and edit exactly what you want without having to touch your mouse or touchpad, the contextual menus in most places you can type text in OS X make it even better. Just right-click or control-click on the text you’re editing, and you’ll have a ton of options at your disposal, both from OS X and from 3rd party services you might have installed.

Transforming your text automatically

Right there, you can turn on text substitutions to, for example, use smart quotes, dashes, or links, or let OS X automatically expand snippets you type into phrases you’ve saved, much like a basic TextExpander. You can also make your text uppercase, lowercase, or capitalize the first letter of each word, tricks that can make editing text a whole lot easier. Then, you can listen to the selected text using OS X’s built in screen reader. In Mountain Lion, or with 3rd party services, you can share selected text directly as an email, Tweet, and more.

Turn your text into whatever you want with your Mac

The OS for Bad Spellers

I’ve got a secret to share: I’m insanely awful at spelling. Seriously. Without spell check, I’m afraid it’s be impossible for me to make a living as a writer and editor.

That’s why I love OS X’s built in spell check and dictionary. Anywhere you type, OS X will automatically be checking your spelling, and if it’s not turned on, you can turn it on from the right-click menu. You can also let it check your grammar automatically, and in Lion and newer, you’ll see iOS style spelling suggestions pop up as you type.

Definitions everywhere. Who would think a dictionary could be so insanely useful?

Best of all, the built-in Dictionary app makes it easy to research whether you’re typing or reading an article. Just three-finger tap any word to see a dictionary popup with definitions, synonyms/antonyms, the Wikipedia entry about that word, and any other language dictionary entries you have installed. I have a Thai dictionary installed, so I can quickly find the Thai word for the English I’m writing, or vise versa, which is quite a good learning aid. Pair that with the many language voices on the screen reader, and OS X could even help you master a new language!

Conclusion

That’s just a few of the ways OS X is the nicest OS for writing and typing. If you take the time to master keyboard shortcuts, you’ll find yourself working faster than ever without having touch your mouse at all. All of these features in OS X work throughout all of your apps, from editing an email on Gmail in Safari to writing an your favorite 3rd party writing app like iA Writer. With some of the great writing apps you can get on your Mac, combined with OS X’s text features, you’ll have your Mac turned into an absolute writing powerhouse.

What’s you favorite Mac typing tips and writing apps? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Offloading PSDs and other digital art for a price is an art in itself. There are so many different ways to distribute your unique creations that things can get crowded. Stock digital art is a popular thing on the Internet and there are many who would pay for a unique, well-designed item. I’ve personally been a supporter of Envato’s own GraphicRiver or AudioJungle for the delivery of said items, but there are more apt solutions than these — you just have to look for them.

And that’s where Folio makes its grand entrance. If you want a quick way to upload your art, whether it’s a user interface for an iPhone app, vectors, or even audio, this could just be the best tool for the job. Unfortunately, it’s invite-only right now and they took a good month to send me one. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try it though; I’ll take a deeper look after the break.

Sell Your Content

Folio’s upload window provides you with four options and two social networks.

The main purpose of Folio is to give you a simple, fast way to promote and sell your content. Once you’ve received an invite, you’ll be able to download the upload utility to your Mac and start bringing your content to Folio’s servers. Things on this front are pretty simple and the developer even provides a seven-step tutorial when getting started. Once you’ve run through that, you can begin uploading and selling your creations.

There are fourteen different categories for content: app, audio, fonts, graphic design, icons, illustration, interface, iPhone, logo, mobile, photography, texture, typography, and vectors. Being a photographer and not much of a graphics designer, I uploaded a photo of a grape punch Calibrachoa hybrid flower. It uploaded just as fast as it had when I added it to my 500px portfolio, showing that the upload speed is substantial.

However, before pressing the upload button, I had to insert a few details about the item, like its name, the category I wanted it to be in, some tags for search, and the price. Once finished, I had the option to check either Twitter or Facebook for automatic sharing to my friends — this tells them that you’ve just added a new creation to your Folio account and they can purchase it. I didn’t connect any accounts because I don’t use either social network. However, I’d like to note that Google+ support in this function would be useful for photographers and others who use the service.

Folio will automatically name the file you’re uploading using its existing filename, but you may want to remove the extension before pressing the blue button.

The Fees

The price selection on Folio’s website.

Folio takes 30% of the money you make to pay for hosting and maintenance. Hosting your content is free, just like on Apple’s App Store, but if your item does sell, 30% of the profits will go to Folio, with 70% left for yourself. It seems like a generous amount for the service and I’m fine with it, but I can see some people having a problem with that. Still, the service allows you to change the price to whatever you want without additional charges or anything: it’s not like eBay and only offers one simple way to sell content. I haven’t sold anything yet, so I can’t say much for the community, but hopefully business picks up.

Purchasing Content

Folio’s search result for “Folder”.

Folio has a built-in browser for its content should you want to get some stock items from the service. Using the search functionality found inside the menu bar app, you can find pretty much anything. Just click the download button to purchase it, but be sure to heed that price on the left beforehand. I’d also recommend not searching multiple times because the app has trouble comprehending those sorts of things. It’ll cache the last item you browsed in the right side of the screen when you search, which seems to be a bug.

Actually finding something you want can often be difficult due to the lack of tags and filenames. I searched for simple user interface elements like “home” and the results were sparse. Instead of an abundant supply of home buttons for websites and whatnot, I got two results: a set of gold navigation buttons for a website and a navigation ribbon for a website.

Tidbits of Bugginess

Folio’s Mac app has its share of problems, just like every other app out there. One of the worst happens when you try basic uploading. If you click out of the uploader window to get the file you’re hoping to transfer to Folio’s servers, the window will disappear completely. This renders the uploader useless, unless you decide to drag the file to its icon, which will effectively cause the whole menu bar app to make a grand kerfuffle in which it eventually reaches the point of giving you the upload details window.

Sadly, once you’ve reached that step, you can’t exit it unless you want more pop-up-and-down behavior. The main problem with Folio’s coding is that it’s designed to stay desktop-level and not float anywhere else. So, if you dismiss it once, it’ll keep flickering in and out until you take care of it by hiding (CMD + H) or closing all your apps. This is extremely irritating and since there’s no other way to upload things, I’d expect a better experience.

Room for Expansion

Very minimal search results for a popular term.

I think that, in addition to needing bug fixes, this service has a lot of room for expansion. The basic functionality is fine for boring old users who want a boring experience, but I’d like to see support for multiple screenshots of items, a better browser interface, better guidelines with tags being a requirement and not just a suggestion, and so on. I also think that PayPal integration would be highly beneficial for more than just withdrawals and should be used for payments as well. It’s a universal payment method on the web these days, so why isn’t Folio using it?

For Mountain Lion users, how about Notification Center support? Not everybody is going to be using growl in OS X 10.8, so you’re leaving out a crowd here. Also, I was anxious to use the service for audio uploading, but there’s no support for it. Apparently video, audio, and code files will be supported “in the future”, but misleading users by including an audio category on the website is unnecessary.

The Wrap

As an alternative to Envato’s services and others found across the Internet, Folio isn’t half bad. The app, however, is rubbish. There are bugs that prevent basic functionality most of the time and I never like seeing that in any app. I feel like things should be in beta right now since the service has been out for months and all bugs ought to have been worked out by now; I’m wrong, sadly.

A good deal of potential is what Folio has, but right now it’s not at all prepared to combat its greater competitors. Until there’s some improvement, I can’t recommend using the service since core functionality is faulty.

Have you ever struggled to find the perfect slide layout to show your business concepts, research information, marketing plans, and more in a simple, easily understandable format? Whether you’re a Keynote fan or a PowerPoint devotee, it’s often easier to spend more time tweaking your slides’ design than actually researching and putting together the info you’re supposed to be presenting.

That’s where Slidevana comes in. Their team has build what they call “the ultimate presentation toolkit”, designed to take the pain out of designing slides and help you focus on presenting your message in a clear way your listeners will understand. It includes slide designs for every business concept you’ll need to present, lists, charts, and tables, to layouts that communicate complex business concepts such as timelines, architectures, sales funnels, and common frameworks. Slidevana’s vast array of layouts means that creating a presentation is as easy as copying the perfect slide and pasting the content that captures your message.

Mac users have the choice of using Apple’s Keynote app for beautiful, cinematic presentations, or the industry standard PowerPoint, both of which are great options for making presentations. Slidevana is designed to work great in both Keynote and PowerPoint, and you can either buy it for the app of your choice or get the Slidevana bundle for $99 that includes all of their slide designs for both Keynote and PowerPoint. Best of all, though, we’ve got 3 Slidevana bundles for our winners, so you could get started making better presentations for free!

Tweet to Enter

If you’d love to win a free Slidevana bundle, including over 150 slide layouts for PowerPoint and Keynote, it’s easy to get your entry submitted. All you have to do is click the link below and send out the resulting tweet (or just copy and paste), then leave a comment below with a link to your tweet. That’s it! We’ll then randomly pick 3 winners of the bundle when we close the contest.

We’ll announce the winners next week on August 23rd, so hurry and get your entry in today!

Envato staff or people who have written more than two articles or tutorials for AppStorm, however, are ineligible to enter.

Minecraft is a popular game, one that we awarded a perfect 10/10 in our review late last month. Many gamers choose to play the game in its single player mode, but the collaborative, multiplayer building is an immensely popular feature that powers hundreds, if not thousands, of gameplay servers.

You too can host a Minecraft server right on your Mac and, in this article, we’ll show you just how!

Vanilla vs Bukkit

The core Minecraft game can be played through services of two main types: the vanilla game and Bukkit. The former is the official server software, notably lacking any support for third-party mods and plugins and therefore not being the best solution for larger servers. If you’re looking to setup something basic and easy, though, then this is probably the best option.

The more popular of the two is CraftBukkit, a third-party server package that has more features and supports server-side plugins and mods. For servers that intend to support larger numbers of members, this is the more favourable option but note that support for new versions of the Minecraft client is a little slower than the official alternative. It can take a few days for new versions to be released after the official client and development snapshots of Minecraft won’t be supported.

You too can play Minecraft with friends.

Both are free and it’s completely up to you as to which you choose. The official game client works for both types of server, so there’s little difference on the player’s end. Let’s take a look at how to get both of them setup (you don’t need to run both, but we’ll cover how to get each one up and running separately).

The Setup Process

As mentioned before, the vanilla server package is the official release from Mojang that is co-released alongside updates and development snapshots of the game client. Alternatively, Bukkit provides a more featured multiplayer experience with support for third-party modifications and plugins.

Both the vanilla and Bukkit servers require the same setup process, which is performed in the following way.

Step 1. Setting Up

You’ll first want to setup create a dedicated folder somewhere on your system for all your server files to be stored in. Then, you’ll need to grab the server file from the Minecraft website and move it into said folder. If you’re looking to support development snapshots instead, you’ll want to grab the *.jar file from the relevant post on the Mojang blog instead.

Likewise, if you opt to use CraftBukkit, it can be downloaded from their homepage. You’ll want to rename the file to “craftbukkit.jar” to make the process, and upgrading in the future, easier.

The site you’ll want to head to in order to download Bukkit.

Step 2. Installation

Now that you’ve got a folder setup with your server file inside, it’s time to install the server and have its other dependent files created. This involves using Terminal but, fortunately, it’s a copy-paste job.

Open up TextEdit and paste in the following line. “1G” refers to the amount of RAM your server processes are given and this can be modified to a number of your choice. Be sure to change the number — in both locations — and nothing else, though. Then save the file as “start.command”.

If you’re installing CraftBukkit, there’s one more thing to change: you need to swap out the last parameter for “craftbukkit.jar” instead of “minecraft_server.jar”.

#!/bin/bash cd "$(dirname "$0")" exec java -Xmx1G -Xms1G -jar minecraft_server.jar

Now, open up Terminal and type “chmod a+x” — sans quotes — followed by a space. After the space, drag your “start.command” file and drop it in the terminal window before finally pressing the return key. This will grant the relevant permissions to allow your command to be run successfully.

Go ahead and open your command file and the server will setup for the first time, creating necessary files for managing the server’s properties, operator permissions, etc. You can learn more about configuring the properties file on the Minecraft wiki.

Step 3. Running

Whenever you want to launch your server, simply open the “start.command” file and allow the various necessary apps and processes to run. If you want it to run by default when you reboot your Mac, you can add it to your Startup Items under your OS X User Preferences.

Step 4. Installing Plugins (Bukkit Only)

If you opted for Bukkit (or CraftBukkit), you can now install third-party plugins and modifications. This is a simple process, requiring you to only download the plugins you want to run, drop them into the named plugins folder, and then restart your server to initialise and install them.

You can get plugins for your server directly from the Server Mods section of the Bukkit website.

Alternative: Open to LAN

Multiplayer Minecraft is an entertaining and addictive experience. It should be noted that Minecraft 1.3 introduces a new feature to open single player games up to being joined by other users on the same WiFi network. To let others on your same network join your local single player game, simply pause the game and then click the Open to LAN button. That provides a viable alternative to manually running a server if you don’t care about plugins and don’t want to take the extra steps to open you server to others online.

Conclusion

So that’s it: with these steps, you should have your multiplayer Minecraft experience running on your Mac in no time, ready for you to mod and tweak to your heart’s extent. Minecraft’s a great game on its own, but throw in multiplayer mode, and it becomes an even more immersive experience. Just be careful: you might have trouble leaving it alone when you should be working!

This post is part of a series that revisits some of our readers’ favorite articles from the past that still contain awesome and relevant information that you might find useful. This post was originally published on June 16th, 2011.

Do note: this video screencast is only in Flash, so you won’t be able to view it on your iOS device. Sorry!

In this, the next installment in our series on iMovie ’11, we’re going to take a look at adding assets to your iMovie projects. What do I mean by assets? Well, in truth, the video clips themselves could be considered assets. But we’ve already gone over how to add those to a project, and even how to splice them together to start to form a movie. What I call assets are anything you add to a movie that isn’t a video clip. I’m talking about images, audio, titles, transitions. All of those things that can help flesh out what would otherwise be just home movie footage into a work of film.

Ok, so maybe your plans aren’t quite that grandiose. But I think you get the idea. So, sit back and watch as I show you how to add these things in iMovie, and how they can take your next project to the next level.

The Screencast

Using an iPhone or iPad? Watch the video here.

Wrap Up

So there you have it. Pretty simple, huh? Don’t be fooled though, hidden behind that mask of simplicity is real power. The wealth of transitions available, coupled with the built-in sound effects, theme music, maps and animations give you limitless possibilities. The interface is intuitive, dragging-and-dropping the effect you want to the point in the film that you want it. All you need is the creativity.

A good video game keeps you on the edge of your seat while you play. A great video game does that and more, with a powerful story and immersive gameplay environment sticking with you far past the time that you set your controller down. It’s games like these that cause nightmares, forcing you to carefully look behind doors and peer into dark corners for fear of the approaching enemy, even in real life.

Lone Survivor is a great Mac game which fits solidly into the second category. It’s a psychological thriller set in a chilling, virtual environment. While the length of each play through the game lasts only a few hours, Lone Survivor definitely continues to stick with you. It definitely caused me at least one nightmare! Read on to learn more about the story, the game and what I thought of it.

The Story

When you choose to play Lone Survivor, you play as the nameless title character. Your character is (supposedly) the last known survivor following the outbreak of a deadly disease. After a quick and frightening opening sequence, you wake to find yourself in someone else’s apartment. You must work to figure things out and defend yourself from the disease-ridden mutants filling the world around you.

A screenshot from the creepy opening sequence.

While the apparent focus of the game is on surviving the disease and monster attacks, the underlying battle is really the fight for the retention of your sanity. Every decision that you make throughout the game impacts your sanity. Whether you choose to swallow a pill, have a conversation with a stuffed animal or interact with the other “people,” all of these decisions (and more) have a decided impact upon your sanity and thus your survival skills.

Talking to the man who wears a box … is he real or not? Only my sanity can tell …

Gameplay

As I mentioned earlier, you begin the game in someone else’s apartment, number 206. While you do, of course, go out and explore the world around you, the apartment is your base throughout the game. It’s where you sleep, pick up clues, save the game and teleport to other locations.

My bed – the save spot in 206.

Controls for gameplay are simple. You can access a full list of controls from the closet in apartment 206. Essentially, however you use the arrow keys to move and just a few other keys to interact with objects, shoot weapons and more. It is worth noting that there are some hotkeys which allow you to accomplish actions like placing rotting meat with just one button, rather than dealing with the hassle of grabbing the item from your inventory.

The controls for the game. These are all of the basics.

Once you master the controls, it’s important to understand what the game entails. Throughout the game, you are given various tasks which you must complete. Some are required, involving moving, fighting and more. There are also secondary tasks, which tend to be more puzzle oriented, involving finding and combining the correct items to do things like making a stove useable again. These tasks are optional, but will do wonders for your sanity.

Of course, you must move out and about in order to accomplish the tasks at hand. You can walk freely, distracting and killing mutants as you go. There is a map provided, to help with navigation. The map shows locked and unlocked doors, blocked passages, marks locations for tasks and shows the location of mirrors.

Mirrors are utilized to teleport from location to location. All mirrors outside of 206 can only transport you back to 206. The mirror in 206 will, unfortunately, only transport you to the last location you teleported from. While the mirror limitations are frustrating, it is definitely better than nothing at all.

Teleporting via a mirror.

Lastly, let’s discuss item usage and the mutants. When you start the game you have a flashlight and are able to pick up some rotting meat from your apartment. For the first bit this is all that you have to protect yourself. To escape the mutants you must shut off the flashlight, drop rotting meat to distract them and hide in one of the limited number of spots until you can sneak past. Once you have played for a bit you do get a gun, but between limited ammo and the difficulty of the weapon control mode, the gun is used quite infrequently.

A Great Environment With Lousy High-Speed Action

Lone Survivor is a fantastic game, no doubt. I want to start by breaking down the game into some of the aspects that truly make it great. The immersive environment is really what does it, and that begins with the graphics. Rather than opting for realistic visuals, the makers of Lone Survivor chose a 2D, 8 bit design, and it works incredibly well. The graphics are dark and creepy, lending themselves well to the story.

The sound design is another noteworthy aspect. The music is chosen well and reflects the mood at any given time. The sound effects are chilling, keeping you on edge for the duration of the game.

The creepiness of the graphics throughout the game – you’ll have to try it to hear the great sound design.

The storyline is also worth another look. You are immediately drawn in by a title sequence and story that you definitely want to sit through. You become genuinely concerned about your character’s health and sanity. The storyline offers multiple paths and endings, ensuring that even if you play through the game multiple times you will still find it new and exciting. All in all, the pervasive creepiness and compelling environment/story is really what makes Lone Survivor great.

As wonderful as I think the game is, there are two annoyances that really stand out and sometimes kill the game a bit. The first is the map and navigation situation. The game itself is all done in a 2D, side scroller style of gameplay. The map, however, uses a top-down setup based upon a more 3D type of environment. This leads to a great deal of confusion while trying to navigate properly, made even worse if you are trying to quickly escape a mutant. The frustrations caused by the map can make you want to tear your hair out at times – luckily the map is at its worst only during high-speed moments, which are few and far between.

The top-down map view. It’s the worst!

The other major annoyance is the chase sequences, which comprise the only high-speed action in the game. Lone Survivor’s strength lies in the design touches and tasks that do not involve fast-paced action. Chase sequences, though few and far between are incredibly difficult to make it through alive. The controls are difficult to use quickly, spaces to hide are hard to find and neither the rotting meat or the handgun are good options for fighting the mutants. I wish the chase scenes were eliminated, as chase scenes combined with the terrible map system made for a few short but mind-blowingly frustrating moments (and deaths).

We Survived!

A few minor annoyances aside, Lone Survivor is well worth playing. Even with the decision to stick to a 2D environment, Lone Survivor is easily one of the most immersive, stick with you games that I have gotten to play. The story draws you in and the battle for your sanity keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time that you play.

I definitely recommend Lone Survivor, but I’m curious to hear from you. Do you play Lone Survivor? What did you think? Are you planning to try it out? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

As always every Wednesday, here are our weekly picks of the best deals on the App Store for this week. We’ve also included a couple of app bundles at the end of the article for your enjoyment as well.

Happy downloading!

Pixelmator

Pixelmator is a fantastic Mac-only (and far cheaper) alternative to Photoshop and comes with plenty of features, including a powerful set of image selection tools, some top-notch painting and drawing tools, photo retouching tools, professional filters and colour correction tools and absolutely loads more. It won the App Store’s App of the Year Award for 2011 and supports a wide range of files and has recently received a massive update to version 2.1, which brings retina-display support for the new MacBook Pro and iCloud support, among other things. Even at its full retail price of $59, the app is an absolute steal given its range of features and now it’s even cheaper at the pitiful price of $14.99, so make sure you download it quick before the offer expires!

Price: $59 – $14.99
Developer: Pixelmator Team
App Store link: Pixelmator

Beside these deals there are currently a couple of app bundles on offer at the moment.

Learn To Code Bootcamp Bundle

If you’re planning on getting into coding then the Learn To Code bundle is absolutely perfect for you. It covers areas such as web development, games on both the iPhone and iPad, iOS applications, Ruby and Photoshop CS6 and for $99 you get step-by-step high quality video tutorials (as supposed to boring written ones) and newbies that sign up get an additional tutorial for GarageBand worth $30.

You’ll have to sign up to Stacksocial to gain access to the bundles (however this is free and can also be done via Facebook as well). Head over here to sign up and gain access to this great deal, which expires on September 3.

The Mac Variety Bundle

Stacksocial are also offering another great bundle with 8 top Mac apps for the grand price of only $39. These are the apps you’ll get with your dough:

• PDF Editor Pro (RRP: $100) – view and edit standard PDF files in most languages and manipulate them easily.
• CrossOverXI (RRP: $40) – run certain Windows programs on your Mac without any additional virtualisation software or Boot Camp (check here to see if the application you want to run is supported first!).
• Invoice 3 (RRP: $40) – create professional looking invoices and keep track of your payments (ideal for small and home office users plus small businesses).
• Fantashow (RRP: $50) – make your own movie with the minimum amount of effort.
• Logoist (RRP: $40) – easily create images and logos using layers, sophisticated effects and eye-catching shaders.
• iClip (RRP: $19) – use multiple clipboards whilst copying and pasting.
• Speed Download 5 (RRP: $25) – boost the download speeds on your Mac.
• Watchmac (RRP: $20) – constantly monitors your Mac for any infringements.

Like the previous bundle you’ll have to sign up to Stacksocial to get hold of it. Head over to here to sign up and grab the bundle.

Check Back Next Week!

Remember to check back next Wednesday for some more hot (and free) App Store deals and if you can hardly wait until then, feel free to share your thoughts and comments on the apps featured above!

After years as Windows only user, I came to the Mac shortly before Lion was released last summer. I was still so new to Mac OS at that time that I failed to notice many of the changes from Snow Leopard to Lion. I did notice the removal color from the icons in the Finder sidebar, however. Like many, I found the loss of color made it more difficult for me to quickly find the icon I wanted. The icons just blended in together more than they did before.

The color is still there. If you look under the Go Menu in Finder, the icons still show in full color. Apple described the change as designed was to reduce emphasis on the interface in favor of content. While effective for that, the loss of contrast didn’t seem worth the tradeoff. As usual, developers stepped in to restore what they saw as lost functionality. SideEffects restores color to the icons Finder Sidebar. How well does it work? Let’s see.

What Is SideEffects

Before and after installing SideEffects to add color to the Finder sidebar.

Though adding color back to Finder might seem like a simple change, there are three components required to work this magic. SideEffects packages them into one simple installation. First SideEffects packages the Finder plugin framework SIMBL. This framework simplifies the development of plugins and tweaks to other applications such as Finder. SideEffects then installs a SIMBL based plugin, ColorfulSidebar, that colorizes the sidebar in Finder. It also takes care of restarting Finder to allow the new framework and plugin to take effect.

All of these are things you could install and run on your own, but SideEffects puts them in one simple package that makes it simple to get everything installed.

Getting and Installing SideEffects

You download SideEffects as a disk package and have two choices. The SideEffects installer installs the applications to run on each login or reboot meaning you’ll always have color icons. The SideFX installer just brings color to you sidebar until you logout or shut down your Mac. If you experience problems or simply tire of the addition of color, there is an uninstaller included which removes the plugins and framework from your computer.

Advanced Install options must be used if you run TotalFinder.

When you launch the installer, the first two installation screen provide some information on the application and project. Also note that if you use the TotalFinder plugin as I do, then you must make one change to the installation. On the install screen, you must choose the Customize Option. Here you must uncheck the RelaunchFinder option and instead check the RelaunchTotalFinder option. As long as you complete this step, I saw no conflicts between TotalFinder and SideEffects.

When the installation completes, it will inform you if everything went smoothly. To confirm switch to Finder and open a new windows and you should see color icons in your sidebar. If not the included ReadMe file includes a few troubleshooting steps. As noted, an uninstaller is added to your Applications folder should you run into problems or simply wish to remove the program. That’s always nice to see when you’re installing something that changes the way your system works.

Thoughts

While I ran into no problems while installing or using the program, there are some rough edges. It would be nice if it could automatically detect TotalFinder removing the need to manually change that option. It would also be nice if the program could change between always colorizing the sidebar and just until the next reboot as an option instead of requiring the installation of a custom version.

The developer has not signed the application with a certificate, meaning you may have to work on Mountain Lion by either allowing any application to install or right clicking and choose open to get the option to install anyway. The author notes on the SideEffects web site that he’s applied for a certificate for the application, which will hopefully fix this in future versions.

The are a few things to keep in mind before running this on your daily machine. First, this is still beta software. As the documentation itself notes, “it is an experiment in which you are a tester (which means your Mac is the guinea pig).” I saw no issues running in, but if you’re not comfortable with your Mac being a guinea pig you may want to wait until the software matures and is tested a bit more before installing this on your primary or only computer.

There is also a concern on the use of SIMBL. While a popular and well developed plugin, it is not supported on either Lion or Mountain Lion. The author has noted he has no plans to update for either version of OS X. While the framework still works well and causes few problems, there is the potential for a chance in Mac OS to break things.

Conclusion

Is it worth it? While it is just a color tweak, I did find that I could find the right icon faster in the sidebar once I’d installed the change. For the experienced user who missed color in the Finder sidebar, give SideEffects a try and see how it works for you. Less experienced or users worried about running beta software might want to wait a bit for the project to mature.

One of the complaints we as Mac users hear most from our Windows-touting companions is that Macs are no good for playing games above the complexity of Angry Birds. They say that if you enjoy games, Windows is your only choice. While this may have been a valid argument in the previous decade, it doesn’t hold up nowadays.

With the increasing popularity of Macs as well as the addition of the Mac App Store, large games developers are noticing the platform and putting more effort into making their games available to us. In this post I’ll show you some of the awesome, if slightly brutal, games that are available for our beloved Macs.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Its hard these days to talk about video games and not hear the title COD pop up somewhere. Call of Duty Modern Warfare was the title that set the ball rolling for the franchise; breaking sales records and scoring exceptional reviews. The next in the Modern Warfare line certainly didn’t disappoint (me at least) and while COD3 is out in the wild as well, many consider MW to be superior.

Even if the fantastic single player campaign is considered a little short, the multiplayer is where MW really shines. With plenty of maps and almost endless potential playing time, except for the very dedicated, the game provides hours and hours of fun and violent gameplay. This is the game that really set the franchise going, and it’s hard not to consider it as one of the best first-person shooters of all time, although perhaps a little steeply price for a game that’s a few years old.

Price: $39.99
Developer: Ported by Aspyr, made by Activision
Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later

Assassin’s Creed II

In Assassin’s Creed II you play Enzio, an assassin in the 15th century Renaissance period in Italy. With his family murdered and no stranger to violence, you’re gameplay is riddled with stabbings, pushing people off buildings and countless other ways to, sometimes brutally, defend yourself.

The game is an ‘open world’ game, meaning you can roam around the place doing parkour and if you so wish you can for the most part avoid most of the violence – but who does that anyways? As a fresh approach to modern gaming and with a great storyline, Assassin’s Creed II for Mac is certainly a game to look out for.

Price: $24.99
Developer: Ubisoft
Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later

Left 4 Dead 2 (Steam)

This gory cooperative first-person shooter is the sequel to the award-winning Left 4 Dead, set in a zombie apocalypse in the deep south of the US. Playing as one of four survivors of this hell you are set with fighting these spectacularly disgusting creatures with a wide selection of improvised weapons, ranging from chainsaws to frying pans.

The gameplay is naturally very violent but great fun and the campaigns are challenging. Despite being a few years old its still just as enjoyable and not hard to see how it picked up several awards.

Price: $19.99
Developer: Valve
Requirements: OS X 10.6.4 or later

Killing Floor (Steam)

On a similar streak to L4D2 this is a survival game, although set in England where a series of military experiments have gone terribly wrong, leaving behind zombie-esque monsters of the non-friendly kind.

With very little of the population left, you and your 5 other survivors are tasked with killing all creatures you come across, which start off easy and progress to more challenging opponents with chainsaws for arms and large beasts. If relentless killing is your thing then Killing Floor may well be for you and while I found it to be slightly less fun than L4D2, it is still action packed and full of tweaks to personalise the gameplay to your liking. And of course the multiplayer mode is a blast.

Price: $14.99
Developer: Tripwire Interactive
Requirements: OS X 10.5.8 or later

BioShock 2

Set ten years after the original, you are plunged into the underwater city of Rapture, where your little sister has been taken capture. As her big daddy, you must protect her against all the perils that face her. Gameplay is an improvement over the original and the way you can upgrade your weapons gives a real sense of progression through the game. The online multiplayer mode can also be pretty fun and is worth checking out.

While I’ve seen better graphics on a Mac game, there are still some great visuals and the sound design is also chillingly well done. A recommendation for those who want a change from the normal first-person shooters of today.

Price: $24.99
Developer: Feral Interactive
Requirements: OS X 10.7.2 or later

Rage: Campaign Edition

After an asteroid collides with earth and leaves behind a vast wasteland with little life left. As one of survivors you have to struggle against mutants, gangs of bandits and the new evil government as humanity tries to rebuild itself.

Weapons are decent, and like several of the other games here you have the ability to use unconventional weapons. Rage is not the best game in the list, and being the campaign mode it lacks the multiplayer mode. Despite this it’s still good to play and while it may lack depth the visuals are pretty strong and it can still be enjoyable to have a fairly open ground to play with.

Price: $29.99
Developer: Ported by Aspyr, developed by id Software
Requirements: OS X 10.7.2 or later

GTA San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto has made a huge name for itself as being a game of intense violence and a seemingly never-ending gameplay with many side missions and tasks to complete. In this game you play Carl Johnson who has been framed for homicide and a whole journey lies ahead of him.

One of GTA’s greatest aspects is that you don’t even have to play the missions. You can have hours of fun just roaming the streets murdering innocent civilians or finding the hidden jumps. However the game really comes to life once you complete missions and unlock new islands and make more enemies. In all this is a game that you can play how you want and still have a great time.

Price: $14.99
Developer: Rockstar Games
Requirements: OS X 10.6.8 or later

Doom 3

Doom was one of the first FPS games and certainly put the genre on the map. While the fifth iteration of Doom is still fairly old itself, dating back to 2004, this game is still very playable and will bring back a nostalgic feeling to those who remember the times before Call of Duty or Crysis.While some may struggle with to cope with the rather last-generation graphics, if you can get past that then you’ll be sure to enjoy the game.

Continuing on the original franchise of Doom, this game takes place on Mars in the year 2145 where a military experiment accidentally opens up a gateway to hell releasing demons to the planet. The game, while similar to the original in many ways, is fantastic to play with my only real criticism being that the constant darkness can get a little frustrating. Nonetheless it’s a part of a classic and highly recommended to all.

Price: $9.99
Developer: Ported by Aspyr, developed by id Software
Requirements: OS X 10.6.8 or later

Prey

This is a game about Tommy, a garage mechanic who ends up abducted by a spaceship along with the rest of his people and he must save earth from these extraterrestrial beings. If you enjoyed Portal (and let’s be honest, who didn’t?) then you will likely get pleasure out of playing Prey. It’s not the typical shooter, instead it’s full of creative puzzles with anti-gravity among other tricks.

Something else that is special for Prey is that despite you’re scepticism you inherit ancient native powers; as a result when you die, rather than returning to a checkpoint, you are sent into the spirit world where you much regain your health by killing these ghost-like creatures. It’s a very interesting twist and refreshing to see a change from the repetitive FPS games.

Price: $14.99
Developer: Ported by Aspyr, developed by Take-Two Interactive Software
Requirements: OS X 10.6.6 or later

Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem: the game you waited for forever. Due to the impossible shadow overcast by its predecessor, even if the game hadn’t taken 14 years to make, it would have likely always been a let down. Unfortunately that’s what the last game in our list is; a disappointment. The graphics are PlayStation 2 quality despite being released in 2011 and the level designs are mediocre t best.

However that’s not to say you should cast it aside immediately as there are some fun parts to Duke Nukem Forever. Action scenes are pretty wild and you can go on great rampages through the game. Overall the best you’re likely to get out of this is it being one of those games you can whip out when bored and want to just have some fun – it’s not likely to be something you’ll get hooked on.

Price: $19.99
Developer: Aspyr
Requirements: OS X 10.6.4 or later

Conclusion

Now that you’ve had a look at these games, we hope you have seen some games you like. As always game preference is very subjective, and while first-person shooters like Call of Duty may be one person’s ideal game, running around a city killing civilians and jumping over bridges in cars (all in gameplay, I should add) could be someone else’s cup of tea. So if you have any more favourites please feel free to let us know in the comments and share it with the world.