It’s Thanksgiving week here in the United States and even though a lot of developers wait for Black Friday to discount their creations, there are already a lot of great games and utilities available. Included in the list are Pixelmator, Bastion, MoneyWiz, BioShock 2, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. That’s only a few of the video games (I tried to even them out a bit) — there are a lot more in the full list, so treat yourself to a good time while you’re off from work on Thursday.
Pixelmator
Let’s start off with the legendary indie graphic design and photo editing app Pixelmator. If you’ve never heard of it, this piece of software is a competitor to Photoshop, just at less than a tenth of the price. Usually priced at $29.99, it’s a bargain for everything that’s offered: Retina optimisation, iCloud sync, many brushes and textures for painting, retouching tools for photographs, and over 150 filters and special effects. And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what this app can do. In the right hands — preferably of a designer — it can yield beautiful fruit, or edit some of your existing creations. For half the usual price, it’s an unbeatable deal. If you’re still not sure, give the free trial a whirl.
Price: $29.99 » 14.99
Requires: OS X 10.6.8 or later
Developer: The Pixelmator Team
Batman Arkham Asylum
From Feral Interactive comes a thrilling game of super-villains and Batman. Fight against the infamous Joker, who has taken the Arkham Asylum and unleashed the prisoners to wreak havoc on Gotham. With your fancy weapons, a good many upgrades available for them, and your wits about you, take control of the heroic Batman character and fight to keep the city your own. Against such adversaries as Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc you will battle. Beware that the game itself is an 8.58 GB download and requires a modern graphics card to play. At half price though, it seems worth it.
Price: $39.99 » $19.99
Requires: OS X 10.6.6 or later and modern graphics card (see App Store page)
Developer: Feral Interactive Ltd
Bastion
Here’s another indie title, this time a video game and from Supergiant Games. It can be called one of the best role-playing games available for the Mac, at least for the price. There are more than 40 environments in the game, 21 levels that vary in difficulty, lots of weapons to unlock, many spirits at the Distillery to enhance your performance, and the usual Cael Hammer that allows you to smash everything to bits. Then there are the pistols you can obtain, and the special moves, and the solid story, and — okay, you get the picture and it’s just the beginning of the 1023 MB journey. If you want an idea of how good the whole game is, feel free to read my review of the iPad version over at iPad.AppStorm. It’s basically the same game anyway, just different controls.
Price: $14.99 » $6.99
Requires: OS X
Developer: Supergiant Games
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Now the most popular first-person shooter game in the world, this is where it all started. Aspyr’s Call of Duty reached its fourth release and the developers decided it would be a good time to increase the realism of things with a better graphics and a more modern approach to the old CoD gameplay. This game features over 70 weapons and even more gear, online multiplayer, deadly care packages, helicopters of death, and much much more. Play the campaign on veteran to get your game on, then head over to the multiplayer arena to battle real players and test your skills. All this is now priced at just $7.99, nearly 75 percent off. Just make sure your Mac has a supported graphics card before downloading the 6.85 GB file.
Price: $29.99 » $7.99
Requires: OS X 10.6.6 or later with Nvidia or ATI graphics card (see App Store page)
Developer: Aspyr Media, Inc.
MoneyWiz
Now that you’ve spent all your money on the first two apps, go manage how you exhaust your resources with MoneyWiz, your new personal finance regulator. Featuring a beautiful user interface, a budget manager with alerts, a bill reminder, printable monthly reports, support for many currencies, Retina optimisation, and synchronisation for all your devices, it’s the best way to keep your spending lower than it’s been lately. Also, if you have an iPhone or iPad, there are companion apps available which will help you keep the management going when you’re on holiday or taking a business trip.
Price: $39.99 » $24.99
Requires: OS X 10.6 or later
Developer: SilverWiz
BioShock 2
Last up is another game from Feral Interactive. This one is well-known for its unique appearance, eerie world, and fancy weapons. In the game, you must take back Rapture, the undersea city from the original game, by any means necessary. Doing so involves saving the girl (of course) from harm with Big Daddy, the recognisable water-man from what looks to be 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Along the way you’ll encounter new weapons, abilities, and online multiplayer to change the experience altogether. The game is more than 50 percent off right now, so go grab a 7.84 GB copy.
Price: $24.99 » $11.99
Requires: OS X 10.7.2 or later and modern graphics card (see App Store page)
Developer: Feral Interactive Ltd
Have Fun, Save Money
Hopefully these deals will quench your gaming and art-creation thirst. If they don’t, maybe you’ve found some of your own outside the Mac App Store that suffice. Share your findings for the week in the comments below so that other people can thank you for them. Have a wonderful week and we’ll see you next Wednesday!