industry news
TransGaming Brings Ubisoft To The Mac
Posted by Mike Fahey at 2:40 AM on July 3, 2008
TransGaming has just announced that they are now collaborating with Ubisoft to bring their PC games to the Mac via the Cider Portability Engine. The multi-title agreement will see Ubisoft PC titles appearing on TG's digital distribution platform GameTree Online throughout the summer and into fall alongside Windows platform releases. So what games do Intel-based Mac users have in store?
"Ubisoft is extremely excited about the partnership with TransGaming to bring our titles to the Mac", said Jay Cohen, senior vice president of publishing at Ubisoft. "This is the perfect opportunity to reach the growing Mac community so they can enjoy games such as CSI: Hard Evidence and our Petz franchise with Catz and Dogz".
Oh. That's...nice? Finally Mac gamers will be able to experience the titles PC gamers have been raving about for ages! I assume we'll see something a bit more meaty (yes, I know Petz have meat) as the partnership continues.
TransGaming to Bring Ubisoft Titles to Mac
Ubisoft® Games for Mac Now Available for Purchase and Download at GameTreeOnline.comToronto, Canada - July 2, 2008 - TransGaming Inc. (TSX-V: TNG), has announced that video game publisher, Ubisoft (PARIS:UBI.PA), is collaborating with TransGaming to distribute video games on Mac via TransGaming's CiderTM Portability Engine. TransGaming, a leading developer of portability technologies for the electronic entertainment industry, has signed a multi-title agreement with Ubisoft that will bring titles immediately to the Mac community via gametreeonline.com, TransGaming's digital distribution portal. The partnership extends TransGaming's publisher network and offers both parties a revenue-sharing model in addition to TransGaming's Cider licensing fee.
"Ubisoft is extremely excited about the partnership with TransGaming to bring our titles to the Mac," said Jay Cohen, senior vice president of publishing at Ubisoft. "This is the perfect opportunity to reach the growing Mac community so they can enjoy games such as CSI: Hard Evidence and our Petz franchise with Catz and Dogz. To expand our business position and serve the growing Mac gaming community, additional key titles will follow later this year, including several day-and-date releases this Fall.
Ubisoft ranks among the top three independent publishers of video games in the world and has chosen to leverage TransGaming's technology to deliver multiple Mac titles each year. All titles for Mac are being made possible using TransGaming's Cider Portability Engine, that acts as a "wrapper" around the game software, enabling it to run seamlessly on Intel-based Macs. This collaboration by two industry leaders will serve to provide the Mac gaming community with a significant increase in the availability of video games, while simultaneously improving the timeliness of Mac games on sale to the consumer market, a dual benefit rarely possible prior to TransGaming's Cider Portability Engine.
"We are delighted to offer consumers Ubisoft's titles through our digital distribution portal, GameTree Online, and at traditional Mac retail locations over the next few years. Ubisoft has been creating award winning games for Windows-PC and I have no doubt that Mac consumers everywhere will be thrilled to have access to this great content," commented Vikas Gupta, CEO & President of TransGaming Technologies. "Leading publishers continue to recognise the value of TransGaming's Cider Engine to bring their high quality content quickly and efficiently to the growing Mac community. The addition of Ubisoft titles further broadens the Mac games market and provides further evidence that TransGaming is the partner of choice for Mac enablement."
Ubisoft's Petz® series will be available immediately for consumers to purchase and download at www.gametreeonline.com. Other Ubisoft titles that have never been available on Mac before will be deployed throughout the Summer, and simultaneously in the Fall with the Windows-PC platform releases.
Serving the gaming industry for many years, TransGaming is a technology leader signing Ubisoft, another top-tier publisher, will ensure all Mac consumers have the game-title availability they demand. TransGaming is 'Broadening the Playing Field' as more and more consumers choose Mac as their personal entertainment solution.

Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
jamBot
Posted 3:29 AM 3/7/08
Great, now we can all play, "Imagine: Bitch get back in the Kitchen", on the Mac, Yay!
jamBot
Colage
Posted 3:27 AM 3/7/08
If TransGaming's ability to make games playable in Linux is any indicator, Mac users probably shouldn't hold their breath for the great games like Catz and CSI.
Colage
Bort
Posted 3:19 AM 3/7/08
My two-week-old Macbook Pro runs Windows better than my recently-retired Dell ever did.
So this is nice, I guess, but I was perfectly able to ignore Ubisoft "games" anyway.
Bort
ach77
Posted 3:13 AM 3/7/08
Is Mac gaming really such an issue anymore now that Macs are intel-based? All of the Mac owners that I know who want to play PC-only games just install Windows (XP, of course) using Boot Camp, and then they can play anything they want.
ach77
Reetesh
Posted 3:08 AM 3/7/08
SC:DA was a bad port of a 360 game on the PC, now if that were to be ported to MAC.I wonder how buggy that will be.
Reetesh
henri1kk
Posted 2:58 AM 3/7/08
Cider does have a performance impact... Games using Cider usually require a faster processor, more RAM and a better GPU to run than the Windows version.
It's cool, though... May we'll see games like the recent Rainbow Six or PoP on the Mac!
The Mac's market share is steadily growing and young, game-loving people are buying more and more Macintosh computers, so it's good to know that game devs are aware of this "shift"!
I'd prefer native games but I understand that porting code to Mac takes time and costs money... Cider's the next best thing but with it there's no way a mid-end Mac (like my MBP) could run intensive games...
henri1kk
Captain_Willard
Posted 2:55 AM 3/7/08
CSI & Petz, well I'm bowled over......
Captain_Willard
Robotube
Posted 2:55 AM 3/7/08
I should have patented the use of the word "excited" for use in the first sentences press releases. I'd have a swimming pool full of chocolate pudding right now.
Robotube
HikariOblivion
Posted 2:52 AM 3/7/08
yay, lazy ports!
the problem with this is it's like making a linux version by packaging the game with wine - the code remains Windows code, and intel chips are becoming a growing requirement
HikariOblivion
s0njas0n
Posted 2:52 AM 3/7/08
that is too funny, i'm sure they were dying to play catz and dogz, i know i am.
s0njas0n
Tenth
Posted 2:49 AM 3/7/08
"enjoy games such as CSI: Hard Evidence and our Petz franchise with Catz and Dogz"
It is to laugh. :D
Tenth
AndrewG009
Posted 2:47 AM 3/7/08
Hey, now the Mac community can suffer too.
AndrewG009
Jeff Paine
Posted 2:47 AM 3/7/08
"This is the perfect opportunity to reach the growing Mac community so they can enjoy games such as CSI: Hard Evidence and our Petz franchise with Catz and Dogz."
Proof that game companies hate Mac users
Jeff Paine
Fangeh
Posted 2:46 AM 3/7/08
OK, that's pretty funny.
Fangeh
Coquiton
Posted 2:46 AM 3/7/08
"This is the perfect opportunity to reach the growing Mac community so they can enjoy games such as CSI: Hard Evidence and our Petz franchise with Catz and Dogz."
After reading that quote, I honestly expected you to say you made it up. >_<
Coquiton
henri1kk
Posted 2:46 AM 3/7/08
yeah... what about real games?
henri1kk
FeendRendor
Posted 4:08 AM 3/7/08
As a Mac gamer I've been pushing for more developers to follow Blizzard's lead and makes games for OS X.
I do not consider convincing Ubisoft to bring Petz to Leopard a victory.
FeendRendor
salmonax
Posted 3:53 AM 3/7/08
yeah, i'm excited too.
salmonax
psychicfriend
Posted 3:39 AM 3/7/08
Awesome! Ubisoft==Shovelware for the Mac!
psychicfriend
BigBooBuddy
Posted 4:38 AM 3/7/08
I don't give a crap's crap about those game, but damn if that dog in that pic isn't cute.
BigBooBuddy
IanC
Posted 4:33 AM 3/7/08
Oh good lord..... If you are just going to quickly and cheaply convert games over to Mac at least make them good games! /sigh
@FeendRendor: Yeah Blizzard are awesome. Heck they even made Warcraft 3 a Universal Binary via a patch. Now thats good support.
IanC
bob7317496
Posted 5:49 AM 3/7/08
I see a typo. I think you mean CSI: Hard Evidenz.
bob7317496
dowingba
Posted 5:42 AM 3/7/08
A million Mac users just screamed out and were suddenly silenced.
dowingba
kmkl
Posted 5:16 AM 3/7/08
"This is the perfect opportunity to reach the growing Mac community so they can enjoy games such as CSI: Hard Evidence and our Petz franchise with Catz and Dogz."
I mean its great that Ubisoft (and others) is finally recognizing the Mac, but c'mon CSI: Hard Evidence and Catz and Dogz? *sarcasm* Yeah, I can totally see people being excited about that... How about some Prince of Persia, Rainbow Six, or even Assassin's Creed. Now I can see mac users (including me) be entirely happy.
(Oh and now there will be less of a reason not to get an awesome Mac!)
kmkl
stranger
Posted 7:59 AM 3/7/08
Yes because all us Mac users have been waiting with baited breath for Ubisoft's crop of me-too casual games to come our way...
Maybe if we're really lucky they'll release Red Steel in time for Christmas!
stranger
Shifty_Pete
Posted 5:09 AM 4/7/08
I think this is just to ease the suffering of Mac users. They've wanted for games for so long, Ubi figured they'd give them such crap that the desire to play games would die in them forever.
Shifty_Pete
Trai_Dep
Posted 10:50 AM 4/7/08
I'm REALLY bothered by this story.
If true, then it means that, within a few months, we Mac Users will have to choose between Diablo III or CSI: Catz vs. Dogz.
Decisions. Decisions!
Trai_Dep