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1. Life The Game Poki
2. Life Or A Potential Escape Mac Os X
3. Life Or A Potential Escape Mac Os Catalina

The road behind

Mac OS X 10.0 was released five years ago today, on March 24th, 2001. To me, it felt like the end of a long road rather than a beginning. At that point, I'd already written over 100,000 words about Apple's new OS for Ars Technica, starting with the second developer release and culminating in the public beta several months before 10.0. But the road that led to Mac OS X extends much farther into past—years, in fact.

Mac OS X 10.0 was the end of many things. First and foremost, it was the end of one of the most drawn-out, heart-wrenching death spirals in the history of the technology sector. Historians (and Wall Street) may say that it was the iMac, with its fresh, daring industrial design, that marked the turning point for Apple. But that iMac was merely a stay of execution at best, and a last, desperate gasp at worst. By the turn of the century, Apple needed a new OS, and it needed one badly. No amount of translucent plastic was going to change that.

Apple was so desperate for a solution to its OS problem in the mid- to late 1990s that both Solaris and Windows NT were considered as possible foundations for the next-generation Mac OS. And even these grim options represented the end of a longer succession of abortive attempts at technological rejuvenation: OpenDoc, QuickDraw 3D, QuickDraw GX, Taligent, Pink, Copland, Gershwin, Dylan—truly, a trail of tears. (If you can read that list without flinching, turn in your Apple Extended Keyboard II and your old-school Mac cred.)

In retrospect, it seems almost ridiculously implausible that Apple's prodigal son, thrown out of the company in 1985, would spend the next twelve years toiling away in relative obscurity on technology that would literally save the company upon his return. (Oh, and he also converted an orphaned visual effects technology lab into the most powerful animation studio in the US—in his spare time, one presumes.)

So yes, Mac OS X marked the end of a dark time in Apple's history, but it was also the end of a decade of unprecedented progress and innovation. In my lifetime, I doubt I will ever experience a technological event that is both as transformative and as abrupt as the introduction of the Macintosh. Literally overnight, a generation of computer users went from a black screen with fuzzy green text and an insistently blinking cursor to crisp, black text on a white background, windows, icons, buttons, scrollbars, menus, and this crazy thing called a 'mouse.'

I see a lot more Mac users today than I ever saw in the pre-Mac OS X era, but few of them remember what it was like in the beginning. They've never argued with someone who's insisted that 'only toy computers have a mouse.' They didn't spend years trying to figure out why the world stuck with MS-DOS while they were literally living in the future. They never played the maze. (Dagnabbit!)

Today's Mac users appreciate the refinement, the elegance, the nuances of Mac OS X. Today, the Mac grows on people. It seeps into their consciousness until they either break down and buy one or retreat to familiarity, perhaps to be tempted again later.

The original Mac users had a very different experience. Back then, the Mac wasn't a seductive whisper; it was a bolt of lightning, a wake-up call, a goddamn slap in the face. 'Holy crap! This is it!' Like I said, transformative. For the rest of the computing world, that revelatory moment was paced out over an entire decade. The experience was diluted, and the people were transformed slowly, imperceptibly.

That era ended on March 24th, 2001. Mac OS X 10.0 was the capstone on the Mac-That-Was. It was the end of the ride for the original Mac users. In many ways, it was the end of the Mac. In the subsequent five years (and over 200,000 more words here at Ars), the old world of the Mac has faded into the distance. With it, so have many of the original Mac users. Some have even passedon. Mac OS X 10.0 had a message: the Mac is dead.

Long live the Mac

Mac OS X arose, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the Mac-That-Was. Okay, maybe more like an injured phoenix. Also, Apple didn't light the bird on fire until a few years later. But still, technically, phoenix-like.

A side-by-side test-drive of Mac OS X 10.0 and 10.4 is shocking. The eternal debate is whether this gap exists because 10.4 is so good, or because 10.0 was so, so bad. That said, Apple's ability to plan and execute its OS strategy is not open for debate. In five short years, Apple has essentially created an entirely new platform. Oh, I know, it's really just the foundation of NeXT combined with the wreckage of classic Mac OS, but I think that makes it even more impressive. Two failing, marginalized platforms have combined to become the platform for the alpha geeks in the new century.

Today's Mac users span a much wider range than those of the past. Mac OS X's Unix-like core reached out to the beard-and-suspenders crowd (and the newer source-code-and-a-dream crowd) while the luscious Aqua user interface pulled all the touchy-feely aesthetes from the other direction. In the middle were the refugees from the Mac-That-Was, but they aren't the story here. Mac OS X is about new blood and new ideas—some good, some bad, but all vibrant. The Mac is alive again!

After spending half my life watching smart, talented people ignore the Mac for reasons of circumstance or prejudice, it's incredibly gratifying to live in a post-Mac OS X world. When I encounter a tech-world luminary or up-and-coming geek today, I just assume that he or she uses a Mac. Most of the time, I'm right. Even those with a conflicting affiliation (e.g., Linux enthusiasts) often use Apple laptops, if not the OS.

In the media, the Mac and Apple have gone from depressing headlines on the business page to gushing feature stories everywhere. Even traditional strongholds of other platforms have fallen under the translucent fist of Mac OS X. Just look at Slashdot, long a haven for Linux topics, now nearly living up to the frequent accusation that it's become 'an Apple news site.' Here at Ars Technica, the story is similar. The 'PC Enthusiast's Resource' from 1999 is now absolutely swimming in Apple-related content.

As much as I like to think that I brought on this transformation here at Ars with my avalanche of words, the truth is that Mac OS X is responsible. Yes, Apple's shiny hardware helped, but it was the software that finally won over those stubborn PC geeks. It helped that the software was shiny too, but it would have all been for nothing if not for one word: respect.

Mac OS X made the alpha geeks respect the Mac. My part, if any, in the transformation of a green-on-black den of PC users into a clean, well-lighted home for Apple news and reviews was merely to explain what Mac OS X is, where it's coming from, and where it appears to be going. The rest followed naturally. It's Unix. It's a Mac. It's pretty, stable, novel, innovative, and different. Mac OS X was powerful geeknip; it still is.

During the first few years of Mac OS X's life, I began my reviews with a section titled, 'What is Mac OS X?' That seems quaint in retrospect, but it really was necessary back then. (The pronunciation tips contained in those sections might still be useful. Even Steve Jobs still says 'ecks' instead of 'ten' sometimes. He also said 'PowerBook' during the last press event. I'm just saying...'MacBook'? Come on.)

Today, Mac OS X has achieved escape velocity. After five years and five competently executed major releases, Apple has earned the right to take a little more time with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Users need a break from the upgrade cycle too. (Well, the software upgrade cycle, anyway.) For all my complaints about the Finder, file system metadata, user interface responsiveness, you name it, I've always been rooting for Mac OS X. I've always wanted to believe. After five years, that faith is finally paying off.

Complacency's not my style, though. I still think Mac OS X can be better, and I continue to hold Apple to a very high standard. I've even got a head start on worrying about Apple's next OS crisis. (See parts one, two, three, and four.) Maybe I've been scarred by Apple's late-1990s dance with death...or maybe I've just learned an important lesson. Maybe Apple has too. I sure hope so, because I don't know if I can go through all that again.

Mac OS X is five years old today. It's got a decade to go before it matches the age of its predecessor, and perhaps longer before it can entirely escape the shadow of the original Mac. But I'm glad I'm along for the ride.

Escape Velocity Nova (a.k.a. EV Nova or EVN) is a video game developed by Ambrosia Software in collaboration with ATMOS. It is the third game in the Escape Velocity series of space trading and combat games. It was released on March 19, 2002 for Mac OS X and Mac OS 9, and later ported to Windows and released on July 11, 2003. The game's premise, set in a time period after mankind has discovered hyperspace technology, grants the player freedom to take missions, trade goods, steal from other ships, and enter one of six storylines.

Originally a plug-in for Escape Velocity Override created by ATMOS, Nova development began with Ambrosia contracting ATMOS to make the plug-in the scenario for a new game. ATMOS developed the scenario and graphics, while Matt Burch developed the game engine. The game features six different mutually exclusive plot lines, but players have control to act as they will from the start of the game. Reception to the game praised the gameplay, plot, and ability to be replayed, but was critical of the lack of a soundtrack, repetitiveness, and pace and difficulty of the storylines.

Gameplay and plot[edit]

Life The Game Poki

In Escape Velocity Nova, the player is placed in command of a shuttlecraft in space.^[1] The game is played from a top-down perspective in 2D.^[1][2] A tutorial is offered, but players are granted freedom to act as they will at the start. Players can earn money by purchasing and trading goods, taking missions transporting people or goods to various locations,^[1][3] or by stealing from other ships.^[1][2] The player's ship moves between systems of planets by using a hyperspace jump. At various planets, the player can take on missions and trade goods, buy new ships, or outfit their current ship with new weapons and accessories.^[3] Ship classes vary from shuttlecraft to large frigates.^[2] There are six different storylines within the game that can be played; each one is mutually exclusive and a new game must be begun to play a different story. A player's choices in the plot can impact the political alignment of the entire map.^[3] If players become strong enough, they can demand tribute from a system. Doing so will cause the system to deploy its fleet of ships, but should the player defeat the fleet, the system recognizes the player as its warlord and pays tribute.^[4]

Escape Velocity Nova is a shareware game. Its status is enforced in game by a character named Captain Hector, who will continuously remind the player to pay their shareware fee. The game also supports plug-ins, allowing players to create their own ships and campaigns, but access to do so is disallowed if the shareware fee is not paid.^[4]

Set in the year 1177 N.C., Escape Velocity Nova's plot begins long after mankind has begun to explore outer space. Years before, a person named Omata Kane designed a 'hypergate' system connecting systems of human-inhabited worlds that had been discovered by colonists from Earth. Terrorists destroyed the hypergate in the Sol system, which damaged the entire network. With this isolation, warlords arose and fell in the various disconnected systems. The later invention of hyperspace technology allowed for the lost systems to be reconnected, and resulted in order. Centered around Earth and the Sol system is the Federation, while to the south is the Auroran Empire, categorized as 'a savage race'. Another group, called the Polaris, hold the east, while the north and west are unexplored territory. The player, having just purchased a shuttle, is cast out to begin a life as the captain of their own ship.

Development[edit]

Nova began as a plug-in for Ambrosia Software's Escape Velocity Override in July 1998.^[5] A group of students from Tasmania: Dafydd Williams, Jason Cook, and Scott Vardy were fans of Override and began working on a modding project called Override Nova. Their updates on the project were shared on Ambrosia Software's website forums, which caught the attention of Ambrosia employee Andrew Welch. Shortly afterward, the student group took the name ATMOS Software and signed a contract with Ambrosia to work on a new game.^[6] Ambrosia Software's Matt Burch developed the game engine, while Welch managed the project and ATMOS developed the graphics and scenario.^[7] Burch, who had programmed Escape Velocity and Override, programmed Nova while also working a second job as an engineer.^[6] In July 2000, Ambrosia contracted ATMOS to convert the plug-in into the scenario for Nova. Development of the game from Override took approximately 12 months, with an additional 8 months of beta testing.^[5]Escape Velocity Nova was released on March 19, 2002 for Mac,^[8] and received both OS X and OS 9 releases.^[4] Later that year was announced to be receiving a Windows port,^[9] which was released on July 11, 2003.^[10] A 2008 update for Mac was built as a universal binary with native support for Intel processors.^[11]

Reception[edit]

Escape Velocity Nova received praise for its gameplay and game design, especially in light of it being a shareware game. MacAddict gave Escape Velocity Nova its Editor's Choice Award. Reviewer Chris Barylick stated that the gameplay is essentially the same as its predecessors, Escape Velocity and Override. He called the game 'more beautifully designed than you could expect a shareware game to be'.^[4] Two years after the game's release, Barylick said the game was still worth the download.^[12] In a review for Inside Mac Games, Richard Porcher expressed that Nova's graphics were superior for a shareware game.^[3]Macworld's Peter Cohen lauded the combination of action-based space battles with adventure-style gaming. He noted the game made improvements over Nova's predecessors while stating that Ambrosia Software 'has wisely left alone what ain't broken.'^[1]

The game's story and game length received more mixed reviews. Porcher stated that Nova's strongest point is its ability to be replayed repeatedly, especially with support for plug-ins in the game. He also pointed out flaws with the storylines being too easy and the plot lines being mutually exclusive, but felt all would be addressed with plug-ins.^[3]PC Gamer's J.T. Trollman gave praise for the game's story writing but was critical of the game's lengthy repetition and time span between points in the story.^[2] NomaD of Russian website Absolute Games praised the game's large map and scenario, while also critical of the game's lack of a soundtrack.^[13] By contrast, MacNN was critical of the small universe size and dialogue, though it called the game 'extraordinary' and praised the game's replayability.^[14]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdeCohen, Peter (June 30, 2002). 'The Game Room'. Macworld. Archived from the original on November 7, 2018. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
2. ^ ^abcdTrollman, J.T. (July 2005). 'Escape Velocity Nova'. PC Gamer. Archived from the original on March 15, 2006. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
3. ^ ^abcdePorcher, Richard (March 25, 2002). 'Review: Escape Velocity: Nova'. Inside Mac Games. Archived from the original on May 11, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
4. ^ ^abcdBarylick, Chris (September 2002). 'Escape Velocity: Nova'. MacAddict. No. 73. p. 48.
5. ^ ^ab'How long did it take to create EV Nova?'. Ambrosia Software. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
6. ^ ^abMoss, Richard (2018). The Secret History of Mac Gaming. Unbound. ISBN9781783524877.
7. ^'Who was a part of the EV Nova development team?'. Ambrosia Software. Archived from the original on June 23, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
8. ^Cohen, Peter (March 19, 2002). 'Ambrosia releases Escape Velocity Nova'. Macworld. Archived from the original on September 30, 2014. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
9. ^'2 Mac game titles ported to Windows'. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). November 18, 2002. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
10. ^'Escape Velocity Nova'. 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
11. ^Moren, Dan (December 30, 2008). 'Ambrosia's EV Nova makes the jump to Universal Binary'. Macworld. Archived from the original on February 11, 2020. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
12. ^Barylick, Chris (December 30, 2005). 'The Slacker's Guide - Escape Velocity: Nova and Ragdoll Masters 3.0'. MacObserver. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
13. ^NomaD (August 21, 2003). 'Рецензия на игру Escape Velocity: Nova'. Absolute Games (in Russian). Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
14. ^'Review - Escape Velocity Nova'. MacNN. July 23, 2002. Archived from the original on July 26, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2020.

External links[edit]

Life Or A Potential Escape Mac Os X

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 17 October 2006)
• Escape Velocity Nova at MobyGames
• EV Nova at IMDb

Life Or A Potential Escape Mac Os Catalina