EA reneges on Mac promise

Stephen Withers
Friday, 17 August 2007 13:09

Business IT - Technology

Electronic Arts has failed to make good on its promise of a simultaneous launch of Madden NFL 08 on Mac and Windows.

During a presentation at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Electronic Arts' chief creative officer Bing Gordon said Madden NFL 08 and Tiger Woods 08 would be the first of its games to ship simultaneously on the two platforms.

While Madden has arrived for Windows, there's no sign of the Mac version.

According to AppleInsider, an EA spokesperson said the games have been delayed until September or October.

Porting of older titles Battlefield 2142, Command and Conquer 3, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Need for Speed Carbon is apparently complete.

Although Gordon did not mention it during his WWDC appearance, the company is using TransGaming's Cider technology, which interprets the games' Windows code for Intel-based Mac OS X systems. This approach means the Windows game must be complete before the Mac version can be finalised.