This page contains news that was posted since September 2001. There are links at the bottom for older news items.

Happy Easter everybody! I've been somewhat busy, but I haven't given up on the site. I've been seeing posts in forums and questions in my e-mail about whether or not there will be a Macintosh version of Heroes of Might and Magic IV. The answer is "I don't know." It has not been announced, and although it seemed very likely at one point in time, I don't know if that can be said anymore. I would imagine that if there is going to be a Mac release, it will be out a little before Christmas, just based on past events.

John Morris, the man behind Evolution Interactive (who ported Heroes III and Heroes III Complete to Macintosh), has taken on a new job. You can read about it on the Evolution Interactive website. I don't know what impact, if any, this will have on the possibility of a Mac version of Heroes IV and I'd rather not just start making stuff up, but I'll post any newsworthy news I stumble across.

Griffin Cliffs, the third scenario of Long Live the Queen, has been posted on the Restoration of Erathia Walkthroughs page.

Two more campaign walkthroughs were added to the training grounds. One is for Safe Passage, the first scenario of the Songs for the Father campaign, and the other is for Graduation Exercise, the first map of the Vial of Life campaign.

Thanks to all my great visitors, this site has passed the 10,000 visits mark. To celebrate, I've got a gift for the old-shool gamers out there:

The Macintosh version of King's Bounty uses the old-fashioned manual lookup (page, line, word) form of copy protection, but many people have lost the manual or the password sheet that came with Heroes 1 (which has King's Bounty hidden on the CD), so I've made them available here.

Alright everybody, I'm not dead yet! I was hoping to have the new site up before doing any more updates, but it looks like that is not the case. Anyway, there hasn't really been that much going on in the news, but I have added some people to the player list lately. Today I uploaded the Heroes III Score Calculator for Mac OS X which is available in the library. I know it's not incredibly useful, and the old version works fine under OS X. Anyway, it was a nice little programming exercise for me since I knew nothing about writing native programs for Mac OS X before I did this and now I do, so hey, download it if you'd like. The link might work. I haven't put something onto file planet since I first uploaded this site.

The Heroes III Complete patch is now available on MacGameFiles.

Need I say more?

...Unfortunately, yes, I do need to say more. Where do you get this patch? It is not available on 3DO's website, but if you e-mail their support and request it, they may send it to you. I actually e-mailed that request address a few days ago and am still waiting for a response. I wonder if I'll get the patch in the mail too? Here's the e-mail form to fill out.

3DO is hesitant to release the patch because the current problems are relatively minor and the demand was (reportedly) low. There is also the fear that any patch could create new problems. I am confident this is not the case with this patch, but 3DO's caution is understandable considering current economic situations and the costs involved in creating and testing a patch.

Just like last year, this site will again be completely re-designed from the ground up and given a name change and (hopefully) be posted in early January. If you have any ideas for a new name or for things you'd like to see on the new site, e-mail your suggestions to me. The new name will not contain the word "Mac" or anything similar. This is not because I will be dropping Macintosh news or coverage, for I will continue covering mac-related announcements and events. Here are two main reasons for the name change:

1. I always thought Mac Heroes was a dumb name anyway, and the title is rather ambiguous.
2. The word "Mac" in the title scares many non-Macintosh players away from this site, despite the fact that there are many articles beneficial to all people who play heroes games.

...tomorrow. Oh, by the way, that tournament has started. I won my first game already! Anyway, it's probably too late to enter the tournament, but a league will be starting when the tournament is over so it's still worth checking out. Plus you can see how your favorite rouge is doing in the tournament.

I wrote up another Fantasy Deathmatch pitting Archangels against Arch Devils. It ended up being much shorter than I expected.

I recently participated in an interview with Rob King, who is the Music and Sound Supervisor for Heroes of Might and Magic 4. Check it out! There's a lot of good questions and answers in there.

I just added the 50th player to the Mac Heroes Player List today. It's our very own Harukaba! She's lookign to play, so don't be afraid to contact her. 50, that's a nice round number, huh? Seems like a good milestone. I've also reached another milestone with this site today! When I started this site, my goal was to have 5933 visits to the main page, and we're there now! Hooray! Let's celebrate!

Busy... school, work, Baldur's Gate II, the usual excuses. Why don't I stop whining and just get on with the news? The campaign walkthrough section has been updated with a re-written Homecoming walkthrough and one for Guardian Angels was also added. The maps are really fancy and neat. Check them out!

Fan site heroes4.org has an interview with Kate Hedstrom, PR manager at 3DO, containing a lot of good information about Heroes IV and a picture of the Stronghold town. Also, there are some inconsistencies about when Heroes IV will be released. Some sites say February, while other sources say "no sooner than March." I guess we won't know for sure until it's released. Then we'll start waiting for the possibility of a Macintosh version.

Sure, it's only available for Windows, and it's only available in Europe, but it's still heroes - so here's the Heroes Chronicles: Final Chapters Review hosted by Celestial Heavens Unleashed. I figure it can't hurt to take a peek and see what you are (or aren't) missing out on.

The Macintosh Heroes III Complete Tournament may now become a league instead of a tournament due to the higher than expected number of players signing up. Take a look if you want to see what's going on.

I posted a Magic Strategies article in the Mage Guild tonight. I've also updated the maps on Harukaba's Homecoming Walkthrough which can be found in the new Campaign Walkthrough section.

I posted another Fantasy Deathmatch article pitting Lizard Warriors against Battle Dwarves. I've also uploaded Harukaba's Homecoming Walkthrough to the new Campaign Walkthrough section.

A Macintosh Heroes III Complete Tournament appears to be starting. I don't know much about it yet, but hopefully more information will be posted in the near future.

I just want to make it clear that everything in the news update below that is not in italics is speculation and educated guesses based on freely available knowledge. Nothing is official or carved in stone, and my sarcastic cynicism should not be taken as fact.

Evolution Interactive, who ported Heroes III and Heroes III Complete to Macintosh, recently posted this cryptic message on their website:

One other thing. I know that a lot of you a really looking for me to do the port of a certain series that I have worked on in the past. Well, we have been actively talking to you-know-who about the port and all parties want it to happen. I got a couple of source dumps from them already, but they are obviously rushing to get it out the door and are making a lot of bad decisions (code-wise) in the process. I have played the game a fair bit already, and I'm really not impressed.

As you can see, this was written in "secret-agent language" but fear not, for I can translate! (being a rogue does have it's advantages)

• "a certain series" means "Heroes of Might and Magic"
• "you-know-who" means "3DO"
• "rushing to get it out the door" means "trying to get Heroes IV finished before 3DO goes bankrupt"

Wow, time sure flies, huh? It's been almost a month already, and I barely remember it. Well, I got something for you all to play with. New Heroes forums. There's a forum for general Heroes news/info, one for macintosh issues, and one for mapmaking. These forums have no official name yet, so if you have some ideas, send them in or post in the forums.

As you may have noticed, (if you actually read this site), I haven't updated anything in a while. I was going to mention that school had started and that was causing me to be busy, but as you can see, I didn't say anything. So, to make up for two weeks of utter silence, I've got a handful of updates today, and the rest of them should be more useful than this nonsense. I may be busy, but not too busy to read e-mail. Please don't be afraid to write if you have something to say. Also, I'm always looking for articles and things to post on the site, so if you have any strategies or tips you'd like to send in, don't be shy!

The tournament I planned on running sometime this spring has been cancelled because I didn't think it was very respectful to be enjoying a game that involves conflict between warring nations in light of recent events. *moment of silence* Ok, I may have lied about why. Read the update above this for the real reason.

3DO finally put up their Official Heroes IV Website and it contains a variety of screenshots and details about the game, including pictures of some of the hero classes. More importantly, it contains the real reason we play fantasy games: scantily clad sorceresses! The heroes do seem to have an unnatural proportion of red hair and green eyes, but they look good. I think the two Lords (male and female) look especially cool.

A site called To The Game has posted rendered artwork for many of the creatures that will be in Heroes IV, including an evilly grinning leprechaun, a pirate, and a bunch of old favorites. It looks like the peasants are also back and have an even more retarded expression on their faces. I've posted a list of what I think they all are right here.

A news article on Inside Mac Games says that Mac Heroes IV is Probable. That information comes from my parent site, Celestial Heavens Unleashed. The information probably came from an ICQ discussion with me, so it is in no way an official confirmation. It is merely speculation based on past events and a few rumors. Nobody can say anything for sure until there is an official announcement, but based on the past, it would seem likely that there will be Heroes IV for Macintosh.

Older News:

• January-August 2001
• June-December 2000

Last Update: May 7, 2002

Copyright © 2000 - 2001 Rocco J Carello