Cheats-Area.com

   Of all the places, and of all the gaming events we might have expected id Software to reveal their next big thing, they chose the most unexpected one: the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that opened its doors this week, in San Francisco. So Mac owners now have an extra reason to love Apple: whatever id Software are working on (they haven't gone into details about their next game), it should run perfectly fine on a Mac, since the new engine revealed by John Carmack - called id Tech 5 - was running in real time on a Mac with OS X at the event.

   Nevertheless, the announcement from id's website assures us that this new engine also supports the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms, and that interested developers and publishers will be able to find out more about it at next month's cut-down E3 (the rest of us will have to wait a bit longer, it seems).

   The first game based on id Tech 5 is currently in development internally at id Software, and assuming this is the same technology that GI.biz wrote about a couple of weeks ago, we're dealing with a completely new franchise - i.e. no Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein or Commander Keen sequel. The announcement only has a few more words about id's new rendering technology, though it's mostly boring stuff; except perhaps for this last part:
"id Tech 5 will power games that contain vast outdoor landscapes that are completely unique to the horizon, yet have indoor environments with unprecedented artistic detail."    Engadget has a few shots from the WWDC demo, and they also quote Carmack as saying that id will make "another Mac announcement at E3". And that was about it... In other gaming news from WWDC, EA announced several new Mac games: Command & Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142, NFS Carbon; then in July - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; and in August - Madden NFL 08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08.

   Oh, and Apple is bringing its Safari browser to Windows! You can download the beta version from apple.com/safari to give it a try. I already have, and it's not bad at all. In fact, this is the first Playfuls news I'm posting from Safari right now!!... Umm, no, not really. I could never break up with my preciousss Opera. Ever.