DREMWKR  Again this a trip into the past. While its graphics and sound date back to PPC days, it is charming. It is indeed playable, and has all the features I would expect in the game. It is well suited for the classroom for individual or small group study. The graphics have been improved slightly, and my hats off to Ken for recoding this with the latest and greatest version of Xcode. My only concern is that the price needs to be $10 or less, or as an alternative have Hangman and Brickles as a package deal for $20 or less..  
(Version 3.0)

DREMWKR  It is not appearent at first play, but under preferences, the max ball speed can be reset back to the original game, and compared side by side to v1 the graphics have been updated slightly. I would suggest to Ken that the option for orginal speed be made part of the "speed" pulldown menu. And/or be the default. With this fix and a reduced price, or reduced price as part of a Space-Time package Id give it 4 stars.  
(Version 2.0)

DREMWKR  This a trip back to the days of the Macintosh II. As such I enjoyed it. Yes the graphics and sound are dated, but that is part of its charm. Its features are fine for this type of game. The basic code is written for older (PPC) machines, on my mac pro only the slowest setting was playable, but it was enjoyable at that speed. I suggest Ken revisit the speed settings. I am glad Ken recoded it with X-code for snow leopard, and for that get my kudos. The game is stable and works. The game needs to be less expensive. Like $10 or less.  
(Version 2.0)

DREMWKR  1st: The minimap problem listed below has been fixed, and has been for a while.

2nd: All things considered, WoW is still the best MMO overall, and the Mac community is blessed by its support by Blizzard.

Pros:

*Its gameplay (questing/BGs/instancing) is without equal.

*The artwork in the latest expansion is masterful.

*The music/soundfield effects are emersive&reality suspending.

*It is the most polished MMO.

*The game zoning in an industry innovation for all games in the future.

*Its add-0n system in LUA extends the leading edge of gameplay beyond all others.

*The toon animation exceeds all other MMOs, my Dranie runs smoother as a goat footed alien, than the compition's humans.

*The spell casting really FEELS like spell casting.

Cons:

*The graphics engine was developed for Warcraft III, and is starting to show its age:

*The game tends to be very laggy, and even unplayable in crowded areas such as Daleron or Wintergrasp, even with a state of the art Mac Pro 8 core and top end graphics card.

*The game toons are very limited in terms of customization, the human females only have about 2 or maybe 3 attractive faces, so all human females look like they came out of a clone factory.

*The game graphics now are starting to look dated compared to Warhammer or Aion, the WoW cartoony style was necessary by the primative vid cards of 7-9 years ago.

*The lag and low framerates, cartoony style, and limited individualization compromises the otherwise great game emersion experience.  
(Version 3.2.2a)

DREMWKR  OnyX, it just works. It keeps my Mac healthy. Its easy to use. And its free.

What more do I need to say?  
(Version 2.0.5b3)

DREMWKR  WoW frames rates are now even higher after OSX 10.57, even with the video set to "Ultimate".  
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  The WOW Mac forum has a blue note posted saying that Blizz is aware of the issue and is working on the fix. No ETA. It is my guess it is an Open GL issue, since it is a Mac only problem.  
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  It is true that Blizzards customer service, especially when dealing with eMail communication, is well, pretty bad. I have had much better luck with talking to real humans. As a whole, Blizzard does a very poor job about giving feedback or explanation to complaints of problems/issues negatively effecting it customers. It has a Better Business grade of F, for the very high percent of nonresponse/nonresolution/punative responses to official complaints filed formally. There games may be masterpieces and makes piles of money, but Blizzard is epic fail when it comes to the human side of the equation. The company had a kind of geeky nature with poor social skills reflecting I believe the personalities of its core leadership. I am pretty sure that no one in Blizzard WoW core got their jobs for quality of customer service, and it sure looks like it is not a real priority. While it does have a customer service and genune and caring GMs, I don't get the warm fuzzy feeling that anyone at the top is willing to turn the bad situation around, its like something they have because someone made them have it, not because they really want to deal with the gamers that support them.

I could be wrong, but anyone reading my entries of review knows I have not hid the problems I have had with Blizz some of which where punative, none of which was resolved in a way that made any sense. If anyone from Blizzard reads this, I would be interested in a frank and honest response posted here in MacUpdate, about what Blizz is doing to turn the situation around.  
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  I did a test on my new MacPro with the Radian HD 4800 series card. I ran wow on OSX with beta drivers, and with identical game settings and situation on XP using boot camp and native ATI HD4800 windows drivers with the card overclocked and all settings to "High Performance". In windowed mode the OSX version ran with less latency and about 25% higher fpm than the windows version. In full screen mode the OSX version also ran faster with less appearent latency, but the difference wasn't as wide.

It is my guess that OSX handles eight processors more effeciently as well as the video card, and that Blizzard really has worked hard to get top gaming performance from Macs. XP is by now a very old operating system, but gamer's swear it is noticably faster than Vista. So all things being equal, the OSX version of wow is faster and more playable. For that feat of gaming software engineering alone I give WoW 5 stars.

I also noticed that all things being equal the OSX version of WoW has way less stablity issues.  
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  The mini-map is bloched up, at first I thought it was just my machine, but no it is a WoW mac universal issue. To be fair Blizz did add full instance maps available with the "M" command for new content, not BC or classic dungeons and they are nice. I just wish they would put in a little effort to fix this bug.

I have enjoyed timely service from real human beings that actually do play wow. The people I have dealt with seemed genuinely interested in me getting back into play as soon as possible. Getting a ticket answered by a GM is highly variable in response time. Sometime it was just minutes, on time it was 50 hours. It is clear to me that GM tasking has gone up over time and Blizz has not added any GM types in the game for better service. One thing I know that keeps increasing is the number of hacked accounts. Most players I know in the game have had their accounts hacked at least once (the hard core raider types). I have not had anymore problems since I got the BattleNet security dongle thing and in todays WOW it is pretty much required.

My suggestion to Blizzard is when I player opens a ticket window to contact a GM, their should be a big red button on it for "Account Compromised" so those players get priority and Blizz can take immediate steps to reduce further compromise and loss. Otherwise the ticket is just one more in the pile, for stuff like "I accidentally took my guildmaster's designated drop uber mace", " I accidentallly disenchanted my epic two-hand sword", etc.

I have not had the problem you have had getting into instances, nor have I had the periodic problem described above. However, I have made it a point not to instance in new content the night of the patch to avoid such issues. If your in a guild that always wants to be the first on server to down the bosses in new content, unplayablity IS a big deal and adds mountains of guild stress.  
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  This is just some fine tuning of the 3.1 patch. The new instance Ulduar features siege vehicles and is blast to play, but is wicked tough to beat. Runs great on my MacPro.  
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  This patch adds much more than just a new instance. It is an important one for mac WOW players. Blizzard has rewritten much of the mac graphics code to give the game a smoother animation and visual feel. The game threading has been redone to take further advantage of multicore processors, and the graphics engine has been enhanced for a better overall look. I salute Blizzard for continuing to develop WOW as a native OSX game.

Another great inovation Blizzard has done is Dual-Specing. I can now flip between being a Shadow Priest for dps (damage) or a Holy Priest for hps (healing) without having to run back to the cathedral and pay 50gold for respecing, giving me more flexablity for raiding with my friends or PUGs.

Of the changes to the classes, the greatest was done to Holy Priests, Blizzard thought there was too much mana regeneration in the game from spirit and cut it 40%. MP5 speced gear/gems/enchants was uneffected. Since Holy Priests instant cast Circle of Healing (AOE) was put into a 6 sec. cooldown, in the WofLK expansion, they are the only casting class that doesnt do continous casting in combat. My Mana regen went from 800 and something down to 500 and something because of the patch. Also the mana regeneration spell was changed so it no longer applied to the caster, but the other party members, and it is now only temporary. This does mean that all casters will need drink up (mana up) alot more often, and that in long fights, holy priests are at a significant handicap compared to Holy Paladins, Resto Druids, Resto Shamans, etc.

I do play other MMOs on my mac using bootcamp, because most other MMOs are not OSX native. The closest to WOW is Warhammer. The PVP combat in WAR is much better than WOW, and its Public Quests are really nice. Leveling in WAR is much less of grind, and battlegrounds generate XP. I have heard over and over again from my WOW guildmates that play WAR, "(leveling) is so much more fun than WOW". It has also been my experience that the Battlegrounds are much more even between the factions. My WOW server the Alliance was outnumbered 3 to 7 or 8, and so rarely does my side ever win. But

if you dont like PVP, WAR is not for you, the PVE is better in WOW and much more developed, with the lore story telling much more integrated. WOW does have much better artwork and graphics, they are extraordinary and belong in a modern art museum. WOW's music is much better as well, so good, I would pay money to go to a symphony concert of WOW music, if you don't believe me, check out the WOW music at the iTunes store.

Things I wish WOW had that should be borrowed is: WAR's interface is more intutive and less cluttered, and when you pickup a quest, its in book format that is gives much more useful information. I also like the book/page turn transitions when porting, or going into new instances, BGs etc better than the generic montage graphics WOW uses.

  
(Version 3.1.0.9767)

DREMWKR  After installing the expansion "Wrath of the Lich King" and playing it for about 2 1/2 weeks, I have found it to be the best expansion, if not the best gaming experience in the MMOG ever done. The questing in Northrend both Borean Tundra and the Jford has been very compelling: in terms of both gameplay and lore, I have spent many happy hours exploring and the new areas and doing the new quests. I did a Death Knight in the Beta, and found the starting quest line the best ever done in any MMOs. Right now I am focusing trying to get my Holy Priest to 80, but will go back and do a DK just to do its quest line again, it was that good.

I have now done several instances in the expansion, many of them with 4DKs (DKs can't heal), I have found them to be beautiful, and well planned. They tend to be shorter with almost all being able to be done within an hour (vice the 2 to 4 hours the preexpansion ones), and in general more doable and accessable (& that DKs are OPd). As a healer, however, I have found several specific bosses more challenging, and as a whole it seems that cloth wearers (Locks, Mages, Priests) are at a disadvantage (in terms of getting killed more than before the expac). The artwork in the expansion is simply a masterwork, not just for MMOs but for all visual arts, it really belongs in a museium. The music is wonderful, even memorable and is so closely integrated into the game, it gives it a cinematic effect drawing in the player emotionally. While not in the game notes, the graphics engine has be upgraded, even the "old world" looks better.

One new feature I have a complaint about is the new ingame group calender, it does not allow the raid leader to send out group invites, instead its one at a time, for something like 10, 24 or 40 man events, it is just too much of a pain, the Group Calender add on is still so much better.

I did take my own advice and order an encryption dongle from Blizzard shortly before the expansion came out, I was wrong about the price in my last post, it was only 6.50USD, and shipping was FREE. However, as events turned out it too Blizzard about two weeks to send it, and so on the 2nd day of the expac, while I was in the middle of buying and selling on the Auction house, I was suddenly DCd, and unable to log to back on my account. I immediately changed my password, got back online and found I had been hacked and 2 of my toons had been robbed of items and gold. I put an immediate ticket to the GM, but because of the new expac it took hours for Bliz to respond. It took about a week and I did get most of the items in my bank and packs back but little of the gold for one char. nothing for the other. According to Blizz, I was the subject of a Denial of Service Attack and sophisticated hack, they didn't say (and not likely to say) but it may have been an inside job, it may be that someone actually reads these reviews.

Before you say that was near impossible, I know the same thing happened to a veteran guildmate in Irontree, and not only did he have his toons robbed, but put 24K USD on his creditcard. (The current CC info I have with Blizz was outdated, since I just had gotten a new card). He did say that Blizz did dig into it and provided the CC company with the records showing what happened, they did not and would not provide it to him directly (my guess it to keep players from going after current or former Blizz employees-and then Blizz getting sued by its unhappy employees). Anyway, the security dongle came in a week after the expansion, and I have not had any trouble with my Blizz account since.

My additional experience tells me two things: 1) It confirms that account hacking is out of control in WoW, and 2) EVERY ONE WITH A WOW ACCOUNT SHOULD GET THE 6.50USD SECURITY DONGLE FROM THE BLIZZ WEBSITE.  
(Version 3.0.3)

DREMWKR  I have been playing the 3.02 and 3.03 versions now over the last month. As a Holy Priest it took some adjustment to the elimination of the separate +Healing and +damage bonus points to my gear. I had two separate sets of gear one for PvP and dps, and one for end game raid healing. After the change I found an optimum combination of both. Overall, the mechanics where adjusted so I didn't notice much of a change in healing, but a significant boost in dps. It is now easier to advance from 60 to 70, in prep for the Lvl 80 expansion. Changes were made in the interface to help reduce items in bags, so more room. The new profession Inscription, makes things more interesting gearing out, and at least the ones for Priests I like. Blizzard made these changes to make it easier for friends and guildies to play together with fewer class specific requirement. One thing they added that I really liked was Achievements, for example for being exhalted with all the Alliance factions I got the title "Ambassador".

In regards to the previous comment, you can level up, and end game gear up, playing unguilded, I have had generally good experiences with pickup groups in instances and in battlegrounds, and have made alot of good friends spanning many guilds. As for guilds I am in a good one- Irontree on Lightinghoof, that is well established and run by real adults. It is not easy to get into it, but that seems to help alot in quality of game experience. I suggest if any player is unhappy in their guild, ask around, and play with other guilds in instances, because it really makes a big difference.

One note of caution I must make: One day, I opened my Characture window and noticed that six of my epic (purple) gear was gone. I got an ingame note and an eMail saying that I had done business with a gold dealer that hacked other players accounts. Since I buy and sell hundreds of items a day on the AH (how I make good ingame currency stream), it could have been any one. But since I buy and sell mainly cloth and leathers, and all of the items taken were instanced bind on pickup items, I figured out that none of the confiscated items were in fact hot and challenged Blizzard to show otherwise. I did get a note back restoring the epic gear, but all of the epic gems, enchants, enhancements were gone. Also in the note was a whisper I had responded back in sarcasm to a gold seller that said he had gold for me. It turns out that Blizzard had gone back and looked at every tell I had gotten since I started playing the game, years worth. Blizzard said I was a gold buyer and justified the confiscation of the epic enhancements worth four figures of in game gold on that alone, even though I am certain none of them were hot either or any of it was purchased with hot or "gold dealer" gold. (I have no problem making gold in Wow, I am not a gold buyer-even though I get no shortage of offers in game and eMail). It took weeks of grinding to restore these items, and during this time I was unusable for the Guild's raid schedule.

So my word of caution is this: Anything you buy and sell on the AH is not necessary a done deal, no matter how secure your own account is, because hacking is basically out of control in WoW, and Blizzard's appearent strange attempts of vendetta by a faceless employee to fix things afterwards can make things worse. If an account is hacked Blizzard does not create new virtual items to replace the stolen ones, it takes existing items from other player's accounts, basically to avoid item inflation on the Wow economy.

I have made my review based on a charitable assumption, that the job of being a Blizzard hacked accounts restorer is a difficult and thankless one at best, and even doing what they feel is their best, there is alot of mistakes and collateral damage, with some of it I will have grace to say unintended. And that my case was the exception rather than the rule.

I have seen so many fellow guildies have their accounts hacked I suggest all Wow players get the USB encription dongle for about 10USD.  
(Version 3.0.3)

DREMWKR  To the developer:

I am grateful you responded. If you do get your product to work with WoW, Skype, etc and the latest Leopard update, please let me (and everyone else) know, I'd like to see what it does for games, since I already have a paid copy of it. I would happy to rerate Hear if you do.  
(Version 1.0.3)

DREMWKR  I cannot in good faith recommend this product as it is now. In fact I say: STAY AWAY! After I loaded Hear (after paying for it) I wanted to see what it would do for my favorite game, World of Warcraft. After all, Hear is advertised to improve your gaming experience. The game hung the first time I tried launching it, the 2nd time it crashed it on startup. Since the problem started directly after loading Hear, I used AppDelete to do as complete as possible uninstall, still WoW crashed. I next tried doing a clean install of Leopard, just carrying over the system settings. WoW still crashed. Skype among others also I noticed were not working. The JoeSoft website was no help at all. After reading the review comments, I deleted the audio plug-in noted below. After that everything worked fine.

It seems that JoeSoft did not test their product with WoW 2.43 and Leopard 10.55. Not to mention Skype, etc. (Or knew and let it go). Since this thing is meant to work with gaming, and it doesn't with the most popular one on the planet raises profound questions about the value and stability (of what it is supposed to work with) of the software, if not ethical questions of its lavish advertising. If anyone at JoeSoft actually reads this (and they should-its FREE direct user feedback) I challenge them to post a developer response in this review section.  
(Version 1.0.3)

DREMWKR  This is an interface item Apple should have kept going from OSC to OSX. This is an item every mac can use. I am learning disabled and having an easy to see and switch at a glance AS is a blessing indeed, for me anyway much more useful than Apple's "stealth mode" ASM. The Developer does work hard to keep the app current and is to be commended.

In addition, the price is right, and it works as advertised.

In summery, a Mac essential.  
(Version 2.2.7)

DREMWKR  This thing belongs on Window 7, the developer should sell it to them for 7 figures. Steve Balmer would love it.  
(Version 5.2)

DREMWKR  Yes, and works well.  
(Version 2.5)

DREMWKR  Overall, the program does well in basic drawing functions, easy to use, and does most things well, however, it is a bubble off for top marks, exactly for the problems identified by previous users, and I agree 100% with the last reviewer, he is on the mark.

In regards to pricing: For a basic drawing program 39 USD is about right, and for this program that is about right. Its current pricing is for a Prosumer level program, and it just doesn't make it there. I already paid for the program once for v2.97, and it says upgrade price is $39 more, but there is no upgrade option in the online store. Just full price. To me that sounds like bait and switch at worst, and bad site design in the least.

I suggest the developer has some explaining to do. This review site would be a good start.  
(Version 3.0.1)

DREMWKR  Of its genre this app is the easiest to use. I can see the mac and this app being the "film projector" of the classroom future. And it works. All Mac Educators need to check this out, so you can see for yourself what I am saying.  
(Version 4.3.2)

DREMWKR  I know of several players that leveled up toons that did it basically as causal solo (not on a PvP server). So I know it can be done.

However, I find the best part of WoW is meeting new people from varied walks of life from all over the world. The social aspects of WoW can not be underestimated in terms of fun and adventure. As in real life, your social skills in WoW, can make or break your positive relations with others. It has been my experience that people who have trouble functioning in PickUp groups, also have problems in preset groups, their guild, etc. Its like the problem is always someone else. This is kind of duh statement but I am going to be fearless and say it anyway: If you have problems with authority figures, if you have antisocial tendencies, if you have trouble trusting others in close settings, if your view of the rest of mankind is stupid, newbes, looters, out to get you, because they don't do things and see things as you do, WoW (and humane life) is not for you. Rather than being a bad thing, the strong and active social activity in WoW is a great thing and a strength of the game.

I have been in many, many, instances, where there is a player, that just doesn't help the team overall, and complains about every thing that didn't go perfectly, and frequently about things that did go to plan (because it wasn't he/she's plan) in the form of personal attacks directly or passive/aggressively, and that at the end tells the rest of group off for being newbs, retarded, (insert your favorite antisocial label here), and then wonders why one invites them to bg or instance groups and it must be because WoW the game inherently sucks. I sense smtips rating and comments say alot more about smtips than it does the software.

smtips complaint that Blizzard does not pay special individual attention to his complaint that thousands of others have previously made is not logical either. I know for a fact that Blizzard does read its boards, and does make adjustments and improvements in the game because of it. For a company with an eight-figure user base to personally respond to each user with a complaint expecially about problems the company is already aware of, Blizzard would have to have more employees than Marines in the USMC. I do know Blizzard tracks and does statical work on every complaint, so your voice does count, it just isn't about smtips. I have had specific problems in the game and have actually CALLED Blizzard to get them fixed, and Blizzard did give me what I needed to fix it, so for me I don't have any complaints.

I have had spells where I was randomly getting kicked out by the server, had trouble logging in etc. but thankfully it doesn't happen all the time. I do know what the problem is: My server is so popular it runs against the limit of players that can physically taken care of. If I didn't want to play on that server I could move, but I chose not too because high population servers have the best economys and most opportunitys for meeting new volks. Running one of the world's biggest server farms is not likely to be easy, and Blizzard is doing things with ultra large scale that no one has gone before in the industry. Over time I note Blizzard has gotten better at this, and the trending taking the long view is positive.

smtips is right that Blizzard has done a very poor job of communicating the improvements they have made in the server department, so I am not surprized the awareness of this is low. I kind of get the idea that Blizzard has determined to say the least amount possible in this regard, because it is the "behind the curtain" part that they believe is not as important to most end users.

However, I believe it is unfair to Blizzard, in downrating its software, because the rating is all about the rater personally and not about the actual game experence as a whole. Logically, if it really was that bad, it would not be the most popular of its type in history.  
(Version 2.4.3)

DREMWKR  This app is waaaaayyyy overdue to be Universal Binary. Without this update, it won't run on Snow Leopard. As it is it doesn't run Native on any Intel Mac. I'd like to ask the developer what is the timetable to get this fixed.  
(Version 1.5.1)

DREMWKR  The thing Safari really lacks is the capablity to use plug ins. This limits the flexablity of the browers. Other than that it is easy to use, and the world fastest brower. I suggest Apple add "sockets" for plug-ins in Web Kit.  
(Version 3.1.1)

DREMWKR  Does the Wow Warden detect GoneFishing? Has anyone actually been baned from using GoneFishing?

Wow should have something like this built into the game, even if it has say a 10min timer.  
(Version 1.1.4)

DREMWKR  WowMatrix 1.61:

It allows one shot updating of all your WOW add-ons, making this a big timesaver. It simply works. It has a clean easy to use interface. And its free.

This is an essental for anyone running WoW add-ons, in fact it should come with/ or be built into WoW. It is so good, having it is a no brainer.

I run WowMatrix not only after every WoW update, but also before every WoW session. After having running WowMatrix a while, I discovered that some add-ons have continous and rapid update cycles, that I would have otherwise missed just running it for updates.  
(Version 1.61)

DREMWKR  Version 2.40 "Fury of the Sunwell", is out and I have played several hours on it. Besides the new content on the Sunwell Isle, there are a few things else I have noticed:

*Players skill up faster now in weapon and defense skill, making leveling up a little easier.

*It may be just me, but transactions on the Auction House seem to be less glichy and faster. Since I make most of my gold buying and selling on the AH, this is wonderful.

*It may be just because I play Alliance for most of my PCs, I find in the battleground Alteric Valley (AV) still unbalanced, on the other hand, if you play Horde, this may be a good thing.

*The fpm on my MBP has increased slightly, I suspect that Blizzard has done a little under the hood tuning.

*This may be just my imagination, but some of the weather effects, noticably sandstorms have been improved.

*Almost all the add-ons by now have been upgraded for the new patch, I strongly suggest you get and run the latest version of WowMatrix to do in it one shot. I have 33 or so add ons and modules so this is a real timesaver.

*The ingame chat seems to take up a little less of the processor, perhaps it is now multithreaded more effienctly.

Overall, this is an minor expansion combined with game enhancements that make Wow the most brightest and most polished MOG. This is truely a world class game made for the Mac. All Mac users, gamers or not should at least think about trying it, just to see what all the buzz is about. Remember, Blizzard supports Mac games better than anyone and has since System 7 and for that alone they deserve a second (or first) look at their products.  
(Version 2.4)

DREMWKR  This game suffers in relation to Solitare Til Dawn. Its interface does not follow Apple Interface guidelines. It does not allow some legal moves. And the trial restrictions are such that no one can complete a single game. The basic 3D interface is fine, but the animations seem to be a little over the top, if you are going to be playing for more than 10 min.

This game does have promise, if the developer would actually take the user's suggestions to heart and make the changes. I sense the developer really wants to improve the game, unfortunately, so far the change log indicates too little to improve the mac user experience.

This game could be so much better without that much more work, and I encourge the developer to do so, because he is leaving money on the table as it is now.  
(Version 1.3)

DREMWKR  v2.33 upgrades the memory management of rendering core of the graphics engine so that the game, individual zones, instances, and charatures load noticebly faster. Also since v2.3 I have noticed slightly higher fpm even when the video settings are maxed out. In game voice chat has improved, but Vent still has it beat hands down. The in-game voice chat is still not good enough to replace in-game team texting, at least for me anyway. In the Battlegrounds, many teams are Vent only, I have not noticed any in-game voice teams only. My suggestion to Blizzard is to have an external app to do voice-chat, with links to the game (like Vent).

Playing with maxed out sound and video, I found was almost like playing the game again for the first time, I found myself amazed again at what wonderful and well done art and sound Blizzard has done in the game.  
(Version 2.3.3)

DREMWKR  Er...Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  
(Version 2.3)

DREMWKR  Overall, I give it 4 stars. I have been using GraphicConverter for several years. Yes, I have the other graphic programs, but I have found that this program is essential. If I have a graphics file I have no idea what it is, GC is most likely to figure it out. For some graphics needs, GC is prefect for those "quick and dirty" jobs. Its price is reasonable, and over the years the developer has continously improved the product, and for that is to be commended.

It has two areas that need to catch up with the rest of the overall excellence of the product:

1. The interface, this needs to be made easier to use for people new to the Mac and needs to be rethought out. It just needs to more closely follow Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.

2. The graphics manipulation features need to be upgraded. #1 one on my list is the ability to handle 16bit/Channel images.  
(Version 6.0.2)

DREMWKR  This is an refresh of my previous review to cover v2.22 that was updated for Leopard dot five one. Everything I said before is still true. I do want to add that monoclast is right about the option the for classic behavior by itself alone makes the software worth getting (and paying for). The developer is to be commended for his timeliness in getting the new version out.  
(Version 2.2.2)

DREMWKR  The program works fine with Leopard (10.51). It simply does what it is supposed to which is a good thing. It is stable, perhaps a little light on features, and the price can't be beat (free).  
(Version 0.6)

DREMWKR  Update 2.30 is out. *The God's of Zul'Aman" I don't know why is not on MacUpdate. This is a significant overhaul of the game. It was redesigned to reduce tiresome grinding and now quests are much more important. And it is easier to level. On the hardware side, the game was rewritten to get better performance from multiprocessor macs, and in terms of Frames/min. it is significantly faster AND looks better. It seems that Blizzard actually reads its mail (at least eMail) and responded to users. I have had no stability issues at all (MacOSX10.50 & 10.51), an improvement over my last Review. The Mac is not a second class citizen when it comes to the World of Warcraft. Just for that alone it should get 5 stars.  
(Version 2.2.3)

DREMWKR  The world just did not run very well, with lots of lag, to the point it was almost a futile effect to go anywhere of your own choosing. I experienced lots of freezes and "beachball" time. The concept is a good one, but how it is implemented on the server farm is really poor, it is like it was never thought through for scalablity, which is inexcusable considerating its purpose. Even in areas in which I am the only person in sight, the play is halting and just plain frustrating. It is clear some sponsors spent a ton of money in their world creation to bad trying to interact with it is so maddening, it generates Information Superhiway road rage.

I do suggest everyone try it. It is the perfect lesson in how to screw up a virtual world. I get the nagging feeling its problems are built in and part and parcial in the code as well as a poorly designed and run server system (software AND hardware). Also that it is overhyped and oversold.

While it maybe true that 5 million charatures may have been created on it, it is my est. that the number that regularly and actively uses it is about less by a magnitude of 10. No matter how much lipstick its promoters put on this pig, its still swine.  
(Version 1.18.4.3)

DREMWKR  I have (and has used) other data recovery apps available for Mac. Data Rescue worked when all others failed. Compared to the big bucks required for a pro shop to recover a disk it is a bargain Xtreme. It is easy to use, and its features work as advertised. And it works without a hitch or bug.  
(Version 1.1.3)

DREMWKR  ¥I have really enjoyed playing the game. It is easy to lose time during game action, which I take as a marker of an overall excellent computer gaming. Of the different Monopoly like games I have played on the Mac, this one is best.

¥Overall the game features are well done. I have a suggestions for the developer: Have an option to have traditional game (Atlantic City) with trad. pricing. Also give the user the option to config. the board to their own town or city. The reason I suggest that Monopoly could be used to educate students what real estate and businesses actually cost, to give them insight otherwise not possible into their communities tax base and development. These pref. could then be saved to the dev. web site and uploaded for others to use.

¥The game flow is really well done, and really adds to the playability of the game.

¥The graphics are very good, the only suggestion I would have is to have a window that all players can see what all other players have with running totals and each player automatically ranked. The music gets old too fast. I suggest a modal music model, with the option to play your own music with iTunes like can be done with WoW.

¥I found the game to be crash-free.  
(Version 1.0)

DREMWKR  This app works for me. It is a good idea that Apple should have built into Safari to begin with. The credit IS due to Mr. W. It is my theory that Mr. W. is a great software inventor, but struggles with interpersonal human relations aspects. Perhaps it is the cost of true genius. To put things in perspective, we today recognize Luther for his great literary work the German Bible, that ultimately changed the course of history for Europe, but few remember that he was vulgar, course, and generally lacking in one on one social skills. If he did, we might not of had the Reformation. I suggest that as users, we accept his masterworks of information interface art with this in mind:

¥Inquisitor has an excellent feature set, it could be improved by being a little more straight forward (ie Acidsearch).

¥It is easy to use.

¥It is free.

¥It works for me with no problems.  
(Version 3.0v43)

DREMWKR  I wish that Apple would make something like ASM built in to MacOSX. I consider it to be an essential.

¥It has exactly the features I need, other programs Butler, etc. make have more features in number, but more features is not always a good thing, I get the feeling that the concept of simplicity and focus is under appreciated.

¥It does exactly what you would expect, it's ease of use beats the others hands down.

¥Its cost is nominal, and it is for a lifetime of upgrades. The SW developer has always been responsive and glad to hear from users.

¥It works. When OSX updates do infrequently break it, the developer clearly works fast to fix it, AND he keeps his users "in the loop" about what is going on.   
(Version 2.1.9)

DREMWKR  I have had nothing to complain about installation with 3.02b on my 'Ntel Mac.

¥Many of the features of the popular plug-ins should have built-in. I wish that apple would pay more attention to why these plug-ins were so popular.

¥It is easy to use.

¥It is hard to beat free.

¥No stablity issues noted.  
(Version 3.0.2b)

DREMWKR  I find vPad essential. It just gets better and better. The developer Gus is responsive and I couldn't ask for better support or someone to listen to ideas for improvement (a rare thing-Try that with any Adobe product).

¥Its wiki interface does what I need it to, even advanced things.

¥It is intutive.

¥It is cheap.

¥It just works.  
(Version 3.2)

DREMWKR  Its got features I never thought of.

Excellent UI.

Free can't be beat.

Works without a hitch.  
(Version 1.8b3)

DREMWKR  I use Ventrilo for WoW gaming, so my perspective is based on that experience:

It has all the features I need.

It is easy to use, esp with the interface changes.

For a prototype (Alpha?) version the price is a little high.

It just works, I have not had any problems running it.  
(Version 2.3.2pr15)

DREMWKR  It simply works.

It is easy to use.

It is cheap.

It never crashes.  
(Version 3.1)

DREMWKR  It does exactly what it is supposed to.

It is easy to use.

It is free.

It is trouble free.  
(Version 1.3.1)

DREMWKR  I ran WoW fine with a dual 500MHz G4 that is 6 years old. This review is simply nonsence.  
(Version 1.11)

DREMWKR  This app is OK, but not a good as Xjournal in the following ways: Xjournal has a better interface, gives you more options in posting, and is just more intutitive and easyer to use. Phoenix is stable (at least I have not any problems) and free: Free is always an excellent value.  
(Version 1.9.5)

DREMWKR  I find WoW to be engrossing. Its interface works well. The story lines are interesting. I like the Guild feature, it allows me to play the game with my sons, regardless of where in the world my children my be, and gives it a social aspect of a team. My computer a 6yr/old G4 PMac (500Mhz x2) doesn't meet the official requirements but plays well, having an ATI 9800 GPU helps. As I go through my game adventures I am constantly amazed at the amazing graphics and creativity I get to experience. Another aspect I unexpectedly enjoy is the Auction House, kind of a eBay for Armor, Weapons, Materials, etc. to sell stuff you aquire but don't need, and buy stuff you do, that gives the game an extra depth and flexability of role playing. This is a RP game without equal, it must be experienced to be believed. Its stablity is not perfect and could be improved, for example after getting rezed the game has sometimes "lost" my body, requiring me to log out and then back in. Another example, the server has sometimes kicked me out of the Battlefield during a game and then labled my a "deserter". But these are relatively minor and infrequent issues.  
(Version 1.10.2)

DREMWKR  Works as advertised, clean interface, easy to use, doesn't crash. A model Mac app.  
(Version 126.1)

DREMWKR  I found the update to work well for me. All my notes and stickies where converted fine. I am ADHD and I find the application usefull for keeping track of stray chunks of information, and is really good for helping me write my sermons.  
(Version 4.0.4)

DREMWKR  GraphicConverter is feature rich, and a great value but the interface needs to be overhauled to make it easier to use. It also takes a really long time to ordinary things like "Save as" and boot up. Its stablity is not a as good as it used to be either.  
(Version 5.7.4)

DREMWKR  Needs to be more mac-like. Doesn't always render right.  
(Version 1.5b1)

DREMWKR  This version is starting to get long in the tooth, Virex needs a new version (v8) that incorporates the previously noted user feature requests. A new interface would be in order as well.  
(Version 02/03/05)

DREMWKR  A five star treat for the holidays.

Well Done!  
(Version 1.1)

DREMWKR  I find the app relaxing and makes for a nice background while working on the computer.  
(Version 2.0.4)

DREMWKR  This a review of the software, not personalities involved. I find the interface to clean and easy to use. Its perfomance in both locating files and getting downloads is excellent on my G4 DP Pmac.

I have enjoyed very good stablity and freedom from crashes. It is true this is not freeware, and the price of freeware is hard to beat, but I admit I have paid more for not as good as software at this app is, so the price to real value is at least fair. The software developer has over time been engaged in continuing product improvement and is to be commended for the effort.  
(Version 112.3)

DREMWKR  Works as advertised.

'nuff said.  
(Version 2.2)

DREMWKR  Not ready for prime time yet.

I had the game crash again and again.

Good concept though...  
(Version 0.5.4)

DREMWKR  I found this to be an enjoyable if not addictive game. Simple in concept but not easy to master.  
(Version 2.1.4)

DREMW'KR  A favorite. Well done!

A game that sould be on every mac!  
(Version 4.0)