If you're anything like us, you realize what a conundrum it is (or, maybe, was) to be both a big games fan and a Mac user. In general, the age-old claim that there's "no software for the Mac" is pretty weak; we've certainly never had any trouble finding software that does what we need it to do. When it comes to games, though, we've got to admit-- there's a lot more variety on the Windows side of the fence. Worse still, the "big" games often take months or even years to be ported to the Mac, assuming they make it here at all. But of course ever since the iMac debuted (and a stretch before), Apple's been making big strides in persuading developers that Macintosh development is worth their while. We've been reaping the early benefits of that push for a while, now, what with Tomb Raider and Unreal on the shelves. And the best is still to come; LucasArts has returned to our happy platform by committing to a Mac version of the upcoming Star Wars: Episode I Racer, and John Carmack has pulled a 180° and announced that Quake II and Quake 3: Arena will both make it to the Macintosh soon.

And the good news just keeps on coming! MacAddict just posted some exclusive tidings. First of all, Aspyr Media will be doing their part to fight the long-standing dearth of sports games for the Mac by porting Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 2000. Expect it to surface this September-- at the same time as the PC version. Ahhh, simultaneous release... gotta love it. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Sierra, historically not a big Mac supporter, has not only announced that Half-Life is being ported, but they've also committed to simultaneous Windows and Macintosh releases for all future titles. Lastly, Blizzard has announced that Diablo II will be released for the Macintosh "a few months after the PC version," though, as gamers who heard them say that about StarCraft, we're not holding our breath. Still, it's great to hear, nonetheless.

We've long suspected that the Gistics study which showed Mac users being more productive than Wintel users was due in large part to the disparity in entertainment software selection. Now that we Mac folk are starting to get access to a wider variety of time-wasting, brain-rotting, how-did-it-get-to-be-3-o'clock-in-the-freakin'-morning titles, we're expecting the platform productivity average to go straight down the crapper. Which, of course, suits us just fine. Happy fragging.

So we've got a couple of national retailers selling iMacs, now; there's CompUSA, still going great guns, and there's Best Buy, who apparently exists primarily to lend a sense of comic relief. In addition, rumors have been floating around that Sears will climb back on the Apple wagon to sell iMacs and iBooks this summer. All told, that's still not a very pervasive national presence, even once you lump in all the local and regional resellers. The iMac is meant to be less a computer and more a computing appliance, so the ideal case would have iMacs as visible as possible to regular everyday consumers in all kinds of department stores, not just in computer-specific outlets. The "Look, honey! It's one of those iMac things!" factor should be a major selling force, especially given how irresistible the fruit-flavored lumps are in person.

So Apple Insider's rumors that JCPenney is planning to start selling iMacs could be a really good thing. Even though the current rumor has JCPenney only selling iMacs via their holiday catalog this fall, if that all goes well, it's not unimaginable that in-store sales displays might be in the cards shortly thereafter. If iMacs eventually make it into both Sears and JCPenney stores, consumers will be able to buy iMacs at a high percentage of malls in this country. And that's the kind of saturation we'd like to see.

On a similar note, lots of viewers have written in to voice their opinion that Apple should be courting Kmart as an iMac reseller. While we agree that the widespread exposure such a deal could create would be a great thing, there's such a tricky balancing act to contend with-- saturation vs. service. After all, if Best Buy was such a bust at moving iMacs, who's to say Kmart wouldn't fare much, much worse? Or Sears, for that matter? We really wish the economies of scale would allow Apple to open its own retail outlets all over the world so that service and display issues could be kept under control, but until that magical day arrives, it's going to be an uphill battle fighting against the Best Buy syndrome.

The improvements just never stop... If you've still got the wind blowing through your hair from the rush of running Mac OS 8.5.1, you might have to resort to pharmaceutical help in order to calm down in time for Mac OS 8.6. Several sources, including Mac OS Rumors, are now reporting that the delectable upgrade code-named "Veronica" has reached Golden Master status and has entered the production stage. Expect the ability to download it as a free upgrade to Mac OS 8.5 sometime within the next week or so.

In terms of visible features and changes, we're not expecting much from 8.6; after all, it is free. There will be minor changes and improvements made to Sherlock and AppleScript, for example, and PlainTalk will finally allow voice recognition on iMacs and icebox G3's without the need for a third-party patch. Beyond that, though, 8.6 would seem to be mostly a collection of bug fixes-- if it weren't for the new nanokernel. You know how the guts of the Mac OS have been around since time immemorial? Well, some important parts of those guts have been revamped and turbocharged in 8.6. The new kernel reportedly integrates some very nifty features that have been lacking on the Mac for a long time now, such as symmetric multiprocessing capability (in preparation for the G4's no doubt) and a better method of multitasking. These under-the-hood changes make Mac OS 8.6 look like a pretty definite step towards Mac OS X; the transition will take place via the next Mac OS release, code-named "Sonata" and already well under way.

The best news of all? Reportedly Mac OS 8.6 makes a huge difference in stability on icebox G3's, which is particularly welcome given how crash-prone those systems appear to be right now. But everyone running Mac OS 8.5, whether they're lucky enough to own new G3's or not, should consider 8.6 a must-have upgrade. It fixes things, it takes another step towards the holy grail of Mac OS X, and have we mentioned that it's free? Can't beat that.