Peter Cohen reports:

Now that I've had a few days to recover, here are my observations from last week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

It was an upbeat show, VERY upbeat, and based on what IDG Expos says, both vendor participation and attendance were way up from last year.

Connectix stole the show with news of its Virtual Game Station software, an emulator that enables faster Macs (G3s, according to the company, but faster 604e's are purported to work also) to run Sony PlayStation CDs. The US$49 software doesn't provide 100% compatibility with all PlayStation games, but the company is keeping a list of games that pass muster.

Apple's biggest news was two-fold. First, the new G3 Pro line (internally code-named "Yosemite") was introduced. The radically designed machines not only feature the translucent blue-and-white case popularized by the iMac, but they also have fast-as-hell capabilities -- the first production PCs anywhere to feature RAGE 128 graphics accelerators from ATI. The systems sport four PCI slots, including one 66MHz slot occupied by the RAGE 128 card. The systems also eschew Apple's traditionally integrated SCSI interface for the faster, more flexible and more robust FireWire (IEEE 1394) interface pioneered by Apple and other manufacturers. SCSI is a $49 add-on option for BTO (Build To Order) machines ordered directly from The Apple Store.

Apple also pushed the expansion capabilities of the new G3s, which sport an internal Ultra-ATA interface capable of supporting up to three of IBM's new 36GB drives internally. The motherboard is also capable of addressing up to 1GB of RAM. That should keep even the most effects-happy graphic designers busy for a little while.

In other news, Apple rolled out a new line of its iMac consumer machines, now in tangy fruit flavors! Case design aside, the new machine also incorporates a faster processor (266MHz G3). Unfortunately, Apple has removed the "Perch" mezzanine PCI interface hidden on the underside of the iMac's motherboard. While this board was never intended for third-party development, several companies, such as Micro Conversions Inc. (IMC) have developed cards to augment the iMac's capability. IMC, for example, has created a "Game Wizard" card based on 3Dfx Interactive's popular Voodoo2 chipset. So, if you're planning to buy an iMac and you want to add Voodoo2, your best bet is to score one of Apple's original Bondi Blue iMacs before they're all gone -- the price has now dropped to $999 (lower street prices are available).

Apple also announced that OpenGL will be integrated into the next major revision of the MacOS, due out this summer (prior to MacOS X's launch by the end of the year). Although OpenGL has profound industrial applications and may bring some CAD and professional 3D rendering software developers back to the platform, Apple is lauding the open graphics standard as a way to get game developers interested in the platform again. One developer I spoke to at the show suggested that OpenGL games that might be ported to the Mac could take half the time to port if graphics libraries don't need to be rewritten. One thing is clear: Apple's longtime in-house RAVE standard is definitely being usurped by OpenGL in the company's discussions with developers. Developer mailing lists are abuzz with requests for info on how to integrate OpenGL into currently developing applications.

One of the first examples of Apple's commitment to OpenGL came during the keynote in the form of one of the game industry's most influential figures: John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and developer of such games as Doom, Doom II, Quake, Quake II, and the newest in the Quake series, Quake Arena. Carmack showed off a never-before-seen demo of the new game. Carmack also indicated that he'd been able to get the Mac version of Quake Arena running well with about three weeks of engineering time, and suggested that the Mac client involved about 15K worth of Mac-specific code. Carmack said that id Software and Activision plan to simultaneously release commercial versions of Quake Arena for MacOS, Windows and Linux when the game ships (allegedly in time for the holidays).

Apple's iCEO Steve Jobs also demonstrated MacOS X Server, the company's replacement for its aging AppleShare server product. MacOS X Server is built around the Mach kernel and incorporates a NetBoot feature, WebObjects, Apache, BSD v4.4 and other nifty features. Jobs demonstrated the NetBoot capability of MacOS X Server by running streaming video (ostensibly QuickTime, of course) off of 50 iMacs that didn't have internal hard drives, surely something that perked up the ears of beleaguered IT administrators everywhere.

My focus in going to the show was mainly on gaming for the Mac, and I wasn't disappointed. Several new product announcements were made, and one trend definitely became apparent: Activision is back on the Mac! Activision's products popped up in new announcements from both MacSoft and Logicware, two venerable Mac game publishers. Logicware will be publishing or porting Quake II, Heretic II, and several other Activision-licensed games, including Interstate 76, Zork: Grand Inquisitor and BattleZone. Logicware also indicated that it will be porting Fox Interactive's forthcoming first-person action game Aliens vs. Predator. MacSoft, meanwhile, announced that Activision's Civilization: Call to Power (the first Civ title not to involve series founder Sid Meier) and Asteroids would be coming to the MacOS. MacSoft's deal with Activision calls for two more as-yet-unannounced titles to be ported to MacOS. MacSoft also showed off Falcon 4.0 and Age of Empires, both of which are (hopefully) expected for the Mac by the end of this quarter.

Other game developers faired equally well. Bungie Software was showing off its recently released realtime strategy game Myth II, and also gave attendees a close-up look at an early development version of its forthcoming third-person action game Oni. The game utilizes a design inspired by Japanese anime, and it looks gorgeous. Bungie looks to be going head-to-head with Eidos Interactive's Lara Croft (of Tomb Raider fame). If Bungie can manage to reinvent that genre the same way they have the realtime strategy market, they're in for another winner.

Gathering of Developers had a modest booth in which they showed off Fly!, their forthcoming civilian flight simulator. The company also announced that they planned to bring Poptop Software's Railroad Tycoon II over to the Mac side. The port is being handled by premiere porting house Westlake Interactive, which is responsible for many of MacSoft's biggest hits.

Mindscape is back on the Mac as well. The company showed off Creatures II, their artificial life game, Aquazone, an aquarium simulator, and most importantly, Imperialism II, the follow-up to their 1997 release. Mindscape is now under the ownership of The Learning Company, which acquired Broderbund last year. Accordingly, Mindscape is now responsible for distribution and sales of Broderbund's Red Orb Software titles, oriented towards adult gamers. Mindscape had boxes on hand to show off some Red Orb titles like Riven, The Journeyman Project 3, and others.

Beyond that, other game companies in attendance included SierraFX and Sierra Attractions, SegaPC, Masque Publishing, Aspyr Media (holders of the MacOS license for Tomb Raider II and Tomb Raider Gold), Altor Systems, the list goes on.

Dozens of other new product announcements were made during the show, enough so that I'm still slogging through press releases, emails and so forth, struggling to catch up. As always, I welcome anyone with questions to email me directly; I'll endeavor to provide any insight I can. [Editor's Note: There's also a discussion about MacWorld Expo with Peter in Shop Talk, our conferencing area.]