Brand: MacNews

Microsoft today released Office v.X Test Drive, a 30-day demo version of Office v.X that includes most of the features of the retail version. The 122MB download includes all four Office v.X applications: Word, Excel, Entourage, and PowerPoint. Additionally, Apple and Microsoft have launched a new promotion—”Suite Deal.“—that offers a US$150 rebate to users who purchase a new Mac and Office v.X.

We have posted a number of photos from the Macworld Expo keynote, where Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s new iMac.

MacSoft has announced that it is now shipping Civilization III, the latest turn-based strategy game from legendary game designer Sid Meier. In Civilization III, players must build a civilization that will stand the test of time through trade, diplomacy, cultural excellence and military might. For Meier, the focus of Civilization III was expanding the non-military paths of victory, adding a number of new elements such as Culture, Nationality, the Arts, more interactions, alliances, and realistic artificial intelligence.

Knowledge Adventure has announced that it plans to release 10 kids titles for Mac OS X in 2002, including titles in the company’s JumpStart and Fisher-Price interactive franchises. The titles will “take advantage of the modern architecture and advanced features of Mac OS X to increase software performance.” No further details on specific titles or release dates were provided.

Fruits of Dojo has released a Mac OS X version of Quake II, the popular first-person shooter from id Software. Users must have the data files from a retail copy of Quake II in order to play the game under Mac OS X.