Yes, games sure can look pretty on those fancy iPhone retina displays. But they also look small. So what do you do when you take your game from the iPhone to Macintosh? You completely overhaul the graphics to make the game look even better. That’s what Fishlabs has done with their epic space trade-shooter, Galaxy On Fire 2 Full HD, which is available now in the Mac App Store.

Over a year after it was first announced (and one of the most populated and colorful gaming forum discussions we’ve had at Appletell), Feral Interactive now invites Mac gamers to take command of history’s greatest battles as they release Rome: Total War Gold Edition on February 5th. Originally developed by The Creative Assembly and published by SEGA, the game will be released for the Mac under the Feral Legends label.

The RPG masters at Spiderweb Software, Inc. have announced the release of Avernum 6 for the Macintosh, the final game in the epic, award-winning series. Avernum 6 is a fantasy role-playing game set in the world of Avernum, an enormous series of caves far below the surface of the world. Travel into the strange subterranean land of Avernum, full of dungeons, labyrinths, and constant warfare.

It’s a rare moment these days when I get to talk to about Mac games. As major Mac game publishers continue to fade into the ether or shift their focus to the iPhone, Mac gaming has found itself in a rut nearly as deep the one from which we barely escaped in the late 90s. But a few companies have recently thrown us a rope in the form of new product releases or major announcements. Do the names Warhammer, Sid Meier, and Star Wars mean anything to you?

The LEGO games are always less about the characters and more about the LEGO. Yes, there are some traits that separate Batman from Star Wars and Indiana Jones, but, by and large, the game is still just about running around and knocking things over. You solve some puzzles, you punch some bad guys, and you never die. But that doesn’t mean LEGO Batman is just a retread. Although the mechanics and graphics are basically the same as the others in the LEGO series, there’s enough differentiation to make it worthwhile.

Last year, Feral Interactive announced their Feral Legends series of games, which they’re using to bring older PC games to the Mac. The first release in this series was Sid Meier’s Pirates. Now Feral has officially announced the second Feral Legends game, Rome: Total War Gold Edition. This top-rated strategy game from SEGA will be released in March. Attendees at Macworld Expo 2009 in San Francisco, Calif. can experience the game for themselves at the Feral’s booth #2530 in the South Hall of the Moscone Center.

Ambrosia Software, Inc. has announced today an update to its classic space-based strategy shooter, EV Nova. EV Nova 1.1.0 is a Universal Binary that runs natively on Intel Macs, and continues to work on any Mac running Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later. In addition to being a Universal Binary, it includes the obligatory bug fixes and enhancements, including compatibility with MacBook and MacBook Air systems with an Intel GMA X3100 video card.

As Gamertell reported earlier today, Feral Interactive has announced that Black and White 2 will finally be released on January 6th at Macworld Expo 2009. If you don’t feel like waiting that long, however, you can sample some gaming goodness in the form of the LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures demo, which is now available from the Feral website.

Amidst news of layoffs and announcements that game developers are abandoning the Mac in favor of the iPhone, it’s heartening to see some people are still fighting for the users. Mac Games Arcade, the new digital download application for Mac games, has been released. And to make sure you know about it, they’re offering five free Mac games over the next five days.

Mac Games Arcade allows users to browse, download, buy, and manage their Mac games through Mac-like interface. Nearly 400 games are already available. And yes, I know you’re thinking that probably 480 of them involve trying to quickly serve cake to impatient customers. There are some of those games in here, sure, but it’s not all about he casual gamer at the Mac Games Arcade. To prove it, the free game they’re offering today is, appropriately enough, Pangea Arcade. It’s only available today, however, so get it now before they switch over to free game number two.

MacSoft has generally seen success with their modern spins on classic board games, so why not take a shot with a couple family favorites? Your family, anyway. Not mine. My family’s favorite games were Bonkers and Beat Up Your Little Brother Until the Commercials End. Regardless, if the dining room table just feels a little too passe, you can now play The Game of Life: Path to Success, and will soon be able to play Clue Classic on your Macintosh.