After years of waiting, Shockwave Player plugin finally goes Universal
Seems like I've always had two copies of Safari on my Intel iMac at home -- one vanilla, and one with the "Open using Rosetta" checkbox flagged. Why would I need to keep a legacy browser on hand? Well, when you have young children, the Shockwave-based games at nickjr.com and other kid sites depend on the Adobe plugin for animation and interactivity, and there wasn't any Intel version. "Be patient," I told myself, as the plodding launches of the Safari Rosetta copy drove me and my kids nuts. "Adobe's going to release the Universal Binary soon. Surely, by the end of 2006, they'll do it."Now, a full two years since the introduction of the original Intel Macs, we finally have the last big-ticket plugin recompiled and rewritten as Shockwave Player 11, all ready for the no-longer-new machines. Phew. I don't know about you all, but I've got a copy of Safari that's just begging to be thrown in the trash. Note that Adobe's Shockwave badge on the front page still redirects to a "how to run Shockwave on Intel Macs" instruction sheet. Go straight to the download and skip the static.
Thanks Andrew & Alan
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jawshy said 3:55PM on 3-28-2008
Finally! I have been waiting for this since I got a mac.
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alumis said 4:01PM on 3-28-2008
I downloaded the new Shockwave plugin and then found two great, free Shockwave games at http://gigaplay.com.
What a happy day!
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Larson said 4:13PM on 3-28-2008
Wooot! It took them long enough. I figured they would've done this a long time ago but I guess different people and companies have different priorities. This however, should've been higher up on the list.
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Evan Holt said 4:34PM on 3-28-2008
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to add the (arcadeemulator2) Xtra that is required to play the Shockwave games at http://www.midway.com/page/ClassicGames.html
Thanks in advance!
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gary said 9:53PM on 4-04-2008
I'm having the same problem with ArcadeEmulator2. It says either it does not exist or it failed to initialize. I've been playing Defender 2 for a few weeks and something happened that is preventing Shockwave from functioning. Thanks for any help I can get to solve this problem.
OwlBoy said 4:43PM on 3-28-2008
wow, this is still used? I thought most went to flash.
Can't say I have run across Shockwave in many many years. even before Intel Macs.
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Phil said 5:50PM on 3-28-2008
It doesn't seem to install into Firefox 3 beta 4, and the package didn't have an obvious plugin thingy I could copy manually. Has anyone using FF3b4 had any luck with this?
-- Phil
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FourOhFour said 6:58PM on 3-28-2008
iSketch is unplayable with the new Shockwave player. (Other's sketches appear as gibberish) Also, the UI is far less responsive than running the older Shockwave in Rosetta. I don't know if this is iSketch's problem or Shockwave's.
iSketch: http://www.isketch.net/
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Ethan said 9:51PM on 3-29-2008
Noticed that. Not just me then. Guess I should tell adobe.
Tavis Booth said 8:36PM on 3-28-2008
Lennyloose jocks doesnt play right. Everything seems very un-responsive.
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Ryan said 8:59PM on 3-28-2008
Finally! I hate Rosetta, so this is going to be awesome! Thanks for letting us know!
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decypher44 said 9:46PM on 3-28-2008
I also am having problems with iSketch. That was the only site I needed Shockwave for, and it doesn't work right. Oh, well. Maybe 11.1 will fix it.
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Just_a_guy said 10:04PM on 3-28-2008
I am so glad to see this technology hasn't died yet...
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Dorkus Malorkus said 12:14AM on 3-29-2008
The bigger thing for me is that Adobe also quietly slipped out Adobe Director 11, as an Intel-Mac-Compatible app. I figured that app had fallen to the same fate as Macromedia FreeHand.
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Derek said 12:14AM on 3-29-2008
Just installed it on my Mac and now all of my Shockwave based language lessons for college have stopped working. Something about a missing Xtra (FLT Ear) whatever that is. Awesome. Thanks Adobe! Or Rosetta Stone, whichever one of you jerks programmed crap software.
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ebernet said 8:20PM on 3-30-2008
Derek, your an ass. Someone gives you free software, that they developed years ago. and you call them crap and degrade them?
The Shockwave plugin shipped yesterday. Director is an extensible architecture that depends on many of its own plug-ins called Xtras - and for many people who develop those it was uncertain if there was going to eve BE an Intel native Shockwave plugin. To blame either the Xtra developers, or even worse, the developers of the the free shockwave program for you for not having an Intel Native Xtra available for you the day the Plug-in shipped is an ungrateful attitude and I would not be rushing to update the Xtra for you...
Karen LH said 6:09AM on 3-29-2008
I had the same problem with Rosetta Stone Online, which I access with Firefox running under Rosetta. Run the uninstall script that came with the shockwave download. Then try to bring up Rosetta Stone again. You will have to reinstall the old plugin, but after that it should work.
Thomas said 11:28AM on 4-02-2008
Xtras are plugins that enhance your Shockwave App. If the missing Xtra isn't available (yet) for Shockwave 11 the thing can't run - it's that easy. No way blaming Adobe for this!
Skyler Meyer said 12:44PM on 6-05-2008
Hey Derek did you ever figure out how to fix this problem because I am taking Rosetta Stone right now and I am getting that same error code so let me know if you ever fixed it.
Thanks in advance.
Skyler
Kenty said 7:30AM on 3-29-2008
wow.. shockwave stuff must be pretty rare? I don't remember needing to install it in the last 3 years or so. What can it do that Flash can't? I've even played an MMO that runs in Flash!
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