Apple lifers probably know the story of Marathon all too well at this point. The gaming series that made Mac gaming tolerable in the mid-1990s could now possibly return on the iPad. However, the developer has reached a few roadblocks which are preventing the game's release for the moment.

Back in the mid-90s, while PC gamers were enjoying a sort of gaming rennaissance, Mac gaming was - shall we say - a bit sparse. That is until the Marathon series came along. It was one of only a few bright spots in the platform's gaming lineup. Fast forward a few years, and the company who made the games, Bungie, signed an exclusivity contract with Microsoft to create the now-legendary Halo games. Many Mac gamers felt they were abandoned by a company that they helped fund and support during its early years.

Now developer Daniel Blezek is working on an iPad version of the game. There are only two problems holding him back from a full release. For one, a serious audio bug is apparently confounding his efforts. And the second reason is that the Marathon series carries a General Public License (GPL). Apple Terms of Service technically do not allow GPL games to be sold on the App Store. However, Blezek noted recently that Apple has made exceptions before, so they may again. Specifically, the massive GPL strategy game Battle for Wesnoth never saw much resistance from Apple certification teams.

Marathon is a sci-fi first person shooter series that is similar in play-style to the classic DOOM franchise. It was listed as number six on Mac|Life's 10 Greatest Apple Games of All Time list in 2008.