Forgive the bitter headline, but I'm sick of Mac game companies releasing games, especially ones as massive and significant as Quake 4, without a demo. This gripe is further compounded by the fact that the current state of Mac gaming is so demanding of hardware; yes, it's certainly improving, but many of these games require a PowerMac G5 or, now with the Intel switch, at least an iMac or a MacBook Pro to run them with any decent amount of detail and frame rate. Releasing $50 games without the ability for users to test them first is shooting oneself in the foot, and apparently, companies like Aspyr seem to have no shortage of feet.With that small bit of editorial out of the way: Aspyr has (finally) released a demo of Quake 4! Hooray! Both a torrent and a direct download link of the 536MB Universal Binary demo are available from MacGameFiles. Enjoy.
[via MacMinute]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-05-2006 @ 2:20PM
sheep said...
You could have just asked me. I would have let you know Quake 4 is a disappointment, regardless of platform.
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8-05-2006 @ 2:54PM
khalidur said...
i understand the point you are trying to make about how people waNt to try before they buy, however with macs you only have a certain number of configuration except the powermac, so all you hae to do is go to the apple support forums post your configuration and chances are someone is already running the game in that excact same configuration, not true with the windows world.
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8-05-2006 @ 3:15PM
David Chartier said...
#2: I get what you're saying, but getting your hands on game demos - in general - is a standard across the industry.
Just because Mac hardware is a bit more standard doesn't really change the fact that different users have different threshholds for usability. Some people are fine with slow frame rates that drive others - who are used to higher quality experiences - absolutely nuts.
Granted, I'm no coding ninja - I have no idea if releasing demos of Mac games is somehow more difficult on the Mac platform than it is for Windows, or if (my personal theory) that it's simply a ruse to try and squeeze out a few more sales on a game from people who have the money to spend before they take a jump like this (I'm talking about people who buy software before trying. I'm not making an assumption that 'Mac users just have more money'. I'm broke as sin myself).
Personally, I think it's the latter, and I think it's a low-handed thing to do to a struggling gaming community that could really use all the help it can get.
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8-05-2006 @ 4:29PM
Jon said...
I don't play demos to find out if the game runs on my system (it says the requirements on the back of the box). I play them to find out if the game is any good.
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8-05-2006 @ 8:35PM
Richard said...
Downloaded the demo - quite strange that a demo weighing it at more than 550mb offers no more than about 20 mins of gaming.
It is extremely disappointing. Running on my 20" iMac with 2gb RAM and 256mb card, I can only get smooth gameplay at 1024x768 with 4x anti-aliasing. Anything higher grinds to an unplayable halt. I seriously hope that this demo is using the 1.0 build that doesn't support proper SMP. If this demo uses SMP then STAY AWAY from purchasing - Quake 4 simply cannot be run at hi resolutions on a maxed out 20" mac.
Oh, and only 4:3 ratio. sigh.
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8-05-2006 @ 10:30PM
Bruce Anderson said...
Works-barely-on my MacBook with 1gb of RAM. I only get 640x480, and I have to turn off all the video goodies, but it runs. :)
Richard, see if some of the info there helps you out:
To enable SMP, you need to enter r_usesmp 1 in the console, which you activate using CTRL-OPT-~. You can also use the console to enter commands to change the resolution:
r_customwidth 1280 (or other)
r_customheight 800 (or other)
r_mode -1
vid_restart (saves you from quitting and relaunching)
I checked the version info, and the demo includes v1.2.0 of the application, so give that SMP command a try and see if that improves things for you.
This information is taken from this page:
http://www.barefeats.com/kak4c.html
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8-06-2006 @ 1:15AM
daniel said...
Like bruce, for me it worked on my macbook with a gig of ram, barely. Just for fun I tried it on somewhat high-res with all the goodies turned on. It was like playing a game with a strobe light on, only a lot worse. Oh well, I didn't buy it for gaming, so I don't really care.
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8-06-2006 @ 1:35AM
Terry Thiel said...
I agree completely and told Aspyr the same thing. Aspyr is trying to get early sales thats all. Once you have bought the game you are stuck with it and they know it. On another note I am playing Quake 4 full res on an iMac with 256vram amd 2 GB of ram and its kind of slow but not unplayable. It's boring though. Not as boring as Doom 3 but close.
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8-06-2006 @ 11:36AM
Bruce Anderson said...
I should note that with all the visual effects turned off and the resolution set to 640x480 the game is actually playable. In a situation like that, when you're not distracted by the "Ooooh, shiny!" aspect of things you can concentrate on the actual gameplay a bit more. I guess "boring" is in the mind of the beholder, because I found it to be a lot of fun to play and games like Warcraft to be a wonderful cure for insomnia. :)
That said, I think I'll stick to games that don't need the latest and greatest graphics card to be playable. Quake 2, for instance. Or Deus Ex, even if I have to boot into Windows to play it.
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8-07-2006 @ 8:25AM
peeweejd said...
I was excited for this game back before it came out for the PC/360. Then I played the demo and thought it was pretty bad.
Its definitely Doom 3 based (shiny, corridoors, dark / needs the flashlight, bad AI, uninspiired weapons).
I just gamefly'd the 360 version because a friend bought it and I want to play with him. I'm playing the single player and its more of the same. The game is hardly worth a rent IMO and the demo is not really worth downloading.
The intro is kinda cool in a Halo/Alien 2/Starship Troopers kind of way.
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8-08-2006 @ 11:41PM
Herr Flick said...
Wide screen on an MBP didn't work. Same sized frame, just squished. And no native resolution support. Purchase postponed indefinitely.
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