Whither Mac gaming?
Peter Cohen, Macworld's 'Game guy,' has penned an article wondering if in a world full of next gen consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the Wii) the Mac has any relevance as a gaming platform. Not too surprisingly, since he is probably the most recognized of all Mac gaming columnists, Peter thinks that the Mac still has a lot to offer in the gaming arena.Peter points to games that have a social networking aspect as the place where the Mac shines. These games, at least the ones he mentions, are online games which can be played on either Mac or PCs so lumping these in as 'Mac games' seems a little disingenuous to me (though they can be played on a Mac).
Peter expounds on the benefits of computer gaming as compared to console gaming, but I think he falls short of crafting an argument for the Mac as a gaming platform.
Are there many Mac gamers out there? None of my Macs have any games installed on them, but perhaps I am in the minority.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kenny H. said 9:10AM on 11-28-2006
I played WoW on my Mac for most of last year and it worked like a champ, thanks to Blizzard really putting time into the Mac client. I now mostly play console games. But, I recently purchased a Mac Pro so I can install BootCamp/Windows in anticipation of the release of Spore at some time in the future.
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waste of time said 9:12AM on 11-28-2006
i prefer to use my mac to make stuff, not play games.
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AJB said 9:17AM on 11-28-2006
Occasional mac gamer here--although I don't have a good gaming machine (PBG4 1.33, 12", GeForce FX5200), it's apparently better than anything with the Intel Integrated graphics chipset.
Frankly, I don't see a case for the Intel Mac as a strong gaming platform. Tuncer at Inside Mac Games continually argues that large companies and non-Mac publishers don't understand the mac market and therefore won't be able to sell Mac games effectively to Mac users, but I disagree. EA has broken into all console markets, the PC market, and even cell phone gaming, and the same can be said of other game companies and publishers. However, with Boot Camp and Parallels, I don't see much of a market for hardcore gaming on the Mac, even though the casual market is always there to be exploited.
The situation may change with the new Cider technology from Transgaming and the new translation software from ATI that allows DirectX translation to OpenGL, but we'll see if these are worth the cost.
Do Mac gamers really want to pay full price for games that have been out for Windows for 6 months or more? By the time most games reach the Mac, they can be found at seriously discounted prices on the PC side, and simply run with Boot Camp.
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Leonard Nimrod said 9:24AM on 11-28-2006
Does the fact that Halo is now available for PCs and Macs no longer make it an XBOX game? I see what you are driving at but I hardly think it's "disingenuous" to call a game made for the Mac a "Mac game". No where in the article is Peter stating that the games are not available for other platforms.
Side note: I always found this kinda funny and a good move by MS...
" they announced their next product, with a world-beating physics and AI system, to be known as Halo. Significantly, Halo's public unveiling occurred at the Macworld Expo 1999 keynote address by Apple's then-interim-CEO Steve Jobs (after a closed-door screening at E3 in 1999). On June 19, 2000, however, Microsoft announced that they had acquired Bungie Software and that Bungie would become a part of the Microsoft Game Division (subsequently renamed Microsoft Game Studios) under the name Bungie Studios. As a result, the original versions were soon delayed and the game was re-purposed for Microsoft's Xbox, on which it became the console's killer game. Bungie's sale to Apple's long-time rival Microsoft was seen as a sort of ultimate betrayal by the Mac community at the time. Mac and Windows versions of Halo were delayed to two years later when it was no longer the renowned product it would have been in late 2000.
The Xbox version of Halo, which received the "Game of the Year" and "Console Game of the Year" awards for 2002 from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, is known as a system seller and as of 2004 is still a videogame bestseller. Halo has been one of the most critically acclaimed games over the last three years, and its sequel Halo 2 has been called one of the "most anticipated game of all time" by IGN's Xbox website. On release, Halo 2 proved to be a huge hit, making more than $125 million on release day."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungie_Studios#History
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TalonSensei said 9:24AM on 11-28-2006
I have played games on the Mac since 1984. Some have been great, some have been poor, but the important thing was having fun. It sucks to not have access to all the same great titles that the PC gamers have. When it is done right (WC3,WoW, Freeverse games) Mac games are beautiful thing. I would strongly encourage developers not to abandon the Mac as a gaming platform. In my day job, I use Macs to make things too (scientific software and analysis) but at night I like to kick Undead azz ;-)
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freakfunk said 9:33AM on 11-28-2006
Hi, Since i have a brand new intel core duo macbookpro (they stole my powerbook last week) which has parallels installed im again on a gamers adventure, I installed emperor kings (caesar 3 for the mac made me so addicted)
I could not resist..
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JB said 9:47AM on 11-28-2006
I'm waiting till my copy of Age of Empires III arrives later this week... I am so stoaked
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Leonard Nimrod said 9:45AM on 11-28-2006
Despite the ability to run Windows natively on nw Macs and subsequently PC games there will be more games for Mac OS X available as the marketshare increases. This is just good business.
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eieio said 9:42AM on 11-28-2006
My kids play on my mac. Lego Star Wars, Zoo Tycoon, Tiger Woods...
That seems to be enoug of a distraction...
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Dale said 9:42AM on 11-28-2006
I have an original Mac mini (G4 1.42GHz, 512Mb RAM) and I had resigned myself to it never being any good for games.
Recently I discovered a PlayStation 2 to USB joypad adaptor amongst all my junk and began playing emulators of old consoles. From there I progressed to SCUMM VM to run my old CD ROM LucasArts titles. Then hooked, I invested in World Of Warcraft and was amazed to find it running with some semblance of speed.
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Sjakelien said 9:52AM on 11-28-2006
Wither is supposed to be spelled as "Whither", unless you mean "becoming dry and shriveled".
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Kihaki said 9:55AM on 11-28-2006
Yes, I do play games on my mac. And I must say playing games on mac is much more convenient than playing on a PC. Take Warcraft 3 for example: You can easily switch from fullscreen to Window-Mode via Command-M and you can still continue playing whithout problems while you ichat for instance! This is not possible on Windows. Switching to desktop via Alt-Tab is not only incredibly slow but also you are not able to continue to play while doing other things. Proving once again that Windows is no platform. It's a crapform :/
And who says there are no games for mac available? UT2004, Civilisation 4, Warcraft 3, WoW etc.
The only thing that annoys me is that you can't use freeware add-on-programs like Banlist.. Damn, I want this program mac-ported!! :D
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Gudni said 3:56AM on 11-29-2006
I recently switced to Mac, and have been playing WoW and the occasional session of Call of Duty 2. Otherwise I satisfy my gaming needs with my xBox. Don't really see the Mac gaining more ground as a gaming platform with all these consoles coming out...
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johnny said 10:26AM on 11-28-2006
I haven't used a PC for a year or two now and the single thing I miss the most is the FPS. I had a $800 computer with a tricked out video card and I could play Battlefield and UT2004 to my heart's content. It's impossible to do on a Mac.
Unreal Tournament 2007 is coming and if your a real fan, you really have no business on a Mac. You need Windows XP and at the least you need a Mac Pro. It's a convincing reason to buy a Xbox but who wants to use a controler? I despartely want to use a mouse, keyboard and my Mac hardware with the latest FPS. Why have you forsaken us Apple?
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Gustavo said 10:07AM on 11-28-2006
I'm an occasional Mac gamer. I'm becoming more excited now that I got a new MacBook Pro. Of course it will never replace my console, but there are some games you just don't get on consoles.
I've been having fun with Call of Duty 2 lately. Lot easier to control with a mouse and keyboard than with a console control.
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Liquidmark said 12:03PM on 11-28-2006
I play WOW, Call of Duty 2, Kill Monty and Reaction.
Anything else I want to play, I can get for a console.
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Jet_Star said 2:40PM on 11-28-2006
At work I'm in a sea of PCs, my coworkers play Call of Duty 2 on the LAN. Now with my new MacPro I play the Mac version with them, at the highest possible resolution.
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Doug J said 10:28AM on 11-28-2006
Hey, Starcraft still works. It accounts for pretty much the only Windows or Mac gaming that I have done recently (I play consoles much more, even though I have a Windows PC that is pretty nice).
Amazing enough, the reason I play SC is that many of my friends are still addicted to it.
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Will said 10:29AM on 11-28-2006
Been playing World of Warcraft - works wonderfully on the Mac. Other than that, I hadn't played any games on the PC for about a year or two, before switching. So, I didn't miss them when I switched. But I do hope the intel transition and recent growth will lead to more games to choose from on the Mac.
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Jon said 11:16AM on 11-28-2006
I think this is one area that Apple seems to have forgotten. When someone's bragging about Windows being better than OS X, I can refute every single one of their arguments EXCEPT Windows' much larger game library. I think that the "Get a Mac" ads should highlight the fact that Macs can play games just as well as PCs, and that there is a decent-sized game library available for the Mac. This is what a lot of people don't realise, and hopefully it would generate more demand for Mac ports of PC games.
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