MacTech compares Windows games running with Parallels 6

I actually started playing Eve because of how well it runs in Parallels. Now to be fair, I'm a pretty simple Eve player. I have no idea how it runs when you're in really big battles. But it's the first Windows game I've played where I felt that I was able to enjoy playing it in virtualization.

It's a big thing for me because being booted into Windows means I can't access a lot of the things I need that I do in OS X. I don't really have the kind of free time where I can just devote a few hours of my day to doing nothing but gaming, and it was really frustrating to try to play in Windows and then get an email or a phone call requiring me to reboot in OS X to take care of it. Now I can just command-tab out of Windows, do anything I want in OS X (including running iTunes movies and TV shows superimposed over my Eve game if I'm mining or something), and go right back to my game.

The improvements in Parallels combined with a fairly easy-to-run game have greatly enhanced my ability to game on the road and actually enjoy my free time.

I'd suggest a Parallels 6 license over WMWare Fusion. VMWare is significantly more *stable* than Parallels, but for gaming it is left behind pathetically.

Parallels 5 and 6 approach native hardware performance, it's quite impressive.

Unfortunately I've already purchased VMware, can't afford to buy Parallels too.

I've attempted playing just regular Fallout 3 under Parallels 6 on the
late 2010 13" MacBook Air "Ultimate" and even with 2 gigs of RAM
allocated to the virtual machine, the experience was... not fun. There
were serious issues with the mouse which seem to be remnants from
WINE, but even when that wasn't going wonky the game would stutter
tremendously. I'd get decent FPS on the lowest graphics settings, but
the game would simply stop and lag for a second or two at a time every
few seconds. Admittedly the Air isn't a powerhouse, but on native
Windows with the same specs Fallout 3 would run flawlessly.

I have probably ten games installed in my XP virtual machine that run
decently, but I've given up trying to run any sort of FPS inside of
it.

You're right.. if they had a bit more ram to spare for the VM the few performance problems listed would be gone. Most people don't get that a VM is basically a 2nd machine running inside the first and that the resources don't share.

I'm running an 8GB quad Mac Pro with a 4890 (overclocked + hacked to work). Parallels has 2 cores & 4GB + runs from a separate 7200rpm HD, so it's about as close to separating the two environments as possible. Games run sweet (Fallout 3/NV, Bioshock 1/2, Fear 1/2, Crysis, etc).

Additionally, Ars Technica has posted videos (on Vimeo iirc) of World in Conflict - and a number of others - running great.

And why? Yes, rebooting sucks.