MacTech compares Windows games running with Parallels 6

If you're a fan of Windows games and looking to play some of the latest titles on your Mac, your luck is in according to a MacTech test of game playability under virtualization with Parallels 6 (and not under VMware Fusion). They spent several weeks testing 20 top Windows games on MacBook Pros running Mac OS X 10.6.5, and concluded that five games gave a "great playable experience," earning 10/10 on the playability index. The winners were Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Empire: Total War, Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars, Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition and Transformers: War for Cybertron. Ten games had "minor issues," and three others had '"significant issues," but only two -- Fallout: New Vegas and World in Conflict -- were deemed "not playable."

"Clearly, if you are a hard-gamer [looking] for the maximum gaming experience, you are going to turn to a souped up WinTel machine tuned specifically to gaming and running a game in virtualization is not a consideration," they say. "If, however, you are a casual gamer looking to enjoy a Windows game and avoid the hassles of booting in native Windows under Apple's Boot Camp, then playing a Windows game under virtualization can be a great option." There is no news yet, however, on how Minesweeper or Solitaire fared.

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