TransGaming Inc., a leader in the development of software portability products for cross-platform gaming, today announces the “Cider” portability engine for Apple’s Intel based Macs. With Cider, video game developers and publishers can deploy their Windows-based titles on Apple’s new Intel Mac – quickly, easily, and without the need for traditional arduous porting – thus filling a major void in the Mac gaming market.
TransGaming’s Cider portability engine will serve as a tremendous asset to video game developers and publishers by allowing them to release a Windows and Mac version of their titles simultaneously, eliminating the need for time consuming and expensive porting. Cider represents a huge win-win for Mac gamers and developers/publishers: it quenches the thirst for more games on Mac and increases the revenue opportunities for publishers through the increased distribution of their titles on the rapidly growing Intel Mac platform.
“TransGaming’s Cider product will change the landscape of the Mac gaming market. Mac gamers have always patiently waited many months for access to only a handful of titles. With Cider, game developers and publishers can easily extend their triple A portfolio to Intel Mac without any effort or delay which means that avid Mac gamers will have access to triple A video games coincidental with the Windows release”, said Vikas Gupta, President and CEO of TransGaming, in the press release.
The Cider portability engine is targeted at video game developers and publishers and TransGaming already has agreements in place with a number of the top tier video game publishers to bring their titles to the Intel Mac. Mac gamers can expect the release of these titles in the next few months.
Video game developers and publishers who would like to generate greater revenues by extending their content to the Intel Mac platform with TransGaming’s Cider portability engine should contact TransGaming at cider@transgaming.com and visit http://www.transgaming.com/cider for more information.
I prefer “mac-mac” to “win-win.”
I already spend too much time playing games on my Mac.
People play games on their computers? That’s what consoles are for.
Real computers (like the Mac) are for computing, not games, like those PC toys which run Windows.
I’d rather sit on my couch with a wireless controller playing HD games on my 37″ LCD TV and Dolby Digital than sit at my desking playing computer games on a 20″ LCD.
With the exact same feature set as the Windows version?
Excellent, one by one, the barriers to Mac ownership for the masses are being torn down.
what’s going on in MDN???? Headlines linked to the wrong articles, duplicate headlines on the RSS Feed, some articles (the banner one) doesn’t even have a way to post, and all the advertisements are gone. Oh. Wait. That was just Pithhelmet doing it’s bad-ass thing. But everything else is like I am in the twilight zone.
And I just finished catching up on thesecretdiaryofstevejobs and it is hilarious. I snotted myself. My wife does not think it is very funny.
I couldn’t agree with you more macman…
I don’t think it’s very funny either… In fact, it’s pretty stupid and a waste of time to read.. Unless, of course, you don’t have much of a life.
If they can do this for games, what about applications?
AWESOME! Bring on Knights of the Old Republic 2!
Doubtful this will work well.
This was the big “Chicken Little” fear factor, now that Intel Mac’s can run Windows, game dev’s won’t bother making a port and insist users boot Windows on Intel Mac’s.
Of course this still could be the case, you see Windows allows a game to take over the machine, and Mac OS X won’t. So there is fundamental programing problems that hopefully this software will solve. It would also affect the performance of 3D games.
Of course another problem is game devs might not have enough room on single sided DVD’s to ship both a Mac and Windows version on the same disk.
They could use a label-less dual sided DVD, but then have a increase in scratches, more failed burns etc.
If they ship two dvd’s, each single sided and one for each platform, then folks would be selling their unused disk.
So now stores will have to double their shelf space to accomondate the Mac versions and at only 4% market share, many retail locations would be reluctant to do this.
At least lowering the development time and costs will get Mac versions out faster, even though the best 3D games for Mac’s will still likely be mail order only.
Eh, it’s getting better perhaps.
c’mon people! Some games on the PC are not on the consoles, and really shouldn’t be. I’m really sick and tired about people saying “get a console if you want to play games.”
You know what? I have a computer, why should I shell out another $300+ for a console, when I can just buy a computer game and play. Macs can be used for entertainment just as much as PC’s can be used for actual computing.
The point being, a computer should do what you want it to do. Not what you are told it *should* do. That’s the problem on BOTH sides of the Mac vs. PC debate.
I wrote a ‘mission statement’ Dec20/06. Just after MS had just announced yet another vaporware product. Doesn’t matter which.
My family enjoyed it, hope you will.
. .. …
I’m pleased to announce a new Apple product we have in the works. We’re calling in Cider.
It will probably be available during the summer, and it’s going to be great. We’re real excited about this for you.
What is Cider?
Well, without giving away too much – it’s a new multimedia application device that’s going to completely revolutionize the way we ‘all’ use our media.
It will make almost ‘every’ media file format compatible with each other through Processed Integrated Generalization Sifting.
This application device makes ‘every’ competitive media format of the last seven years, reverse-obsolete.
With the fusion of our modern Mac technology and some of our classic Mac and Newton technologies we’ve developed the Framed Libraries Yellowbox.
Framed Libraries Yellowbox manages media data with a comprehensive arbitration of blocks of media on the data cylinder and the media processing channels.
Cider relies on precognition circuits that process the media information delivered via an application abstraction layer.
Now, this all sounds complicated, but it’s going to incorporate Apple’s reknowned ease-of-use. It’ll be as easy as an iPod.
Anyway, we’ll be licensing this technology to any companies that want to use it. And we’re certain everyone will want to get on board with this program.
This is going to be an industry-wide standard that we want to share with every form of modern usage that can come up with a relevant purpose.
We’re really, really excited about this. Expect this real soon.
2006©
MW: order!
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macman, SJR:
“People play games on their computers? That’s what consoles are for.”
Really? AFAIK, my World of Warcraft discs don’t seem to work in any console, and neither do my Warcraft 3 CDs, Starcraft: Brood War discs…
But they play great on my Mac (and on the PC)…
…And back on topic, although this will help stubborn publishers who have limited budgets and bad programmers… it doesn’t bade well for consumers who want an increase in _properly_written_ mac games that take advantage of the Mac’s unique OS and hardware combination features.
GOD I PRAY THIS CATCHES ON AND GAME DEV ACTUALLY USE THIS TOOL!! And most of all I hope Battlefield 2 comes to the mac!! Please EA Please I beg of you!! Not that I mind rebooting just to play BF2, but I’d MUCH rather stay in my lovable OSX environment. =)
MacGamerDude: If you visit their site, it appears that the “two disk” thing might not even be an issue. “Cider” is a wrapper that the Windows game runs inside, mapping Windows API calls to Mac equivalents. As long as the “wrapper” is included on the game disk, it could be feasible for one disk to support both Mac and PC.
Also, TransGaming has designed the Cider business plan to be workable even for small-selling titles. TransGaming asks for no money up front, instead taking a share of the revenue! This, plus the near-elimination of porting costs, means releasing a Mac game could be profitable even if it’s only sold in Apple stores or online. So “shelf space” isn’t a big issue, either.
If this works, this could be really, really big. Of course, we’ll have to see how well it works. But TransGaming claims to have clients lined up already, so I guess we’ll see. I remember thinking that Transitive was a pipe dream, and then Rosetta turned out to be real, so I’m willing to believe in this.
(This will pretty much put Aspyr out of business, though.)
This process of the Mac being “un-ghetto-ized” is fascinating.
“As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
And his mama cries
cause if theres one thing that she don’t need
Its another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto
People, don’t you understand
The child needs a helping hand
Or hell grow to be an angry young man some day
Take a look at you and me,
Are we too blind to see,
Do we simply turn our heads
And look the other way
Well the world turns
And a hungry little boy with a runny nose
Plays in the street as the cold wind blows
In the ghetto
And his hunger burns
So he starts to roam the streets at night
And he learns how to steal
And he learns how to fight
In the ghetto
Then one night in desperation
A young man breaks away
He buys a gun, steals a car,
Tries to run, but he dont get far
And his mama cries
As a crowd gathers round an angry young man
Face down on the street with a gun in his hand
In the ghetto
As her young man dies,
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’,
Another little baby child is born
In the ghetto
Ampar, you have hereby been discredited for any and all posts on this thread due to your failure to cite and credit original authors when appropriate.
There, now all Windows games will come to the Mac, easily and on time, and goes the Winblowers saying “Ahh, you are nothing more than a toy computer: you can’t do games”
Isn’t that pitiful? We are going to miss one more opportunity to call idiots idiots.
When all cards will be on the table and the Winblowers will shut the fsck up, we will miss the old days when it was easy to call out “IDIOT” at every fscking moronic crap was leaving their frontal orifice.
“Ampar, you have hereby been discredited for any and all posts on this thread due to your failure to cite and credit original authors when appropriate.”*
Ouch. Should I take a time out?
*Any time I whistle or hum a tune in public I’ll be sure to credit the author at the end. That’s fair use.
fuck windows
Console games suck. Games on computers rock. I’ve been playing them since the early ’80s. People like Macman have said “get a console” because Macs have always had crappy/limited games. I’m very excited that the barriers to Mac ownership are crashing. Soon, with any luck, I’ll be able to dump my AMD PC because my games will run on a Mac.