“There is only one reason I still have a Windows PC: games. Obviously, I need a device for hooking up to the net, answering email, and general productivity… But I prefer that device to be a PC so I can play the latest and greatest cutting-edge games. It’s not that the Mac gaming shelf is devoid of life — any system that plays Civ IV gets a thumbs-up in my book — but for a serious gamer the PC continues to be where it’s at,” Fargo blogs for FirePlanet.
Fargo writes, “This is not a new development. For years I’ve wanted a Mac.”
Fargo writes, “I know it’s humiliating, but for once you’ve got to look at what Microsoft is doing and copy it. Those guys are scared of you — and they know that games are the one and only thing that has prevented you from hitting the Tipping Point years ago. The ‘Games for Windows’ team is making noise at every game convention I go to. A whole division at Microsoft is devoted to developing game technology — like DirectX or the Microsoft XNA developer’s toolkit. Microsoft buys up development studios and publishes triple-A games with regularity. Microsoft knows that games are the key to getting people to adopt hardware: how is Microsoft attacking the American living room? Through a game console. How did they make sure that game console was a household name? They bought Bungie and brought Halo on board. Man, Halo was supposed to be a Mac game.
“They shanked you,” Fargo writes.
“I say, take some of that big money you’re making from iTunes and shovel it into gaming. Don’t go half-assed, Apple. Buy some companies up. Get with the mergering and acquisitioning. Get some exclusive content. Make sure that the next Spore-like event appears on the Mac first,” Fargo writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We remember sitting in the keynote hall at the Javits Center when Halo was introduced to the world by Steve Jobs (“Halo will be released simultaneously for Mac and Windows”) with a preview trailer at Macworld Expo NYC in 1999. Less than a year later, Microsoft bought Bungie.
Macworld Expo NYC 1999, Steve Jobs shows off Bungie’s Halo:
That’s the other halo effect.
Sigh…. I still have that Halo sneak peak on an Apple CD in Quicktime form. Everybody I showed it to was just blown away at the time.
Apple needs to do so much work in this area, and in 3D too. Studio Max still isn’t written for the Mac, and it keeps many 3D art and game designers I know on Windows. I think Apple knows this, and they have plans for the future of AppleTV and widescreen iPods. It has to happen NOW. Like right now. By this holiday season.
Why doesn’t the guy just buy a Mac Pro and use BootCamp. With 8 cores, and an nvidia quattro, what more could he want?
“Sigh…. I still have that Halo sneak peak on an Apple CD in Quicktime form. Everybody I showed it to was just blown away at the time.”
stick it on you tube! please
@ anaknipedro
“what more could he want?”
To stop using Windows.
Here’s on Open Letter to the Open Letter Writer:
Keep your Windows box for games, I don’t want MS to completely disappear (well actually I do, but…), we need them to keep the competition alive until there are many economically viable alternatives.
Your’s Truely,
Mr. Peabody
Inventor and Operator
of the WayBack Machine
which proves, Windows PCs are essentially toys.
Amazing they are used in the real world as well when essentially are TOYS.
Who opened this letter?
I tried searching but couldn’t find it, but I remember reading something about Steve Jobs not liking violent video games. Perhaps as they’re not intrinsically creative.
I may’ve just dreamt it of course.
I am in the same position – I switched away from Mac years ago because I like to play games on my computer and I couldn’t afford and did not like having to switch between 2 computers.
I am “this close” to switching back to Mac now that I can run windows on the same machine, but now my problem is that I can’t get the video card I want in it. Sure – when in Windows, I could install any PCIe video card in the Mac, but then when I switched back to OSX, I would need to remove it. THAT is just not going to happen – the cards were not meant to be installed and removed in that fashion.
As I see it there are several things Apple needs to do:
1) Spend some big money on Mac gaming development
2) Enable Mac users to use any off the shelf video card from ATI or nvidia (This should be a no brainer – in Windows, there are only a few driver versions for each platform [nvidia & ATI] that pretty much allow you to use any video card form those companies. How hard would it be for Apple to offer/create a “unified” driver for nvidia cards and another for ATI cards?)
3) Update OpenGL to be a true competitor to DirectX or offer another means of getting over the DirectX hurdle.
4) Do something that would blow us all away – make the Mac OS run windows software natively.
I will keep my fingers crossed!
NO NEED TO LINK:
MACWORLD HALO PREVIEW
@ChrissyOne
I concur 100%. In fact, I’d go a step further and say I think Apple is already on the late side with this technology, especially with regard to real next-gen iPods. Apple has a lot on it’s plate right now, and it DOES need to get the iPhone and Leopard out the door AND in good order, but the very next thing has got to be new iPods – its got to…
Games are over-rated…
In over 5 years, the XBox has LOST Microsoft well over $5 billion… If Apple were to do the same thing, they too would be dumping billions into a bottomless and empty well.
No, Apple should continue to focus on the high end, high margin element of the business.
Only a Mac can run both Mac OS X and Windows (and uber geeks can play with their linux too)
@ muchmore
“4) Do something that would blow us all away – make the Mac OS run windows software natively.”
And here lies the promised land. My biggest hope for ‘top secret features’. [crosses fingers]
@ Think:
i have that demo disc, too. found the MacWord demo disc just before i moved 6 months ago. at that time i was excited about and bought “Oni” (after several delays) and was waiting for “Halo”. boy was i pissed when i discovered that Microshaft bought Bungie and “Halo” was available only for XBox.
fast forward to today: Still havent played “Halo”, not gonna buy an Xbox, havent finished “Oni” and i spend more time playing “Ace Combat” and “Gran Turismo 3” on PS2 with my son than gaming on my Mac. as a matter of fact, i still havent finished my copy of “Sam and Max Hit The Road” from the OS 9.1 days.
so much for my being a Mac gamer….
Apple does not need to make its computers friendly to gamers. Gamers need to grow up and find a life outside of their computer. It’s really that simple.
i think it is funny that mac’s were always derided as toys and game machines, and not serious machines for business by the windows community for a long time, when actually the gamers used windows or dos, and proportionately more serious work (especially scientific) was done on mac’s. at my age eye/hand coordination games are not what i am most interested in, i would like some more serious games for people that played games before there were computers. but even something like civ iv (and all the ones that came before it) has lousy a.i., and there isn’t much challenge to those games except for trying to overcome cheating by the computer-controlled forces. i don’t want to have to play a person online, i can do that over a board game at home with more realistic rules, have been able to do that for decades. computer-based games today just aren’t very good at the cognitive aspects and even the physics aren’t all that great. good graphics though. hides a lot of weaknesses. the phrase potemkin village comes to mind. but better application interfaces for a mac would make my professional work a lot easier, so if it takes low quality games to cause that to happen, then i guess that is what i should hope for.
@muchmore:
I don’t think you need to uninstall the video card, do you? I could be wrong, but just set up the OSX side to just use the Mac video card and ignore the other one.
If someone has a definitive answer on this, please clarify. Thanks.
Just watched the version on Youtube. What crappy resolution. That just doesn’t do it justice. I’ll try to find my quicktime copy.
@ BustingTheSkullsOfIdiots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony
This is also the one thing that bugs me with the ‘I’m a Mac’ ‘I’m a PC’ adverts. If all Macs are for home and PCs are for business and spreadsheets, how come games for the Mac are always late, are not coming out at all. So maybe PCs are for the home after all (unless you wanna do some photo / music / video stuff at home). If Macs are truly more for the home (even though I work with them in the office every day, and am much more productive than the guys in the company next door on their Dells, as nothing breaks down, and I don’t have to wait for IT to arrive), then they should be better at gaming as well.
Let Microsoft have the frag-boys. Those dudes would never be happy with an all-in-one Mac. If they can’t choose from two dozen video cards they complain. If they can’t switch CPU’s every few months they have conniptions. It they couldn’t fill their Dell boxes with neon tubes and triple story heat sinks they whine.
Macs have a higher calling. Let’s keep it that way.
I can’t believe all of the time and money “invested” into video games. They are a good way to lighten up and pass some time, but when you are pumping thousands of dollars into a computer just so you can play the latest video games, perhaps you need to get your pasty white ass outside and see the world a bit.
I understand that Money talks,
But I really felt that Bungie betrayed the platform and I’ll never forgive them for that transgression.
I’ve played most of their games-
Marathon I, II, & III
Myth I & II
Oni
And I shot a wad when i saw the Halo demo in 1999.
Halo is probably one of the best FSP games ever. But I would not buy a POS XBOX just to play that game.
Yeah, I guess you could say I’m F-R-I-C-K-E-N B-I-T-T-E-R!
The Mac Hardware Platform also needs a high end gaming rig. Mac pro is way overkill with its Xeon Processors, and its ULTRA high end ECC memory is too expensive.
We need a Mini Mac Pro, with field swappable / upgradeable video cards, Core 2 Duo, DDR2 RAM priced around 1k-1500. Basically, take an iMac and rip out the LCD and bump up the Video card power.
The only reason I am holding on to my old p4 windows machine is because there is no direct Apple hardware to replace it, and I already have a high end expensive LCD I dont want to replace. I also dont want to drop OVER 2k on a Mac pro
I have many Windows Friends that feel the same way.
APPLE/STEVE HERE OUR CRIES!! GIVE US A MAC MINI PRO or an INTEL CUBE!!!!
” . . . perhaps you need to get your pasty white ass outside and see the world a bit.”
Amen. (And please wear pants. Think of the children.)
Hey, what about iQuiz?
@ Chrissy One… I disagree whole-heartedly on your point about 3D. 3DS Max is far, far, faaaar from being the be-all end all of 3D Apps. The vastly superior Cinema 4D and Maya both work very well in OSX. Hell, you can even slum it in Lightwave if you want.
I make my living as a 3D Artist/Animator, and have always been, exclusively on a Mac.
“There is only one reason I still have a Windows PC: games”
Stopped reading right there. Get a life.
Here’s a better version or versions of the Halo preview.
http://halo.bungie.org/movies.html?orderby=date
God knows where my Macworld 1999 CD is with all the info on it. Most likely in a box in the storage room.
Seriously, if you want to play games, buy a PS3, Wii or Xbox 360. That’s what they’re built for. Who wants to play games on a PC or a Mac when you can get one of those and hook it up to your big screen HDTV in your living room. And they’re truly plug-and-play, unlike any PC.
A better letter would be:
Keep your Windows box for games, I don’t want MS to completely disappear, we need them to provide the easiest to break-in OS so that virus writer (better, script kiddies) will never focus their attention to anything else and have their playground always ready.
Keep Windows be such a low hanging fruit: better, an already packed fruit ready to be savoured.
Windows, the best AV for everybody else.
MDN “easy” Now, that’s scary
I am a gamer always have been. However I feel that the PC’s days of gaming are numbered. I bought an Xbox and I gotta say gaming is way more fun on a console. For the following reasons…
The cost of a console is about the same as the latest vid card.
5 year upgrade cycle reduces the replacement cost to keep current.
Gaming in the living room while sitting on couch.
Split screen with 2-4 player on almost every game title.
Headset to talk to friends while playing.
Note that I think some games suck on consoles, like RTS games because of the requirement of many buttons to perform specific tasks. Since I’m not a fan of RTS it’s no big deal.
@ Willie G
I believe you, but many in 3D don’t. One friend has lots of money and many years invested in 3DSMax and he won’t just go out and learn Maya, while also learning a new OS. The learning curve on 3D apps is just too steep to expect that.
**Yawn**
Sorry… don’t care about games…. or the lack therof on the Mac platform.
While I understand this is a problem for many, how many gamers really buy off the shelf hardware systems? Don’t gamers like to ‘upgrade’ everything? I doubt Apple will ever allow any type of real customization of it’s systems, more than is available on the Apple Web Store.
If Apple were to develop better tools for gaming developers, how will more games allow gamers to customize a system that isn’t really build to be as customizable as a PC?
Every statistic I hear about computer gaming shows the market to be stagnating or even shrinking. Console gaming is where it’s at.
On PCs, too much of the burden of achieving a good gaming experience is pushed to the gamer. PC gamers are expected to continually upgrade their gaming PC with better video cards and the like. Consoles force the developers to better exploit what’s there already. PC gamers buy half-finished software and then are expected to apply a plethora of patches. Consoles force the developers to work the bugs out before they release.
Overall, with the major exception of MMORPGs, there’s no good reason to game on a PC. (And the best MMORPGs are available for Mac.)
That’s what bootcamp is for. PC games run beautifully on mac hardware with bootcamp. That’s the only legitimate reason to use bootcamp, because everything else you can do just as well or better in OS X
“Stopped reading right there. Get a life.”
Yeah. But stop at one. You don’t need a Second Life.
This is so true.. Apple’s biggest weak point (and it’s HUGE) in the consumer space is GAMES.
Hard core gamers push the hardware envelope on Windows PCs in the consumer space. Apple has no presence here. At best they get hand-me-downs from the Windows world. This situation needs to improve for Apple to really hit Microsoft where it hurts in the consumer space.
Right now I cannot recommend a Mac to my Windows PC loving friends who are hard core gamers.. it’s just not an option. Sure they can dual boot into WIndows using Boot Camp, but c’mon! I would not ask a friend to endure that crap!
Apple fix this situation!
Now!
As a avid gamer and a longterm Mac user I have this to say
Game consoles are taking over much of the needs and wants of the average personal computer.
My PS3 can access the internet and do a lot of things online, just not all that well yet, but it\’s rapidly improving with each system update.
This is why Microsoft and Sony are taking huge losses on the console market, whoever \”wins\” here will own the personal computer space.
Game consoles are sold at near cost or a loss and made up for on individual game prices.
Also costs are absorbed into something bigger that does make profits, for Microsoft it\’s Windows and Office. For Sony it\’s a whole bunch of hardware and content sales.
How is Apple supposed to compete in this space? the iPod? It\’s keeping them alive right now. They don\’t have anything that incurs a profitable revenue stream in order to compete. (perhaps if the iPhone gets really big?) They certainly can\’t be buying content and compete with M$ and Sony.
Apple is best at what they do, create brand new markets and dominate them as long as possible.
Sorry 3D gamers (myself included) Apple and eventually even Windows boxes will see even further declines in the game market.
Go into any game store and you used to see Windows and Mac games with a few console games, now it\’s all console games and a few Win games.
The 3D game market is dead for Mac\’s and that\’s the truth
Don\’t expect Apple to seriously consider it. My PS3 is 10x more powerful and costs substancially less than a Mac Pro with graphic cards upgrades every few months.
Forget seriously 3D gaming on anything les than a Mac Pro with a RAID 0 pair of boot drives either.
Think iLife.
Imagine a game environment that employs your own video, stills, and music. A 3D landscape that is strangely familiar (that trip to Hawaii) with voices from your home video (was that my sister speaking?).
Apple will jump right over the next generation of games, and land in your world!
Imagine it!
I think Apple has realizes what it’s been missing in the gaming market, and the iPod Games are their first real entree into this area. Much like that Motorola RKR, or whatever it was called, was a preliminary entree into cell phones. Steve’s got something up his sleeve for the gaming market, just you wait and see.
Dear Steve Jobs,
Perhaps you do or don’t like violent games but that doesn’t mean that other computer users agree with you, however it is an important part of the market. Likewise you should respect other people’s likes and needs and provide a whole Mac experience.
Sure iTunes is essential, Quicktime Pro is cool and and iWork is really functional. In fact today’s Macs blow windows’ machines out of the water. As for Apple’s operating system, there is simply no match. But something is missing, really missing and that’s games.
Just to jog your memory, in the early to mid nineties gamers gave up on the Mac platform and went over to windows (in hordes) because more and more games were being ported to that part of the market. Apple was always a Johnny-come-lately when it came to games.
Sure we can use Bootcamp or Parallels but that means installing XP or Vista. Have you ever thought that many of us just can’t stand the sight of Microsoft and that having anything from that company (on our Macs) just makes us sick to the stomach.
So come on Apple, get your act together and stop hiding behind Bootcamp/ Parralels. That’s right, by using this type of software for games is the equivalent of saying we don’t care about games being ported to Macs.
You know Steve, I’ve been waiting since Shattered Steel for a Mech Warrior type game to be ported to Macs. I’ve been pretty patient I think, but nine years is just a bit too long don’t you think? So come on dude, if Apple could completely change the music scene in three years don’t you think you could do the same thing to the gaming market.
I spent half the day yesterday playing Halflife2 and half the morning today playing Flight Simulator X…
I’m fine with my MacPro & Bootcamp works flawlessly to play these games!!
A small postscript,
Playing games on an ipod is real small beer and I mean small as in the screen size. Ditto for the iPhone. Consoles are cool but people are still playing games on computers. Frankly, I can’t justify forking out serious dollars for a console just to play games (forget dvds being played on consoles, dvd players/recorders are much cheaper than consoles).
Everyone forgets that Apple is going to where the puck will be, not where it’s at now.
Canadians understand this. They are not worried about the state of gaming on a Mac. They are worried about being able to get that small, hand-held computer that also takes pictures, plays movies and music, uses WiFi to surf the net on real web pages and does one other thing. What is it? Oh yes, makes phone calls and sends text messages.
About the only useful thing that Apple could do for gaming is make Xcode capable of developing code for the PowerPC gaming consoles (Playstation 3 & Wii) as well all Mac OS devices.
high end PC gaming is a dead end. dedicated Gaming boxes are the future.
This doesn’t mean Apple should abandon gaming altogether, but only if it has some killer game or low end gaming it can turn a profit on.
Screw the gamers. Grow up already
@Fargo: Get a life. If games are keeping you from the best computing experience possible, you obviously don’t deserve a Mac. Keep your PeeCee, or discover Boot Camp.
His dream was answered partly with the switch to Intel. Does he live under a cave. As a real mac user, I’d rather not have the gamers come over to our side. Sorry gameboys. Go with nintendo, it fucks up the scene like Apple. Duh. Go drink more code red.
I’m NOT a gamer and I would venture to guess that while there are a LOT of gamers out there, the number of people who AREN’T gamers far outweigh them. Going after such a small fickle (they will jump ship as soon as the next best thing comes out) market just wouldn’t make financial sense.
It makes far more sense to keep selling to “everyday” people (which DWARFS the “gamer that would switch if Mac had more games” crowd) and let the market create games if they want to. Besides, I have a Mac, a Wii and a PS2 in my house, what’s one more game (Windows) machine?
@ BustingTheSkullsOfIdiots
So as the great business leader that you are, your only recommendation is that a profitable, multi-billion dollar business should just go away?
I think you need your skull checked…it’s been busted.
@ChrissyOne
The irony link was too funny!!
this debate reminds me of teh EU complaining about iTunes DRM… Um… don’t complain to apple that software title X Y and Z don’t run on the mac, UNLESS apple makes software title X or Y or Z…
MDN is now unreadable
Want to play games?
Buy a JunXBox.
Im still waiting for an OSX version of This
Seriously, This guy has a point. I personaly don’t play games. I used to when I had an Amiga years ago but I prefer to use my Mac Productively, having said that if games bring bigger market share to Apple it’s a good thing right?
Just because Macs are poorly supported in one area it doesn’t make it a pointless area. Not when we are talking about market share.
Hmmmm, “A whole division at Microsoft is devoted to developing game technology — like DirectX or the Microsoft XNA developer’s toolkit. Microsoft buys up development studios and publishes triple-A games with regularity. Microsoft knows that games are the key to getting people to adopt hardware: how is Microsoft attacking the American living room? Through a game console. How did they make sure that game console was a household name? They bought Bungie and brought Halo on board. Man, Halo was supposed to be a Mac game.
“They shanked you,” Fargo writes.”
While I may agree with the above somewhat, I think its the gamers that are getting shanked. They have to buy a whole PC with windows to get a game machine.
People say Microsoft is so great cause they “BUY” a good company and then try to add software links so you “must” use it on a PC. CONTROL is the name of the game and I think that Microsoft is only good at mucking it up.
They bought HALO cause they did not know how to develop it by themselves, they they stop the Mac release for .. . . control. Yep, I think its the gamers that got hosed. If you want gaming power, consider an 8 CPU, 3 terabyte HD Mac Pro. Hmmm, I think that there is enough computing power there, don’t you???
And, Hey, if you buy buggy Vista, you can get 64 bit data control, but wait in the Mac you get 64 AND 32 bit data control, 128 bit CPU processing x 8, and its all seemless.
I hope gaming comes around, just for you guys.
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en
I love how none of you people who are whining “Get a life!” are noticing the irony.
I think the best course of action is to appeal to the design studios. Getting them to develop a Mac and PC version simulaneously would be fantasic. However, if they would work more closely with Aspyr or MacSoft during development then the delay between release of a game for PC and Mac would be greatly reduced or even eliminated.
Games consoles are a dead end, high end PC/Mac with multi-core processors are the solution.
The GPU from likes of ATi and nVidia is going to die, ATi knew this which is why they sold out to AMD. Muti-core CPU with GPU like functions are the future.
Furthermore, DirectX and OpenGL are going to die, Intel have just demoed Quake 4 using multi-core CPUs and RAY TRACING — that’s Pixar quality graphics people!
Ray traced gaming will make GPU (and console) gaming look primitive — and will work just as well on multi-cores Macs as PCs.
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Quote from The Inquirer:
Intel shows off Raytraced Quake 4
Coming to a desktop near you soon
By Charlie Demerjian: Monday 23 April 2007, 11:47
INTEL WAS SHOWING off Raytraced Quake 4 at IDF, and it’s creator Daniel Pohl gave us a little tour of the game. There is a lot here that will be in the next generation of games, or the ones after that, this is much more than a demo.
You see it as soon as you watch the demos like the one above, it does things that other games don’t, they cheat and cut corners, this one does not have to. See the multiple reflective surfaces that are all accurate? Try that with standard raster graphics.
Raytraced Quake 4 (RQ4) casts one ray per pixel by default, and using four ganged 4C machines, it can run at an almost playable frame rate. This means a Tigerton system should be more than able to render this on a CPU with a GPU there simply to throw pixels on the screen.
There is another raytracer at Intel that will so the same job on a single QC CPU, so this is not a job for a Tyan Typhoon anymore, you can do it on a Kentsfield box now. In a year, this will be quite acceptable on a mid-range machine, and in three, you will have to wonder why you need GPUs anymore. Oh wait, that is no surprise, it is already faster on a Kentsfield than a G80.
If you want to do the same colored lights trick that Epic pulled off in UE3 a few GDCs ago, you can, and you get 100% correct shadows thrown in for free. You also can do physically correct glass shaders, reflection and refraction.
If you have the CPU power to spare, you can also cast more than one ray per pixel and get the equivalent of AA and AF. With 16X AA, you obviously need 16x the horesepower, but that is already on the roadmaps.
Without getting too much into the math, lets just say there are some scaling advantages to using raytracing over normal raster graphics. Where you would have to up geometry and take a non-linear scaling hit if you are using a rasteriser, raytracing will do the same job with a much more linear increase in complexity.
In a neat bending of technology to an unintended use, Daniel Pohl did one really cool thing, he used the same rays that you use for graphics to do collision detection. You cast rays out from the player and everything they hit may be an object.
Since the math is being done already, collision detection, one of the harder problems with 3D games, is done for you. It isn’t free, but considering how many millions of pixels there are on a screen, 1600*1200 would be almost 2 million pixels, a few hundred more per object is rounding error. You can do much more accurate collisions for every bullet and bit of debris spinning around, and do it right.
Basically, this is the future. AMD and ATI have both said this is the path they are on, and Intel has demo’d it at a few IDFs. With the work Daniel Pohl did, combined with a few Intel programs, it is on the short term horizon for gamers. Now that Pat Gelsinger has uttered the ‘L’ word, you know things are for real. µ
MDN word = average. Like the quality of most posts about gaming.
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>we need a mac mini pro….
I agree — in a 1U rackmount form factor that would make it an instant hit among touring musicians and small studios. There would be enough extra room in there for a couple serial ATA drives and a card slot. It would partner beautifully with a host of existing rack-mountable pro gear used by audio and video folk: multi-screen displays, audio monitors, digital audio I/O, preamps, keyboard drawers and the like. For music and light video, an X-Serve is overkill (and noisy) and a laptop is too delicate (and easily stolen). I’ve put a Mac Mini in a rack with an external hard drive and it worked great, though it would be sweet to have it all together in one noise-damped rack unit with heavier-duty jacks and no external power block.
Such a unit could also be configured as a small server for home-based businesses and small workgroups.
I think open letters are something very hip these days.
I’m not a “gamer.” I play some games, but gaming does not impact my decision to buy a Mac instead of a PC. If it did impact my decision, I’d still buy a Mac because it can run Windows. Some reviews have said Apple makes the best Windows PCs on the market. I can buy and install a generic version of Windows XP (not Vista) and be rid all the “craplets” that come install on a brand-name Windows PC. And I wouldn’t have to deal with Vista issues.
That’s the best of both worlds.
I’ve long said that this market was the one remaining catalyst to propel the mac into serious units sold numbers. If Apple could motivate more companies to co-develop for the mac, sales would skyrocket both for macs and games.
But how to do this? Game companies develop for the platforms they think will move units. Heck, PC gaming is even falling off the wayside to consoles due to sales.
I think a good set of cross-platform dev tools, with libraries that can extend target platform to perhaps even include consoles, are the answer.
Deals with game publisher is also essential. Perhaps subsidize some client development for big MMOs (a huge chuck of gaming $$ now) to produce a mac-compatible client. I’d love for City of Heroes to have a native mac version.
Hopefully Apple will come up with somthing soon to address the deficiency in native game development.
I love Apple and Mac, but I feel embarrased at the complete fanboyish attitude and lack of general rationality shown by these fans. Windoze sucks, but if there is one place that beats the Mac it is gaming.
If you want more games developed for the Mac, start buying them. Publishers will then have the incentive and $ to develop. Yes, Apple should help developers as well.
I’m a casual gamer and play flash games online. There’s a large variety of very entertaining single and internet connected games that are all good enough for me. I can do this on a Mac or PC with an internet connection. Supposedly, there are MANY casual gamers. I would support Apple including fun, casual games on all of their hardware. Find fantastic developers and port them if you have to. Chess will never be as easy to play as solitare or mindsweeper.
If i wanted to play more games, it would either be something like a Warcraft or i’d buy a console. I’ve no desire for games like Warcraft so I’d buy a Nintendo Wii or DS instead and pay for games.
Yes, i’d actually spend $ to buy console hardware but it’s also about the experience: the seemless experience of a game made for a console that i can enjoy on a screen larger than my computer monitor.
Yes APPL, please wake up..
We need better GPUs in the MacBookPros, and we need an affordable tower with good graphics.. make the GMac.. PLEASE!?!?
Apple,
Just work your magic with studios to get the game titles on PC and Mac, simultaneously. None of these year-later Mac releases.
And have the Mac version’s quality at least be on par with its PC counterpart. No lame half-assed ports…
I’d love to see a Mac-only blockbuster, but we need to get some more market share before a studio wold make a serious effort.
Does anybody know what the real numbers are for Apple to make any money on this? Why do it otherwise?
Sorry to get personal, but the gamers that I know are students of mine who don’t get to sleep till 4 in the morning, and aren’t interested in anything else, especially coming to school. Most of them think they will be game developers when they grow up. Is there a market for more game developers than there will be game buyers?
Someone get some numbers, otherwise this conversation is a waste of good electrons.
Next get a mac ad.
PC. (in halo gear) So I’ve been up all night playing with my crew on the net. We just ambushed team wookies hq. Sucks to be a Mac, bet you wish you could play Halo.
Mac: Actually PC…one sec. (He Fades away)(He re appears in bussiness garb with halo gear on top) I’m a member of team Wookie. I just used Mac OSX lepord to emulate games running with DirectX 10. And I actually, I’m on team wookie. Wait…your not team Trekkie are you?
PC: Umm..no way…
Mac: Oh, here comes VulcanPCthrilla…(he shoots)…
PC: MAN!!!!
Mac: Wow, so Mac’s are even better at halo. And PC’s like Treck over Wars.
PC: (Attempts Vulcon grip)
Mac: Dude.
PC> control alt delete, CONTROL ALT DELETE!!!
Mac: it’s…option actually..and…you have to hit control option escape to…nevermind.
I find it difficult to assess just how large of a market cites “gaming compatibility” as a serious factor when purchasing a computer. At first glance, the tendency is to say that such a market is a very small fraction of the overall computer market. After all, most average Joes who buy computers to surf the internet and send emails to their friends don’t care much about games at all.
However, their kids do.
This is both a problem and a solution for Apple. Some kids are going to care about being able to play games, and some kids are going to know about Apple and are going to want one of their computers regardless of whether it can play games natively. Teenagers and adults aged 20-30 will be the reason why Apple gains significant share in the next few years. And the primary reason why this is, is because gaming is shifting towards consoles. These young people (including myself) want things to work properly. They don’t put up with garbage products, especially in the tech space, like their parents do because they don’t know any better. This applies to computers running Windows more than anything else. So watch them all switch in hoards in the next few years. I’m in University now, and of my friends that own laptops of their own, the majority now own Macbooks. This is huge for Apple. These people will stick with the Macintosh now, because “It just works”. Apple’s long-term usability strategy will now begin to pay off, because these young people finally have enough sense to demand that products “just work”.
I’m buying more AAPL, because as far as I can see, the sky is the limit.
–mAc
I miss you, Bungie… The Bungie of old, anyway… The Bungie that put out games like Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity. The Bungie that was dedicated to gaming on the Mac platform. Not the Bungie that sold out to Microsoft so it could make more money. I miss the old Bungie software… :'(
Oh, it’s coming. Apple is developing a “DirectX” like component for its “Core” apps (Core Audio, Core Video, Core Animation) that makes porting PC games to Mac a two week or less affair.
Bingo Bango Bongo, just like Roberto Luongo, Apple will win in gaming with this platform!
It’s not just games – it’s the closed restrictive nature of OpenGL. For example, the GPU version of the Folding@Home project will not anytime soon be portable because there’s no way to program pixel shaders on the Mac to that extent – no way.
I don’t think its that companies don’t want to make games for the Mac – being able to sell a few million extra copies has been a major reason WoW is the number one MMORPG. The problem is that OSX is deliberately restrictive to games and similar performace on the same hardware is very hard to achive on OSX versus Windows XP.
Gosh people get a life. Game systems are for playing games. Computers are for playing some just fun games and for other stuff. I think gamers need to go out and get a life. If you have to upgrade your graphics card every few months and you have so much time to sit and play that much games you need to go out and get a life. Get off of your computer and get out of your house. I think violent video games are bad anyway and i see kids and young adults playing these horrible violent games shooting and killing people with such realism i have always been against those games and there is no reason they need to be so real and so violent. I dont think Steve needs to work on gaming. Although i do think we should have more custimizing on the macs. Maybe there should be a couple graphics card options on each imac rather then just a memory upgrade. And more options for graphics cards for all the macs.
…been thinking thoughts of my own…little thoughts. They might be asinine ..but I’m ok with asinine. I think MS is on the right track with games even though it’s been a real money pit ..and satisfying the gamer dude is nothing more than an elongated learning curve for them. I think they’re building the experience and expertise that’ll be needed for the eventuality of creating virtual experiences that aren’t necessarily game related …instead, they’ll apply to all kinds of virtual environments ….games, education, mind building visualization exercises, military training or any kind of training, seeing the past, or a foreign landscape, or space exploration and, of course, sex. That kind of thing will probably evolve from creating game environments and evolving the expertise ..and it’ll probably only be available on an xbox. oh, by the way, mdn …not sure I like the new fixed-width page ..never liked typing in a tiny box that scrolls ….I’ll try moving to a bigger room.
I’ve seen plenty of comments posted in this blog telling the gamers to, “Get a life”. Is their game playing really much different than all the couch potatoes gathering around the boob tube in the evening to stare blankly at the thing in a vain pursuit of entertainment?
Over the past several years it appears to me that the quality of television broadcasting has plummeted through the floor. I quit watching TV some years ago, save a few minutes in the morning to check up on the day’s weather. I now occupy my leisure hours designing and building varous projects, playing good music, and among a list of other things – occasional game playing. Television is now one of the most unused appliances in my house.
The lack of pity and empathy in this thread disturbs me.
The man admits he is a “lifelong gamer.” Show some sympathy. Not only is the poor sap stuck with a Windows computer, but he bases his purchasing decisions on the best hardware to shoot virtual zombies.
It tugs at my heartstrings.
“It tugs at my heartstrings.”
it activates my gag reflex…