“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:
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…