98 replies to this topic

[A Nonny Moose]

There are lots and lot of people saying Apple needs to partner up with Nintendo.  I think that would make a very interesting position for both companies and it would make Nintendo games available for Mac and not PC.  

I can imagine playing Zelda now on a Macintosh.  *drool*

Apple really needs a kick ass game that is only available for the Mac platform.  This was the original intent of Halo until Microsoft bought them out so they could have a kick ass game for the XBox.

[INFNITE]

A Nonny Moose, on May 21 2006, 12:34 AM, said:

Apple really needs a kick ass game that is only available for the Mac platform.  This was the original intent of Halo until Microsoft bought them out so they could have a kick ass game for the XBox.

not gonna happen.  No game developer is gonna develop a game exclusively for a platform that has less than 5% of the total marketshare.  Considering the cost of development on the Mac is probably equal to that on the PC (perhaps even more expensive), developing on the PC would be more important because the market is much larger.  Personally, I don't believe Apple will ever become a gaming powerhouse unless Apple comes out with a game console or something like that.

[BRP]

I think Apple doesn't need to make a console (that poor, poor, Pippin... ), but let's view the extremes here:

The PC platform tends to attract really casual gamers because they don't need to buy a console...

...and it attracts the most "hardcore" gamers, the kind of people who lined up for the VooDoo5 back in the day and worship nVidia or ATI at the shrine of their huge, glowing, water-cooled machines, playing mostly FPS's.

But the consoles attract more of the people who don't really want to pimp out a computer just to play.  They can be pretty hardcore, but they don't have to be.  They can even be the kind of people who just have it as one way for their kids to play, and take away the controllers when the kids misbehave.  

Arcades used to be for the casual gamer (back in the day when they took their place alongside the old mechanical pinball machines), but now they are more havens of the hardcore fighting game and lightgun shooting addicts, and are a sadly underutilized medium (I haven't seen a crowded arcade in years, anyhow; when DDR was novel is pretty much the last time I've seen so much interest in an arcade machine).

I think Apple could succeed in the gaming market by somehow finding a "middle path", but if I could say what I'd be rich =\

[A Nonny Moose]

Both the Mac and PC markets are losing to the console markets, though.  Why even try to cobble together a $5000 system to play Halo when you can do it using a $399 XBox and the graphics are superb (prices are hyperbolic of course, to blatantly outline the price disparity).

It's going to get to the point (and I think it already has gotten there) where game developers will narrowcast to the hardcore gamers and then they'll really shoot themselves in the foot.

[gwprod12]

I was in the mac store the other day, scoping out places to throw molotov coctails (jk) and I noticed the limited selection of mac games, and their prices.  C&C Generals was $49.99 (it's 19.99 for the PC), several games that are the same as PC equivalents were also more expensive.  I dont know if that's just an apple-store thing (you know, like... since these idiots are willing to shell out so much money for nothing, maybe they'll pay $79.99 for last year's computer game) or if the developer's MSRPs are higher due to lack of popularity for the Apple platform.  Still.  It's a turnoff.  I dont like the idea of there being a premium to own something "neat".

All bashing of Apple aside, their prices really arent THAT unreasonable. But the software having a premium over Windows versions is just another nail in the coffin.

Apple systems usually have pretty good video hardware, but again, the premium on that hardware is big.

[A Nonny Moose]

gwprod12, on Jun 17 2006, 01:44 AM, said:

All bashing of Apple aside, their prices really arent THAT unreasonable. But the software having a premium over Windows versions is just another nail in the coffin.

The software prices from games from that nasty port problem.  Mac ports have traditionally come mega late (6 months or more!) and by then, the price for that same game on Windows just got reduced in the sale bins.  Timnig of these ports have gotten better, but it's still an issue when something goes into the sale bin when the Mac version is released.  Of course, this can be solved by companies making hybrid games (and people buying them as opposed to stealing them), but that might be wishful thinking.

[INFNITE]

hybrid games will NOT happen until Apple adopts DirectX which can then allow for easier porting of Windows games to Mac. At this point, porting games from Windows to Mac is not a fun job for developers.

[gwprod12]

Blizzard's made every game they've made for the PC run on a mac too.  It cant be THAT hard.

[nevermind1331]

gwprod12, on Jun 17 2006, 07:31 PM, said:

Blizzard's made every game they've made for the PC run on a mac too.  It cant be THAT hard.

Great!  Then you can port all the games over!

Just kidding of course.  

Economically tho, what you say doesnt make sense.  If what you say is true, then every developer would port their software to osx  and that just doesnt happen.  Since most feel it is too difficult for the money they gain, they write only for windows.  

If it was easy as you say, or "not that hard" i really have no idea.  But i know for a fact they think it is too hard for the money they will make.

[INFNITE]

Game companies obviously take cost-benefit analysis into consideration.  They want to sell the most products at the lowest cost.  Developing for Mac OS X is simply not going to work if you look at the cost of development on Mac and how much money they are going to make.  They're not there to please customers...they are there to make money.  That's the bottom line....Mac users are extremely lucky that a niche company like Aspyr exists to port these PC games over.

[SenVa]

First of all... I'm sure if apple could adopt DirectX they would do it, but DirectX is made by microsoft... to do so would not only be a legal nightmare but it would be almost impossible with the almost completely undocumented libs of DirectX.

Secondly, Blizzard is able to port most of their games(I believe from Warcraft I and up.) to Mac becuase their programmers are extremly talented... To write a rendering engine to run on multipul APIs is extremly hard, But blizzard is able to do it easy after like 7 games (not counting Expantion Packs).

[shadowprophet]

A Nonny Moose, on May 21 2006, 10:34 AM, said:

There are lots and lot of people saying Apple needs to partner up with Nintendo.  I think that would make a very interesting position for both companies and it would make Nintendo games available for Mac and not PC.  

I can imagine playing Zelda now on a Macintosh.  *drool*

Apple really needs a kick ass game that is only available for the Mac platform.  This was the original intent of Halo until Microsoft bought them out so they could have a kick ass game for the XBox.

Nintendo is not interested at all with computer games.

Go buy a Wii when they come out.

[vbetts]

The reason why so many people like PCs better than Macs, is because their fully customable. You can build  your own PC, change sound card, video card, put in a physx card which is a BIG boost in game performance, and upgrade a cpu if your motherboard is compatible with a stronger CPU. You can't legally build your own mac on your own. You can get different parts in it, but you can't build your own. That's Apples biggest problem. If you want a full mac expirence, you have to buy their computer.Which, aren't cheap if you want one for gaming. You can build a decent gaming rig for $500 atleast.You need to pay $1300 just to get a decent FPS on most games for Mac. Apple needs to consider the budget gamers, the GMA900 won't cut it either in the Mac mini, unless they atleast put in a Radeon 9800, Radeon x700, or a Geforce 6200. Hell, the 9200 is better than the GMA900, just needs more memory than 32 mb.

EDIT-What's funny, is Microsoft top selling series on the Xbox, is the Halo series, which Bungie started out on Mac platform, and designed the original Halo, which was stradegy at first, was going to be on Mac, as shadow stated. But, the closest Nintendo will get to a computer is Opera on the Ds, and the rumor that Opera will be on the Wii.

[Pantalaimon]

that apple make a super-game for mac and the same game for windows, but mac version must be cooler, and when windows users play it, there is a message: "change to the mac version and you'll have cooler features "

but must be a REALLY COOL game . _.

[Weebs]

If apple were to partner with Nintendo I believe they would be able to do some amazing things together.

[SenVa]

I think Apple and Nintendo should merge... so they can be called "Appendo"... which just sounds awesome.  The name alone would make mac gaming unstopable.

[Jeezoflip]

How can they make gaming better? Steam client for OS X!

[ronemp1]

With recent ATI + AMD, hardware-wise, apple will be getting more and more of the Nvidia hardware for games. and Nvidia are well-know for their support to game developers. The question now is, will game developer and publishers start to make more games available to Mac users...  Only time will tell.

For now, Mac is not a good platform for gaming, if you really want to experience the latest and greatest....  Company of Heroes, BF2, Age of Empire 3 (latest expansion) Star wars - forces of corruption, Upcoming game Supreme Commander (Just to name a few). I still think it's better to spend about 600-800 dollars for a PC gaming system. PC mag recently featured an article on how to build a decent gaming rig for about 600 dollars.

[johan]

apple can only make gaming better on osx, if they make a osx that runs on all pc's

companys will only invest money in games development if there is a market for it

right now osx only has 4 percent of the pc market.. that to little for big investments in games development

is all about economics..  

[aliquis]

Ranger, on Dec 5 2005, 02:27 AM, said:

As someone new to Macs, maybe someone can answer this for me - what's wrong with the hardware?  Why do people say that Macs aren't cut out for gaming?

I know that there aren't a lot of Mac games out there (relatively speaking) but is that because of the hardware or something else?

I think the problem have always been the lack of native games, now you can install Windows and that solves the problem a little, but Apple doesn't seem to build machines for gamers yet, maybe later. iMac, Macbook Pro and Mac Pro are decent machines for people who wanna play games thought.