98 replies to this topic

[ksec]

I think one major problem before all hardware and software issues ; is a personnel issues. And that is Steve Jobs.
As far as we can tell he currently does not give a damn about gaming on Mac. And as the result there are currently no talk between the games developer and OSX design teams. What they need and how to make things easier for them.
Even traditional OpenGL game dev such as John Carmack has been lured to the Direct X platform ><.

[A Nonny Moose]

You know, if Apple would have released DirectX, people would bemoan it because it would mean a proprietary piece is needed to create Mac games.

Microsoft releases DirectX and it's the shizzle.  Am I missing something here?

[non sequitur]

noone (but us) cares, because they have windows. the fact that windows isnt chained to a piece of hardware means everyone has it, so everyone is happy. (but us)

[bxsci(macuser)]

well there is a thing called unity out there that can make games for mac, windows and linux

its also made for the mac, it runs on some open-source version of .net which means its easier for windows games to be ported to os x

since more people are using macs maybe game devs might start doing more mac games

[Guest:]

bxsci(macuser), on Jan 20 2007, 06:17 PM, said:

well there is a thing called unity out there that can make games for mac, windows and linux

its also made for the mac, it runs on some open-source version of .net which means its easier for windows games to be ported to os x

since more people are using macs maybe game devs might start doing more mac games

Not likely to happen though, as 95% of the marketshare is still Windows, and Mac is barely breaking 4% of the market.

[Purple Puppy]

By letting alt-tab work for full screen games as well, Apple appeals to those people who play games when they are not supposed to.

Edited by Purple Puppy, 19 March 2007 - 10:28 PM.

[BobOki]

Two words: Directx 10

[cash68]

Mashugly, on Dec 3 2005, 10:59 PM, said:

What does Apple need to do to make the Mac gamin experience better?

They can put a god damn video input port on the back of my 24" iMac, so you can hook up a PS2 to it.   That would be awesome, as I haven't used my PS2 in over 4 months (my iMac replaced my TV).   3rd party solutions like eyetv have lag, so I won't even bother trying them.

[MacApprentice]

I only see 2 things working in favor of Apple for games:
* They should make GFX upgradable and allow third parties to make those (Maybe an MXM format of some sort) that' a bit of investment but in the end it'll be profitable by both Apple and third parties.
* Finance the development of a Wine/Cedega style engine to make windows games compatible. It'll costs less than porting every games and could works really well if done by a professional team in contact with games editors.

I don't see this happening any time in the future as Macs are still too pricey and non evolutive and Apple already took care of the "gaming problem" with Bootcamp.We'll still have to see what Parallels will do in the future, fast DX9 support would be an ideal way to not boot into windows anymore (at least not natively).

[BobOki]

I disagree.
Apple making bootcamp is NOT taking "care" of the problem. It is simply giving the user a way to get by for now. Adopting 100% a different OS to play games is hardly a workaround.

Until Apple either makes a deal with Microsoft to lease DX10, or they make a DX10 killer, you will NOT see this os surpass Windows.

[som3on3]

for those who don't know
there is out there a topic for playing nfs and other window games
on your mac

[BobOki]

Emulation in ANY form is NOT a solution, its a temporary bandaid at BEST.
We are talking about a FIX, not just getting by.
Getting by, we have bootcamp, parralells, vmware, and that codeweavers program.

[MacApprentice]

You guys need to see this in a realistic manner. Apple is selling to a nich market, no game company in their sane mind will ever publish every of its games on the Mac. They do port block busters because they appeal to the most Apple Mac owners but that's it. It's basic economy, the best thing is still some form of virtualisation...

[bxsci(macuser)]

MacApprentice, on May 30 2007, 04:11 PM, said:

You guys need to see this in a realistic manner. Apple is selling to a nich market, no game company in their sane mind will ever publish every of its games on the Mac. They do port block busters because they appeal to the most Apple Mac owners but that's it. It's basic economy, the best thing is still some form of virtualisation...

agreed - for the time being virtualization will be good

and when mac continues its rise we'll see some increase in gaming

[yoda75]

bxsci(macuser), on May 30 2007, 07:20 PM, said:

agreed - for the time being virtualization will be good

and when mac continues its rise we'll see some increase in gaming

In a perfect dream world Apple and Sony would cut a deal. Apple authorizes OSX for the Vaio and Sony releases a laptop graphics card complete with cell GPU + PS3 emulator.

[bxsci(macuser)]

yoda75, on Jun 13 2007, 10:05 PM, said:

In a perfect dream world Apple and Sony would cut a deal. Apple authorizes OSX for the Vaio and Sony releases a laptop graphics card complete with cell GPU  PS3 emulator.

and mac compatible blue ray drive

[u1m2]

MacApprentice, on May 28 2007, 11:52 PM, said:

* They should make GFX upgradable and allow third parties to make those (Maybe an MXM format of some sort) that' a bit of investment but in the end it'll be profitable by both Apple and third parties.

This is a MUST if Apple is going to appeal to the gaming market and not just for the iMac or Macbook Pro because the desktop macs lack decent upgrades as well. For example my upgrade cycle is 2 GPU's per Mobo/CPU/Ram combo i.e. I usually buy 2 graphics cards (once a year high-end) before I sell the core of my system (before warranty expires) and upgrade. With Macs the problem is there are no decent upgrades once the system is bought. Quad G5 owners are like two generations behind with their graphics cards although they have kick ass systems that is good enough for anything else. Think of the poor people stuck with Dual G4 systems. The system is good enough for mild PS and some audio/video editing work but they can not upgrade to the best AGP cards out there whereas some guy who paid 500 bucks for an AthlonXP system back in the time can upgrade easily and play the latest games. (X1950XT or 7950GT for example).
How long has it been since the 8800 GTX is released you said ? How much longer will the people with Mac Pro's going to wait for them ??? With the way things are going not many gamers will switch to Macs anytime soon. Doesn't Apple realize that gamers have money and are willing to spend it, haven't we demonstrated already how much we like to buy new stuff even when we don't need them ?

[yoda75]

Apple does want the gamers as you can see from their most recent announcements from EA and ID.  Unfortunately up until recently it's been hard for them to justify a full commitment to the Mac plarform from the Game developers due to Macs having such a small market share. Things have changed now and we can be hopeful of a much better selection of games being offered for OSX. The Intel transition has allowed for things like transcider's software that will minimize the work required fro developers to port games to the Mac. With Macs (very slowly but surely) gaining market share, and the R&D required to port games being minimized, I think we will slowly start to see more and more titles available for OSX.

In the meantime, there's bootcamp. There is also gaming through virtualization that's about to go mainstream. Either way, just load up TinyXP and install your games and away you go. I'm still happy that now I don't have to keep a seperate PC or gaming console just to play my favourite games.

[vbetts]

Quote

Until Apple either makes a deal with Microsoft to lease DX10, or they make a DX10 killer, you will NOT see this os surpass Windows.

You're forgetting OpenGL. OpenGL does not have the limitations that DX9 had, or Dx10 right now.

[dark4181]

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