Comments on: Apple still quiet on game strategy

Windows PCs still own the game world, as Apple seems content to focus on digital media and portable music.

[jmludwig99]

Strictly games?

If I had to choose a computer system solely for games I'd take a PC. Buying a Mac for games only is ridiculous. It should be clear to anyone since the intel switch that with Apple you pay a premium for the operating system, which isn't designed to run games, and has a limited selection. You'll get more bang for your gaming buck with a PC, and you won't need 16 gigs of ram and additional operating systems.

As far as upgrades are concerned: if you're a serious gamer you are going to have to upgrade on a fairly regular basis, because the latest and greatest games are going to push the technology to it's limits, and very often that technology wasn't available a year ago. You show me a five year old computer running the latest hardware-intensive game, and I will explain to you the benefits of running that game full-screen.

I generally don't get into the Mac vs. PC thing because to be honest I've used both and like both. Ironically, I use Macs at work for accounting and PCs at home for just about everything. I considered buying a Mac because I iLife sounds like a cool package and I wouldn't mind playing around with it. Unfortunately, at the time Mac had just come out with the 15 inch Macbook with the duo-core and I wasn't too happy with the specs (no double-layer DVD burner, primarily) and I ended up getting a more powerful PC at a much lower price.

I'm still thinking about picking up the Mac Mini just to give Apple a try. If the iLife integration works as billed it might be useful for some of my needs. At the very least it's a great new toy to play with. I wonder, however, if Garage Band is any better than Cubase or Sonar, if iPhoto is any better than Picasa 2 and Photoshop CS2 (I use Picasa if I'm trying to find a photo, and PS if I want to do something to it), or if iMovie is any better than Adobe Premiere.

I love my iPod and iTunes and I'd be willing to give Apple a chance. The problem, for me, is value. I'm a hobbyist - my PC doesn't crash (and let's define crash as "needing a reboot") very often - no more so than the Macs I use at work. I don't surf porn and have had exactly one virus in my lifetime, which resulted in the word "wahoo" occasionally being inserted in Word documents. I've really never had a problem getting my work done. What, exactly, do I get for the extra money I'd spend on a comparably equipped Mac?

[Ed-duh-win]

The reason why Macs are NOT the best OS.

This explains it. Macs are NOT the best OS - contrary to the ad that was playing beside this article in my browser. They've spent too much money trying to trap their users to their OS - isn't that the reason why they don't let other companies build a Mac machine? That above concept is called bullying and intimidation.

So the ads didn't really work out as Apple hoped. 95.3% is still owned by Windows. Owned.

[Jesus#2]

what?

"Macs are not the best OS"? Could you translate that? A Mac is a
desktop computer...not an OS. Maybe you game less... and study
more. Just a suggestion.

[Ed-duh-win]

Nice video

Nice video.

[Nick Fortier]

Mac users= nube?

Ok so just beacause I want a computer that requires minimal
maintenance and offers suppior reliability, I'm a nube? I don't
seem to have problems owning people in Unreal Tournment,
Quake 4, or WOW. Sure I don't have a 120 fps in quake 4 but at
40 fps I don't see any differance when I blow some guys head
off.
You pc gamers think its so great because you can build your
computer cheaply, but when your parts fry out in a year or two
and you have to replace them how cost effective is your
computer really. Apples computers are more expensive, but I
know that with the extra cost I'm getting a computer that will
last.
I've owned 5 macs and have only had a hardware problems once,
and that was with my old g4, and that was just the hard drive.
My old Performa 550 ran like new up until we threw it out more
than ten years after buying it. How many pcs out there still run
after 10 years with no upgrades? Most of my friends pc's have
died after just three or four years.
And once again you can upgrade a mac. I can change my
memmory, hard drive, processor and video card as well as
adding a variety of enhancments like wireless internet, blue
tooth, video capture cards, sound cards, and just about anything
else I want.
Besides how many games do you really need to play anyways?
Most of the popular games come out for mac, and they may be
ported over a couple months after there release but we can still
play them. And while it might be nice to have a couple other
mmorpgs to play on the mac, do I really want to pay for 2 or 3
other subscriptions just beacuse the game is the latest thing at
the time.
Wake up pc gamers your not that great. I'll still own you in WOW
and Unreal, even with your uber customized pc.

[Thomas, David]

What In the World is This All About?!

Games didn't start, and certainly won't end, with "Windows",
and/or PCs. This is obvious with game consoles. But nearly
ALL of you, who have posted here, seem to forget that the
gaming industry on personal computers started with Macs,
Commodores, and Amigas. You have forgotten that Halo was
orginally written on, and for the Mac, until Microsof bought out
Bungie.

The argument for "mod-ing" a less than worthy PC is notable,
but an irrelevant argument when you are talking about a
MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, or even an iMac. You can order those
computers with configurations that are more than worthy. If you
are going to argue about cost, then I doubt you are a serious
gamer. "Those tires cost to much" lol.

All of my initial gaming was done on Macs, I began using PCs for
Direct(X ...) games. I actually spend more time working on both
PCs and Macs now, and less time playing games. But for those
looking for games, here is a list of some of the games you can
get on a mac, it covers stupid boards games, child games, RPGs,
and first shooters:

Age of Empires III
Masque Card Games
The Sims Complete Collection
Call of Duty 2
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Age of Empires II Gold Edition
The Sims 2 Pets
World of Warcraft
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition
Sid Meiers Civilization
LEGO Star Wars
The Sims 2 NightLife
The Sims 2 University
Prey
The Sims 2 Open for Business
Ferai
Halo
Masque Solitaire Antics Ultimate Plus
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
Sid Meier's Civilization III
Homeworld 2
X-Plane 8 Deluxe
Age of Mythology
Doom III
Battlefield 1942 - Secret Weapons
Battlefield 1942 - Deluxe
Black & White Platinum
Call of Duty - Deluxe
Close Combat: First to Fight
Command & Conquer : Generals Deluxe Edition
Command & Conquer : Generals
Delta Force : Black Hawk Down
Enemy Engaged
Ford Racing 2
Freeverse - Robin Hood: The Legend Of ...
Imperial Glory
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Legion Arena
Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
Masque Mahjongg
Medal of Honor Allied Assault Expansion
NeverWinter Nights
NeverWinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
NeverWinter Nights: Shadows of Underntide
Poker Academy: Texas Hold'em
Quake 4
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Rise of Nations - Gold Edition
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords
Spider - Man 2 The Game
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie Game
Star Wars Battlefront
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Puls
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword
Total Immersion Racing
Tropico 2: Pirate Cove
True Crime - Streets of LA
Unreal Tournament 2004
Warcraft III Battle Chess
Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa
Wingnuts 2
Zoo Tycoon 2
Bejeweled 2
Bookworm Deluxe
ReelDeal Casino
Activiion Anthology - Remix Edtion
Big Kahuna Reef
Zuma Deluxe
Smart Bear Adventures
Super Collapse
Shrek 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Pet Pals: Animal Doctor
LEGO Mindstorms NXT


By the way, I would be SHOCKED if Apple came out with a game
console. I haven't picked up a single vibe from the computer
industry that ANYONE, including Apple, would be interested. So
if that was the point of the "game strategy" story, its a story
borne in the mind of a desperate author.

[jpsalvesen]

Apple is waiting for Cider

http://www.transgaming.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&file=index&func=display&ceid=24

Look at that product! Make your games run on Mac, out-of-the-box. Once the gaming industry discovers it and the potential in the rising Mac market share, things may change very rapidly.

[flluidfire]

WHATS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT??!!

I have been a PC user for a few years now. A late comer to the PC gaming scene by any measure. While I do appreciate the undeniable fact that games available for PC users outstrip whats available for Mac users, with Boot Camp this argument is now moot!

When you are now able to use 2 OS on one machine, you essentially get the best of both worlds. So whats the fuss. With the recent release of Vista and all the problems associated with it, as discussed at length over the last few months, particularly its inherent weaknesses to malware. I am seriously considering switching to Mac once the new OS X is released. It does cost extra and sure I may not be able to upgrade components like a PC user can, but, unless you are hardcore gamer who upgrades his machine every few months to squeeze as much gaming juice out of it as possible, I doubt it would make too much of a diff.

In any case, what proportion of total gamers, hardcore, casual and otherwise, do hardcore gamers account for?

In light of Vista, I am seriously inclined to switch to Mac, given that Macs now employ Intel and Bootcamp allows me the best of 2 worlds. I have the option to choose between 2 OS in one machine depending on what my use is at that point in time, and that sorts versitility is a winner in my books! My vote's for Mac as soon as the new OS X Leopard is released out of its cage!

[rapier1]

Dual booting

Sucks and is really a horrible hack. It is, at best, a stop gap
measure. At worse, its a false selling point. Of course, MS is happy
to sell you more copies of Vista and XP. They'd be happy to. They
aren't tied in the the hardware like OS X.

[ramkanda]

I guess the fuss is this

I'm a long-time mac user and would like to play games. I haven't installed BootCamp, yet. I'm waiting for the next OS to see if Apple has any other tricks up their sleeve. I think the problem I have with booting into Windows to play a game is that I would have to stop whatever I'm doing and restart my machine to just play. This is certainly better than before (when I had no options but to buy another computer or console) but it would be nice to play a game without leaving my favourite OS.

[stevief1]

Gaming is so important.

A high calling indeed! To be a GAMER.

Now, gimmee a bump!

[demonwebs]

Mac's are not for hardcore gamers.

With programs like Parallels I believe Macs will serve as better
gaming pc's. The problem is you can't really upgrade a mac much
to meet the ever increasing system requirements. I'm sure Apple is
very happy to leave out the very tiny hardcore gaming market.

[wayland.ind]

i own a mac, and it aint a gaming machine

if you chose a mac for gamig, you just shot yourself in the foot.
i can't believe how many idiots back macs when it comes to stuff
macs can't do like gaming and parts upgrading, not to mention
the switch to Intel didn't make Apple an open platform.
you're still limited to what you can put on a mac by what apple
offers. for example take the mini, the imac and the macbook.
the mini and the macbooks come with intgrated Intel gpu; the
imac is not very friendly when it comes to upgrades either; you
can't swap the gpu down the road. you're stuck with a 128 Ati or
a 256 MB nvidia, when the market is heading towards the 512
Mb cards now. i still like what my mac does when it comes to
regular stuff like office use or photo and video editing.

[Mergatroid Mania]

970 Million (or more) is a niche?

It's about time people started realizing that PC gaming is not a "Niche Market"

There are four reasons I never bought a Mac. I was a big Amiga fan when Commodore bit the dust so I was left with a choice, Mac or PC.

After seeing a new game just on the market (Descent) for PC, and being wowed by it, and after being attacked (verbally) several times by fanatical Mac owners, seeing the cost (at the time) of a Mac compaired to a PC, and seeing that if I wanted to buy new Mac hardware, I would HAVE to buy it from Apple I decided I'd be better off with a PC.

If I had to make the same choice today, I would still go with the PC because (1) I am a gamer, and (2) the Mac community has not become any less fanatical and (3) I would STILL have to buy all my hardware from Apple.

I might have been able to put up with all these little problems if the Macs had as large an assortment of games as the PC has. Too bad Apple doesn't seem to care about gamers and their little niche market of over 1 billion a year.

But not to worry. I still don't think (other than the games) that Microsoft is any better than Apple. I think both companies are evil. As soon as someone fixes Linux to work with directx (or some such) I will dump Microsoft too.

[msalsbury]

Apple LOST the Game Market

In the last 1990s, I think Apple was THE gaming platform. Its graphics were generally higher resolution, its sound quality better, and its games just more impressive than their Windows 3.x and Windows 95 VGA counterparts. But that's changed drastically since then.

Development tools that were the gold standard on OS X are no longer developed (think Symantec C++, Metroworks CodeWarrior, and the like). Plugins Apple offered in OS 9 for gaming are no more. Developers found themselves having to make the choice to learn OS X development or Windows development. When they looked at the size of the potential market and the wealth of game development tools for Windows, many made the business decision to dump the Mac. Microsoft (and Windows) prospered as a result. Apple lost the game market almost immediately.

Today, Windows PCs offer graphics options like SLI and CrossFire, while Macs ship with mediocre video hardware. Windows PCs offer 7.1 surround sound positional audio. Mac audio is still pretty much like it was back in 1996. Windows offers DirectX, a wealth of development tools, and promotion programs like the new Games for Windows. Apple has nothing of the sort.

Even the high-end Mac Pro offers nothing to gamers that they can't find elsewhere, except OS X. OS X doesn't have the support of major game publishers, doesn't have the wealth of tools, and nothing like DirectX exists to help make games easier to create. As a result, Mac gaming focuses on a handful of niche studios that mostly port Windows games over to the Mac. The result? Mac users get games later than Windows users, pay more for them, and have fewer to choose from.

As long as Apple continues to think its iLife suite is the world's salvation, it will never devote any serious resources to gaming. And it will never have any significant market share until it does support gaming.

Parallels and the other solutions that allow some Windows games to work on the Mac are a crutch. They may make Macs marginally more attractive to the casual (non-hardcore) gamer, but they don't provide the performance needed for serious games.

As long as Apple continues to focus on making its own computer hardware, its hardware is always going to lag the state of the art. While its hardware lags the state of the art, it will not draw the attention of hardcore gamers. When serious gamers aren't using the Mac, there's no reason for mainstream studios to develop games for it. Windows continues to win.

Ironically, if Apple ever does open OS X up to "generic" PC hardware, that will destroy its main advantage over Microsoft - its tight hardware control. If Apple suddenly finds itself stuck supporting OS X every variant of motherboard chipset, video chipset, audio chipset, network chipset, etc., that Microsoft deals with (even just the "major" ones, it will find that annual OS X releases aren't so easy to crank out anymore. Microsoft's 5-year cycle for Vista might seem quite reasonable after all.

I don't see Apple ever doing what it would really take to regain the gamer market.

I doubt Leopard will be changing the situation much either. I suspect the development focus is on Time Machine, Spaces, and new Dashboard Widgets...

[Fil0403]

...because they don't even have one (game strategy).

Yes, Mac's are so much better than PC's that you can't even play 75+% of games available nowadays on them. *fact*

[Fil0403]

...because they don't even have one (game strategy).

Yes, Mac's are so much better than PC's that you can't even play 75+% of games available nowadays on them. *fact*

[noxs92]

Why I wish Apple had a bigger part of the gaming market

I used to play Doom and Quake with my dad when I was 2, so games have been a big part of my life. I've seen the evolution from that too GRAW which wont run my computer, a 7 year old gaming rig (yes, there were gaming rigs 7 years ago) that still blows away most computers.

Hardware wise, a Mac Pro with better hardware (2.66 ghz dual core, 4 gigs of ram, 2 ati radeon x1900 cards) runs almost $2000 less than any top of the line PC.. BUT WHERE ARE THE GAMES?! if mac can sell a better computer, they better have the games to go with it... an almost billion dollar a year market isnt one that should be left alone.