The state of Mac and Linux gaming
blog.wolfire.com
The state of Mac and Linux gaming
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#2Just wanted to throw in, if you object to the browser method of collecting OS permeation- while it is true not all machines have browsers or browse (like servers), there are practically no modern computers that game but don't have browsers.
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#3I think a big part of the problem with the Mac games market is that to some people, Mac games are worth less. I myself would never buy a Mac-only game (ie, a Mac OS only license) despite being a fairly avid gamer (and game design major) and using Mac OS as my primary OS, because buying a Mac game means that I've effectively tied my purchase to a weaker gaming platform. I think this is part of the reason for the high rate of piracy of Mac games. I would love not to have to reboot into Windows to play games but the reality is that there are a few problems with Mac-only games:
1. They don't age well. Try playing a game from before ~2006. Many of them will either a) not run due to OS version incompatibilities or b) run poorly due to being PPC-only and running on Rosetta. If you're lucky there will be a Universal patch, but due to the small market, they often don't have parity with the Windows version in terms of patches. For OS 9 (or earlier) games, you're SOL. Its far easier to run a DOS game on OSX with DOSBox than even a much newer OS 9 game.
2. They are overpriced. Well, okay that's not fair. They don't have a big enough market to benefit from the kinds of bargain prices that PC games get down to, even only 6 months after release. The exceptions to this are games that are released in a Windows/Mac combo SKU, but these are rare (The Sims 3 is a notable recent-ish one).
3. I might actually want to run the game on Windows some day. As someone who flits back and forward from one OS to another, owning software that's locked to one platform is annoying. Free software covers me for a lot of things, but not for games. At least with a Windows copy of a particular title, I can run it with a Wine-based wrapper (there is a dedicated group of people at http://www.portingteam.com/ who release customised Mac wrappers for individual games, and they work pretty well).
My hopes for the SteamPlay feature of Steam for Mac are very high. It would mean that I could buy new games to play on my platform of choice, with the knowledge that I can always take them back to Windows if things go south. I'm just hoping that more developers get on board. While it's unlikely for the moment, if other developers/publishers were to honour previous Steam purchases of Windows games with their Mac versions, they might actually have a decent library of SteamPlay titles on the release of Steam for Mac.
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#4i bought the indie pack only because i wanted some games to play in linux
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#5I'm eagerly awaiting:
Rage by id Software
Diablo III by Blizzard
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty by Blizzard
These are all going to be simultaneously released for Windows and Mac.
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#6It is very likely that Steam is releasing it's client for MacOs sooner or later. Some even say it will be available for Linux.
I think this shows the market is changing. The OS will be unimportant.
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#7Thing is with Blizzard games is that the performance suffers on a Mac, especially if you've had a chance to compare Warcraft 3 and the Starcraft 2 Beta on both Windows and OSX on the _same hardware_
Probably something to do with OpenGL vs DirectX, but, the performance difference is stupid.
Im hoping that Steam won't be the same.
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#8It is very likely that Steam is releasing it's client for MacOs sooner or later. Some even say it will be available for Linux. I think this shows the market is changing. The OS will be unimportant.
May 12th. Four days.
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#9http://www.hemispheregames.com/osmos/#anchor_demos
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Your objective is to grow by absorbing other motes. Propel yourself by ejecting matter behind you. But be wise: ejecting matter also shrinks you. Relax… good things come to those who wait.
Progress from serenely ambient levels into varied and challenging worlds. Confront attractors, repulsors and intelligent motes with similar abilities and goals as you.
Osmos is 100% DRM and region free.
Re: The state of Mac and Linux gaming
#10Thing is with Blizzard games is that the performance suffers on a Mac, especially if you've had a chance to compare Warcraft 3 and the Starcraft 2 Beta on both Windows and OSX on the _same hardware_ Probably something to do with OpenGL vs DirectX, but, the performance difference is stupid. Im hoping that Steam won't be the same.
Blizzard, Id, and Valve must be riding on Apple to fix this because 10.6.3 had a large focus on improving OpenGL and driver performance, and supposedly the beta for 10.6.4 does also.
Hopefully its the start of a continuing trend and not just a temporary thing.