Want to Play Multiplayer Games with Brothers Without Macs - Need Recommendations

[Covington]

Hey, you all.

I have a problem that I think you all can help me will.

My brothers and I live in different states. Every Friday night, we want to have a gaming session together - it's a fun way to keep in touch. Last week, we wanted to play Rise of Nations, but my Mac won't play with their PCs.

Any suggestions of good multiplayer games in which Macs and PCs can play each other?

Thanks in advance,
Covington a.k.a. Lil' Corsi

[GFLPraxis]

Jedi Academy's one I know...

[lordmac]

The Ones I can think of on op of my head are: (keep in mind sometimes the updates to these games come out for mac later and make for temporary time block where u can't play with other people on pc's)

- Halo 1 for computer
- Quake 3 Arena
- Unreal Tournament (almost any of them)
- Warcraft (any of them, this game in particular has excellent support for both mac and pc)
- Diablo
- World of Warcraft
- Call of Duty and Expansion pack
- Battlefield 1942
- Postal 2
- Medal Of Honor
- Command and Conquer

As for some Oldies but still fun and notable:
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Doom


Thats all I can think of right now im sure there is more out there, and I don't know what kind of game in particular your looking for so. Hope this helps.
:) :D ;)

[Soulstorm]

The Ones I can think of on op of my head are: (keep in mind sometimes the updates to these games come out for mac later and make for temporary time block where u can't play with other people on pc's)

- Halo 1 for computer
- Quake 3 Arena
- Unreal Tournament (almost any of them)
- Warcraft (any of them, this game in particular has excellent support for both mac and pc)
- Diablo
- World of Warcraft
- Call of Duty and Expansion pack
- Battlefield 1942
- Postal 2
- Medal Of Honor
- Command and Conquer

As for some Oldies but still fun and notable:
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Doom


Thats all I can think of right now im sure there is more out there, and I don't know what kind of game in particular your looking for so. Hope this helps.
:) :D ;)
i would also add doom 3, homeworld 2, starcraft (as any other blizzard's game, it works great), return to castle wolfenstein, myth 2 soulblighter (although it needs a bit of setup).

[lordmac]

i would also add doom 3, homeworld 2, starcraft (as any other blizzard's game, it works great), return to castle wolfenstein, myth 2 soulblighter (although it needs a bit of setup).

Wow, How did I forget Starcraft, I blame it on the fact that I wrote that post at 3:00 am. Thank you for catching my horrible mistake. :p ;) :D :)

[pgc6000]

Here are just a few good ones:

-Starcraft and Warcraft (I don't it but I know multiplayer is PC + Mac)
-Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (you can now buy the warchest, which is MoH: AA plus expansion packs)
-Halo: Combat Evolved
-Call of Duty + Expansion Pack United Offensive (reccemended :D )

[eXan]

I will add some of my games:

4x4 Evolution 1/2
Soldier of Fortune 2
Jedi Knight 2.

Almost every game with multiplayer can do it :)

[ZildjianKX]

Quake 1 and 2...

[pgc6000]

Almost every game with multiplayer can do it :)
Atleast action games. It seems most strategy games on the mac require gameranger.

[Covington]

Thanks, you all.

Got to build up my mac gaming collection.

[Nermal]

Last week, we wanted to play Rise of Nations, but my Mac won't play with their PCs.

Why don't they fix this? RON's been out for quite a while now, surely they've had time to add cross-platform networking by now.

[applekid]

Why don't they fix this? RON's been out for quite a while now, surely they've had time to add cross-platform networking by now.

Some proprietary Microsoft networking API. DirectPlay, I think. Same goes for the Age of "whatever" games.

[Nermal]

Yes, but why haven't they fixed it? It can't be too difficult to remove the Windows-only API and put a cross-platform one in there.

[pgc6000]

Why don't they fix this? RON's been out for quite a while now, surely they've had time to add cross-platform networking by now.
Yes, Blizzard was able to do it.

[Rocky3478]

If you wait a little bit, you should be able to play America's Army with your brother. ATM, Mac updates are a bit behind, but AA:O v.2.3 for Mac is in the beta stage right now!!!

[JOD8FY]

The Ones I can think of on op of my head are: (keep in mind sometimes the updates to these games come out for mac later and make for temporary time block where u can't play with other people on pc's)


- Command and Conquer

I have C&C Generals but I can't figure out how to play crossplatform with one of my friends who uses a PC. Is there something special that I need to do?

Thanks,
JOD8FY

[DesertFox]

I have C&C Generals but I can't figure out how to play crossplatform with one of my friends who uses a PC. Is there something special that I need to do?

Thanks,
JOD8FY

In the Aspyr Game Agent it says that Command and Conquer does not support Mac to PC play. Same goes for C&C Zero Hour.

Btw this thred is really useful. Some friend and I are planning to have a lan party and they all got PCs (losers, yes i know) and my brother and i are the only ones with mac. god i wanna see them drooling after we whup them either our 15" PowerBook 1.5GHZ G4s. :)

[mattmack]

Yes, but why haven't they fixed it? It can't be too difficult to remove the Windows-only API and put a cross-platform one in there.It is not a matter of fixing it. It is a problem with the proprietary system Microsoft uses. They use Direct play for multiplayer and there is no mac equivalent hence anything based on it can not be cross platform networked. This is the AOE series and RON. Almost every other game is strictly based on TCP/IP so it is easier to get the networking compatible
It suck because I love the AOE series and I love playing agaist my brother in law who is on a PC :(

[pgc6000]

It seems that it's mostly strategy games that can't cross platform. I wonder why.

[TDM21]

It seems that it's mostly strategy games that can't cross platform. I wonder why.

applekid already stated the reason: for some reason the original game devolpers decided to use an API for multiplayer that is Windows only. Mac can not use that API so Macsoft and Aspyr are forced to use a different protocol to allow multiplayer.

[mattmack]

applekid already stated the reason: for some reason the original game devolpers decided to use an API for multiplayer that is Windows only. Mac can not use that API so Macsoft and Aspyr are forced to use a different protocol to allow multiplayer.
It is really limited to Age of Empires and its series everyone else uses TCP/IP as its standard

[TDM21]

It is really limited to Age of Empires and its series everyone else uses TCP/IP as its standard

I know Command & Conquer: Generals and the expansion, Zero Hour, is in the same position.

The Warcraft series, on the other hand, can play Mac against PC.

[applekid]

Yes, but why haven't they fixed it? It can't be too difficult to remove the Windows-only API and put a cross-platform one in there.

You'd have to get MS to budge, too. It's about them, not us. And some developers are probably already quite comfortable with the API. And, since this is MS' game studio, they must be very comfortable.

Also, in the case of C&C:Generals and Zero Hour, there is some heavy assembly code going on with those games, Intel assembly, that is. Glenda Adams stated already how if they left cross-platform MP alone, the Macs would create unimaginable amounts of lag because they have to emulate the Intel's registers and tons of other very technical stuff. And we know how C&C is quite the processor hog.

[pgc6000]

I just picked up Generals. Run well on lowest settings. It is dissapointing that I can't play against PC users, but I was already aware of that long before I got it.