Mac Gaming vs. PC gaming

[Devarien]

I'm not a heavy gamer (mostly limited to WC3, Diablo 2 [yeah its old, but its still fun], and a few others), but I still spend a lot of time playing them. Are Macs equally capable at running these games, and are games generally compatible with Macs? (except Half-Life, but thats OK with me)

I currently own a PC and can't stand the thing because it crashes constantly. I use minimal resources, don't really tinker with major settings, and generally clean the hard drive of random stuff every month or two (registry, disk cleanup, defrag, etc.) but it still slows down and crashes more often than I would prefer (not constantly, but enough to get on my nerves).

I'd appreciate feedback. I'm off to college next year, so I'll need a computer I can a) rely on, and b) play games on. a)'s pretty much been covered, but more info in that area would help. Thanks!

-Dev

[JzzTrump22]

The currect macs will exceed your hopes and expectations. Of course WC3 and Diablo run well on these systems. These systems can handle things way more grphic intensive then that, such as world of warcraft. Many many first person shooters and tons of other games. There seriously are a ton of games on the mac, no one realizes it, but there are a lot of games.

[James Philp]

Let's not even get started on this!
PC's are far superior in gaming, MAINLY because most games on the Mac format are ported over and NOT developed from the ground up for the Mac platform.

Hopefully in the future we will see more developed for the Mac due to adoption of PPC chip technology in the Xbox 360.

Wnat a crash-free gaming experience? - Buy an Xbox and use a Mac to compute.

Add to this the PC has about 100 times as many titles than the Mac.

Please Don't buy a Mac to game - even with the top-end systems, you will be disappointed (you can get the same results at a fraction of the cost with a PC).

Buy a Mac for everything else! Music, Video, Web, Work Etc.
Personally:
Mac & Xbox makes James a happy boy! (And I love gaming!)

[JeDiBoYTJ]

JzzTrump is right, there are tons of games available for the mac, just look at my sig, im currently playing Doom3, Postal 2, Sim City 4, Jedi Academy, and a bunch more. They each run very nicely on my Powerbook... Of course, the state of Mac gaming is no where near the height of PC Gaming, but that doesnt mean its bad. :cool:

[Capt Underpants]

PC Gaming > Mac Gaming

[/thread]

[JordanNZ]

Did anyone actually read his post?!


The games he listed will run perfectly.

[beige matchbox]

I'm pretty big on gaming, and on my desk i have a fairly old PC rig, and my 800Mhz iMac, the PC gets used for games and surfing (surfing purely because the screens right in front of me) and the mac everything else, perfect :cool:

Anyway, if your a casual gamer, and WC3 and diablo2 are about as power hungry as you'll ever want, most of the current macs will more than be upto the task :)

As for the get an xbox comment, imo their not good enough, i like RTS and FPS games, the resolution sucks (some games can use HD setups, but few have the hardware), not to mention the average TV isn't the sharpest display in the world, yuk :rolleyes:

[James Philp]

I'm pretty big on gaming, and on my desk i have a fairly old PC rig, and my 800Mhz iMac, the PC gets used for games and surfing (surfing purely because the screens right in front of me) and the mac everything else, perfect :cool:

Anyway, if your a casual gamer, and WC3 and diablo2 are about as power hungry as you'll ever want, most of the current macs will more than be upto the task :)

As for the get an xbox comment, imo their not good enough, i like RTS and FPS games, the resolution sucks (some games can use HD setups, but few have the hardware), not to mention the average TV isn't the sharpest display in the world, yuk :rolleyes:

Up a bit late!?
I made the Xbox comment - I love mine. Most games play well enough for me, Brothers In Arms is good, Fable looks very good, Halo 2 is fun, all with no hassle. To me, hassle-free and fun is more important than resolution or fps.
Why do you think microsoft is trying to build a gaming machine!? - They want to more PC users on! (look at all the games developers they are buying on just for that purpose!)

[Devarien]

It seems that hardcore gamers prefer the PC's over the Macs. I definitely don't consider myself hardcore, but I'm not going to be playing WC3/D2 forever. Can I expect games coming out in the future to be compatible on Macs? I'd like to actually find another game I can play...

Speaking of other games, and somewhat related, any news on Guild Wars? I heard its going to break EQ/WoW/etc. but a) what have you heard, and b) macs?

-Dev

[beige matchbox]

Up a bit late!?
I made the Xbox comment - I love mine. Most games play well enough for me, Brothers In Arms is good, Fable looks very good, Halo 2 is fun, all with no hassle. To me, hassle-free and fun is more important than resolution or fps.
Why do you think microsoft is trying to build a gaming machine!? - They want to more PC users on! (look at all the games developers they are buying on just for that purpose!)Just a bit, currently in bed with my good old iBook 300Mhz and an amazing 160Mb ram, running panther too :D

I got my xbox with midtown3 and halo, and tbh if it wasn't for midtown i'd have sold it long ago,

i found in halo the fps dropped to i'd guess 15fps when there was alot of bad guys on screen at once, and i just can't get the hang of controlling a FPS game with a joypad :rolleyes:, far too many years of keyboard and mouse :p

[James Philp]

I find the Xbox as the first controller I like.
Having used it for nearly 3 years now, I'm not comfortable with a mouse/kb anymore.
Tell me, are you running Fable, Halo 2, Brothers in Arms & Mercenaries on that old PC...? Considering an Xbox costs £100, I'd say it was the best Mac peripheral available!

[beige matchbox]

One of my favorite games is Half-Life, i regularly play TFC, and also played through half-life2 comfortably at 1280x1024 all med settings 4xAA 2xAF at around 40fps (meaning it rarely juddered) when an xbox can do that, and output via dvi (or even vga) straight to a computer screen i'll be happy

I'm currently playing though COD at the games max settings at 1280x1024, without a hiccup

I also enjoy tinkering with my games, wether it's just the cfg files, or making scripts, i also like being able to play multiplayer with whoever, and however i want without paying a subscription

Simply put, for my gaming needs, consoles are currently far too limiting :)


I will agree, that for your average pick it up and play kinda gamer, which most are, the xbox/ps2/gamecube etc. are perfect :cool:


Also, my PC isn't all that old, XP1700, ABIT NF7-S, 512Mb ram, 9800pro and the like, not idea how much it has cost me, as it kinda evolved from a 333Mhz celeron system, lol

[WhiteSavage]

WTF? Quite frankly I'm learning to hate these forums. I've heard, "Macs suck for gaming" and "NEVER buy a Mac if you want to game!" Roughly 5,284 too many times here. Oh yeah, I hear that from PC gamers every so often, but I hang around:

www.macgamer.com,
www.macologist.com,
www.insidemacgames.com,
www.macfpsgames.com,

And quite frankly, many of the people here have the worst attitude so far. You cant play Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 on your Mac, Get over it! If your not a Hardcore gamer then there are more games then you will play in a lifetime available for your mac, and with Mac sales on the rise, Gaming is seeing a boost too. I play Call of Duty, CoD: United Offensive, Unreal Tournament 2004, Rise of Nations, Starcraft, Sim City 4, Age of Empires II, Escape Velocity: Nova, + some others I dont play as much. All work good - great on both my PowerPC Dual G4 and my iMac G5.

A Wise man once said: "The reason I'd go with the Mac is because I will trade the prettiest graphics, the crappy OS, crappy security holes, crappy viruses, crappy maintenance, and crappy long run costs, for still quite good graphics, performance, and most importantly, a computer that works."

[Mav451]

One of my favorite games is Half-Life, i regularly play TFC, and also played through half-life2 comfortably at 1280x1024 all med settings 4xAA 2xAF at around 40fps (meaning it rarely juddered) when an xbox can do that, and output via dvi (or even vga) straight to a computer screen i'll be happy

I'm currently playing though COD at the games max settings at 1280x1024, without a hiccup

I also enjoy tinkering with my games, wether it's just the cfg files, or making scripts, i also like being able to play multiplayer with whoever, and however i want without paying a subscription

Simply put, for my gaming needs, consoles are currently far too limiting :)


I will agree, that for your average pick it up and play kinda gamer, which most are, the xbox/ps2/gamecube etc. are perfect :cool:


Also, my PC isn't all that old, XP1700, ABIT NF7-S, 512Mb ram, 9800pro and the like, not idea how much it has cost me, as it kinda evolved from a 333Mhz celeron system, lol

If that's a DLT3C, it better not be at stock :mad:
(and quite a step from a Celeron...more like a Olympic long jump).

And on the topic of gaming, considering you have only mentioned Blizzard games, if that's all you play, you are fine. Blizzard always does simultaneous Mac/PC launches...likewise, they have separate development teams for the OSes...so you know the Mac version is not a port. That is a VERY important distinction to remember.

[beige matchbox]

If that's a DLT3C, it better not be at stock :mad:
(and quite a step from a Celeron...more like a Olympic long jump).it is, and it is,

but in my defense, it's still just about fast enough to run the games i want it too stock, and i plan on a CPU and ram upgrade before too long, so i've never really had the drive to mess about with it :)

And the celery to XP wasn't done in one go, i went through 4 or 5 mobos to get this far

[Eric5h5]

It seems that hardcore gamers prefer the PC's over the Macs. I definitely don't consider myself hardcore, but I'm not going to be playing WC3/D2 forever. Can I expect games coming out in the future to be compatible on Macs?


Of course. As long as you don't need ALL the games, and as long as you don't expect those games that are ported to be released at the same time as the PC version (except in rare cases), Mac gaming is fine. Personally, I actually prefer the wait for 2 reasons: you get a better idea of how the game actually is (instead of relying mostly on pre-release hype), and you generally suffer through fewer bugs (because usually the PC code has been patched a few times by the time it gets ported).

--Eric

[Devarien]

Don't let me interrupt this little console/PC/Mac gaming war thats going on, but how about the big question:

Guild wars, do you know if its going to hit Mac at all? I haven't checked yet. Thanks!

-Dev

[JzzTrump22]

You'd honestly be better off with getting an xbox to game with, but gaming is good on the mac as well. I play lots of games on my mac all the time. But gaming on my xbox is better, i like the controller better then mouse and keyboard. Also, you don't have to worry about compatability issues, and whether the game will run or not.

[stutz]

Devarien,

As of now there is no news or even rumors that Guild Wars is coming to the Mac.

Keep in mind that most of the top games come to the Mac within a year or so with the exception of those games which use the Havok physics engine and Gamespy. Current and future games that use Havok and Gamespy are extremely unlikely to ever make it to the Mac due to the outlandish fees that both request from Mac publishers. Hopefully this will change; but there is no evidence that it will.

As far a games on the Mac go, things have never been better. There is so much out there that has come out in the past 3 years that you'll be busy forever just trying to catch up if you're a casual gamer. If you're uncertain about the games that you can play on the Mac check out these links for games that have and are about to come out:

http://www.insidemacgames.com/previews/

and

http://www.insidemacgames.com/misc/release_dates.php


You're welcome,
Stutz

[Nermal]

Speaking of other games, and somewhat related, any news on Guild Wars? I heard its going to break EQ/WoW/etc. but a) what have you heard, and b) macs?

Nothing's been announced yet, but the company has released Mac games in the past, and also says that they'll look at other platforms once the game's been released. Obviously they need to update that statement :rolleyes:

Edit: I've emailed them and asked whether they have any news.

Edit 2: No news yet, but they've added my 'vote' for a Mac version.

[Soulstorm]

I'm not a heavy gamer (mostly limited to WC3, Diablo 2 [yeah its old, but its still fun], and a few others), but I still spend a lot of time playing them. Are Macs equally capable at running these games, and are games generally compatible with Macs? (except Half-Life, but thats OK with me)

I currently own a PC and can't stand the thing because it crashes constantly. I use minimal resources, don't really tinker with major settings, and generally clean the hard drive of random stuff every month or two (registry, disk cleanup, defrag, etc.) but it still slows down and crashes more often than I would prefer (not constantly, but enough to get on my nerves).

I'd appreciate feedback. I'm off to college next year, so I'll need a computer I can a) rely on, and b) play games on. a)'s pretty much been covered, but more info in that area would help. Thanks!

-Dev
Seriously the mac platform is just for you. Since you are a casual gamer, you will not even need a top end mac to fulfill your gaming expectations. Alsom gaming on the mac is becoming better every day.

The truth is, that PC's beat Mac's in gaming. But it is the only thing that a PC will ever be able to beat the mac. Truly, I play a lot of games, and I have been using Macs for 10 years. I haven't regret I am a Mac user a single moment.

You seem willing to accept the pc's faster performance in games, in order to have a computer that will not crash and will allow you to do other jobs without any problems at all.

I think you are the definition of a mac user. My advice is that you should have used a mac already.

[BKKloppenborg]

I'm not a heavy gamer (mostly limited to WC3, Diablo 2 [yeah its old, but its still fun], and a few others), but I still spend a lot of time playing them. Are Macs equally capable at running these games, and are games generally compatible with Macs? (except Half-Life, but thats OK with me)

I currently own a PC and can't stand the thing because it crashes constantly. I use minimal resources, don't really tinker with major settings, and generally clean the hard drive of random stuff every month or two (registry, disk cleanup, defrag, etc.) but it still slows down and crashes more often than I would prefer (not constantly, but enough to get on my nerves).

I'd appreciate feedback. I'm off to college next year, so I'll need a computer I can a) rely on, and b) play games on. a)'s pretty much been covered, but more info in that area would help. Thanks!

-Dev

OMFG lol this is to funny i play those games to and am i college student soon to buy a mac and wanted to ask this question thanks for doing it for me... :cool:

[crachoar]

JzzTrump is right, there are tons of games available for the mac, just look at my sig, im currently playing Doom3, Postal 2, Sim City 4, Jedi Academy, and a bunch more. They each run very nicely on my Powerbook... Of course, the state of Mac gaming is no where near the height of PC Gaming, but that doesnt mean its bad. :cool:

Doom 3 does not 'run very nicely' on your Powerbook. How would I know? I own the same Powerbook (been too lazy to update my ram info in the sig) Unless of course, there's a button in the options somewhere that controls the feature for 'decent perfomance on a mac'. If so, I have that option turned off...

On topic: Doesn't Diablo 2 run in Classic?

Anyway, guy, if you want a gaming machine for 'up and coming' titles - get a PC or a console. Macs have games, yes. But often times (more often than not), they are shoddy ports - not worth more than $.02 (or a free 'trial download' off of your friendly, neighborhood 'internet'). They aren't optimized at all, and generally, perform very poorly...

Not to mention, the fact that the game updates fall behind the PC versions. What does this mean? Well, if you're playing a game like UT2k4, the PC version could be patched months before you even see the mac patch. This is a problem if you play online (which you really should with that kind of game) as it makes you incompatible with the PC / Linux players. I remember that's the sole reason why I stopped playing RtCW.

Mac gaming is kind of a gamer's hell. If you're just a casual gamer - and all you want is a few 'Blizzard' titles, then you're golden.

However, if you think the 'latest and greatest' is going to be coming to the mac (on time) and that it will perform well - you're in for a real dissapointment.

Also, a lot of people on these forums will tell you that something runs 'very nicely' when they mean '10fps @ 640 x 480'.

There's really no debate here - PCs and Consoles are the way to go if you're a 'hardcore' (hate that word) gamer. But it sounds like a mac would work just fine for you - especially since Blizzard likes Apple Computers. Just make sure you get a decent video card option and as much RAM as you can afford.