Poll: How often do you play games on your Mac? [Archive]

punter

Jan 13, 2004, 06:56 AM

i tried kelly slater's surfing game on my 1ghz 12"PB and it was hardly playable. In fact it quit most of the time because it got so bogged down.

Needless to say I was a little bit disappointed, but it's probably for the best. Plus there are more exciting, fun and productive things to do with my mac, like editing video and making music (come the 16th...)

I wonder how that new "unleashed" wakeboarding game goes on my machine....

IndyGopher

Jan 13, 2004, 07:04 AM

I voted Never (but play games on a PC/Console) although that's not entirely the case. I have toyed with MAME a couple times on my Macs, but since you can buy a couple consoles for the price of a good video card for the Mac, it seems kinda silly to use a Mac as a game machine.

Squire

Jan 13, 2004, 07:22 AM

Originally posted by Centris 650
I really don't play a lot of games. My wife did get me the Sims for Christmas and I logged a few hours at first but between the family (wife, a 1year old and a 2 and a half year old) and work who has time for games?!

I'm in sort of the same boat (9-month old daughter and 27-month old son). The major difference is that my son can't get enough of computer games. (Bad daddy, I know.) Most of the playing time is "Marble Blast" or "Otto Matic," though. So, for that reason, I don't consider my Mac a gaming machine by any stretch. (I have a PC and PS2 for when the kids are asleep. I'm usually too tired then, though.)

Squire

latergator116

Jan 13, 2004, 07:31 AM

I have some games, but I can't find anough time to play them! Even then, I'm not too much of a gamer.

jZilla

Jan 13, 2004, 09:26 AM

It's more about having time than having the ability/software.

I have a PC I kept for gaming but the last two games I wanted are on mac (and I have them) Max Payne and Age of Mythology.

I'd love Max Payne 2 and the ultimate would be seeing my Radeon 9800 equipped Dualie running Half-Life 2.

1macker1

Jan 13, 2004, 09:28 AM

They have games for the mac? WOW, who knew

Lord Bodak

Jan 13, 2004, 09:30 AM

Warcraft 3 occasionally, but most of my gaming is on my PS2.

pimentoLoaf

Jan 13, 2004, 09:43 AM

Of late, it's mostly Ghost Recon, with all the nifty game mods from Damn R6 (http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~damnr6/macmods/index.shtml).

Other toys are The Sims and Stronghold.

eyelikeart

Jan 13, 2004, 10:00 AM

not into games...

Raid

Jan 13, 2004, 10:41 AM

I'm not into games that much, but do like to relax playing Neverwiter nights or MOHAA, or Ghost Recon. I might play 2 hours out of the week I guess that's why I don't play too many games... it takes me forever to finish them! :D

DreaminDirector

Jan 13, 2004, 11:22 AM

I've got a PS2 and a Xbox so I play a few games like UT2K3 and MOH:AA on my mac. Other than that, it's all gaming on the two consoles.

Bunzi2k4

Jan 13, 2004, 11:24 AM

i usually play around an hr a day... used to be more... but ever since winter break, it seems to be getting smaller and smaller...

bousozoku

Jan 13, 2004, 11:36 AM

Originally posted by 1macker1
They have games for the mac? WOW, who knew

If you're trying to be funny, you might learn to spell sarcasm correctly. :D

I play little bits of games every day on my Mac. Usually, it's UT, UT2003 with Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force or Jedi Knight II.

I have a GameCube too, but it's inconvenient to use. (Anyone think someone would ever say that?)

baby duck monge

Jan 13, 2004, 11:36 AM

very rarely. just the occasional WC# or reversi. that's the the original nintendo is for. that's right. the original.

mrsebastian

Jan 13, 2004, 11:53 AM

considering i'm on my macs working for 7-12 hours a day, i like to have my eyeballs somewhere other than the screen. therefore, i play once in a while when i have some free time.

pgwalsh

Jan 13, 2004, 11:58 AM

I used to play them more often on my Mac, but now it's slow and I'm old and the games have changed. :p

wdlove

Jan 13, 2004, 12:08 PM

I voted never, don't play games. It mostly has to do with poor eye hand coordination.

wordmunger

Jan 13, 2004, 12:09 PM

Best way to game on an old mac: play old games. If they were good three years ago, they should still be good today. My son has a blast playing Starcraft on my TiBook, and I enjoy an occasional game of Links 2000 (though it doesn't work in panther :( )

yamabushi

Jan 13, 2004, 12:31 PM

I like playing a lot of old games but quite a few won't run in OSX. The latest games are too much for my hardware. Hopefully my next Mac will be able to handle 3D games better. So while I love gaming on my Mac, I am often stuck using my Windows PC for many games. I would like to see a lot of old games ported to OSX (Master of Orion 2, Panzer General) and better ports of newer games.

pgwalsh

Jan 13, 2004, 12:34 PM

Originally posted by yamabushi
I like playing a lot of old games but quite a few won't run in OSX. The latest games are too much for my hardware. Hopefully my next Mac will be able to handle 3D games better. So while I love gaming on my Mac, I am often stuck using my Windows PC for many games. I would like to see a lot of old games ported to OSX (Master of Orion 2, Panzer General) and better ports of newer games. My favorite old game is Pirates.. That was fun. Does anyone remember that game? I used to play it on my Mac Plus...

ALoLA

Jan 13, 2004, 01:54 PM

Warcraft III: Frozen Throne on my flat-panel iMac. It doesn't have the best processor for a 3-D intensive game, but if I turn down the video options, it's quite playable. :)

bishopduke

Jan 13, 2004, 02:36 PM

I hope a lot of you mac people aren't missing out on the best game ever made: Counter-strike. I'm not even a gamer, but man, that game never gets old!

eric_n_dfw

Jan 13, 2004, 02:37 PM

My favorite Mac games I play with lately are:

Final Cut Pro 4,
LiveType and
Soundtrack
:D :D :D

Seriously though, I spend 8+ hours a day in front of computers doing software development and design work. If I'm on the Mac at home it's either to work on video stuff or surf MacRumors! :cool:

I've got a GameCube for games.

Dont Hurt Me

Jan 13, 2004, 02:40 PM

Im surprised not much talk of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Great single player and fantastic multiplayer. Love the submarine level but iam biased since i used to work on one.

kwtneo

Jan 13, 2004, 02:49 PM

am a soccer fanatic and i play championship manager 4.
works great and is totally addictive....

mmmm duff beer....

agreenster

Jan 13, 2004, 02:54 PM

Originally posted by Stoffel
I hope that in near future I can play the new IndianaJones game on the powerbook. But my actual powerbook is way to slow for that game (TiG4 400 MHz).

Im playing it on a 1ghz TiBook (64mb vid card) and it plays great! Its a really fun game too. Ive almost beaten it, but there are many many levels. They tend to get a bit repetitive, but fun nonetheless. If you are an indy fan, its a must have!!

bousozoku

Jan 13, 2004, 03:20 PM

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
Im surprised not much talk of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Great single player and fantastic multiplayer. Love the submarine level but iam biased since i used to work on one.

I like it but I haven't really gotten into it.

I hope you were working inside the submarine while it was submerged and not on it.

Groznoy

Jan 13, 2004, 03:40 PM

Tetris Max is the only game I play on my mac. Thank god I have a dual g5 for that. hehe It's the best tetris game ever and I don't mind starting 9 to run it.

FriarTuck

Jan 13, 2004, 03:48 PM

I play Age of Empires II: Age of Kings pretty regularly. My eMac and PB don't do a very good job with favorite game of all time (Deus Ex), so I have to go to the old pee cee for that once in a while. And we just got Mario Kart for the GameCube, and that's a lot of fun.

But really, my gaming time has dropped significantly in the past six months or so. So has my television watching and mindless web surfing. Why? Because I've started doing a lot more creating with my Mac instead of just consuming.

I put together at least one Keynote presentation per week. I got a digital camera and I'm learning how to have fun with that with iPhoto. I took a 4 session iMovie class at an Apple store and now I'm making movies with my DV camcorder and burning them onto DVD. I'm trying to teach myself how to use Dreamweaver. My .Mac account makes it easy to share the things I create with other people without taxing my brain or wasting my time.

So while my Macs are not where I'm gaming, I'm not gaming so much anymore. I'm having fun being productive thanks to a great operating system and intuitive software.

But I still love my AOE time once in a while. :D

pgwalsh

Jan 13, 2004, 03:58 PM

Originally posted by FriarTuck

But I still love my AOE time once in a while. :D AOE is a great game. I save time for that too.

agreenster

Jan 13, 2004, 04:00 PM

Originally posted by FriarTuck
And we just got Mario Kart for the GameCube, and that's a lot of fun.

We just got that as well, being huge SNES and N64 MarioKart fans.

I must say, I like the N64 version the best. You cant jump in this version! Wheres the fun if you cant hop and find new shortcuts? My wife and I still have vs battles in Koopa Beach (N64) over that ramp through the cave/waterfall. Shes the master at making it without star/mushroom aid. Im about 66%. :p

Gymnut

Jan 13, 2004, 04:09 PM

Speardhead occupies at least 2 hours a day for me! Any more and I'd break another keyboard.

mc68k

Jan 13, 2004, 04:28 PM

i have a VGS PS emu that kicks ass in OS 9

other than that no games

1macker1

Jan 13, 2004, 04:42 PM

haha, but those games are old. People are happy to be be playing Halo on the Mac, they need to buy some a few of these game developers companies, so i can get the new game when it's new. Not after i've played it on the XBOX, PC, and PS2.
Originally posted by bousozoku
If you're trying to be funny, you might learn to spell sarcasm correctly. :D

I play little bits of games every day on my Mac. Usually, it's UT, UT2003 with Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force or Jedi Knight II.

I have a GameCube too, but it's inconvenient to use. (Anyone think someone would ever say that?)
and let me go fix that.

pgwalsh

Jan 13, 2004, 04:56 PM

Originally posted by 1macker1
haha, but those games are old. People are happy to be be playing Halo on the Mac, Halo may be a lot of fun, but it's essentially the same thing over and over. There's very little variation in the game play. The scenery is the same each time you play. Though it is fun, I think it gets old quickly.

I suppose I prefer games where you have more strategy involved and the landscape changes each time you play. Aventure and quests that differ each time..

Purple Worm

Jan 13, 2004, 05:07 PM

My favourite modern games are the Aliens v Predator and C&C series.Great. May I just bring up the subject of the conversion of Aliens v Predator 2, how utterly disappointing, released at least a year after they said it would and it runs like a 30 year old donkey with your averagely weighed texan riding on it.

And as for C&C out this month, who are we going to play it with? All my PC friends have the expansion set. So what, WHAT is the point of releasing it now without the expansion pack included. Arrrggggghhhh!!!!

Marvelous

From Win to Mac

Jan 13, 2004, 05:17 PM

on my 2.8 Ghz, 512 DDR RAM, 80 Gig, GeForce FX 5200 that i got for...
get this...
1499$ CANADIAN !! that's like 1250$ US

Right now, i'm playing Underground and Call of Duty... Damn good stuff

pivo6

Jan 13, 2004, 05:45 PM

I usually don't have a whole lot of free time, but when I do it's been Spearhead (online), some Championship Manager 4, and Kingdom of Loathing (http://www.kingdomofloathing.com)

diego

Jan 13, 2004, 06:24 PM

Where is SimCity 4? I just love any Sim games, they are great, usually play SC4 and The Sims Vacation, even SimCity 3000.

bousozoku

Jan 13, 2004, 06:28 PM

Originally posted by 1macker1
haha, but those games are old. People are happy to be be playing Halo on the Mac, they need to buy some a few of these game developers companies, so i can get the new game when it's new. Not after i've played it on the XBOX, PC, and PS2.

and let me go fix that.

I don't always need to have the newest to have fun. Look at all the people playing CounterStrike over Half-Life on the PC. That's old.

Yeah, it would be nice to have games at the same time or at least, within a month of the PC version. If more people put their money toward Mac games, the publishers will notice.

Purple Worm

Jan 13, 2004, 06:30 PM

Yeah. I'm no big Unreal fan but theyre aiming for a joint release of Unreal 2004 for the PC and Mac. Which is nice.

Squire

Jan 13, 2004, 06:53 PM

Originally posted by pgwalsh
AOE is a great game. I save time for that too.

I used to play Age of Empires II all the time on my PC. Now, whenever I play a PC game, it's usually Empire Earth. Have any of you tried that game? It is truly amazing. I like to think of it as a combination of the following: Age of Empires, Age of Empires II, Command and Conquer, Starcraft.

Squire

simX

Jan 13, 2004, 08:13 PM

This (http://apple-x.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=680&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0) is what I think about the subject. ;)

Centris 650

Jan 13, 2004, 09:01 PM

2 great games I used to play a TON were Marathon (mainly 1&2) and Civilization. Both were great games.

mms

Jan 14, 2004, 12:27 AM

Does snake and tetris on emacs count? lol

I voted rarely. Age of Empires is the one game I play, and I haven't even played that in a while. I want to get Halo though.

isus

Jan 14, 2004, 12:45 AM

i don't play games much. then again, the osx computer i have access too is a 500mhz g3 ibook. it's not the best computer to think about gaming on. in os9, things like bugdom work ok... but i'm not to into bugdom. too kiddy for me.

anyway, even if i did have the power to do it, i wouldn't play many games. as a pc user, sure, i get a few games to kill time... but the last game i got was need for speed: underground. i'm not a big "eww, half-life 2 is coming" guy.

i suggested this to the macpolls email thingy:
if windows and osx had the same selection of games, and both could be played with the same features, performance, etc, would you play games more often?

cb911

Jan 14, 2004, 01:57 AM

i try to play daily, but that rarely ever happens. usually 3-4 times a week. mostly WC III, runs pretty good since i've got a 1.25GHz PB. :D although my good old TiBook 667 ran it OK. i still miss my TiBook.....:(

Megaquad

Jan 14, 2004, 05:07 AM

I play Age of Empires 2 and Starcraft occasionally, both online on my poor old 350 MHz iMac.

Sol

Jan 14, 2004, 10:41 AM

Originally posted by Purple Worm
My favourite modern games are the Aliens v Predator and C&C series.Great. May I just bring up the subject of the conversion of Aliens v Predator 2, how utterly disappointing, released at least a year after they said it would and it runs like a 30 year old donkey with your averagely weighed texan riding on it.

When I first started playing AVP2 I would have agreed with you. In the single player missions there was definately a lot of slow-down, especially the marine map with a lot of coccooned characters stuck on the walls (sorry, I forget the map's name). Having said that, the more I played the game the better it seemed to run. By the time I was playing the Alien and Predator missions I could set the graphics to medium-high settings and the resolution to 1024 X 768. Online I can max-out the settings and the only time the graphics slow down is when the server is slow. My computer is a dual 800 MHz Quicksilver with a 32MB nVidia card spanning over two monitors.

Anyway, back to the topic. Mac Gamming is alive and kicking with more new games than I can ever remember being released on the platform. I only buy and play two or three games a year since most titles take me weeks, if not months to complete. If a game is good online then I just keep playing that. The original Aliens Vs Predator lasted me from the time of its release to the day I purchased its sequel. I also keep returning to the OS X version of WipEout 2097 which has to be the best looking version of the game on any platform and can be played better than any other racing game with a keyboard.

There are also a lot of good shareware games on the Mac. The puzzle game BounceOut is one that I consider second only to the great Tetris on the GameBoy.

The Mac is also great for online board games. PlaySite uses Java and I play backgammon on it more than any other game in my collection.

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 10:44 AM

Well I was hoping Aliens v Predator 2 would run better in deathmatch as there would be no events etc to slow it down.

But I wouldn't know as multi-player Aliens v Predator does not work in Mac OS 10.3. They suck big time.

Sol

Jan 14, 2004, 10:47 AM

Really, AVP2 does not work with OS X 10.3?! Thanks for the information. Now I am definately not upgrading to Panther until this gets sorted.

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 10:50 AM

Good for you Sol. The first I knew of it was when I tried it. Then Macplay confirmed this after finally getting round to answering my enquiries. Yeah don't get 10.3 until they release the patch (soon I bloody hope).

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 10:51 AM

I mean is it stated anywhere that Aliens v Predator 2 will not work with Panther? No? Macplay deserves a slap.

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 10:57 AM

So Sol does it run that much better in multiplayer?

Sol

Jan 14, 2004, 11:11 AM

On a fast server, Mac AVP2 flies. I am no programmer but I would guess that by taking away the computer controlled characters the CPU is free to concentrate on sound and graphics.

If you want to speed the game up on your computer try minimizing the sky texture and turning off the Enviromental and Object Chrome (reflection effects basically). Also set the resolution to 640 X 480 because that will give you a greater number of frames per second, something that is more important in an action game than sharp graphics.

You know what is great about this game? The Windows version is now a budget title so you can buy copies for your Windows-using friends and play online with people you know.

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 11:21 AM

Oh good I hoped it would be faster. Yeah I already have it on the lowest settings. The Predator missions are playable but the Marine ones are terrible due to the tens of aliens coming at you.

I will be getting the next 12" Powerbook they release, and I'll fill it with RAM.

I wouldn't say that PC owners can get Aliens v Predator 2 for £5 is a good thing (besides all my mates have got copied PC versions). The expansion pack Primalhunt isnt even available to us! How long would it take a team to convert an expansion when the original game is finished? I wouldnt have thought it would take that much effort...

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 11:24 AM

By the way Sol does you DP 800 Quicksilver have level 3 cache?

gunb0y

Jan 14, 2004, 11:52 AM

most of my gaming is done with RockNES and about 900 roms.

Time for Ducktales!

Sonofhaig

Jan 14, 2004, 12:20 PM

Plays nice on my 1.25 ghz iMac. I can't play without cheating. Usually I set it for invisible mode or God mode so I'm invincible. Just the opposite of my everyday life. ;)

Flickta

Jan 14, 2004, 02:46 PM

Well... The only question is why 12"PB (rev.b) is not enough for UT2K3? 20 FPS at 1024x768 32bit all normal detail is not enough. Why not Radeon 9600? Why?

So, you get it, I play daily.

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 03:56 PM

Yeah the Radeon 9200 in the G4 iBooks are better than the aluBooks' GeForce 5200. They may be redesigning the 12" to make it more distinguishable from the iBook because there's not much justification in paying for the extra cash for one.

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 03:57 PM

How much would it cost to put 64MB chips in Powerbooks? That would make a difference and distinguish them from the iBooks.

jkojima

Jan 14, 2004, 06:11 PM

I love FPS shooters, but my Powerbook G4 867mhz is a little underpowered to run newer titles at a nice resolution.

What I would love is for Apple to address, somehow, the performance loss that occurs when games are ported to the Mac. Given equivalent hardware and the same game, PCs usually pump out better framerates than Macs. I realize the majority of the slowdown is because most PC games are natively DirectX, so is there perhaps a way to either a) encourage MS to bring DirectX to the Mac, or b) put more efforts into DX-> OpenGL conversion utilities.

Just some random thoughts.

Dont Hurt Me

Jan 14, 2004, 06:21 PM

nice thought bring directx to mac, dont know if its possible but if it was it would sure go a long ways to cleaning up these crappy opengl ports we have to suffer through. nice idea. open gl 2.0 is suppose to be in the works .

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 06:26 PM

I don't think bringing Direct-X to the mac is posible nor wanted guys. But it is easier and quicker than ever now to convert Direct-X games to OpenGL with the latest software/tools thingies.

cubist

Jan 14, 2004, 06:47 PM

Originally posted by Squire
... Now, whenever I play a PC game, it's usually Empire Earth. Have any of you tried that game? It is truly amazing. ...

It's been superseded by Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, by the same folks, with improved graphics (yes, even better) and somewhat more realistic. Windows only, unfortunately.

Another very good game is Rise of Nations. It has some Civilization-like concepts, yet it's still real-time. I like it a lot. Plus, it's coming for the Mac.

Civ3 is fun, too, but I just can't spend 20 hours playing a game anymore.

Purple Worm

Jan 14, 2004, 07:07 PM

Oh, whos doing Rise Of Nations?

Flickta

Jan 15, 2004, 06:45 AM

Originally posted by jkojima
I love FPS shooters, but my Powerbook G4 867mhz is a little underpowered to run newer titles at a nice resolution.

What I would love is for Apple to address, somehow, the performance loss that occurs when games are ported to the Mac. Given equivalent hardware and the same game, PCs usually pump out better framerates than Macs. I realize the majority of the slowdown is because most PC games are natively DirectX, so is there perhaps a way to either a) encourage MS to bring DirectX to the Mac, or b) put more efforts into DX-> OpenGL conversion utilities.

The thing is, PowerBooks, though being powerful machines, were not created for gaming. Still, there is a strange desire of all PowerBook users (me included) to play latest games on 'em at decent resolution.

And yes, my friend's PC's gaming performance just embarrasses me... This is the only time when I think of getting a Windows machine (not a console. How can anybody play on a console? Nintendo days are over... 8bit was the last cons. I had ever used.). But it just cannot happen. (There are reasons).
Now, if it is still true, Ms is using a PPC chip im their upcoming XBox? Does that mean "Say Hello to an easy porting and more of Bungie Games?"

Cochrane

Jan 15, 2004, 07:20 AM

I play sometimes Tomb Raider 2 on my mac, but most of the time I play on my Wintel (which I only posses for gaming).

By the way, if you have TR 2 running in front and then use Expose to switch to an other application you'll have TR as window background. You can even play it with a joystick (not with keyboard, though). It's fun, try it out!
I do not know whether this works with other applications or native Mac OS X apps (if you don't know, TR2 is Classic), but I'll try it out some time.

agreenster

Jan 15, 2004, 11:38 AM

Originally posted by simX
This (http://apple-x.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=680&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0) is what I think about the subject. ;)

Cannot find server? What a strange comment. ;)

I must agree that some of the most fun games arent the newest. Sometimes Video Game companies count on their consumers having a lot of horsepower and put too much into games. (which is good AND bad, I agree) Sometimes I spend so much time configing (PC and Mac) to make it run smooth that I dont enjoy the game.

Anyway...

One of my favorite games is a mod for Unreal Tournament (original, not 2k3) called Tactical Ops, Assault on Terror. Man, what a fun game. Me and the boys (and girl) at work have LAN ops matches justabout every day at lunchtime. 3 maps a day. Fun stuff. Nothing beats LAN.

agreenster

Jan 15, 2004, 11:40 AM

Originally posted by cb911
i still miss my TiBook.....:(

Interesting comment--care to explain? I would think the 1.25ghz AlumiBook would cause it to pale in comparison..??

For the record, I have the 1ghz tiBook and love it.

slowtreme

Jan 15, 2004, 02:02 PM

Brand new poll every weekday... :D

GovornorPhatt

Jan 15, 2004, 02:43 PM

I'm addicted to the Massive Online Multiplayer Game, Second Life. I waited for months for it to come out for mac. Its still in beta and only for os 10.3 panther, but is addictive, creative, and fun. You can visit me in world. There is a great, free 7 day trial. Its worth checking out. See you in SL (second Life)

Eniregnat

Jan 15, 2004, 02:57 PM

There is one good thing about still being stuck with OS 9; there are few games out there now. Games easily distract me from my work. I am waiting to upgrade my computer, os, and software. Until then I am stuck with the older os 9 games. It's going to cost me a few thousand to upgrade or repurchase the software licensees that I need, so until I have the money for that, I can't really upgrade to OSX and a new computer. (Mostly because it seems best to do it all at once. Plus if I blow all my money on work materials, I won't have the money for any of those distracting games.)