Age of Empires III

[it5five]

Apparently MacSoft is going to be porting this over. I'm pretty excited since I loved Age of Empires II so much. I was looking at the Sys. Reqs. for the Windows version, which are here:

PC with 1.4 GHz equivalent or higher processor
256 MB of system RAM
2 GB available hard disk space
32x speed or faster CD-ROM drive
64 MB video card with support for hardware transformation and lighting required
Sound card, speakers or headphones required for audio
Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
56.6 Kbps or better modem for online play

Would it be safe to assume that MacSoft's port would be playable on the MacBook then, if all of the System Reqs. are the same? Would the requirements change much?

[Felldownthewell]

I have it for PC and it is a beast of a game, I can tell you that. It comes on something like 4 CDs and is just a monster. I've noticed on other games that usually the port's requirements are higher than that of the original. From my playing of the PC version (2.2ghz pentium 4, 512 ram, GeForce FX 5200) I would say it wouldn't play to well on a MB, definatley not one with 512 of RAM, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. Although I'm not happy about having to buy it again...

[BlizzardBomb]

It will probably take the 1.8 Ghz/ 64MB requirements that Quake 4, Doom 3 and CoD2 have. It probably wouldn't run well on it though. And I think I'm right in saying that the Age of Empires before the expansion always seems to be intentionally flawed or crippled.

[Rocksaurus]

It won't run on the Macbook because the Macbook features an Intel Integrated Graphics processor. Lots of people in the past have knocked me for knocking this integrated card, but, if you look at the requirements, AoE III requires hardware transform and lighting - something the Intel GMA 950 lacks. Sorry. Though Apple's the one who should apologize.

[FleurDuMal]

Though Apple's the one who should apologize.

Not really. Anyone who wanted to play games shouldn't have bought a Macbook. It was blindingly obvious it wouldn't be able to play newish games. Apple never promoted it as a games machine. It's like demanding an apology from a grocer because you bought an orange when you wanted to make apple pie :rolleyes: .

And this is coming from a (minor) gamer who bought the Macbook.

[slackersonly]

Checkout the game movies on the developers website.
Go "Ooooohhhh, Ahhhhhh"

Then realize that you have seen the game's best.

Like the other poster said, it is a huge bloated games with marginal imporovements over II.

Its like they turned over gameplay development to a graphic artist. Its a beautiful graphics/processing hog that leaves alot to be desired vs other games in its genre.

[c-Row]

Quite surprised about this, since I thought the game wouldn't be ported over due to the high licensing costs of the RagDoll engine (or so I was told by a reliable source).

[it5five]

Maybe I'll just end up getting AoE II Gold Edition.

[Rocksaurus]

Not really. Anyone who wanted to play games shouldn't have bought a Macbook. It was blindingly obvious it wouldn't be able to play newish games. Apple never promoted it as a games machine. It's like demanding an apology from a grocer because you bought an orange when you wanted to make apple pie :rolleyes: .

And this is coming from a (minor) gamer who bought the Macbook.

My iBook has hardware T&L, and I didn't buy it for games, and it's older than the Macbook. I should cut Apple some slack though, I mean, they need the money. Any company with only $4 billion in cash would.

[Cougarcat]

Quite surprised about this, since I thought the game wouldn't be ported over due to the high licensing costs of the RagDoll engine (or so I was told by a reliable source).

MacSoft figured out to replace the Havok physics engine with Aegeia. I imagine, though, that for games where the physics engine is more rooted in gameplay (as in FPS games) removing the engine would present difficulties. Still, it will be interesting to see if MacSoft will bring more Havok titles to OS X. Deus Ex 2, anyone?

I imagine this game will shrivel and die on my 1.67 PowerBook G4. Civ IV barely runs, and this game looks much more demanding. Perhaps it's just as well. My friends have given it an underwhelming "meh." Sure, it looks nice, but it just isn't as fun as it's predecessor.

[benpatient]

i played the demo on my pc when it came out, and it ran at 1024 with most of the graphics turned to about 3/4 up. I have an Athlon 3000+ and a 6600 GT overclocked.

I can't crank it any harder than that, even when there isn't much on the screen. I can't turn on all the pretty effects even at 800x600.

I would expect it to run "OK" on the MB at 800x600 with all the settings turned down all the way.

But then you're apparently just going to be playing a less-fun version of AOE II with physics...

[GFLPraxis]

MacSoft figured out to replace the Havok physics engine with Aegeia. I imagine, though, that for games where the physics engine is more rooted in gameplay (as in FPS games) removing the engine would present difficulties. Still, it will be interesting to see if MacSoft will bring more Havok titles to OS X. Deus Ex 2, anyone?

I imagine this game will shrivel and die on my 1.67 PowerBook G4. Civ IV barely runs, and this game looks much more demanding. Perhaps it's just as well. My friends have given it an underwhelming "meh." Sure, it looks nice, but it just isn't as fun as it's predecessor.


I've been able to run it in very low resolution on a 2.5 GHz Pentium 4 with a puny Geforce FX 5200 (not Ultra). If you turn down the settings low enough, it might just run on that PowerBook.

[c-Row]

MacSoft figured out to replace the Havok physics engine with Aegeia.

That makes sense of course. Oh well, already got the PC Collector's Box... :o

[viccles]

I love age of empires :D