The state of Mac gaming

[doh123]

Originally Posted by adder7712

But still based on Intel's or (formerly) NVIDIA's chipset.

which is another one of the components already talked about.

[lannisters4life]

Originally Posted by MacGamerHQ

Hey guys,

I wrote an article about the state of mac gaming. Where we are and where we are going.

It is doing pretty well on Reddit so I decided to share it with you:

http://macgamerhq.com/the-state-of-mac-gaming/

All your comments and suggestions are more than welcome!

I don't really understand this...

You built a reasonably powerful PC, you run OS X on it, and run your games in OS X. Sorry if I read this as being a little backwards... your games will always play better in Windows 7, they're going to be generally cheaper and if you're waiting for new releases you'll often also have them sooner.

[MacGamerHQ]

Originally Posted by lannisters4life

I don't really understand this...

You built a reasonably powerful PC, you run OS X on it, and run your games in OS X. Sorry if I read this as being a little backwards... your games will always play better in Windows 7, they're going to be generally cheaper and if you're waiting for new releases you'll often also have them sooner.

Well the whole point of a hackintosh is basically to have a Mac but with different specs than what Apple offers. I do not even have windows installed right now....

I do see your point but the same applies to bootcamp / windows. Some people just does not want to boot all the time to play....

[SlickShoes]

Originally Posted by MacGamerHQ

Well the whole point of a hackintosh is basically to have a Mac but with different specs than what Apple offers. I do not even have windows installed right now....

I do see your point but the same applies to bootcamp / windows. Some people just does not want to boot all the time to play....

Currently a Hackintosh is a very real option for many people due to the lack of support the Mac Pro has been getting for the last couple of years. Many people still want a traditional desktop computer tower but want a mac, currently the Mac Pro is the worst vale for money computer I have ever seen.

[Irishman]

Originally Posted by MacGamerHQ

I believe the games I listed as AAA mac games are all native OSX...

The last solutions (bootcamp and hackintosh) are for what I would call hardcore gamers, people that want to play all the latest games (maxed out if possible).

Otherwise, I have to agree with you, if we are going to talk about gaming in bootcamp, than I might as well call my blog Windows GamerHQ

I think that I greatly admire the work you're putting in to begin a new Mac gaming site. You're basically working to cater to a niche within a niche, which isn't easy! Kudos to you!

I think that, given the off-the-charts success story that has been iOS gaming (since 2007) has eclipsed Mac gaming, and rightly so. Native Mac gaming has seemed to have lain fallow in the interim, driving some of us long-time Mac users a bit of crazy! In that interim (caused, I think, by Apple themselves by releasing Bootcamp and giving legitimacy to Windows gaming on the Mac), we've stopped hearing about efforts by porting houses to line up and develop AAA titles that aren't currently planned for Mac release. We've stopped hearing about lobbying on behalf of Mac gamers to get Windows-only titles made available (whether by the original developer or someone else).

At least to the degree that we used to before Bootcamp.

Bootcamp, Wine (and its varieties), Fusion, and Parallels, are all bandaids to heal a wound. And that wound is the paucity of new AAA, same-day titles for the Mac. (Especially cutting-edge graphical titles).

It keeps some of us gamers satisfied at best (not me), but it distracts game developers at worst. For me, if I were going to make a Mac Gaming site, it would need to be primarily focused on native games, not wineskin ports, or Windows games running in Parallels or Bootcamp. Maybe once in a while I'd feature one of those AAA Windows titles to remind readers of what we want and don't have.

The success of iOS gaming should remind us of the size of the prize. If we get developers interested in the OSX market - as small as it is - we'll have the same vibrancy of releases on OSX as we do on iOS.

Just my two cents.

[Irishman]

Originally Posted by El Awesome

You don't even need a hackintosh for good gaming experience.

I got myself a 2009 Mac Pro for 1300$ (with 16GB RAM and a 2.66 Quad) and bought a PC GTX 570 2.5 for another 500$. You can even use a GTX 680, which has even more gaming power. I still paid less than for a iMac.
It runs perfectly fine, just to mention.

Good for you! That's a better idea than building a Hackintosh.

[Jookbox]

When Apple switched to intel chips, it was just a matter of time when the hardware became up to par. If only DirectX only worked on macos, lol. In the meantime, if you have a nice enough system, I would just boot into windows. The latest macbooks run windows games nicely.

[lannisters4life]

Originally Posted by MacGamerHQ

Well the whole point of a hackintosh is basically to have a Mac but with different specs than what Apple offers. I do not even have windows installed right now....

I do see your point but the same applies to bootcamp / windows. Some people just does not want to boot all the time to play....

These people need their heads examined

[doh123]

Originally Posted by lannisters4life

These people need their heads examined

If you like Windows, good for you... some of us will not run Windows. There is not a game in existence thats worth having to install Windows to play for me... if I need Windows, then I won't play it... no big loss to me.

[lannisters4life]

Originally Posted by doh123

If you like Windows, good for you... some of us will not run Windows. There is not a game in existence thats worth having to install Windows to play for me... if I need Windows, then I won't play it... no big loss to me.

You definitely apply to the you need your head examined comment of earlier

[SpyderBite]

I game fine on a MBP 13" 2012 with 16gb of ram. However I'm sure my gaming habits differ from others. I currently play GW2 via the beta Mac client, DIII & waiting for Torchlight II.

I'm sure this scenario differs from the WoW kiddies and the hardcore FPS folks of course.

Its hard to wrangle the "state of Mac gaming" in to one corral.

[doh123]

Originally Posted by lannisters4life

You definitely apply to the you need your head examined comment of earlier

because you somehow love a game more than someone else? So you think people have mental problems if they don't like everything exactly the same way as you? Are you sure you aren't the one that needs an examination?

[lannisters4life]

Originally Posted by doh123

because you somehow love a game more than someone else? So you think people have mental problems if they don't like everything exactly the same way as you? Are you sure you aren't the one that needs an examination?

Haha great reading skills son. Hit me with more of your insight and understanding.

[cluthz]

Originally Posted by lannisters4life

Haha great reading skills son. Hit me with more of your insight and understanding.

No need to be rude because someone else has a different opinion than yourself.
I also use OSX 95% of of the time. I have a hack, and I do have win7 too, but I rather not reboot every time I want to game.

[Irishman]

Originally Posted by lannisters4life

You definitely apply to the you need your head examined comment of earlier

I agree with him, though.

[MacGamerHQ]

Originally Posted by lannisters4life

Haha great reading skills son. Hit me with more of your insight and understanding.

I believe we have a troll

----------

Originally Posted by Irishman

I think that I greatly admire the work you're putting in to begin a new Mac gaming site. You're basically working to cater to a niche within a niche, which isn't easy! Kudos to you!

I think that, given the off-the-charts success story that has been iOS gaming (since 2007) has eclipsed Mac gaming, and rightly so. Native Mac gaming has seemed to have lain fallow in the interim, driving some of us long-time Mac users a bit of crazy! In that interim (caused, I think, by Apple themselves by releasing Bootcamp and giving legitimacy to Windows gaming on the Mac), we've stopped hearing about efforts by porting houses to line up and develop AAA titles that aren't currently planned for Mac release. We've stopped hearing about lobbying on behalf of Mac gamers to get Windows-only titles made available (whether by the original developer or someone else).

At least to the degree that we used to before Bootcamp.

Bootcamp, Wine (and its varieties), Fusion, and Parallels, are all bandaids to heal a wound. And that wound is the paucity of new AAA, same-day titles for the Mac. (Especially cutting-edge graphical titles).

It keeps some of us gamers satisfied at best (not me), but it distracts game developers at worst. For me, if I were going to make a Mac Gaming site, it would need to be primarily focused on native games, not wineskin ports, or Windows games running in Parallels or Bootcamp. Maybe once in a while I'd feature one of those AAA Windows titles to remind readers of what we want and don't have.

The success of iOS gaming should remind us of the size of the prize. If we get developers interested in the OSX market - as small as it is - we'll have the same vibrancy of releases on OSX as we do on iOS.

Just my two cents.

Comments like yours confirm that it was a good idea to look for some feedback in here! I appreciate the comments.

This thread has been a gold mine for futur post ideas.
I am however very surprised to see so many people arguing about bootcamp or just installing windows on a hackintosh LOL

The whole point of a mac gaming blog is to talk native games mostly or at least discuss specific ways to simplify playing windows games on mac.
If I focus on gaming on bootcamp, then I pretty much would have a "normal" PC gaming blog....

[Miharu]

Good read. The biggest problem with Mac gaming are the people who instantly go "lol mac" and it seems to affect developers as well, since they have heard the sentence "nobody uses a mac for gaming lol" so many times they actually believe it. It's not as bad now as it used to be, but we still miss things like Skyrim, and have to rely on third party developers to make the Mac port a year or two later.

[MacGamerHQ]

For those who participated in this thread, thanks again for the comments and suggestions! There's no better way to improve....

I pretty much did again my "State of Mac Gaming" assessment, taking things a little further, using stats, graphs and comments and questions I've received. I hope you find it more helpful than my first try.

You can find it here:
The State of Mac Gaming

[Solomani]

Originally Posted by Irishman

The success of iOS gaming should remind us of the size of the prize. If we get developers interested in the OSX market - as small as it is - we'll have the same vibrancy of releases on OSX as we do on iOS.

The important thing is.... I hope... REALLY HOPE... that Apple begins to realize the huge success of iOS gaming which is helping to drive sales of iOS devices and also drive development of gazillions of iOS apps.... I hope they realize that this can also happen to MacOSX (and Mac App Store) if Apple actually made more than a half-arsed effort to encourage and support Macintosh gaming.

[El Awesome]

As much as I love OS X, I still game on Windows.
Games jut run smoother in Windows environment - thanks to DirectX.
It's time for Apple to come up with something competitive to DirectX!

I have a really beasty machine, with top-noth CPU and top-notch GPU, and Mafia II runs worse on OS X than Battlefield 3 does on Windows.
I don't really care about 30s lost in rebooting into Windows (although I rather care that Windows is just not as stable, intuitive and smooth as OS X), but for real gaming, it's still years ahead.

So without any major update on OpenGL or the release of something else, Mac will always be behind Windows in terms of gaming. Plus, the majority of Macs have GPU's that really aren't made for gaming. Only the really expensive top-of-the-line iMacs and MBPs offer something good.

[utekineir]

its a shame when the best os x games are ios ports


the windows wrapped ports arent even worth mentioning.

[MacGamerHQ]

Originally Posted by utekineir

its a shame when the best os x games are ios ports


the windows wrapped ports arent even worth mentioning.

We do have some top-notch native ports from Aspyr and Feral... I mean, yes, mac gaming is still years behind windows gaming but to play Borderlands 2 and Arkham City on the Mac is way better than what we had only a couple of years before.

[cluthz]

Originally Posted by utekineir

its a shame when the best os x games are ios ports


the windows wrapped ports arent even worth mentioning.

This is not entirely true.
The Dragon Age 2 port was for me both stable and fast, this can not been said about many native ports.

[81Steven]

Just to say thath I like the site very much... good luck for your intent...


The most important thing for mac gaming I think is the mac version game should be released at the same date of the pc version... waiting months for a conversion is a pity.

[Solomani]

I notice that Aspyr is currently running a Mac Game Sale. This past week alone, I was tempted and was close to purchasing 2 Aspyr titles. And then I backed down because I read so many negative reviews of the 2 games I wanted to buy.

Here is my new philosophy. Maybe I will make this my permanent forum sig.

I'd rather pay $45 for a glitch free game that was up-to-date and relatively bug free, rather than pay a discounted price of $20 for a game that frequently crashes (or incompatible) on my iMac because the game has not been updated/patched for months.

----------

Originally Posted by 81Steven

Just to say thath I like the site very much... good luck for your intent...


The most important thing for mac gaming I think is the mac version game should be released at the same date of the pc version... waiting months for a conversion is a pity.

I disagree a little. I am willing to wait for the MacOSX version to lag a little behind (maybe a month) the Windows version if it means the Mac version will be relatively bug free and stable release. One of the problems I noticed is that the "open betas" are often for Windows only. What that means is that the Mac versions are rarely fully tested for bugs or hardware compatibilities. Nor is there time to optimize the code for Mac-specific hardware and OSX. As soon as the Mac version is "finished" it is instantly distributed and released to the public without proper amount of testing. That is totally stupid.