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'BioShock' and 'BioShock 2' for Mac on Sale for $9.99 Until September 3

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MacRumors

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Apr 12, 2001
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The first two games in 2K Games' popular series BioShock are currently on sale until September 3rd in the Mac App Store for $9.99, down from their usual standard price of $19.99. The discounts come before its sequel, BioShock Infinite, is set to be released on the Mac on August 29.

BioShock was originally released for the Mac in October 2009 and was added to the Mac App Store in January 2011 shortly after the store's launch, while BioShock 2 was released in March 2012 for the platform. Both games are set in the 1960s and take place in the fictional underwater dystopia of Rapture, with players using a combination of the environment, weapons, and powers such as plasmids and tonics. Both games were critically acclaimed upon release, and have won a number of awards.

BioShock Infinite was released earlier this year for gaming consoles and PCs, but was announced to come to the Mac at a later date through a collaboration between Aspyr Media, developer Irrational Games, and publisher 2K Games. Select pre-orders of the game through client GameAgent.com will also receive the "Columbia's Finest" DLC as a free bonus, along with 20% off the purchase price. Mac Support for BioShock Infinite's second DLC "Clash in the Clouds" is also reportedly in the works.

Both BioShock and BioShock 2 can be downloaded from the Mac App Store through the following links:

BioShock [Direct Link]
BioShock 2 [Direct Link]

Article Link: 'BioShock' and 'BioShock 2' for Mac on Sale for $9.99 Until September 3
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/08/25/bioshock-and-bioshock-2-for-mac-on-sale-for-9-99-until-september-3/
mrat93

mrat93

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2006
2,264
2,974
I paid $5 total for the Windows versions of both games from Amazon. They activated on Steam. I wonder why the Mac version isn't on Steam.

I can't see OS X being a big gaming platform with just the Mac App Store which has mediocre sales once in a while. As long as I can get games for a quarter of the price on Steam, I can't ever see myself getting games on the Mac App Store.
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,567
6,073
I tried the demo a few years ago... As I recall it was too graphic for my personal taste. Something about having your character's chest get drilled through in an FPS was just too much.

I wish indies did more 3D games...

I guess the reason there aren't more 3D games is the difficulty involved in getting good models... I wonder if I could produce some tools that would make it easier...
 
ATC

ATC

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2008
1,185
432
Canada
mrat93 said:
I paid $5 total for the Windows versions of both games from Amazon. They activated on Steam. I wonder why the Mac version isn't on Steam.

I can't see OS X being a big gaming platform with just the Mac App Store which has mediocre sales once in a while. As long as I can get games for a quarter of the price on Steam, I can't ever see myself getting games on the Mac App Store.
Click to expand...

Not disagreeing with you but in a sense everything is always at least 20% Off in the app store (music, apps, movies etc...) so long as you strive to always buy iTunes cards when they're discounted.

iTunes gift cards frequently go on sale 20% off at numerous retailers (e.g. $50 cards for $40 etc..). In that sense everything I've ever bought from the app store has had a 20% off discount (not including any other discounts or offers that may also apply).
 
Ropie

Ropie

macrumors regular
Aug 6, 2007
184
0
England
ATC said:
In that sense everything I've ever bought from the app store has had a 20% off discount (not including any other discounts or offers that may also apply).
Click to expand...

In that sense, when I thought I was getting 2 cartons of milk for the price of 1 at the supermarket the other day, I was actually receiving £0.87p towards the price of my holiday this year! I'm so grateful I've gone all misty eyed. Thank you British Airways and thank you Apple :rolleyes:
 
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star-affinity

star-affinity

macrumors 68000
Nov 14, 2007
1,934
1,224
Performance in OS X

The gripe I'm having with these games is how they perform on OS X. At least on the computers I've tried this game on you don't want to go back playing on OS X once you've felt how much better they run in Windows on the same hardware.
 
Pakaku

Pakaku

macrumors 68040
Aug 29, 2009
3,150
4,470
mrat93 said:
I can't see OS X being a big gaming platform with just the Mac App Store which has mediocre sales once in a while. As long as I can get games for a quarter of the price on Steam, I can't ever see myself getting games on the Mac App Store.
Click to expand...

I can't see OS X being a big gaming platform until Apple either 1.) decides to update the OpenGL version in a software update, or 2.) allows someone else or some other company, who actually knows what they're doing, to update OpenGL on Apple's behalf.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I checked my OpenGL version under the System Report, and it told me I have Version 1.8.9 installed. What. Apparently that's an old version from around 2003-2004. I thought OpenGL was on 4.4 by now? Unless I'm mistaken somehow and Apple just does things differently?

Supposedly OpenGL performs just a little better than DirectX. So if Apple would stop being stubborn, maybe gaming could be taken just a little more seriously on OS X. I've tried giving this OS a chance, and it works okay, but I still boot into Windows every now and then and notice huge performance improvements. Apple should seriously consider getting their, uh, game together soon.

Anyways, that's my little rant...
 
AppleMark

AppleMark

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2009
852
200
The CCTV Capital of the World
Pakaku said:
I can't see OS X being a big gaming platform until Apple either 1.) decides to update the OpenGL version in a software update, or 2.) allows someone else or some other company, who actually knows what they're doing, to update OpenGL on Apple's behalf.

I don't know about anyone else here, but I checked my OpenGL version under the System Report, and it told me I have Version 1.8.9 installed. What. Apparently that's an old version from around 2003-2004. I thought OpenGL was on 4.4 by now? Unless I'm mistaken somehow and Apple just does things differently?

Supposedly OpenGL performs just a little better than DirectX. So if Apple would stop being stubborn, maybe gaming could be taken just a little more seriously on OS X. I've tried giving this OS a chance, and it works okay, but I still boot into Windows every now and then and notice huge performance improvements. Apple should seriously consider getting their, uh, game together soon.

Anyways, that's my little rant...
Click to expand...

Apple cannot and do not need to compete in this market. It is about numbers and profits.

They cannot compete with PS3/4 or Xbox for the armchair convenience and they cannot compete against the PC for volume of users and therefore profits.

Unlike iOS where Apple is quite dominant and is making overwhelming profits, it is not in it's best interest right now.

However they will probably push gaming through future iOS integration with the "Apple Television" and stand alone ATV, which will see an increase in gaming power over current handheld iOS devices. Well they will if they are smart enough to exploit that market, which they probably are..
 
B

Boris-VTR

macrumors regular
Apr 18, 2013
247
17
AppleMark said:
Apple cannot and do not need to compete in this market. It is about numbers and profits.

They cannot compete with PS3/4 or Xbox for the armchair convenience and they cannot compete against the PC for volume of users and therefore profits.

Unlike iOS where Apple is quite dominant and is making overwhelming profits, it is not in it's best interest right now.

However they will probably push gaming through future iOS integration with the "Apple Television" and stand alone ATV, which will see an increase in gaming power over current handheld iOS devices. Well they will if they are smart enough to exploit that market, which they probably are..
Click to expand...

Sure, but games this days are a lot more than just kids toys and a lot of grown men (and women to) plays one from time to time. It's not huge like phone market, but gaming industry is big at the moment. I Belive that Call of duty beats movie and music industry every year for last 4 years.

Giving that macs are not really all that hot on the market, every bit helps i belive.
 
star-affinity

star-affinity

macrumors 68000
Nov 14, 2007
1,934
1,224
chairguru22 said:
I used to think that and boot camp with Windows just takes up space now since I never use it. I play SC2 on OSX and it's flawless.
Click to expand...

That's one of few games that are quite close to Windows when it comes to performance. But it's still worse. But the problem is only noticeable when there's a lot of action on the screen and the graphic settings are high enough. The frame rate will go down lower in OS X than in Windows. At least it was like that when I compared last time a bunch of months ago.

And if you try Borderlands 1 and 2 or Bioshock, they are much better in Windows. For example In Borderlands I have to turn of dynamic shadows (which makes the game look much worse) to make it run decent in OS X. Not so in Windows.

Wish it wasn't so, but that's the way it is.
 
0098386

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
jonnysods said:
I'll pass. Games don't run that great in osx and I'd rather play them on boot camp.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've picked both games up on Steam for less than that in the past, and Bioshock 2 was included in PS Plus a while ago (free).
 
J

JordanNZ

macrumors 6502a
Apr 29, 2004
771
271
Auckland, New Zealand
Pakaku said:
I don't know about anyone else here, but I checked my OpenGL version under the System Report, and it told me I have Version 1.8.9 installed. What. Apparently that's an old version from around 2003-2004. I thought OpenGL was on 4.4 by now? Unless I'm mistaken somehow and Apple just does things differently?
Click to expand...

What you're looking at isn't what you think it is :cool:
 
mdelvecchio

mdelvecchio

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2010
3,151
1,149
Dagless said:
Yeah, I've picked both games up on Steam for less than that in the past, and Bioshock 2 was included in PS Plus a while ago (free).
Click to expand...

that's great but that's in the past, this is now.

I have a small SSD drive (256gb) so I haven't installed a Boot Camp partition. not really interested in maintaining a separate Windows instance, either... so for me this sale is great.
 
M

MEGrubb

macrumors newbie
Jun 28, 2012
19
0
jonnysods said:
I'll pass. Games don't run that great in osx and I'd rather play them on boot camp.
Click to expand...

I feel the exact opposite. I hate having to bootcamp and run windows to game...things don't run near as well as when I'm on OSX. I believe I have all the proper drivers, too.
 
Gasu E.

Gasu E.

macrumors 603
Mar 20, 2004
5,037
3,163
Not far from Boston, MA.
AppleMark said:
Apple cannot and do not need to compete in this market. It is about numbers and profits.

Unlike iOS where Apple is quite dominant and is making overwhelming profits, it is not in it's best interest right now.
Click to expand...

LOL What? (and I say that as an MBA who has been managing tech products for 30 years :))

Putting a couple of engineers on OpenGL is hardly a major investment. They actually do invest in the Mac business, and improving a feature that would increase sales by 1-2% might actually be justified.
 
mrat93

mrat93

macrumors 68020
Dec 30, 2006
2,264
2,974
AppleMark said:
Unlike iOS where Apple is quite dominant and is making overwhelming profits, it is not in it's best interest right now.
Click to expand...

I few months ago, it was revealed that Apple is adding bluetooth gam controller support to iOS and Mac. That theoretically could be the start of Apple's initiative to make Macs better for gaming.
 
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