WWDC: Game On

[MacRumors]

As one of the first orders of business in today's WWDC Keynote address, Apple CEO Steve Jobs invited EA CCO Bing Gordon and id Games Owner and CTO John Carmack on to the stage.

Citing that EA customers were moving to the Mac in droves, EA announced that it would once again begin developing games for the Mac platform with simultaneous releases as their Windows counterparts. Command and Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142, Need For Speed Carbon, and Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix are coming in July 2007, with Madden 08 and Tiger Woods 08 to follow.

id Games also previewed forthcoming technology that allows for unprecedented texture detail. The technology was being shown first at WWDC, and would be given more in-depth demonstrations at E3.

 

[applekid]

Holy Sh...!

That is amazing news!

Now for Apple to take care of the hardware part. Seriously, there needs to be some kind of midrange Mac that's upgradable as a Pro but runs on something lesser than the Xeon (like possibly the Core Duo 2 Extremes).

This is a very good start though.

 

[ghall]

I wonder how this will affect current releases trough Aspyr. (such as The Sims 2 + expansion packs)

 

[roy_dan]

Is this OpenGL 2.0?
How will that compare to DirectX 10?

Not trying to spoil the news but just trying to grasp the impact. One of the last arguements my PC friends have is they won't switch because there's no real Mac gaming. Obviously this changes things but only if the experience is equivelent.

Anyone have some insight between GL and DX?

 

[Eidorian]

I was glad to hear the EA support. Even if it's EA it's a good start!

 

[hob]

I love Battlefield 2, so I look forward to playing 2142 - without rebooting all the time!

 

[Porchland]

This is a BIG deal. Gaming is keeping a ton of people on the sidelines that would rather be on a Mac.

Madden 2008 may be as good a gateway drug as iTunes in waking people up to Mac.

EDIT:

Speaking of gateway drugs... SAFARI? Didn't see THAT coming! I hope it has a feature like Foxmarks for Firefox to sync multiple computers' bookmarks, which is the primary reason I use Firefox on my PC and my Mac.

 

[AndyR]

Underwealmed so far. 10 features and nothing spectacular or WOW...

 

[roy_dan]

Underwealmed so far. 10 features and nothing spectacular or WOW...

Completely 64bit, UI beyond Vista, EA and ID software. You must have been sleeping.

 

[twoodcc]

i'll probably get Madden 08 for mac....but dang, wwdc was terrible this year

 

[kiang]

Underwealmed so far. 10 features and nothing spectacular or WOW...

erm, I'm a bit disappointed, cause I expected too a few more WOW-features, but I REALLY like the stuff they showed such as the new UI, stacks and spaces...


EDIT: Apple om is eriously upated
i love the new tabs

 

[Dwight Schrute]

It's over and there's no new hardware?!?!

Yeah, what gives?! Why did they need to close the online Apple store if they're not offering any new gear?

 

[dukeblue91]

Store is still closed,
what the hell for?

 

[FF_productions]

Yeah, what gives?! Why did they need to close the online Apple store if they're not offering any new gear?

Ok well they changed it up i guess.

 

[roy_dan]

It's over and there's no new hardware?!?!

It would seem that Apple is out of the practice of saving hardware announcements for the conferences. Most recently the Mac Pro, then MacBook and finally the MacBook Pro were updated before WWDC. There just isn't enough time in the keynote to backlog them all. Plus the sales opportunity cost is huge.

 

[dukeblue91]

Shoot it just came back on and has a new look

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Ok well they changed it up i guess.

Right... new menus. Cool

 

[dukeblue91]

Safari 3 is up now, I'm downloading now

 

[FF_productions]

No hardware updates.

Well looks like I'm ordering a Mac Pro now.

 

[Ubuntu]

okay for some reason it just posted this in this thread instead of another...

Even so, I'm looking forward to C&C!

 

[nagromme]

Nfs

If I ever install Vista on my Mac, Need For Speed was the most likely game I would run. (Though I hear many games are more stable in XP.)

Looks like I won't need to bother

 

[Anawrahta]

Does anyone know what was under the cloaked banners?

 

[juice78]

Right... new menus. Cool

One has to wonder what the new apple.com look is foreshadowing. a new metal-like enclocuse for iMac?

Of course it could just be that Leopard, not using Aqua, is the new OS and the site et al is representing the new graphic style.

 

[archer75]

Lot of good it does developing games for the mac when I can't replace the frickin video card without throwing the whole damn computer away.

 

[macfan881]

heck yess madden for mac!!! i was thinkin bout geting it for ps3 but if its cheaper for mac i will deffintly get it and i wonder to if this means will be getin sims games the same time as the pc ones come out now?