Blizz dumps support for SC1, Diablo 1&2

[xizar]

http://us.blizzard.com/support/arti...articleId=21093&pageNumber=1&searchQuery=lion

If you don't want to follow the link, it's just Blizz saying StarCraft and Broodwar, as well as Diablos I and II no longer work in Lion.

As they work in Snow Leopard just fine, I'm guessing they were all Rosetta apps.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Apple dumps support for PPC programs

Fixed it for you. Blizzard isn't dropping support for the programs, they're just not going to recompile them for OS X on an intel chip, and Apple stopped supporting the emulation layer that was making it work on 10.4, 10.5, and 10.6.

 

[c-Row]

That's just to make all the upgraders switch to Diablo 3 soon. </conspiracy>

 

[VeganHipster]

How many more threads are there going to be regarding this?

 

[gregorsamsa]

Well some people might be tired of hearing it, but I'll say it anyway. IMO, Rosetta support has been dropped too soon. Shame that a patch can't be provided for those who want Lion as well as being able to run some older PPC stuff.

Mac is hardly blessed with that many AAA games as it is. IMO, it's regrettable to lose the likes of Starcraft, Diablo 2, AoE 2, Rise of Nations, Civilization 3, etc. just because new, more graphics-intensive versions of some of these games are out. Many still don't have powerful enough Macs to play those latest versions.

By the by, that's not a selfish POV as in my case, mostly due to Apple's stance on this, I've recently switched most of my gaming to Windows 7. However, I accept that's not always possible or even desirable for some people.

 

[Hansr]

Well some people might be tired of hearing it, but I'll say it anyway. IMO, Rosetta support has been dropped too soon. Shame that a patch can't be provided for those who want Lion as well as being able to run some older PPC stuff.

Mac is hardly blessed with that many AAA games as it is. IMO, it's regrettable to lose the likes of Starcraft, Diablo 2, AoE 2, Rise of Nations, Civilization 3, etc. just because new, more graphics-intensive versions of some of these games are out. Many still don't have powerful enough Macs to play those latest versions.

By the by, that's not a selfish POV as in my case, mostly due to Apple's stance on this, I've recently switched most of my gaming to Windows 7. However, I accept that's not always possible or even desirable for some people.

Well there is nothing yet that forces people to use 10.7. Also I think that people that can not replace their software with a non-PPC version of a similar application AND need to be running 10.7 account for such a microscopic portion of Apple's customer base that Apple doesn't really care about them. At least not enough to maintain a broken piece of legacy technology which was hindering the development of a lot of system components.

 

[gregorsamsa]

Well there is nothing yet that forces people to use 10.7. Also I think that people that can not replace their software with a non-PPC version of a similar application AND need to be running 10.7 account for such a microscopic portion of Apple's customer base that Apple doesn't really care about them. At least not enough to maintain a broken piece of legacy technology which was hindering the development of a lot of system components.

True, except I imagine that the average Mac-gaming consumer won't even know about any incompatibility issues until after buying a new Mac. No surprises here that I've seen a spate of queries recently seeking advice about how to get back to Snow Leopard on a new Mac.

 

[chrono1081]

Well there is nothing yet that forces people to use 10.7. Also I think that people that can not replace their software with a non-PPC version of a similar application AND need to be running 10.7 account for such a microscopic portion of Apple's customer base that Apple doesn't really care about them. At least not enough to maintain a broken piece of legacy technology which was hindering the development of a lot of system components.

This.

Many people don't realize that you simply can't hold on to legacy ways of doing things and expect your new software to run at its optimal speed. Sacrifices need to be made and PowerPC support was it. People are blaming Apple but instead should blame the developers for not keeping up with their software. (If the developer cared they would have had an Intel version long ago).

 

[doh123]

pretty much all the dead PPC games.. including those... are playable, but you have to get the Windows version and then port it yourself using Wineskin.

 

[ehwood]

pretty much all the dead PPC games.. including those... are playable, but you have to get the Windows version and then port it yourself using Wineskin.

Yep, Wineskin does a pretty good job with those games, though I've found that it's not so good where Starcraft 1 + Battle.net are concerned. It doesn't connect, even just to download a game update. It does work for Warcraft III, though.

I think that Apple basically doomed the Mac platform by going Intel and encouraging use of Windows on the "Mac". Now we're all expected to use Windows for gaming, so who's going to bother with native Mac apps? R.I.P. Macintosh.

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

They are PowerPC games. Lion doesn't have Rosetta hence you can't run them.

Was there any TECHNICAL reason for Apple dropping PowerPC support?

 

[ehwood]

They are PowerPC games. Lion doesn't have Rosetta hence you can't run them.

Was there any TECHNICAL reason for Apple dropping PowerPC support?

Very probably. Lion is more modern under the hood, and part of that seems to have included dumping older system components.

Since the Windows versions of these games run very well under Wineskin, and since Blizzard always makes Mac & Win versions of their games available universally to those who purchase a license, it really doesn't matter that much. It's a tad less convenient than having native Intel versions for Mac, but so it goes with older software.

 

[edddeduck]

They are PowerPC games. Lion doesn't have Rosetta hence you can't run them.

Was there any TECHNICAL reason for Apple dropping PowerPC support?

Yes, Hansr probably nailed the reason below. You cannot keep adding cutting edge technology when you have to support increasingly creaking older tech.

...maintain a broken piece of legacy technology which was hindering the development of a lot of system components.

Well some people might be tired of hearing it, but I'll say it anyway. IMO, Rosetta support has been dropped too soon. Shame that a patch can't be provided for those who want Lion as well as being able to run some older PPC stuff.

In a months time it will be 6 years since the first Intel Mac. It is already almost 6 and a half years since Apple annouced that Intel was the future. I think dropping legacy support after 6 years is pretty good going.

By the by, that's not a selfish POV as in my case, mostly due to Apple's stance on this, I've recently switched most of my gaming to Windows 7. However, I accept that's not always possible or even desirable for some people.

You do realise instead of complaining about Apple's stance you could just have kept a small Snow Leopard (or similar) partition to play PPC games without needing to buy Windows 7 and all your games again? Or is that to easy a solution?

With new software comes compatibility issues with very old software. PPC only software has to be 6+ years old now (or the developers decided to ignore Intel when it launched).

Personally I think this is not a huge deal anymore as the problem can be solved without paying any money and only requires you to make a small partition and keep Snow Leopard on it. A few years ago I went the other way and kept an old G4 Tower with OS9 installed on it purely to play Unreal Tournament with my Voodoo 5500 card.

Edwin

 

[antonis]

The above post is right on the spot. And may I add (although already mentioned above) that none has to switch to windows anyway (it's not even necessary to maintain a second partition with SL).

Mac has a great Wine-project community with excellent wrapper projects (actually, seems to be the best platform for the moment for that matter) where everything runs without any problems. Actually, you can even run the latest and most demanding games with this, with a minimum compromise to speed.

And for anyone who might think that "we have to find the windows versions for the above games" I'll remind you that blizzard's CDs are always mac/pc hybrids anyway. Everyone has already both versions.

 

[foiden]

Yeah. Diablo II seems to run quite well with Crossover Games, so I'm not complaining on that one.

 

[Kenndac]

I think that Apple basically doomed the Mac platform by going Intel and encouraging use of Windows on the "Mac". Now we're all expected to use Windows for gaming, so who's going to bother with native Mac apps? R.I.P. Macintosh.

You're about six years late with that argument