Five Games Worth Firing Up to Show Off Your New MacBook Pro

[newbmacuser2021]

When talking about "binary" in the context of software programs this is what we are talking about. Note that it's often more than simply a sequence of binary machine-code instructions.

You are correct that the same CPU would offer the same operations and would operate identically when given the same machine-code instructions, but different operating systems have different Application Binary Interfaces a program has to conform to to function properly.

As example, on Windows, the binary executable needs to be in Portable Executable format, whereas in MacOS it needs to be in Mach-O.

I agree I have no idea what I’m talking about.

Here’s the argument I’m trying to make about Windows gaming first:

A float is a float. 1f == 1f

There are unsigned floats, 32 bit floats, 64 bit floats, etc.

But a float is a float. You can’t say an int is a float. It’s not. That’s the science part of computer science.

If I pop in the PS5 CPU/GPU for a custom Windows Machine, and my math works, then my math works.

It doesn’t matter if I compile the binary as .exe, or .o, or .dll.

The math using my computer language (C++) works with the CPU instructions. 2 + 2 = 4

I believe with ARM, since it intentionally uses different math instructions, there might be a bug in how it interprets float.

If no one programs for M1, or ARM Android, natively, then you’re just assuming it works.

If I can run my code using C++ on a PS5 Windows machine, then it works for PS5.

 

[cardfan]

Many of these games are not even native on Apple Silicon - why not promote some native games, such as the new Myst, which supports Apple Silicon and Metal natively?

It’d be easy to do since m1 native games probably are less than 10. I wonder what happens when rosetta 2 is no longer a thing. That would be scary for mac owners at present.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

You can run a Swift iOS app for ARM on an Intel x64 machine in a simulator.

It works!

If I run that same code on my iPad M1, it crashes.

So what would you do?

 

[friedmud]

I struggle to get the point of the article. Yes, you can play old games with medium settings. Yes, that's better than it was.

You asked and answered your own question.

The point of the article is that _despite_ these games (mostly) not being optimized for OSX they are still running better than they used to - and well enough that it’s worth reporting on so that those of us with macs that wouldn’t mind using them for gaming sometimes can know that it does work ok.

What is the point of your post?

 

[alien3dx]

Apple. tv is the “next gen console” lol..

a12 bionic is good which i used in xr and this ipad mini 2019 . if mihoyo enable genshin impact , how much market gaming. . Genshin impact struggle on my vivo y31 and if you want smooth more on higher end android. Imagine if those epic fornite come back or apex legend and those kiddo will jump to ps4 controller and apple tv . Apple arcade good but not multiplayer wise game.

 

[alien3dx]

You can run a Swift iOS app for ARM on an Intel x64 machine in a simulator.

It works!

If I run that same code on my iPad M1, it crashes.

So what would you do?

crash ? ios just a simulator in x86 64 . my apps is universal compile you may try if u wish . It run perfect on my m1

 

[newbmacuser2021]

Remember when you couldn’t multitask in iOS? And an app had to be full screen. And then all the 32 bit apps went away.

Like Marvel vs Capcom 2.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

What is a Virtual Machine (VM) and How Do Virtual Machines Work? - Citrix

A virtual machine (VM) is a virtual environment that works like a computer within a computer, allowing end users to use apps as they would on an actual desktop. Learn more about virtual machine software.

www.citrix.com

“How do virtual machines work? VMs are made possible through virtualization technology. Virtualization uses software to simulate virtual hardware that allows multiple VMs to run on a single machine. ... VMs only work if there is a hypervisor to virtualize and distribute host resources.”

So if you’re emulating the hardware, then the binary (01010) instructions must work.

And the output is video and sound.

I don’t know.

At the end of the day, it’s just 0s and 1s. And hardware that decodes 0s and 1s.

 

[tubular]

There will always be hyperenthusiasts who insist that only the leading cutting edge whatev is *really* gaming, and that everything else is for amateurs, and that AAA is all that matters. But so what? There are people who are like that about cars and people who are like that about audio equipment and people who are like that about guitar amps and people who are like that about their television sets. Every field has its chest-thumpers looking for bragging rights. And yet the rest of the world somehow manages to drive around, listen to music, play guitar, watch television, because -- for all the chest-thumping -- AAA isn't everything.

The best thing Apple could do to support gaming now, in the Apple Silicon world, is to make powerful developer tools and APIs explicitly and exactly to vastly simplify cross-platform development. Lower the fences.

 

[BornAgainMac]

If you want new games, there is always Apple Arcade.

 

[Stella]

Just look at how hard it is for Intel and Nvidia to come out with a chip/card every year that's just marginally faster than the one from the previous year. And then realize how Apple Silicon is really just getting started. A game developer will really have no choice but to start developing native games for macOS. I also expect people who are serious about games to start taking a look at Macs (as incredible as that sounds). And just so you know, the custom Zen 2 used in Playstation 5 is x86-based. It's subject to the same limitation as any x86 based chips.

The performance difference between the Nvidia 2000 and 3000, 2000 and 3000, 900 and 1000 was more than just a "marginal".

Your being a bit optimistic about "developers will have no choice but to start developing native games for MacOS". If there's no viable user base for games no software shop is going to release games for Mac. There's no point, it's a money sink hole. If there's no games for the Mac, no "serious gamer" is going to bat an eye lid at the Mac. Additionally, when it comes to gaming, PCs and Consoles are better value for money than Macs, so there's no compelling reason for gamers to jump to Macs.

AMD and Intel / Consoles could switch to ARM, and game developers would absolutely follow because there would be a viable gaming audience. There still wouldn't be a compelling reason to port games over to the Mac games.

If you want new games, there is always Apple Arcade.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of those suck, IMO - your mileage may vary. They also don't take full advantage of the M1s.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

There will always be hyperenthusiasts who insist that only the leading cutting edge whatev is *really* gaming, and that everything else is for amateurs, and that AAA is all that matters. But so what? There are people who are like that about cars and people who are like that about audio equipment and people who are like that about guitar amps and people who are like that about their television sets. Every field has its chest-thumpers looking for bragging rights. And yet the rest of the world somehow manages to drive around, listen to music, play guitar, watch television, because -- for all the chest-thumping -- AAA isn't everything.

The best thing Apple could do to support gaming now, in the Apple Silicon world, is to make powerful developer tools and APIs explicitly and exactly to vastly simplify cross-platform development. Lower the fences.

I don’t know why I’m spending Friday morning on MacRumors, but here we go:

Apple is so infinitely superior to everything else, it’s the opposite of what you’re saying.

Android uses OpenGL ES. OpenGL ES 3.2 is on par with Metal (Apple).

OpenGL ES 2.0 is limited to 2048x2048 textures.

And somehow the Android phone makers are using OpenGL ES 1.1.

On hardware that is supposed to support OpenGL ES 3.2.

Try running a native 4K video on your Android. You probably can’t.

And you say, that’s not an issue! My phone is only 1920x1080.

Yes, but what about Amazon Fire TV? What about Samsung or LG Smart TVs?

And the only set box I have been able to natively decode 4K video on is Apple TV.

Everything else is web based.

 

[DStaal]

Graphically and performance intensive comparatively

I'll disagree with that a bit actually - I'd say the reasoning is that is a fairly well-optimized game for Mac that looks like it has graphic and performance intensive gameplay. In actuality the graphics are pretty well optimized to hide performance issues - short draw distances and moderately few active elements on the screen at a time, relatively. They just make very good use of what they have.

Now if *Rise*of the Tomb Raider runs well I'd be more impressed. It's got much longer draw distances, leading to more active elements, etc... (I've had a couple of machines able to run both. Shadow always outperforms Rise.)

 

[newbmacuser2021]

This was my whole point about binary (010101) and Windows gaming.

I wrote a native app for Android 8K video using macOS Big Sur on Intel x64.

It only works on Mac, despite running native Kotlin.

So on my Mac, I have 8K video on an Android emulator. (x64)

On Android, I can only run 2K. (ARM)

 

[verpeiler]

World of Warcraft runs on max settings at 100-200 FPS and that's specifically optimized for the M1 chip and is a current game.

Even Shadowlands? I heard it runs fine with medium settings even on the M1, but not 100 fps on ultra settings

 

[svish]

Some good games to show off the power of M1 Pro and Max. Microsoft Flight Simulator on Apple Silicon would have been awesome.

 

[tubular]

Apple is so infinitely superior to everything else, it’s the opposite of what you’re saying.

Businesses have other considerations alongside purely technical ones. The folks who actually are in the position to decide whether to dedicate development resources to an Apple port aren’t the ones who know what tile-based deferred rendering is, they look at developer hours and say: “a Mac port was feasible in the past but my developers tell me that Apple has deprecated a key cross-platform technology and might pull the plug at any moment, so given a greater risk and a higher porting cost than before, let’s just give it a pass.”

The way to combat that is either to resoundingly support cross platform standards like Vulkan, or to build development tools to automate moving the code and assets into something Apple *does* support. Either way, the goal is clear: reduce the number of engineer hours necessary. Too many hours means too high a price and therefore too small a profit to make it worth doing.

Apple's deprecation of OpenGL, wonky and creaky as OpenGL is, cuts off a major avenue for cross platform development, especially when Apple failed to embrace OpenGL's successor.

They have walled themselves in at the graphics API level, and only they can knock those walls down. Benchmarks alone won’t do that. And compiling code for a different instruction set won’t do that, because it’s not the instruction set that’s the bottleneck.

 

[davidg4781]

I’m not a big gamer but I like some Lego or The Sims games sometimes.

I’m curious though, how do the games in this article compare when run on the 13” MBP or MBA?

 

[Marshall73]

World of Warcraft runs on max settings at 100-200 FPS and that's specifically optimized for the M1 chip and is a current game.

On the M1 pro and Max? Because at max settings (especially shadows and SSAO on a Mac the frame rates collapse) the 32 gpu max clocks ~72fps in the new starting area (exiles reach)and drops in city areas and hubs.

 

[newbmacuser2021]

Businesses have other considerations alongside purely technical ones. The folks who actually are in the position to decide whether to dedicate development resources to an Apple port aren’t the ones who know what tile-based deferred rendering is, they look at developer hours and say: “a Mac port was feasible in the past but my developers tell me that Apple has deprecated a key cross-platform technology and might pull the plug at any moment, so given a greater risk and a higher porting cost than before, let’s just give it a pass.”

The way to combat that is either to resoundingly support cross platform standards like Vulkan, or to build development tools to automate moving the code and assets into something Apple *does* support.

Apple's deprecation of OpenGL, wonky and creaky as OpenGL is, cuts off a major avenue for cross platform development, especially when Apple failed to embrace OpenGLks successor.

They have walled themselves in, and only they can knock those walls down. Benchmarks alone won’t do that.

I agree somewhat on the first sentence.

That said, the name of the product is literally “Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K”.

 

[mzeb]

All old games. Meh.

Did you read the part that Balder's Gate III isn't released yet and has only been in early access for a year. Hard to call that "old"

 

[newbmacuser2021]

2048 > 1920, I’ll take it!

If someone offered you 128 additional Cheeseburgers, what would you say?

 

[newbmacuser2021]

I’m waiting for the thread about Apple Hi-Def Music, where the labels convert the 192kbps masters to lossless.

 

[bsolar]

The math using my computer language (C++) works with the CPU instructions. 2 + 2 = 4

Sometimes what seems simple on paper is actually more complex in reality.

Taking your example in C++ but slightly modified... 2'000'000'000L + 2'000'000'000L == 4'000'000'000L right? Except it's not always the case.

On Windows with Visual Studio C++ compiler, long is 32 bits. On MacOS with gcc, long is 64 bits. Both are conform to the C++ specification, which states that a long needs to be at least 32 bits.

This means, on Windows the result of the addition would overflow, whereas on MacOS it would not, leading to completely different results.

Note that the result would be different even with the same underlying CPU architecture.

 

[mzeb]

The title of this article could also be… “The only 5 games you can play on your new MacBook Pro without boot camp” lol

Yeah. Bit of a shame really. Just these five.

I guess there's also the top MMO FFXIV
And that other MMO that's been around forever WoW
And Diablo 3
And Subnautica (Also the new Sub-zero)
And Civilization (I haven't been able to get the originals to run even in a DOS vm)
And Castlevania: GoS
And Asphalt 8
And ...

OK, snark aside. The most popular games almost all have Mac ports. But Apple does have a big hole in the FPS genre. There's virtually nothing there. The "core" gamer thinks Macs are icky so the devs don't build for it. We'll see what the M1 does for that. When the raw benchmarks of the M1 Max compete with a 6700M or a 2080 Mobile there's something to consider.

There's one other interesting trend. While the old studios like Blizzard are falling away from the Mac due to crusty old development practices younger studios like Larian and Owlcat are all developing for the Mac. Even Iron Gate has a Mac Port of Valheim on MoltenVK, they're just too small to support it because their game got huge fast.