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Is your MBP your primary gaming device?

kamuix said:
I was sorta in the same boat, trying to figure out what my gaming needs were. As of late, like most others, I have seen a decline in my gaming. I own the new consoles, but I hardly play them. That, plus the lack of time to heavily invest in a game like before. I have bought some games such as Farcry and Witcher 3. To be honest, I've only literally put an hour or so to both games. The games aren't bad, but I seem to lack the motivation to continue.
On my mac, I just play heroes of the storm. That and a couple of blizzard games since they are made native to mac. Of course there are some windows games I'd like to try, but not the end of the world if I can't. I have a 2012 cMPB that seems to be alright in running games. The only incentive I find to play pc games are the ability to mod them and have fun. Such games as GTA 5, skyrim, fallout, and so on.
There was a point where I was tempted to create an external video card mod. Basically an enclosure, pci express pcb, a gtx 970, external power supply, which plugs via thunderbolt. Of course the bandwidth via thunderbolt is limited so a 10 - 20% loss of actual video card power is seen, from what I remember reading. Even with that loss, it's still capable of playing games at high and ultra settings. Or cheaper cards like the 7 series could be utilized. The total cost was about 500 dollars give or take depending on the video card you used. It seemed to work great, especially for people in bootcamp. Although there needed to be some work around to get it to function properly.
http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides-apple/
If anyone is interested.
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Thanks for that - will check it out. I am much the same. I will get a game and never finish it because once I start playing I realize the time sink involved. The ironic thing is we end up spending more time in casual FPS multiplayer and MOBAs that we could of finished 100 AAA titles by now :p. The only game I felt like finishing recently was GTAV on Xbox 360. I stopped midway because I wanted fo finish it on the PC when it came out. Well since the PC version was delayed about 6 months total I just lost all interest.

Another problem for me is that I love PC gaming but the experience is just so bad sometimes. Take Valve, their platform is the closest to an actual one stop interface the PC will ever have. Then look at their customer service. There's tons of glitches in lots of their games. CS:GO crashes to desktop every time in the OSX version. It's a problem that's been going on for a LONG time. They just have horrible support. I also had tons of problems on PC. They only recently implemented a return policy after over 10 years of doing business (pathetic). The average gamer doesn't care, but those like ourselves who are used to a high quality experience from Apple can get turned off quickly.

So, I do envy the better "experience" given by consoles, since things just work and there's no tweaking or BS, but still prefer PC gaming. Not sure why it has to be so paradoxical!
 
Lol, I totally understand your viewpoint. That was why I buy most of my games on console. I don't have to fret about needing to configure my setup to work optimally. The downside is that most of my friends play on pc. The other reason is the mods available. When I ran bootcamp and played skyrim, I modded the living hell out of it. I mean 3 gigs worth of mods :p and about 100 something odd hours messing around. I barely played the main story. I think that's probably the only reason that draws me to pc games. I even picked up fallout 3 vegas, to mod for fun, but I didn't even fire it once at all lol.

I understand the whole stigma of playing simple games. I literally spent so much time playing heart of the storm that it makes me wonder why I can't finish a triple A title lol. I don't know if I'm just lazy or its just the simplicity of the other games that keeps us entertained.
 
kamuix said:
Lol, I totally understand your viewpoint. That was why I buy most of my games on console. I don't have to fret about needing to configure my setup to work optimally. The downside is that most of my friends play on pc. The other reason is the mods available. When I ran bootcamp and played skyrim, I modded the living hell out of it. I mean 3 gigs worth of mods :p and about 100 something odd hours messing around. I barely played the main story. I think that's probably the only reason that draws me to pc games. I even picked up fallout 3 vegas, to mod for fun, but I didn't even fire it once at all lol.

I understand the whole stigma of playing simple games. I literally spent so much time playing heart of the storm that it makes me wonder why I can't finish a triple A title lol. I don't know if I'm just lazy or its just the simplicity of the other games that keeps us entertained.
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Consoles are starting to dive into mods it seems as per E3 announcements.
 
I play games like football manager, civilization, tropico and Cs go othe Mac. The rest I play on my Xbox one.
 
nStyle said:
Thanks for that - will check it out. I am much the same. I will get a game and never finish it because once I start playing I realize the time sink involved. The ironic thing is we end up spending more time in casual FPS multiplayer and MOBAs that we could of finished 100 AAA titles by now :p. The only game I felt like finishing recently was GTAV on Xbox 360. I stopped midway because I wanted fo finish it on the PC when it came out. Well since the PC version was delayed about 6 months total I just lost all interest.

Another problem for me is that I love PC gaming but the experience is just so bad sometimes. Take Valve, their platform is the closest to an actual one stop interface the PC will ever have. Then look at their customer service. There's tons of glitches in lots of their games. CS:GO crashes to desktop every time in the OSX version. It's a problem that's been going on for a LONG time. They just have horrible support. I also had tons of problems on PC. They only recently implemented a return policy after over 10 years of doing business (pathetic). The average gamer doesn't care, but those like ourselves who are used to a high quality experience from Apple can get turned off quickly.

So, I do envy the better "experience" given by consoles, since things just work and there's no tweaking or BS, but still prefer PC gaming. Not sure why it has to be so paradoxical!
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CS Go is there for MAC OS :eek: :eek:
 
I play some games on my 13" rMBP but for heavy gaming I use my Win PC and PS4, my rMBP is for work and day to day computing but I like to have the option when I'm out and about.

I haven't had my rMBP for long and my last mac laptop purchase was a G3 iBook over 10 years ago so I'm sort of back to being a newb with OS X, but I've been pleasantly surprised at how well the Iris gfx performs for gaming, don't get me wrong I wouldn't be looking to play AAA titles on it but what I do play has been in general a positive experience, I've tried the Eve online client and it ran at a steady 30 fps even in busy systems and fan noise and heat have been fine, I also play a couple of steam titles mainly war-game/strategy titles that have been fine as well.

On the negative side I installed Hearthstone, the blizzard MTG rip off, expecting it to be a breeze as its only a simple interface but found it to be terrible, temps thru the roof and my fans going at it like no ones business, but apparently this is a optimisation issue on blizzards part.

Either way, gaming is a lot better than I remember and probably a bad thing for me if I have work to be doing, but i would never consider a Mac of any kind for gaming if I'm honest.



PS. I didn't know how much I've missed OS X....... ;)
 
nStyle said:
Have you actually tried playing it? It just crashes to desktop for me and there's a whole bunch of people on Steam forums complaining about it.
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I didn't even know about this!! But if you are saying its so bad! I would rather stay away :/
 
Gaming should not be done on a laptop regardless of platform. Even gaming laptops quickly become redundant since the GPU and game requirements changes so quickly. If you want to game you'll really want to go for a console or a desktop (GPU replaceable ones).
 
ApoorvPrem said:
I didn't even know about this!! But if you are saying its so bad! I would rather stay away :/
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I play it pretty much every day - never a problem really. The only issues I have ever had were because the client and host versions of steam were not the same (due to auto updates). Once they are it works like a charm.
I honestly cant recommend it enough. Try it out yourself and find out.

EDIT: there is actually one proviso I would highlight - you must have a good, reliable, solid, network connection (wireless/wired or powerline, doesnt matter really as long as its solid and reliable with no dips). Im running over 5GHz ac and no issues although I am the only one on that frequency in my neighbourhood.
 
FumbleDuck said:
I play it pretty much every day - never a problem really. The only issues I have ever had were because the client and host versions of steam were not the same (due to auto updates). Once they are it works like a charm.
I honestly cant recommend it enough. Try it out yourself and find out.

EDIT: there is actually one proviso I would highlight - you must have a good, reliable, solid, network connection (wireless/wired or powerline, doesnt matter really as long as its solid and reliable with no dips). Im running over 5GHz ac and no issues although I am the only one on that frequency in my neighbourhood.
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Sorry for my ignorance but I am a bit confused. This game is installed on your Mac or some PC and then you are streaming it??
 
ApoorvPrem said:
Sorry for my ignorance but I am a bit confused. This game is installed on your Mac or some PC and then you are streaming it??
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My PC games are installed on my Windows 7 gaming PC and actually played/executed/rendered on that machine (i.e. the graphics card of the Windows PC does all the work). What happens then *I think* is that the steam streaming service takes the output of the graphics card and sends it over your local local network to my Mac as a compressed video stream. Inputs from the keyboard/mouse/gamepad on my mac are also sent over the network back to the Windows PC to actually control the game.

All the work is done on the gaming PC and the controls/video are handled/displayed by your mac with your local network connecting them both.

My gaming PC is actually headless (i.e. no mouse, no keyboard, no monitor) and is fully controlled by my Mac.
 
Hm I never thought about that. One thing I didn't want to do is get rid of my Thunderbolt Displau because I just got it last year. Can't hook a PC up to it. But yes, the OSX version of CS:GO definitely has issues.

Are you saying you stream CS:GO with no issues?

FumbleDuck said:
My PC games are installed on my Windows 7 gaming PC and actually played/executed/rendered on that machine (i.e. the graphics card of the Windows PC does all the work). What happens then *I think* is that the steam streaming service takes the output of the graphics card and sends it over your local local network to my Mac as a compressed video stream. Inputs from the keyboard/mouse/gamepad on my mac are also sent over the network back to the Windows PC to actually control the game.

All the work is done on the gaming PC and the controls/video are handled/displayed by your mac with your local network connecting them both.

My gaming PC is actually headless (i.e. no mouse, no keyboard, no monitor) and is fully controlled by my Mac.
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gngan said:
Nope. That's what my PS4 is for. No offense, but it's stupid to buy a Mac for gaming.
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The initial post is talking about something entirely different as opposed to purchasing a Mac "for gaming." OP is talking about running games on a Mac that they purchased for other reasons.
 
nStyle said:
Hm I never thought about that. One thing I didn't want to do is get rid of my Thunderbolt Displau because I just got it last year. Can't hook a PC up to it. But yes, the OSX version of CS:GO definitely has issues.

Are you saying you stream CS:GO with no issues?
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I havent tried CS:GO but I did try DoD:S a while back and that seemed to work fine. However the latency does become a bit of an issue - the ping from the server plus the latency from the streaming service could spike up to 80-100ms which is beyond what I would consider useable. On a good day I would imagine you could get it down to 50.
I dont do online multipler these days so I suppose my goggles are slightly tinted....
 
Here's what I did:

Rigged an USB-C Port on my rMBP, then connected that to a NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X via USB-C. The USB-C cord made my Retina screen 4K w/ no less than 60fps.

j/k... I think in your case you may want to consider bumping up to a 15". I also have very similar gaming habits as you do...I completely understand your situation...For most casual gaming the rMBP's hold up pretty well. I'm glad AMD is making a deeper footprint with Apple...but then it could go back the other way for better or worse.
 
Why are the majority listing the gaming consoles they own? Am I the only one who thinks it's totally irrelevant to what the OP is asking?

-------

Anyway, OP, I have a 15" MBP Retina but I never game on it. That is what my 17 inch Alienware is for.
 
Whenever I've tried even the lightest gaming on my rMBP the fans immediately kicked in to the point that it was clear the device wasn't designed for such things. I game heavily on my iMac. Apple laptops aren't for gaming.
 
I do my gaming on Xbox One. Rarely on my MacBook. And I suppose I game daily on my iPhone (just little casual games).
 
I'll play old school games in bootcamp on my 2009 Core 2 Duo Mbp 17" connected to external 2560x1440 Asus display. Games that are not super demanding or with settings on Low-Medium if they demanding.

I've been playing Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition (all DLC) on medium settings and it has been great.
 
LadyX said:
Why are the majority listing the gaming consoles they own? Am I the only one who thinks it's totally irrelevant to what the OP is asking?

-------

Anyway, OP, I have a 15" MBP Retina but I never game on it. That is what my 17 inch Alienware is for.
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Reading doesn't typically happen around here to answer your question. Most of these replies are simply from answering the question asked in the title.
 
When I am in the field use my Mac`s for gaming, equally I like the older stuff and am more into the gameplay itself, not solely the eye-candy. I even game on my Retina MacBook, albeit I look for games I can modify or have a lot of control over so I can get the balance right.

Finally found time to install and try out System Shock 2 on my Retina MacBook Pro`s and 1.2 Retina MacBook. Runs beautifully, although System Shock 2 harks from circa 1999, the version I play has many upgrades/mods that vastly improve the graphics over the original release, while retaining the deep and at times terrifying gameplay. Even my MacBook runs it perfectly; frame rates are solid, temperatures are reasonable (1440x900) and the audio is awesome for such a small system.

After some experimentation with mods & config files System Shock 2 not only runs well, it looks fantastic for a game that is now 16 years old thanks to a very healthy fan community. I also used Intel`s Power Gadget 3 to help setup up the game on the MacBook by monitoring/logging the CPU/GPU behaviour to prevent the SOC from thermal throttling and killing the game experience. The Actively cooled rMBP`s are more forgiving, equally I want the fan intrusion to be at minimum.

If you are into Sci-Fii, horror, survival, FPS, RPG System Shock 2 has it all all and much more. Obviously the graphics are dated in comparison to the latest titles, equally for gameplay, storyline and the amazing soundscape System Shock is still a truly relevant game that is both challenging, absorbing and unforgiving. System Shock 2 runs in a compatibility layer (Wineskin) on OS X and is available from GOG, for those with rMBP`s, be prepared for silent fans :)

For the 13" rMBP;
  • Amnesia The Dark Decent
  • Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4
  • Cubemen
  • Outlast
  • Doom 3
  • Quake 4
  • System Shock 2 (Modded)
Have more on my 15" MBP equally I tend to tire of the heat & fan noise The Witcher 2 being one. I only play casually and rarely online.

Q-6
 

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Yes and no.

I don't game much, but my MBP is the only computer I have, so technically it is my primary gaming device.

Nowadays the only game I play is Diablo III, the machine does a fine job of running the game, and with Metal for Mac, it'll get better hopefully.
 
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