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Major gaming news at WWDC: Metal and New games
- Thread starter Homy
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Surprised that you quoted my first post from 2022 but I see that you are new so I can understand you don’t want to read 134 pages.
A lot has happened since then and as long as Apple makes progress in gaming it’s a good sign. We had a few dark years before Apple Silicon when it felt as if developers had given upp on Mac because of fewer and fewer big ports coming. We had also two years after Apple Silicon when people felt that nobody was going to support AS because of few game releases but since WWDC 2020 we’ve got the ketchup effect, relatively speaking where both Apple and developers deliver exciting news every year.Apple seems to listen more too maybe thanks to Nat Brown who used to work at Microsoft on Xbox and at Valve on SteamVR. Unfortunately he left Apple in Aug. They fixed the extremely slow download speed for games from App Store by changing the depot sizes and removed the requirement for having double the storage space of game files during installation. In macOS 15.1 we’re finally getting the option to store games from App Store on external drives.
More developers support AS on/off stage every year, like 11 bit Studios, Capcom, Ubisoft, Remedy, 4A, Larian Studios, Kojima Productions, NEOWIZ, Hello Games, Iron Gate, Cyan, Teyon, Pocketpair, Dumbuster Studios, Firaxis Games, Rebellion, Supergiant Games, Grinding Gear Games, Sports Interactive, Bloober Team, Fallen Leaf, BlueTweleve Studio, Piranha Bytes, Saber Interactive, Rockfish Games, BlackMill Games, Feral/Sega/Codemasters, Nimble Giant and many more apart from all the indie developers.
We’re getting old and new popular AAA and AA games each year and more simultaneous game releases with other platforms. We got Metal 3 with many new modern features like MetalFX and Mesh shaders which brought Metal closer to DX12. We got Metal Performance HUD and Game Porting Toolkit. This year we got GPTK 2 with AVX2 support to play more games. Apple made Metal shader converter for easier porting of Windows games to Mac. We got M3 GPU with HW-accelerated ray tracing/mesh shading and dynamic cash.
So I’m optimistic about the future as long as progress is made but also realistic. Apple is playing a slow game. With 1.3% Steam market share we’re not going to get all the games tomorrow or ever but we’re still getting 25% of all the Steam games (2023) so it’s remarkable with such a small market share and that’s only on Steam, not counting the exclusive releases on MAS. The number of both Mac ports and native AS ports has also increased each year since 2021.
This is interesting and could mean an improvement for Mac gaming. Epic is launching "Share Everywhere" and lowers their royality to 3.5% if games are released first or simultaneously on EGS on all available platforms including Mac and iOS. It doesn't mean that more games will be ported to Mac because of this but there are already many Mac ports that don't get released on Epic but on Steam. So if developers/publishers want the discount they have to release their ports on EGS too. Don't know if the discount would justify the costs but it's always something. I also think of all the weekly free games. Many don’t have a Mac port on EGS but on Steam but with this we could get more free Mac games too if more ports become available.
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Hades II is now released for Apple Silicon Macs.
store.steampowered.com
The performance is also very good.
Football Manager 25 is coming to Apple Silicon Macs.
store.steampowered.com
Neva is also out for Apple Silicon.
store.steampowered.com
A Mac depot for Dead Island 2 appeared yesterday on Steamdb suggesting it will be released on Steam too.
Hades II on Steam
Battle beyond the Underworld using dark sorcery to take on the Titan of Time in this bewitching sequel to the award-winning rogue-like dungeon crawler.
The performance is also very good.
Football Manager 25 is coming to Apple Silicon Macs.
Football Manager 25 on Steam
Welcome to a new era of football management. Create iconic moments in your own football universe where only you define your destiny.
Neva is also out for Apple Silicon.
Neva on Steam
Experience the moving tale of a young woman and her lifelong bond with a magnificent wolf as they embark on a thrilling adventure through a rapidly dying world.
A Mac depot for Dead Island 2 appeared yesterday on Steamdb suggesting it will be released on Steam too.
Great news! Has anything been said about the release of Control?Hades II is now released for Apple Silicon Macs.
Hades II on Steam
Battle beyond the Underworld using dark sorcery to take on the Titan of Time in this bewitching sequel to the award-winning rogue-like dungeon crawler.
The performance is also very good.
View attachment 2439559
Football Manager 25 is coming to Apple Silicon Macs.
Football Manager 25 on Steam
Welcome to a new era of football management. Create iconic moments in your own football universe where only you define your destiny.
Neva is also out for Apple Silicon.
Neva on Steam
Experience the moving tale of a young woman and her lifelong bond with a magnificent wolf as they embark on a thrilling adventure through a rapidly dying world.
A Mac depot for Dead Island 2 appeared yesterday on Steamdb suggesting it will be released on Steam too.
View attachment 2439560
Not that I can find. The release date is said to be fall so perhaps with the release of M4?
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www.lg.com
Thanks again.LG 27UP850-W
27" UHD 4K IPS Monitor with VESA DisplayHDR™ 400 - 27UP850-W | LG HK
Discover LG 27UP850-W. Click for pictures, reviews, and tech specs for the LG 27" UHD 4K IPS Monitor with VESA DisplayHDR™ 400.
Last questions:
What do you use for audio? Meaning do you use speakers, headphones, or AirPods? If it's speakers or non-Apple headphones, do you have a USB DAC? Lastly, what keyboard and mouse do you have?
I use Sennheiser HD 250BT, an old wired extended Apple keyboard that came with my iMac 2011 and a Logitech G603 wireless mouse. A question for you. Why do you make three separate posts for each of your questions? You could have asked all that in the first post?
Haha, true. Sometimes my questions "pop-up" in my mind after receiving the previous answer.
What setup do you use yourself?Haha, true. Sometimes my questions "pop-up" in my mind after receiving the previous answer.
I built a gaming PC in January 2012 and sold it in December 2023. Had it for 12 years but kept upgrading the GPU. Everything else stayed the same.
I've been a Windows user my whole life (born in 1984) but always had a fascination for Macs. I briefly used them in school while in middle school and high school but never got the chance to actually dive deep into the Mac operating system. Since I was due for a new computer, I said "screw it" and got my first Mac in October 2023 which was a MacBook Pro 14" with the M2 Pro chip (the base model). This was after numerous comments and reports stating that the M3 models were not due soon. Then Apple announced their October Mac event and launched the M3 models (including the M3 Pro and M3 Max for the MacBook Pro). I was already past my 2 week return period as I had the MacBook for exactly 3 weeks. However, I called Apple the day the event took place and asked if I could do a return. They accepted. Once the return was done, I ordered a MacBook Pro 14" with the M3 Pro chip (the base model) for the same amount of money.
So, I am currently using a MacBook Pro 14" with the base M3 Pro chip, 18 GB unified memory, and 512 GB SSD. This is my only computer as of now.
The rest of the setup:
- 2 x JBL LSR305 studio monitors + 1 x JBL LSR310S subwoofer (for a 2.1 speaker setup)
- Schiit Audio Saga 2 preamp + Schiit Audio Bifrost 2/64 DAC + AudioQuest Cinnamon USB-B to USB-C 0.75 meter cable
- CalDigit Element Hub
- Magic Mouse
- iPhone 14 Pro
- AirPods Pro 2
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Such a luck that you could exchange your Mac. Congrats! Once you go Mac you never go back.
True. At this point, the only reason I'd need a PC is for gaming purposes. While I know more and more games are coming to macOS, there are some multiplayer ones that I used to play when I had my gaming PC that are not natively on macOS: Apex Legends and Battlefield V.Such a luck that you could exchange your Mac. Congrats! Once you go Mac you never go back.
However, I didn't game much even when I had my gaming PC so not being able to play some games is not a loss for me. I could always build a new PC just for gaming needs in the future (if required).
By the way, anyone use the following website for running old games on Macs?
Nah, fully possible to go back. Or better yet, the paradise of FOSS OSs. Especially if you want to feel like it's YOUR computer, not Apple's.Such a luck that you could exchange your Mac. Congrats! Once you go Mac you never go back.
Yes! That's like opening an old box with your childhood toys. I got Unreal and Doom 3 working flawlessly on an M1 Air. I would like to give Marathon a go… since I never got to finished the game (although this would definitely be worth a complete remaster with a newer 3d engine).By the way, anyone use the following website for running old games on Macs?
Where do you get the base game's files? GOG?
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Marathon games are free on Steam.
Classic Marathon on Steam
From the team that brought you Aleph One, the classic sci-fi FPS Marathon from Bungie on Mac revived for modern hardware by the fan community.
Dunno if I’d describe FOSS as a “paradise” even though I like it a lot. It certainly has advantages over MacOS, but for DD’ing I feel it’s more down to preference.
Brighter Shores is planned to release in early access on the 6th of November. It will include an Apple Silicon native release.
Its’s from the original creator of RuneScape.
store.steampowered.com
Its’s from the original creator of RuneScape.
Brighter Shores on Steam
Brighter Shores is an all new adventure from award winning MMORPG designer Andrew Gower. It is an enchanting point-and-click style RPG with hundreds of hours of gameplay, set in a land of magic and mysteries, with a huge number of professions to try, and something new to find around every corner.
Palworld is coming to Mac on Nov 26 on Mac App Store.
apps.apple.com
Palworld
Q. What kind of game is this? A. In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight and breed, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat t…
apps.apple.com