Originally posted by Brandon Sharitt
I was wondering whether to get a new Mac or a new PC for gaming. It looks like I can get the Mac and still play games. Ithink it's great that they are using a Unix based version, not a Carbonized version, that should make it much faster than VirtualPC. I don't think the interviewer knew what he was talking about at the end when he said the low level nature of it could make the OS unstable. Maybe on Windows 95 or the old Mac OS, but not on a modern OS.
I'm with iJon here. If I were solely interested in gaming and had no morals I would buy a PC in a heartbeat. All Apple loyalists will agree with me on the following points because we've lived through the agony for too long:
A: It's cheaper to buy, "pound for pound." For the money you would spend on a top of the line G4 you could have a PC with
far more power and a sweet monitor to boot.
B: It's cheaper to upgrade. Hopefully this will go away, but currently I know of no way to do a complete upgrade of a mac in the way you can with a PC (for, once again, a fraction of the cost).
C: PC game developers largely ignore the Mac market because it is too small (like 3%, down from ten what seems like an eternity ago). BUNGIE was one of the only companies that was faithful to the Mac market, and guess what? Microsoft bought them. Activision ignored Mac users with Hexen II, even though the engine (Quake II, I believe) was already developed for the Mac and they had a minimal amount of work to do to port it. The vast majority of games, and software, are never ported to the mac. But take solace -- most games and software are crap anyway.
Generally, Mac users only get the cream when it comes to games because it just isn't worth the time to develop a bad game for a small market. However, most of these, when they are ports, take months to move over. And then you have the issue of not being able to keep up with the speed required to run games if your computer is too old, and you need to blow another 3k on a new CPU to be "up-to-date." Running an emulator won't solve this problem.
But here's my own personal feeling on the subject: I won't support Microsoft.
I own a PS2 and a GC, but no XBOX. I don't care what comes out on it.
I will continue to struggle along, buying a new computer every three years as I can afford it (hopefully I can stop working crappy jobs and this changes) and watch all the good computer games go by.
I will do this, because, despite my love/hate relationship with Apple, I have been a Mac user since '86. I have been forced to use PCs, and I hate them. I mean that. I also hate Microsoft. I mean that too. Apple is a company that needs to be supported, much like your favorite bands, because if the money goes away, the music won't be heard. And, in my own little fantasy world, I believe that one day I will not be laughed at by ignorant PC clones.
Thank you, that is all.
