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> This is why gaming on the Mac is only now starting to be a real thing. Is it? I mean, there's a good amount of support for gaming on the Mac, but I think it'

by rusk 8y ago

> This is why gaming on the Mac is only now starting to be a real thing. Is it? I mean, there's a good amount of support for gaming on the Mac, but I think it's always been so ... I wouldn't call it "a thing" though ... not in comparison to PC or Console ...

antris 8y ago
I remember when major games being launched on Mac was worth a mention, or even a full feature in an Apple Keynote. Nowadays games are being released on the Mac constantly and nobody bats an eye. It's a better time to be a Mac gamer than ever before.
- bluedino 8y ago
  It would be even better if they had decent GPU's available without spending $1000+ on an external setup.
  - yellowapple 8y ago
    Or if they went with Vulkan instead of rolling yet another half-baked graphics API while also deprecating OpenGL because reasons.
- jeffbax 8y ago
  Agreed, have been a Mac user since 2004… and got the first Intel iMac specifically for the ability to boot Windows for gaming too. I think the only native Mac OSX games I had when I got that first 12" PowerBook were Q3, UT2004, Starcraft / WC3 / Diablo 2… and maybe Tux racer ;) Have long given up on dual booting. Granted much of my gaming is also done on consoles, Mac gaming support is better than ever outside of still generally anemic GPUs (and who knows what will happen when they move to ARM… a great many games will be orphaned in x86 forever -- e.g. will Starcraft HD get ported to ARM?) Thank you, to all the indies (and open source engine porters) who have supported Mac over the past 14 years!
ido 8y ago
This was definitely not the case 10-15 years ago.
- rusk 8y ago
  I had the iMac G4 about 10-15 years ago and I had a slew of good games for it. Nowhere near the amount available on other platforms but I was kept busy. These days when I look on Steam for instance yeah there's perhaps a larger proportion but still most games are Windows only ... The Mac never was nor will it ever be a serious gaming platform.
  - taeric 8y ago
    The same claim can be made for Linux today. I have a large number of games I can play. I would still say it is a smaller market.
    - rusk 8y ago
      Not disagreeing ... it makes little sense to develop commercially for Linux and never has. That doesn't mean that Mac isn't still a niche platform though, and banging on about number of tickets raised isn't really an appropriate way to quantify the value of a particular segment, or not.

by rusk 8y ago

antris 8y ago

I remember when major games being launched on Mac was worth a mention, or even a full feature in an Apple Keynote. Nowadays games are being released on the Mac constantly and nobody bats an eye. It's a better time to be a Mac gamer than ever before.

bluedino 8y ago
It would be even better if they had decent GPU's available without spending $1000+ on an external setup.
- yellowapple 8y ago
  Or if they went with Vulkan instead of rolling yet another half-baked graphics API while also deprecating OpenGL because reasons.
jeffbax 8y ago
Agreed, have been a Mac user since 2004… and got the first Intel iMac specifically for the ability to boot Windows for gaming too. I think the only native Mac OSX games I had when I got that first 12" PowerBook were Q3, UT2004, Starcraft / WC3 / Diablo 2… and maybe Tux racer ;) Have long given up on dual booting. Granted much of my gaming is also done on consoles, Mac gaming support is better than ever outside of still generally anemic GPUs (and who knows what will happen when they move to ARM… a great many games will be orphaned in x86 forever -- e.g. will Starcraft HD get ported to ARM?) Thank you, to all the indies (and open source engine porters) who have supported Mac over the past 14 years!

ido 8y ago

This was definitely not the case 10-15 years ago.

rusk 8y ago
I had the iMac G4 about 10-15 years ago and I had a slew of good games for it. Nowhere near the amount available on other platforms but I was kept busy. These days when I look on Steam for instance yeah there's perhaps a larger proportion but still most games are Windows only ... The Mac never was nor will it ever be a serious gaming platform.
- taeric 8y ago
  The same claim can be made for Linux today. I have a large number of games I can play. I would still say it is a smaller market.
  - rusk 8y ago
    Not disagreeing ... it makes little sense to develop commercially for Linux and never has. That doesn't mean that Mac isn't still a niche platform though, and banging on about number of tickets raised isn't really an appropriate way to quantify the value of a particular segment, or not.