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better performance only if your desired software runs on the new processor. if not then what do you have? I am a light weight user in the Mac world, browsing a

better performance only if your desired software runs on the new processor. if not then what do you have? I am a light weight user in the Mac world, browsing and some games. However the few games left after the Catalina change to drop 32 bit support are still important to me. One of the publishers has preemptively dropped support for Mac and its near impossible to tell if others will continue support into AS. I know, there is a crowd out there that loves to declare "you should not use your Mac for games" along with "Buy a system for games then". Well let me be blunt, if it cannot serve both purposes then it serves none which means leaving the platform behind. So I look at AS with excitement and trepidation all at the same time with the realization my current Mac may well be my last.

gumby 6y ago
Didn’t Wendker demo a video game running under emulation? That should work fine for your 64 bit games. And it’s not like your old hardware will suddenly stop working. If you want to place PS2 games you need an old PS2, and this is the same. Also, along the line of your old hardware still working: no need to upgrade any time soon.
- yurishimo 6y ago
  I’m hopeful we’ll see something similar to the move Steam has made for old Pc games. With a little love, devs can usually get an old Windows 95 game running as we’ve seen in the past few years. If the Apple silicon is powerful enough, it might not matter if there is a huge performance hit for the emulation. It’ll be an interesting next 5 years for sure.
socialdemocrat 6y ago
Rosetta 2 translates x86 instructions to ARM and cache result. That translation seems quite good given that they demonstrated a complex 3D game running translated code on ARM hardware much weaker than what Apple will deliver in laptops. Honestly I think x86 games will run better on these ARM laptops. Keep in mind x86 on laptops don’t work great. Apple could outperform most of their x86 laptops with a passively cooled ARM tablet. An ARM laptop with active cooling will destroy their x86 lineup. Besides you also get the whole iOS games catalog now which is much larger than the macOS game selection.
- yurishimo 6y ago
  The iOS catalog is moot until devs starting making real games for the platform. Apple Arcade and a few indie studios have done great, but for the most part, iOS games are micro transaction laden trash. It will take years before we see any real desktop level games developed to run exclusively on ARM macs. I think the success of gaming on the platform will come down to game engine devs like Unreal and Unity. If they can optimize exports to target Apple silicon with minimal overhead, that’s the best bet to see gaming live on. Otherwise, I don’t see how any AAA studios can find it worth their time to build for 2 completely different architectures. One interesting exception might be EA, as The Sims is hugely popular among casual crowds that might have a MacBook for college or something. But in the case of EA, they also will create a new Sims game and then milk it for a decade, thus paying back their R&D costs. Other studios who frequently make new games and want to push the hardware may not be as inclined to spend that with such a small install base.
mlindner 6y ago
> better performance only if your desired software runs on the new processor. if not then what do you have? Well of course... Give it some time for the patches to come. Recompiling for multiple processor architectures is easier now than it used to be. > I know, there is a crowd out there that loves to declare "you should not use your Mac for games" along with "Buy a system for games then". Well let me be blunt, if it cannot serve both purposes then it serves none which means leaving the platform behind. I think you SHOULD use a Mac for games. Most people saying that are not in fact Mac users. The ARM transition isn't going to push Mac games out of existence. In fact it'll probably push Microsoft to properly treat ARM as a first class citizen so companies will be compiling their software for two different architectures anyway.

gumby 6y ago

Didn’t Wendker demo a video game running under emulation? That should work fine for your 64 bit games. And it’s not like your old hardware will suddenly stop working. If you want to place PS2 games you need an old PS2, and this is the same. Also, along the line of your old hardware still working: no need to upgrade any time soon.

yurishimo 6y ago
I’m hopeful we’ll see something similar to the move Steam has made for old Pc games. With a little love, devs can usually get an old Windows 95 game running as we’ve seen in the past few years. If the Apple silicon is powerful enough, it might not matter if there is a huge performance hit for the emulation. It’ll be an interesting next 5 years for sure.

socialdemocrat 6y ago

Rosetta 2 translates x86 instructions to ARM and cache result. That translation seems quite good given that they demonstrated a complex 3D game running translated code on ARM hardware much weaker than what Apple will deliver in laptops. Honestly I think x86 games will run better on these ARM laptops. Keep in mind x86 on laptops don’t work great. Apple could outperform most of their x86 laptops with a passively cooled ARM tablet. An ARM laptop with active cooling will destroy their x86 lineup. Besides you also get the whole iOS games catalog now which is much larger than the macOS game selection.

yurishimo 6y ago
The iOS catalog is moot until devs starting making real games for the platform. Apple Arcade and a few indie studios have done great, but for the most part, iOS games are micro transaction laden trash. It will take years before we see any real desktop level games developed to run exclusively on ARM macs. I think the success of gaming on the platform will come down to game engine devs like Unreal and Unity. If they can optimize exports to target Apple silicon with minimal overhead, that’s the best bet to see gaming live on. Otherwise, I don’t see how any AAA studios can find it worth their time to build for 2 completely different architectures. One interesting exception might be EA, as The Sims is hugely popular among casual crowds that might have a MacBook for college or something. But in the case of EA, they also will create a new Sims game and then milk it for a decade, thus paying back their R&D costs. Other studios who frequently make new games and want to push the hardware may not be as inclined to spend that with such a small install base.

mlindner 6y ago

> better performance only if your desired software runs on the new processor. if not then what do you have? Well of course... Give it some time for the patches to come. Recompiling for multiple processor architectures is easier now than it used to be. > I know, there is a crowd out there that loves to declare "you should not use your Mac for games" along with "Buy a system for games then". Well let me be blunt, if it cannot serve both purposes then it serves none which means leaving the platform behind. I think you SHOULD use a Mac for games. Most people saying that are not in fact Mac users. The ARM transition isn't going to push Mac games out of existence. In fact it'll probably push Microsoft to properly treat ARM as a first class citizen so companies will be compiling their software for two different architectures anyway.