Apple Gaming Division?

[texanpenguin]

The Mac Mini does NOT have a video card capable of anything that'll tempt even the most gullible of PC gamers.

And as a matter of interest, wasn't Bungie (developers of Halo) a Mac-only games producer until Microsoft bought them out?


And the X-Box 360 won't help the Mac gaming world much, from my understanding, since MS will port Direct X to it first, and people will still be programming in Direct 3D instead of OpenGL (which is what OS X can use).


But then, do we really want the rabble on OS X? I have a number of "gamer" friends and they're a strange people. The kinds of people who see humour in writing viruses that target their mates (and all their mates' friends, etc., etc.). See where I'm heading here?

[riccbhard]

Funny, I can play 3D intensive games on my Mac Mini fine

And it still has 256MB RAM.

RallyShift runs extremely well, even in 32 bit mode.

[Convert]

My Powerbook's not such a bad gaming machine. I've been playing Battlefield 1942, Rise of Nations, Ghost Recon, and Call of Duty, all run fine, Call of Duty looks really good. I need more RAM though, I tried a 64 player game on Battlefield... eugh.

[lbj]

Originally Posted by King Shrek

You do realize that if Apple began working with third-party game developers to develop games ONLY for the Mac that it would increase the VALUE of the Mac platform. The PC platform already has many games that can only be played on it, so it's only fair. Think about it.

Please help me to understand exactly what a "third-party game developer" is and how they would go about developing games ONLY for the Mac.

[nixgeek]

Originally Posted by King Shrek

You do realize that if Apple began working with third-party game developers to develop games ONLY for the Mac that it would increase the VALUE of the Mac platform. The PC platform already has many games that can only be played on it, so it's only fair. Think about it.

I am aware of that. Apple tried to do this in the mid 90s with GameSprockets, but it never took off. QuickDraw 3D RAVE was what Apple was using for 3D acceleration. I think the main problem was that RAVE wasn't necessarily accepted by the industry as something standard (proprietary to Apple's OS). OpenGL was there, but it was very nascent, and MS was just starting to introduce DirectX to the consumer gaming market. At that time, even if Apple's technology was better, because of Apple's financial state and perception from consumers no one would have taken them seriously. Remember that this was when Apple was on the verge of actually going under (almost a reality this time around). Thankfully, Stevie came back and pulled it out of the brink to where it is now.

Now that Apple is more appealing to the consumer (thanks to the iPod), this would be a good way to finally show everyone something that us old Mac users have known for years (even on an older, cooperative-multitasked environment): that the Mac is definitely the machine for the rest of us. And not just for the rest of us, but for the rest of us to actually be productive in recreation, work, what-have-you....to actually ENJOY using a computer, not be confounded by it.

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Originally Posted by lbj

Please help me to understand exactly what a "third-party game developer" is and how they would go about developing games ONLY for the Mac.

"Third-party" == not Apple.

Just like some developers only develop games for the XBox, while others only develop for the PS2, while yet others only develop for x86, developing games ONLY for the Mac would be just that: developing games that run only on the Macintosh platform.

[lbj]

Thanks, that helps. Another question (and honestly, I'm not trying to cause trouble), what would a second-party developer be?

I'm assuming first-party is the company in question. Why do we jump to third-party when discussing anyone but the primary company?

[Lt Major Burns]

I am the first party

He is the second party

John is the third party