Apple Gaming Division?

**King Shrek** · April 30th, 2005, 12:06 PM

According to an anonymous report, Apple and ATI have been in talks about either creating or purchasing a Game Development unit.

The purpose of such a division would presumably be to create compelling games for the Mac platform to help attract more PC users to switch to the Mac platform.

Such a move would not be uncharateristic for Apple, as their decision to create Safari as well as many of their iApps were in part to fill a void not provided by 3rd party developers on the Mac platform.

Apple does appear serious about improving gaming performance on the Mac. Recent reports noted that Apple, ATI and NVidia are actively recruiting developers to improve OpenGL performance.

Boy, I certainly hope this rumor is true. Apple, if you are not even the slightest bit considering such a move then I still think you should just do it anyway. Reason being is that this would be a brilliant way to bring more PC users to the Mac platform.

Apple, what I would do in this case is contract with some top third-party developers to help you to develop POPULAR games that run only on and are designed exclusively for the Mac platform. These games would need to be designed to take the fullest advantage of the technology available on the Mac platform, that way they should look better, sound better and peform better than any other games that run on the Mac.

These games should also be made to run great even on a low-end system like the Mac Mini. That way it will make it easier for gaming enthusiasts to justify paying $500-$600 for a system to play dozens of AWESOME games that won't run on any other platform. By doing so, these gamers will likely end up deciding that they really like the Mac platform and later on will be able to justify buying something better like an eMac, iMac, iBook, Powerbook or PowerMac.

Plus, in the process of getting more gaming enthusiasts to switch to the Mac platform, third-party developers will likely then be able to justify porting more of their PC games to the Mac, which will make the Mac platform even more attractive to PC users, especially PC gamers.

Just do it, Apple!

**riccbhard** · May 2nd, 2005, 10:23 PM

All in favor say "I"

I

C'mon Apple

**Pengu** · May 2nd, 2005, 11:10 PM

a gaming "enthusiast" won't want anything less than a G5 Powermac or G4 PowerBook with 128 DDR Video.

**nixgeek** · May 3rd, 2005, 09:10 AM

This has been tried in the past, but has failed. I'm hoping that this time it actually pulls through. I would LOVE to see more games on the Mac, especially considering the "POWER" inside these machines.

Even if it's to have a team dedicated to PROPERLY PORTING the games over from the PC side, it would be a start which would bring more gamers to the Mac. Eventually, if this takes off, we might see games developed first on the Mac and then ported over to the PC side, or at least companies investing the time and money to create native versions for both platforms.

Maybe even now with the Xbox 360 being POWER-based, we might see more developers working on Macintosh titles as well since they will already have the hardware from the dev kits for the XBOX 360. Who knows....

**Lt Major Burns** · May 3rd, 2005, 10:49 AM

i'm all for it. when apple use their heads and try extract the *potential* power from the g5..... they do it good. motion. all the lovelly small effects dotted around macOS. imagine 3d stuff to the same standard as quartz....

i want them to create a vector-graphic pro-app - an illustrator beater harnessing, not ignoring the power of my dual g5 and macOS

**King Shrek** · May 3rd, 2005, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by nixgeek

Even if it's to have a team dedicated to PROPERLY PORTING the games over from the PC side, it would be a start which would bring more gamers to the Mac. Eventually, if this takes off, we might see games developed first on the Mac and then ported over to the PC side, or at least companies investing the time and money to create native versions for both platforms.

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.

**riccbhard** · May 3rd, 2005, 07:33 PM

If there were a bunch of Mac-only games they would certainly attract the PC world.

**King Shrek** · May 3rd, 2005, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by nixgeek

I would LOVE to see more games on the Mac, especially considering the "POWER" inside these machines.

Speaking of which, making Mac-only games that look and sound GREAT even on low-end systems like the Mac Mini and the eMac just might get many PC users to realize the AWESOME performance of the Mac and will allow them justifying buying a cheaper low-end Mac, while prosumers and creative professionals will still dig the iMac, PowerMac and Powerbook "G5".