Apple Gaming Division?

King Shrek

King Shrek

Registered
Link

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.
Click to expand...

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! ::love::
 
a gaming "enthusiast" won't want anything less than a G5 Powermac or G4 PowerBook with 128 DDR Video.
 
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. :p 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....
 
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
 
nixgeek said:
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.
Click to expand...

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. :)
 
nixgeek said:
I would LOVE to see more games on the Mac, especially considering the "POWER" inside these machines. :p
Click to expand...

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". :p
 
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?
 
Funny, I can play 3D intensive games on my Mac Mini fine :confused:

And it still has 256MB RAM. :eek:

RallyShift runs extremely well, even in 32 bit mode.
 
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.
 
King Shrek said:
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. :)
Click to expand...

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.
 
King Shrek said:
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. :)
Click to expand...

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.
 
lbj said:
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.
Click to expand...

"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.
 
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?
 
A good idea would be making mac officially and natively compatible with nintendo game cube (that has a ppc and an ati graphic card...).
 
lelereb said:
A good idea would be making mac officially and natively compatible with nintendo game cube (that has a ppc and an ati graphic card...).
Click to expand...

I guess it could be easier, but since the PPC CPUs in each of the consoles being released and that in the current Mac line are variations of one another, it might not turn out as well as one would think.

To put it simply, they pretty much share the same core, but it changes beyond that. The console CPUs are designed simply for the task of gaming, while those in Macs have to be able to do so much more than just that. Plus, most of the system boards on consoles are highly optimized so that the graphics, CPU, and anything else work together to keep the gameplay flowing smoothly. To have that on a PC/Mac would require LOTS of cooling power being that they are more complex beasts. I know I'm putting this very simply, but that's kind of the conclusion I've been getting from reading comparisons between the CPUs.

Maybe someone else can dish the geeky details on why this might be difficult...or even why it WOULD'NT be so difficult. :D
 
Lt Major Burns said:
I am the first party

He is the second party

John is the third party
Click to expand...
Wouldn't it be "You are the second party" ? Second party is when you're speaking directly to that person. He/she him/her is still speaking in the third person I think.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top