Matthew on 14/2/2007 at 22:29
Are we talking about Windows games here? I just ask because I think you and jay are saying the same thing from different angles.
fett on 14/2/2007 at 22:38
Yeah - most windows games (at least that's what I'm talking about). Maybe I missed a post somewhere...
Abysmal on 14/2/2007 at 22:57
Running Windows games fine here on a Mac on a respectable X1600...at least the one or two games I still hold in high regard. Also built up a nice library of Mac titles over the years, there's a suprising selection when you actually look (used to frequent IMG, the big Mac gamer community on the web). But again as I'm getting dead sick of games (oooh more killing and pulpy fantasy shite) they are likely heading to the one local games shop I know that accepts them.
Also of interest might be the upcoming VMWare Fusion, which is bringing 3D performance to virtualization, meaning soon I won't have to put up with dualbooting for Thief if the videos I've seen are indicitave of the final product.
fett on 14/2/2007 at 23:03
Let's talk retro - can you run:
Any Thief title
NOLF
Freedom Force
SS2
Deus Ex
Or current:
Oblivion
any Splinter Cell title
Company of Heroes
Prince of Persia
It just seems that when I browse the Mac titles at CompUSA it consists mainly of Sims titles and Myst knock-offs. Kill me now.
Abysmal on 14/2/2007 at 23:11
Yes to all of that (well I don't have the last two but you get the idea). Oblivion and Dark Messiah run great at around 720p mid-settings on the Windows side. I've got the Mac versions of the NOLFs and Freedom Force, as well as AVP1&2, Fallout 1&2, etc. so these things exist. I go for online purchases as retail doesn't care about Mac games
David on 14/2/2007 at 23:15
Macs with an Intel CPU can boot Windows, so with a dual boot setup a Mac can play any game a 'true' Windows machine of the same spec can.
There are also solutions available that run quite a few games etc without the need for Windows, much like the WINE project for Linux.
Case in point:
Inline Image:
http://www.ttlg.com/dave/thiefosx_t.jpgI'm very interested in Parallels and VMWare Fusion as they are both working towards 3D Acceleration in a Virtual Machine, which is kind of a holy grail.
DaveW on 15/2/2007 at 00:32
Quote Posted by jay pettitt
Of course you can update the software on a Mac. Obviously you can't upgrade to DirectX 10, but for that matter you can't upgrade to DirectX 4 either; DirectX is proprietary MS tech specific to Windows. OpenGL on the other hand works on anything and you can update it to the latest version on anything. Would you believe you can also upgrade hardware on a Mac: drives, graphics cards and all. And how does choosing your CD drive help you play games? Bugger me, since when was having to upgrade a good thing ever anyway.
But yes, Mac's and their users have a different ethos about upgrades. The expectation is that stuff should work out of the box without dismantling your PC for a quick graphics card upgrade and driver installation.
Macs have never really had anything on PCs, they just have a different way of going about things. It's ok to like your boring PC, no need to get shirty about it.
DirectX10 requires a DirectX10 compatible card, which are only just coming out. I was using it as an example. Same with a CD drive - not necceserily related to gaming, but basically I can shove a BluRay or HD DVD writer in my PC while someone with an iMac (like my foolish brother) can't. But I guess the expectation of Macs is to be restricted and have to put up an inferior computing experience :thumb:
P.S OpenGL isn't as good as DirectX10Shug on 15/2/2007 at 01:40
Quote Posted by DaveW
But I guess the expectation of Macs is to be restricted and have to put up an inferior computing experience :thumb:
Why are you giving the thumbs up to an inferior computing experience
are you some kind of idiot
P.S. how does i put up computing experience
David on 15/2/2007 at 07:23
Quote Posted by DaveW
Same with a CD drive - not necceserily related to gaming, but basically I can shove a BluRay or HD DVD writer in my PC while someone with an iMac (like my foolish brother) can't.
This is a extremely common misconception. Quite a lot of the parts in the Mac are user upgradeable - that is that the upgrade of them is supported (
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/imacg5_17inch_OpticalDrive.pdf) and documented (PDF, Optical Drive manual) by Apple - and other parts are also replaceable, though not supported or documented by Apple.
Depending on the model of the Mac in question it is possible to upgrade/replace the hard drive, RAM, graphics card, optical drive, Airport (wireless), Bluetooth, CPU. So pretty much everything bar the motherboard.
Matthew on 15/2/2007 at 10:37
That's very interesting David. Just as an idle query, how upgradable would a MacBook Pro be?
