Game availability in OS X

Howdy. I know the Mac platform isn't purchased for it's prevelent skills in the gaming world, however I know there are still some decent games kicking around that work. Essentially, I absolutely cannot adjust to a windows environment and need the protection and stability of my precious OS X so I'll be getting a MBP soon (havent decided if I want to hold out for a refresh or not.)

with that said, I'm curious as to what -IS- available for gaming?

I know Blizzard has some titles that work. WoW for example
-Warcraft III
-Starcrafc II

does Diablo 2 work fine? I know it's older so would there be any compatibility?
Any RPG's or fun sim/strag/rts type games? Diablo 3 wont be out anytime before I die so I'm not holding my breath.

thanks a ton.

I recently found some really powerful stock/forex trading workstation software for OS X so that was essentially the last straw for me. Not that it's any importance to this thread at all, but I'm excited and felt the need to share.

 

I think I remember something about Dragon Age: Origins coming out on Mac...

 

Yes, Diablo 2 will work just fine. But honestly, since it sounds like you don't even want to use Windows with virtualization, you're going to have a hard time playing most of the games out there. There's Blizzards games, The Sims, Dragon Age, Civilization, Unreal Tournament, Quake 4...and that's about it for the major games. The rest are little shareware games. Not exactly the largest selection, but that's to be expected with OS X.

 

If you are looking for past games then you won't have much luck besides the ones mentioned above by Angelic, however I will argue that any gaming company in todays age coming out with a new release, that *isnt* releasing it (simultaneously even) on both OS is completely out of their mind.

I imagine we will see the trend of any newer games being released (that aren't huge power mongers *cough* crysis) in the next few years and all after that to be playable on both Mac and PC alike.

 

I doubt it. I'm looking at the releases for new games through 2011 from Gamespot, and most of them won't support Mac. Must be hard to emulate DX11 on OS X. I don't think most people will care, if you bought the Mac strictly for gaming, you made the wrong purchase. Unless you love Blizzard.
http://news.bigdownload.com/photos/mac-monday-future-mac-games/2182952/#2182960

 

Pretty much every command and conquer game- red alert 3!

Age of empires games

iD games (like doom 3, quake 4, quake wars)

blizzard games

call of duty 4

soon: steam and valve games

if you are ambitious, you can get some other games running courtesy of wine/crossover games or cedega, but it takes effort and usually won't work perfectly.

 

bootcamp or no serious gaming for you.

it's just that simple.

SOME steam and valve games. no reason to assume serious support for a platform with limited penetration and no serious gamers buying them. the amount of work it would require developers to port a game to Mac is a non-starter for many and the reason why we don't see a lot of Mac ports for PC titles. Steam is probably going to bring some Valve offerings as well as Popcap stuff...but I wouldn't bet on a lot of additional ports.

OP, If you want to do more gaming than these hand full of games, bootcamp is your only sure bet. you need to get over your aversion to Windows, install Win7 and use it JUST for when you want to game.

you can do that. otherwise, you'll just be irritated by the volume of games that aren't on OSX and regret it.

 

diablo 2 should work. although ive got warcraft 3 and wow on mine, and homeworld 2 is a amazing port through cider

 

Here's an interesting question: I presume it is a different install CD for Mac/PC correct?

So like, if I had all the WoW expansion CD's for PC, but bought a MBP... I am going to have to download the entire game through my account if I want to play again because the Cd's are for a PC install, yes?

Bah.

 

I don't think there are different install discs.

 

I honestly do not understand why you bother trolling the apple forums. You always have to put in some kind of smug remark... if apple bothers you that much-- stay out of the apple forum.

 

I wasn't trolling at all, what are you talking about? I was telling him the facts, the lesser gaming library in OS X is to be expected. He's new to the OS. I even tried to help him by giving a good list of games for him to start with, if he's not going to use bootcamp or VM software.

 

I meant steam the application, and Valve games.

All valve games are only available through steam, so that was kind of confusing on my part. It *may* be the case that some titles which are already cross-platform and available on steam for windows (like red alert 3, dragon age, etc), could become available on steam for os x. It's a bit of a stretch, but depending on how crazy valve is, they may even offer some type of compatibility layer (wine / cedega) for games that work well with it.

I would not be surprised if a platform with a solid track record of high sales volume (steam) makes the mac platform more inviting to game developers in the future.

It looks like Valve is porting pretty much all their source based games to the mac- including half life 2 games, team fortress 2, and their left 4 dead games (not using wine/cedega)

 

I work out of town for months at a time so I travel with a laptop to keep in touch with the wife etc. I dabble with the stock market and also write professionally. I wanted the mac for writing primarily and for some other stuff that I prefer the MBP for. The only hesitations I was having was the stock market stuff I was using before and my brokers are MS only. I dont need the laptop for a primary source of games having an XBOX 360 at home, but being able to screw around with a few not too ancient games while I'm in the middle of nowhere working would be fantastic. Just wanted to clarify with a little more detail. (I've seriously worn out a controller to dust with Fallout 3 this winter. My god.)

Thanks for everyone who's added input so far.

As for the Valve thing, I just read about that too a few hours ago. Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress would be awesome.

 

Theres currently hundreds of games that have Wine or Cider based wrappers made for them... you can find around many places on the internet....

Its not nearly as good as actual developer supported ports, but its still nice to be able to game without bootcamp needed. I'd much rather run a game with a couple minor quirks and about 90% of the speed... than having to run freaking Windows... I'd rather just not play the game.

I got an unofficial port of Star Trek Online working before the game was even released...

I make Wineskin specifically for using Wine to make game wrappers for OSX.

Also check out The Porting Team forums... a community around making wrappers for Windows games so you don't need Windows to play.

And regardless of the popular opinion by people who do not use Wine based things... it does NOT run excessively bad, and is usually 90 to 95% just as fast as on Windows... on working games.... Wine doesn't emulate Windows though, so its not perfect, but getting better all the time.

Codeweavers Crossover program (uses Wine) is also very nice, and works a lot better on Macs than using normal Open Source Wine.... since they build their own X11 server customized to work good in it. Xquartz... apples X11 for OSX... totally sucks. Its getting better, but still very poor, as its missing many features that Wine gaming needs. Some day someone will write a good quartz driver for Wine and not need X11 anymore.

 

Angelic ain't trolling, she knows where to do that She is telling the truth. If you want to game, don't use OS X, period. Yes there are some ports for Mac, but they are often terribly coded. You're better off getting the windows version and playing through boot camp.

 

that's kind of a stretch.

the legitimate ports are fine.

once you start wrapping games yourself, results will definitely vary and patches and normal stuff might not work correctly or easily.

but at the very least, the off the shelf stuff works fine.

many games aren't available in os x, but there are some available now and the fact is, macs are getting more popular among the college crowd and more games are going to be available for the mac in the near future, starting with valve games.

 

I didn't say "don't use OS X for gaming, period", because that's not true. And I agree with Chef, more and more games will eventually be ported for Mac.

 

I think the OP said it best. I'm not sure why there is any contention about this point.

We listed some of the best games available for you. Good luck!

 

escape velocity nova. one of the few games thay had to be ported to windows rather than ported to mac.

awesome space rpg

 

Oh that was supposed to be my opinion not yours. I just wanted to say u werent trolling for saying the truth.

 

Oh ok, sorry about that.

 

I'm biased in a sense as I only like a few games on the PC and they are all made by blizzard in which I can play them all natively on OS X... so anyway yeah just look at the titles available and see if they meet your need. For everything else get a console (which I have) and it works great.

 

Well, the problem is not mainly with porting to OS X, the main problem is the mac hardware. Not many game developers would like to restrict themselves to making a game playable on a GT 9600M, which is the best graphics card available to a mbp. Most of the new and popular games like mass effect 2 probably won't even run in playable framerate on a mbp even if it's available for OS X anyways.

 

i don't know about that. depends on how the sales of some of Valve's games sales go.

but Mac ports have clearly not been fertile ground to date, relative to the cost of investment.

 

steam has such a good sales track record that i think steam4mac will help make porting mac games viable.

 

but if asked to put your money where your mouth is, I'm sure you wouldn't bet on it.

these decisions are a matter of economics. and considering Apple's hardware has not taken the needs of gamers seriously (even now, people have no expectations for the next refresh beyond the mediocre-performing 330M/335M Nvidia series), gamers are averse to Mac hardware. as such, we'll see very few serious games get ported. nothing more than the usual stuff from the usual companies (Blizzard games, some Valve games) + small, simpler games that won't require much work to port.

But anyone waiting or hoping for a port of the next Total War game, Bioshock 2, Assassin's Creed 2, or the latest Crytek offering would be remiss to buy a Mac. it's just not going to happen. it's already hard enough for the gigantic PC market to get a lot of variety in games from developers and publishers these days...how much more for a market that represents 1/10th of that market?

It is what it is. It's not a platform sought out for gaming by its owners, and thus does not generally make much economic sense for publishers and developers. Especially when all Macs can run Windows. If developers know people who own a Mac and want to game will install Windows to do it......where is their real motivation going to come from?

So again...neither you nor anyone else who understands all of this would bet on some sudden market shift to the support of a platform that has been absolutely disregarded for the last 15 years and even now only represents a maximum of 10% of potential total sales while creating potentially double the costs to produce (for development in the Windows AND OSX space).ibb

 

Mass effect 2 runs perfectly smooth in 720 on my mbp, it actually runs better then the first game, and looks great.
Starcraft 2 beta also is running fine, although that runs pretty well on a variety of hardware that I've seen so far.

 

Hmm, Have you never heard of graphics settings? Where you can lower the graphics to make the game run better.


Anyways, Portal 2 has been confirmed for OS X.

 

yes, it does. I installed the SC2 beta on my laptop that features integrated Intel X3100 graphics. really bad. like, I can't even get solid frames on this computer playing Half-Life 2.

Yet, SC2 on the lowest settings and native resolution runs stable enough. I'd say about 20-25 frames per.

then again, there has never been a Blizzard game that didn't scale well.

 

Most Steam powered games are coming to Mac soon! Portal 2!!!

 

No, they're not. Most Valve games are. Maybe that's what you meant?

 

Yes, i meant Valve games.

 

Ajreynol why do you feel the need to try and prove wrong anything positive about an Apple product, including anything positive that could come Apple's way?

 

He was correcting him, what's the big deal? Big difference between Valve and Steam.

 

I was referring to overall, but in this one he made it clear only SOME will make it to steam from Valve, which may be true. But he seems to sound like there is no chance anyone but Valve will even give it a shot. Which I consider way pessimistic, making it sound like it will never happen.

 

I think you're being pessimistic, he stated he thought *most* Valve games would be ported for Mac, which is true.

 

"Steam is probably going to bring some Valve offerings as well as Popcap stuff... but I wouldn't bet on a lot of additional ports."

Is more what I was referring too. But whatever, I could just be a little more hopeful for ports is all then. If I misinterpreted I apologize, it's just how it came off to me.

 

I think its rather amazing that Valve is not only porting all of this, and making Windows and Mac versions side by side in the future, but that they are doing it natively... not using Wine or Cider.

 

Like World of Warcraft engine. They use their own ".w_tf" (ignore the underscore, damm forum filters) files and etc etc... random extension only read off it's Blizzard engine. And they only need to work on the engine to fit both OS.

Cut down a lot of work without reworking all the models and artworks.

 

in the short run, it makes sense to use wine or cider as a wrapper for a windows game.

in the long run, it's actually less work to just go ahead and make their software OS agnostic.

since Valve seems to have made the decision to seriously port their games to the mac (and most likely their future games as well- looks like they're pulling a blizzard) it actually makes more sense to go ahead and do the proper port.

 

http://gizmodo.com/5488383/steam-comes-to-mac-offers-cross+platform-gaming-free-of-charge

 

woot goods news ! exactly Steamworks APIs!

 

I want new FFXIV to be Mac compatible
I hear people run FFXI (the current MMO) in Bootcamp and do okay with it, but XIV is going to be ported from PS3 so will be in full HD.
=S

Could be time to buy a ps3?

 

FFXI runs great under Wine... no Bootcamp needed.

 

This is GREAT to hear... maybe I won't have to drop $1000 on a nice TV/PS3 when it finally comes out.. or maybe they'll just port to Mac anyways

Thanks for the msg doh.

 

FFXI is a completely different engine from ffiv, and it has also been our for many years. Older games tend to run better in wine, or ones that scale well.

I would be surprised if ffiv runs in wine, and is playable. If anything just go into bootcamp and play it.

Dont rely on wine to play it.

 

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...s_eye_the_mac_after_steams_jump_to_apple.html

 

Sweet stuff.

I wonder if the PC version of FF7 would run decently through something like wine? I haven't used any emulation much before

 

PC Version of FF7 would run on a Cereal Box with some wires sticking out of it. Worst graphics ever.