h'biki said:
Just wanted to point this out for people who hadn't seen it:
WWDC 2005 Sessions said:
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Apple Gaming Division?
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Just wanted to point this out for people who hadn't seen it:
SpaceMagic said:
A business strategy game where the object is to utilize various technological products in effort to establish a significant presence in a market that is largely governend by an evil monopoly.
...or somethin like that
tsaxer said:A business strategy game where the object is to utilize various technological products in effort to establish a significant presence in a market that is largely governend by an evil monopoly.
...or somethin like that
lol, whats the evil monopoly in the game scene?
some of you suggesting Apple buy a company like Take 2 just are ignoring reality. most of their franchises would not work well on a computer... their newly acquired 2K sports division, and a number of other properties.
sre, they have Max Payne, GTA, and the like, but that's not where the cream of the crop is in computer games... it's First-Person Shooters.
Valve would be a great target. lock up the Half-Life franchise, which gets more respect nowadays than Doom and Quake combined.
Wideload games would be great though. cheap, got some experience and talent, and they're really really cheap.
either Valve or Wideload would be a grat acquisition for Apple. Blizzard would be so dumb I can't even fathom it. blizzard is already committed to the Mac platform... valve is not even considering it, which would make for a fantastic acquisition, as Microsoft took Bungie, and now Apple can take Valve.
sre, they have Max Payne, GTA, and the like, but that's not where the cream of the crop is in computer games... it's First-Person Shooters.
Valve would be a great target. lock up the Half-Life franchise, which gets more respect nowadays than Doom and Quake combined.
Wideload games would be great though. cheap, got some experience and talent, and they're really really cheap.
either Valve or Wideload would be a grat acquisition for Apple. Blizzard would be so dumb I can't even fathom it. blizzard is already committed to the Mac platform... valve is not even considering it, which would make for a fantastic acquisition, as Microsoft took Bungie, and now Apple can take Valve.
Blizzard a one trick pony? Where have you been the last, I dunno, decade?
Anyway... 'bout freakin' time. The only reason I own a PC instead of a mac is because of games. I curse the damn thing everytime I have to do something productivity related or figure out how to do something that should be easy, or figure out how the hell THAT got installed... etc, but let's face it, what do I use my home computer for: net, email, chat, and games. I work... at work.
Attracting the gaming community requires attracting developers to code their games for macs. Perhaps this means creating tools that enable easier conversion. Or creating some kick-ass games in house to get the market rolling. But it has the benefit that gamers push the market for high end stuff, which is what Apple peddles, as well as push the abilities of the hardware, which should benefit developers of all software.
The shame is that some very good titles do come out for the mac now, but late, like CoD, BF42, Rainbow Six, and C&C.
As for being a waste of money... I don't think anyone in the PC world would make such a silly statement. Games drive a lot of the PC market, and bringing them into the Apple fold can only benefit the platform. A lot of people upgrade their computer just because a new game came out... why wouldn't Apple want a piece of that?
Anyway... 'bout freakin' time. The only reason I own a PC instead of a mac is because of games. I curse the damn thing everytime I have to do something productivity related or figure out how to do something that should be easy, or figure out how the hell THAT got installed... etc, but let's face it, what do I use my home computer for: net, email, chat, and games. I work... at work.
Attracting the gaming community requires attracting developers to code their games for macs. Perhaps this means creating tools that enable easier conversion. Or creating some kick-ass games in house to get the market rolling. But it has the benefit that gamers push the market for high end stuff, which is what Apple peddles, as well as push the abilities of the hardware, which should benefit developers of all software.
The shame is that some very good titles do come out for the mac now, but late, like CoD, BF42, Rainbow Six, and C&C.
As for being a waste of money... I don't think anyone in the PC world would make such a silly statement. Games drive a lot of the PC market, and bringing them into the Apple fold can only benefit the platform. A lot of people upgrade their computer just because a new game came out... why wouldn't Apple want a piece of that?
I mentioned this idea, that Apple should either create or buy a gaming company, back when Apple became a dept free company a few months ago and everyone was speculating on what they would do with the money.
I believe Apple, in addition to creating a game division (serious games, not bugdom), should create a seperate division solely for the purpose of coverting popular PC games to work on the Mac. The third party companies that do this
today take to long.
If Apple were to purchase a company, what would it be? I would have to say Cyan, as they have always had a positive relationship with Apple and they are finally moving away with the Myst series into something code name "Something Else."
I believe Apple, in addition to creating a game division (serious games, not bugdom), should create a seperate division solely for the purpose of coverting popular PC games to work on the Mac. The third party companies that do this
today take to long.
If Apple were to purchase a company, what would it be? I would have to say Cyan, as they have always had a positive relationship with Apple and they are finally moving away with the Myst series into something code name "Something Else."
bobx2001 said:
YES PLEASE!!!! I'm a "switcher" and im selling my peecee atm to get a G5 and im an addict for CS!!!!!!
. As long it doesn't turn out like DOOM3, which runs a bit crap...
DOOM 3 runs like crap on Windows too, FYI.Patch^ said:YES PLEASE!!!! I'm a "switcher" and im selling my peecee atm to get a G5 and im an addict for CS!!!!!!
that being said, surely the OpenGL layer could be improved quite a bit on OS X... the drivers for the GPUs though are in terrible shape for the 6800 series and the X800 series cards.
AndrewMT said:
Oh no. What a lousy acquisition that would be.
Why would they want to buy a company that made the lamest game ever produced?
The whole Myst genre is crap.
Macrumors said:
Hasn't every OSX update released since 10.0.1 had "improved OpenGL performance" listed as one of the features?
You'd think with twenty some-odd releases they'd either be there or realize they're going about it the wrong way.
It's all so drastically faster than it was just 5 years ago I can't notice any problems.
NNO-Stephen said:
Im not sure what system you've played it on but i never had any problems with DOOM3 on the peecee, even on its highest settings, although you do need a good GFX card and about 1-2GB of RAM.
Anyway on the issue about the Gaming division, i think it would be a good idea that apple had their own games, which were made specifically for the Mac because it may attract windows users, many of my m8s won't switch because of the range of games on Macs atm is a little weak. I aslo concur about the issue about Open GL, it needs improving including GPUs on some of the GFX cards.
Patch^ said:
I agree with the parts I cut out.
true, DOOM 3s performance on Windows is better than on Mac OS. some of it is due fundamentally to the way Apple has designed the OS. most of it though is due to driver optimizations for teh high end cards and Apple fixing their Open GL implementation, which isn't that great... it's not bad, but certainly not good.
that being said, on my mac, I get more than 30 frames a second with a dual G4 (1.8Ghz each) and Radeon 9800 Pro and 1.5GB of RAM... this is at 1280x1024 resolution and most effects turned on (shadows are off as is AA, but I think it's on 2x)
I'd like more games for the mac so I can finally get rid of my PC. But I doubt Apple doing them will happen. It won't be a reason to switch because a Mac running games with nice graphics well is very expensive and a game without nice graphics would hardly be a killer app. And I also have my doubts about how an Apple game would turn out. I cannot imagine how a game can stay Apple-like and still game-like. The Aqua User Interface wasn't made for games and is (except for easy things like Minesweeper or something) not suitable for them.
Cochrane said:
1) A Mac running games with nice graphics is expensive because of poor optimization for the technologies of the platform. If the same optimization work that goes into Windows games, were put into Mac games, then I have little doubt that performance would generally be equal across the table.
2) Personally, graphics aren't what make my decision whether to play a game or not. One of my favorite games (Final Fantasy 3; US) has HORRIBLE graphics by today's standards but I enjoy the story and game play. Also, the graphics of Age of Empires are severely outdated but my friends and I still hold all-nighters battling it out.
3) An Apple-made game would not have to "Apple-like" except in the sense that it would be a well-made product. I'm not sure where you get the idea that a game that's made by Apple is supposed to remain aqua. When a game is made by Microsoft for the Windows platform, do you think they find it necessary to include minimize/maximize/close buttons? or a start menu? Following interface guidelines is only "necessary" when you are running an app side-by-side with the OS, not when you're goal is to put your user into an environment, and submerge them into another state of mind.
Apple should buy Nintendo
Apple Computer should by Nintendo, a world renouned console maker. A slightly-bigger Mac Mini Game System with Wi-Fi and everything would kick butt, and Nintendo software to back it up would be incredible. Plus, who else here would love to play the nintendo game Zelda on a PowerBook?!? Or a new Game Boy that plays video, photos, and audio with an iPod interface, and a 40GB interface for games! Plus, any nintendo game plus G5 equals SHWEEEEEEEET! Graphics. It would certainly attract console and PC gamers.
Apple Computer should by Nintendo, a world renouned console maker. A slightly-bigger Mac Mini Game System with Wi-Fi and everything would kick butt, and Nintendo software to back it up would be incredible. Plus, who else here would love to play the nintendo game Zelda on a PowerBook?!? Or a new Game Boy that plays video, photos, and audio with an iPod interface, and a 40GB interface for games! Plus, any nintendo game plus G5 equals SHWEEEEEEEET! Graphics. It would certainly attract console and PC gamers.
OpenGL etc.
While I would like to see OpenGL run as well as possible on my Macs, I'm more interested in getting a pro card for my CAD and 3D graphics work. None of these game cards work well at all in these programs.
Th main reason we don't see more games, or games by the primary developers rather than late ported versions, has less to do with performance than market numbers.
Since the Mac is about 5% of the US market, there is little incentive for them to produce the blockbuster games for us.
It's a vicious cycle. Low market share, few games. Few games, low market share.
Everyone buy a Mini, and then buy all the games out there. Twice.
That should work.
While I would like to see OpenGL run as well as possible on my Macs, I'm more interested in getting a pro card for my CAD and 3D graphics work. None of these game cards work well at all in these programs.
Th main reason we don't see more games, or games by the primary developers rather than late ported versions, has less to do with performance than market numbers.
Since the Mac is about 5% of the US market, there is little incentive for them to produce the blockbuster games for us.
It's a vicious cycle. Low market share, few games. Few games, low market share.
Everyone buy a Mini, and then buy all the games out there. Twice.
That should work.
aprilfools said:Hope it doesnt happen! Games are a huge waste of time and are generally violent anyway. teaches kids the wrong things. Educational games maybe but still a huge waste of time. Is their a market for it? Probably. I'm sorry to say. Games may be entertaining to youth but still waste of time for everybody except for the people that design them.
Dont be so ignorant. Games have MANY benefits, ex its been shown kids who play consoles 30min a day become ambidexterous. Kids have a natural instinct to prefer tasks that have educational value.
It's about time Apple made a gaming division
I think Apple has realised that "the holier than thou" attitude does not send a very positive image about the Apple computer. Games are not only fun but are also used as benchmarking tools for high-end graphics. Apple has been losing a lot of business because of that, not that everyone would want to buy a gaming machine, but to an average computer buyer Apple hardware would seem slow if they compared the game benchmarks, for many games a mediocre PC can beat the highest end mac. Avrage user does not care if the game or a certain app was less optimized for the mac, he/she would simply percieve it to be Apple's fault and would have a bad impression about Apple hardware.
This would help us mac users getting better ports of pc games, I know no devleoper is going to write a game from scratch for the mac, but atleast Apple can, we need some kickass first person shooter game. Hope this is true, it would be good for both Apple and mac users.
I think Apple has realised that "the holier than thou" attitude does not send a very positive image about the Apple computer. Games are not only fun but are also used as benchmarking tools for high-end graphics. Apple has been losing a lot of business because of that, not that everyone would want to buy a gaming machine, but to an average computer buyer Apple hardware would seem slow if they compared the game benchmarks, for many games a mediocre PC can beat the highest end mac. Avrage user does not care if the game or a certain app was less optimized for the mac, he/she would simply percieve it to be Apple's fault and would have a bad impression about Apple hardware.
This would help us mac users getting better ports of pc games, I know no devleoper is going to write a game from scratch for the mac, but atleast Apple can, we need some kickass first person shooter game. Hope this is true, it would be good for both Apple and mac users.