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The next big Apple push: Mac gaming?

thestandard.com — Interesting idea about Mac making another big push into gaming. But forget a Pippin II, or an iMac gamers' edition ... this theory is all about mobile.

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  • tekla25, on 05/09/2008, -8/+21I guess the mobile gaming device could become a hit, especially with Apple logo...We've already seen the potential for iPod Touch/iPhone games with use of accelerometer...and it could go further, right?
    • rpgmaker, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I think that it would be more successful that way that making the Apple TV a gaming platform.. but they always can integrate both.
      • lrdntwnd, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1They could use the iPhone/iPod touch as a controller for the Apple TV... That would make for a killer gaming experience... Think DS with a much bigger and higher definition main screen....
    • jabberwolf, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4A big push for Mac gaming... again.
      Don't they say this EVERY YEAR?!?!!!
  • braddpowers, on 05/09/2008, -17/+10Totally agree. If apple made a Hand Held Device for gaming I would buy it. I hacked my ipod and had more fun playing some of the games on there than I did on my psp.
    • ajb2015, on 05/09/2008, -2/+10why don't you wait to see it first?
      • ferrariman60, on 05/09/2008, -5/+18Because it's an Apple thing. Most Apple fanboys will buy one sight unseen, remember?
    • aznhomig, on 05/09/2008, -6/+11Here, have some more Kool-Aid.
    • rpgmaker, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2I can't believe I just read that.
    • hassanchop13, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1i have an ipod touch and psp. if you want something to amuse yourself for a few minutes, the touch games are fine; if you wanna play a game, you need a psp. if solitare, chess, sudoku, and an nes emulator is what you're looking for, then by all means, trash the psp
      • aznhomig, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2'Cept the PSP can do all those things you mentioned.
  • erickhill, on 05/09/2008, -3/+11At least according to the 2006 patent that they filed, it could be a part of an upgraded Apple TV (which, at the time of the patent, totally ripped off the Wii). Now that would be interesting if you ask me - especially with all of the Apple product integration possibilities.
  • thenome, on 05/09/2008, -5/+9The main reason I hear (from friends) that they don't buy a mac is that there's no games. Although, this isn't entirely true; Apple needs to make a push into this market into a big way if they want to succeed in the long run.
    • slickstar, on 05/09/2008, -7/+2I'm in the same boat. i love Emacs's. at uni the rec rational computers are either mac or windows and i laws hit the macs. i would love to get one...but my home PC is a gaming rig and i dint think id be able to play games such a COD4, CRY SIS, ASSASSINS CREED etc on an apple. but i hope some hing comes up so i can!
    • Hangly, on 05/09/2008, -3/+6The main reason I don't buy a mac is because I never have that much money at one time. If I could buy macs a component at a time like you can a PC, I would have switched long ago.
      • Kyan, on 05/09/2008, -8/+1Have you never heard of saving up?

        What are you going to do, buy one component and have it sit there until you 've bought enough to have a running computer? I seriously doubt you are sitting around without a computer now, so that is not the issue.

        In your shoes, I would update my current computer so it will last two years. Then set aside money every month in an interest-bearing account and buy a new mac in two years.

        Even better, look at it this way. What would you WANT to pay for say a top-line iMac (or whaever you need). $900 sound fair? So go find CharlesSchwab, open an account and buy $900 of APPL stock. It's likely to go up (already up 34% since the dip in January and I personally agree it will keep rising. (Not to be construed as financial advice, forward looking gains cannot be predicted, the stock may crash and burn. Please speak with a professional before making any decisions.)

        That may be too risky for you, but I'd bet you'll have $2000 (after capital gains taxes) in two years when you want to buy that mac. And you can tell your friends you got it for $900.
        • Hangly, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4The other thing is I don't want a mac all that badly. Much easier to continue upgrading parts of my PC.
    • Schmich, on 05/09/2008, -2/+4Your friends are right. I study IT in university and I have yet to own my first Mac computer/laptop. Main reason is of course Windows does everything I (maybe not you) need and want including gaming. Same thing for Linux, but Linux also has other obstacles for the average person.

      Nonetheless, it wouldn't surprise me if the device would be a hit like the first comment states.
    • dagamer34, on 05/09/2008, -3/+18Games require upgrading a video card from time to time. Upgrading a Mac requires buying a new computer. See the dilemma?
      • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3Quite right except that games DON'T require upgrading a video card from time to time. Console gaming is a good example. You never upgrade cards in those and the cycle between consoles seems to be around three years or so, about the same gap that most people buy new computers.
        I'm not putting you down, but remember that hard-core gamers that rush out and replace their video cards every six months to a year is nowhere near the norm. Most people do little beyond adding RAM, or adding larger hard drives. Having said that, Apple doesn't let you easily replace the hard drives in Macs without voiding your warranty (except with the MacBook) either, so I don't give them a pass on that.
        It's almost enough to make me wish upon a Psystar (almost).
        • matx, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I console is cheap compared to buying a new Mac every few years.
      • serif69, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Apple won't allow developers to put such restrictions on their customers. They will develop a platform like a console, where all games must be compatible with that particular hardware, just like they do with their own applications. And of course it will all be wrapped in an incredibly appealing package for developers, so while there will be some resistance and hype surrounding the shortcomings, the developers will sign on anyway due to the benefits. I'll refer you to the iPhone SDK as an example.
    • barddzen, on 05/09/2008, -3/+2I keep hearing that "there aren't any games for the Mac" and while I agree with your comment (about Apple pushing into the market), it's not entirely Apple's fault there aren't any games, it's the game makers and the margins they play with when releasing a game. The video cards are "decent" on the average modern Mac, enough for most games being released today on the PC platform. The issue here is for the investment of a game company to release on a Mac platform, can they make money. If the answer is no or maybe, then it's basically no. It's not the same question as to release on PS3 or XBOX360, a huge advantage here, but IMO not so much on the Mac vs PC. This "perception" for customers and gaming companies is what Apple needs to change. Change that and the games will follow.
  • evillawngnome, on 05/09/2008, -7/+14Didn't they make the wii?
    • snoox, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1I'm still playing Wolfenstein this is not news to me
    • slickstar, on 05/09/2008, -17/+1no retard. shoot the person who told you that. wii is from Nintendo.
    • mCanada, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1Yes they do. They also make paper clips and rubber stamps.
    • GDOG5, on 05/09/2008, -0/+9The Wii consoles white enough to be made by Apple
  • screwy3333, on 05/09/2008, -3/+4I've got a Blackjack II and run a bootable version of DirectX 7.0 displaying some impressive frame rates during GTA: San Andreas
    • thawkth, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0Really? Can I get some info on this?
  • baldgye, on 05/09/2008, -7/+4mobile gaming? ...really?
  • LinuxGalore, on 05/09/2008, -7/+9Building the tools and applications to get the games industry interested in OSX would take allot of work,time.money. You cant just wack together a bit of code and throw an API on it, it takes years of negotiation with games makers and tons of debugging. Apple missed the boat when Microsoft took the initiative and created DX and failed to respond when asked by their user base. Some will point at Sony and the Playstation but people forget it has taken Sony over 8 years to get their stuff together.
    • bigandy, on 05/09/2008, -5/+8I guess the well rounded API that is OpenGL doesn't count?

      :rolleyes:
    • LinuxGalore, on 05/09/2008, -8/+6Accept OpenGL2.0 is a joke and 4 years behind DX10 now
      • kris33, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3OpenGL 2 is already at DX9 level and OpenGL 3 is only a couple of months away.
      • UKsHaDoW, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2OpenGL is actually vendor upgradeable.
        Meaning they don't have to wait till theres a next version of directx to use the latest gpu features.
    • Avor, on 05/09/2008, -3/+7All I know is that Blizzard has been releasing games for Windows/Mac OS for over a decade. Part of the problem is just company laziness.
      • ferrariman60, on 05/09/2008, -5/+4And most of it is lack of cooperation from Apple. I remember an article a while back about how Valve approached Apple about releasing Steam for that platform and got no response at all. That's a big problem, when the company who's in charge of both the OS and the hardware gives you the cold shoulder about your game distribution program.
        • Avor, on 05/09/2008, -1/+6Valve wanted Apple to pay 1 million dollars to cover their development costs for porting to OS X. It wasn't Apple lack of cooperation; they just were not going to cover Valve's cost of business. Valve's offer was complete assbackwards thinking and I wouldn't fault any company for turning it down regardless of their size. If they had gone through with it, what kind of precedent would it set for Apples image from a developers standpoint?
  • sinurgy, on 05/09/2008, -21/+15Mac gaming?
    "No! Dude! No ***** way! [laughs] Dude! [resumes laughing], [shakes his head back and forth, then rears back, laughing all the while] Stop! Stop! Stop! Stohahahahahahaha..." - Eric Cartman
    • alienunknown, on 05/09/2008, -10/+4would be nice to be able to play games in an os that doesn't crash all the time...
      • BerryZilla, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2Would be nice to write code for a computer in which you control the hardware and OS behind it.
        • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Ah, sounds like you're a happy Mac user then and you enjoy writing code for it...unless that was your really bad attempt to make a point.
        • ucg1, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1So you're all for Linux (or other open source OS) gaming on completely open source hardware. There is some open source hardware out there, but not all the pieces for modern gaming are available. There is a project to create a completely open source video card, but they are far behind what NVidia and ATI are offering.

          Windows + x86 PC with NVidia/ATI graphics card != hardware and OS you control. Swap Windows for Linux and you still don't control the hardware, but are much better off.
    • zongamin, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1i hate you
    • Frostek, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Last time there was going to be a big game for the Mac was Halo (imagine if that had been a Mac exclusive!), and didn't Microsoft buy out Bungie and kill the Mac version even though it was practically done?*

      * - I may be incorrect on some points as I refuse to keep using Google / Wikipedia as a mental crutch.
      • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2No that's right and Bungie actually had a working demo they showed at a Macworld conference. Within six months, Microsoft bought them out. A lot of people hated Bungie for that, but if I owned a company and someone came along and offered hundreds of millions of dollars beyond what the company was worth, I'd sell it too.
        In the meantime, remember that even in the bad days of the 90s when it looked very bleak for Apple and the Macintosh, Bungie gave us Mac users Marathon and the Myth series amongst others and I thank them for their hard work over the years.
  • Hangly, on 05/09/2008, -9/+4I wish I wish I wish Apple would contribute to Wine and make is compatible with all Windows applications. It really would be win-win.

    Too much to hope for?
    • paulsmith288, on 05/09/2008, -6/+4apple only takes from open source and never gives back
      [puts head down waits for barrage of criticism]

      • Burn, on 05/09/2008, -0/+7Samba, CUPS and WebKit are proof that that's not (entirely) true.
        • ucg1, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4Apple has also released as open source software that they created (not just contributed to), such as Darwin Streaming Server, Bonjour, and launchd.
    • CraigReed, on 05/09/2008, -3/+5I strongly disagree, I don't want my mac apps to be windows apps running in virtualization screw that I want beautiful native apps which are optimized for all the OS X benefits.
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3Apple is dependent (for now) on the good graces of Microsoft to give us Office for the Mac and a few other technologies that would make the platform weaker without it. Since Windows is at the core of Microsoft's business model, how much co-operation would Apple get if they openly contributed to the WINE project?
  • BMANZZS, on 05/09/2008, -20/+16Mac trying to be Windows.
    • alienunknown, on 05/09/2008, -5/+6I don't think apple would want to do that...
      And btw, Mac is the computer the os is os x.
    • mGARANDEUR1, on 05/09/2008, -3/+3I've heard mac fan boys say that they are glad their operating system doesn't support any games so that they won't get distracted from their work. It's funny that something is only practical if mac pioneers it.
  • cartz, on 05/09/2008, -15/+8wow how did mac get front page..of digg...lame mac stick with what u got...or else you will get get rocked.
    • alienunknown, on 05/09/2008, -6/+4I wish microsoft would take that advice and stick with windows, the operating system for retards :)
      • doctordbx, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1XBox360 - Best gaming platform available.
        • CraigReed, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2The All around beast the only occasionally ***** itself and dies.
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -3/+4"wow how did mac get front page..of digg...lame mac stick with what u got...or else you will get get rocked."
      HAHA! You didn't really say that did you? Let me guess...when you're not getting ready for middle school or gaming, you spend a lot of time watching rap videos and wrestling shows (PSSSST! They're FAKE!)
    • mGARANDEUR1, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Mac will never be able to compete with Windows for games, but mac users would like the occasional game come out for it.
  • CraigReed, on 05/09/2008, -8/+5I think Apples best plan would be to just have a team dedicated to gaming at Cupertino They already have great hardware they don't need to make a gaming device. Hopefully The iphone and ipod touch will get some of those Windows based developers lured into developing some mac games as well and then who knows where things could go.
    Especially if they had some in house game development to help create some of the best tools out there Mac gaming could become a hit. It's not going to happen overnight but with some dedication and great software I think it could happen.
  • dzw120, on 05/09/2008, -4/+10I know that the article focuses on mobile gaming, but I think it is important for Apple to also look into gaming on its computers. The company's market share is increasing and you're looking at a lot of general consumers and college students making iMac and Macbook purchases. These new customers, unlike artists, do take into account gaming capabilities when looking at buying a computer. Things aren't too bad right now, with Blizzard and some EA titles being supported on the Mac, but it's important to keep the titles coming and not completely forget about Mac computer gaming while looking towards mobile gaming.
    • Kyan, on 05/09/2008, -5/+3No, like 1% of those customers take into account gaming in the way you mean gaming. The rest are happy to play casual games, Bejewelled, Solitaire, Majohng or whatever it's called.

      In fact, the "general consumers" you mention are less likely to need good graphic than the artists you so slyly deride.
    • Kyan, on 05/09/2008, -6/+2In fact, you logic is completely flawed. I didn't have time to edit the above, so I'll take you on here. You say:

      "These new customers, unlike artists, do take into account gaming capabilities when looking at buying a computer."

      See a problem there? If you are so certain these new customers take into account gaming when looking to buy a computer AND THEN THEY BUY A MAC, then obviously 1) gaming is not that important to them. or 2) the macs handle the games they want to play just fine.

      Complete fail in logic.
    • bjs3171, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2All i want is for them to put a decent graphics card on their computers. with the duel cores I could just duel boot windows onto the machine and play any game i want on the pc side. they could then expand their consumer base and not really have to invest anything in gaming.
      • uncouthyouth, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Decent graphics card, like a GeForce 8600M GT? Dual Cores, like Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4 GHz? Dual booting windows, like with Boot Camp (integrated into Leopard)? Because those are the specs on the MBP I bought this week, and as a gamer, I have to say that expanding their customer base into gaming is exactly what Apple has done.
  • Rufunki, on 05/09/2008, -6/+4a: game developers are switching away from pc's due to piracy issues, mac's would have the same issues and b: this would go away from mac's hardware philosophy of good processors ***** hardware. ex. (insert mac model here) overpriced intel processor (because they choose either a mobile processor, or a xeon) for their line up, and then top it off with a 80 dollar ati or nvidia chip.
  • daizaru, on 05/09/2008, -5/+4If mac was to seriously consider gaming then they'd have to be ready for a huge exodus of Microsoft users, possibly even market share. If they had market share they would have to become less monopolistic in design or face the same wrath Microsoft gets. I'm more than certain they intentionally avoid gaming.

    It's a nice little dream, but after reading both articles(the one that page links to is more convincing) I'd still say no they aren't.
    • daizaru, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I meant to say gaming in the sense of allowing/having games that currently run on windows start developing for mac as well. If they were to focus on a bunch of games built exclusively for macs that might not spark as large an exodus, it could work in theory. I guess time will tell.
  • bokep, on 05/09/2008, -21/+9Macs suck.
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -5/+8Ah, the 12 year old contingent speaks. Thank you for your input, however until you can actually grown facial hair (assuming you're a boy), hold down a job, actually purchase consumer goods (you know beyond what your mom buys for you), or otherwise contribute to society at large, no one really cares what you think. But it's SO cute when you try.
      • bokep, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Ah the 17 year old speaks. Acting all condescending on the internet to make himself feel good and powerful, two things he can't feel in real life.

        Cute attempt though.
        • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Sad to say I physically passed 17 about 31 years ago. Mentally is a whole different story.
  • Velnich, on 05/09/2008, -10/+8It's about time. Gaming is probably my biggest reason for not owning a Mac yet.
  • xWaSdx, on 05/09/2008, -10/+5I almost laughed, it was more of a griminess really, at the title of this submission. "Mac gaming" is the most ironic statement I have heard in months
    • alienunknown, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Actually, that is not irony...
    • zongamin, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3you don't understand the meaning of the word do you?
  • LinuxGalore, on 05/09/2008, -9/+9lol@ Mac fanboys digging people down telling the truth, guys Apple fsked up live with it.
    • alienunknown, on 05/09/2008, -1/+6You can talk, linux boy. It's not like linux is great for gaming either :P hehe
      • Frostek, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2I agree (Ubuntu Linux user)
        I have quite a few games running under Wine, but I'd love to see more titles aimed at Mac and Linux as well. I fork out cash for what platform-specific software I can buy, but the choices can be quite limited at times.
      • protium, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2Actually cedega and wine work well for most of the games I play. Aside from that my computer which would destroy your Mac at gaming does well under windows. Yes sometimes I do dualboot, I have better hardware than Apple provides...for much cheaper.

        OSex is slow even slow when compared to Windows
        • serif69, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3...so you use virtualization to play games on Linux, which proves the OP's point that linux isn't great for gaming. Macs do virtualization and dual-booting, too ya know...
      • UKsHaDoW, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Apart from the fact wine runs under os x?
  • MasterTroll, on 05/09/2008, -6/+8Mac gaming? Does. Not. Compute.
  • lemur, on 05/09/2008, -5/+7Mac + gaming = Halo
    • deiphobus, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5You talk as if Halo were a success on a Mac. :P
  • tnoy, on 05/09/2008, -2/+11Every other year there is a story about Apple making a breakthrough in gaming. Its not going to happen.
  • Memesink, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Okay, I admit it, I'm a square: why not just make the home computers capable of "PC gaming" instead of creating a handheld model?
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -2/+3Um...because Macs already are capable of gaming. They have been even before the Intel switch. It's up to the developers to make them, not Apple
  • Dumbledorito, on 05/09/2008, -2/+15It'll happen, right after the Year of the Linux Desktop.
  • GDOG5, on 05/09/2008, -5/+1Here we go!
  • tizzleG, on 05/09/2008, -7/+7I only read the title and I can't stop laughing
  • GorfTron, on 05/09/2008, -2/+9Gaming is a badly underrated reason why windows/PC remains popular. M$ owes more to gamers than they will ever know.
  • TheR3dMenace, on 05/09/2008, -5/+1Quinn FTW
  • ethana2, on 05/09/2008, -4/+5Let me know when they have the guts to let their cats out of their shiny cage.
    On /my/ hardware, I'm looking at Windows vs. Ubuntu. If Apple doesn't change that, linux is going to screw them over.
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1*looking for an actual point there* Sorry Doctor Jones...don't see it.
  • itsradBrad, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1Spore anyone?
    • itsradBrad, on 05/10/2008, -1/+1I'm not suggesting anything stupid or inflated. I'm just excited to play what seems to be a decent game on my Mac, thats all.

      Can I get some Digg love, please?
  • Shadowgamers, on 05/09/2008, -1/+10" Well, we tried to have a conversation with Apple for several years, and they never seemed to... well, we have this pattern with Apple, where we meet with them, people there go "wow, gaming is incredibly important, we should do something with gaming". And then we'll say, "OK, here are three things you could do to make that better", and then they say OK, and then we never see them again. And then a year later, a new group of people show up, who apparently have no idea that the last group of people were there, and never follow though on anything. So, they seem to think that they want to do gaming, but there's never any follow through on any of the things they say they're going to do. That makes it hard to be excited about doing games for their platforms." Gabe Newell
    • starquake, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Wow, nested quotes :P
    • seanof, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1If you suggestion is give me a million dollars don't be surprised if you get no follow through.
  • Aryding, on 05/09/2008, -4/+6OpenGL for the win! Seriously though, this could mean that OpenGL has the chance to once again fiercely compete with Micro$oft's DirectX. While I love my DX10 games, I would rather play them on my linux box, or even a mac. Vista for the suck, go open source!
  • focom, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Closed hardware makes desktop mac gaming very unattractive.
    PC gamers already complain enough about having to shell out $500 for a graphics card + CPU every 2-3 years.
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -2/+4Yeah good thing those consoles that so many developers are starting to move to over PC gaming is so easy to switch out hardware for...wait
    • serif69, on 05/09/2008, -2/+2Closed hardware makes gaming even more attractive to developers. That means a much smaller, well-defined set of hardware to code for. Plus, Apple is known for it's better APIs compared to Windows, so I would imagine if Apple actually decides to support gaming, it will work out.
  • joemofo214, on 05/09/2008, -3/+3wow, 2 of the same story on the front page!

    only would happen because its apple...
    • MacParrot, on 05/09/2008, -4/+2You really should cry some more. It's a bad look, but seems to work for you.
  • doctordbx, on 05/09/2008, -4/+3If Apple licensed Direct-X from Microsoft, it could happen.
    Otherwise, they just do not have the developer tools. Sony used to be #1, and now they're struggling because of poor developer tools.
    Can't see Apple even entering the race, let alone playing catchup.
  • l800LEMMINGS, on 05/09/2008, -3/+1it's about time they have been sucking at it for so long, they even have an advantage of fast and stable computers Steve Jobs should of listened to consumers earlier instead of being a stubborn artsy prick about the whole thing for years
  • VinnieDaMac, on 05/09/2008, -2/+6Games are the single biggest reason why I don't own a Mac and why I don't really care to own a Mac.
  • Waredgo, on 05/09/2008, -3/+3Why??
    This is what we have PC's for.
    • digitalpencil, on 05/10/2008, -1/+1I'm sure that opinion would go down great in the Apple marketing department..

      "We need decent gaming for OS X"
      "Why? That's what we've got PCs for"
      "erm.. you're fired"
  • macmangb, on 05/09/2008, -6/+2Here's one more reason NOT to get a PC. Whatever gaming experience Apple makes it will be superior to Sony and MS can come up with. I have a 360 and I love the games on it but that's just content. Apple can easily design a better machine sell it for cheaper and lure content makers to the platform.

    Game Over Sony and Microsoft!
    • waydee, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Just... no.
    • bjs3171, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2no. their console would be more like a wii or DS.
    • protium, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Was steve job sticking his rod up your ass when you posted that?
    • j2002, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1wow...
    • digitalpencil, on 05/10/2008, -0/+2Ok, i've run macs for years and love them but you clearly have no idea what the ***** you're talking about..
      Firstly, Sony have been in this game for years and up until recently, were the veritable leaders of the console market. If Apple were to penetrate the console market, it'd be a mean feat. That's not to say it's impossible, Sony did after all take the crown from Nintendo all those years ago with fresh hardware but this is by no means a simple task, especially considering Apple's background.

      As for the PC argument.. no chance. Like it or not, DX is King and devs aren't going to adopt OpenGL on good faith alone. When you consider that Apple failed in this game previously in offering OpenGL ports of EA titles (BF2142 etc) it's easy to see why content providers are going to be more than reluctant to play the same game twice.

      Thirdly, Apple's hardware is notoriously expensive. Personally, i think you pay for the experience, same way many cars are more expensive than others.. they may not offer any more horses, but you're paying for the ride experience, the design, the aesthetics. Lots of people can't seem to wrap their heads around this, but lots of people drive Volvos (chunky, powerful, yet some how heavy and sluggish)
      All in all though, Apple aren't going to break the console market with a cheap alternative.. equally any offering on their behalf isn't goign to be dramatically more expensive. This is after all, a closed market with few competitors and pricing yourself out of the game is dangerous.. a lesson Sony learned with PS3.
  • Parastie, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2I think there's an important point being missed here. If (and it's a big if) Apple got into gaming, even on a mobile platform it would in no way cater to the hardcore gaming groups. You can forget about Crysis running on your iPhone, we're talking something more along the lines of the DS or Wii. Mass gaming for the Mass Market, hardcore users need not apply.
  • SteveMax, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2"with an overclocked Intel CPU and an nVIDIA 8800M GTS under the hood, the new iMac" would burst into flames in a few seconds. The case is too small to dissipate that much heat.
  • fracktica, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2I think that Starcraft 2 will be the biggest selling Mac OS X game in a while... (that is pure speculation) ... but I have no idea how it would run on the integrated graphics of a mini or a macbook (which I'm assuming have a wide install base). Can anyone comment on why integrated graphics are still in lower end macs? Is it all price... or heat?
  • bjs3171, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3I really don't understand why Apple doesn't just put a decent graphics card on a few of their normal computers. You can now duel boot windows onto these things, and then you could play any game you want on the windows side of your Mac.
  • boomerang42, on 05/09/2008, -1/+6I own a MacBook Pro, and a Dell XPS. I use and love both systems. Thats why I love watching these fights.
    Macs can DualBoot Windows as well as Mac, so Windows Fanboys are caught up there. I currently have Bioshock, Oblivion, Baldur's Gate 2, Call of Duty 4, and some others on my Mac and they work fine. On the other hand, Adobe programs such as Photoshop and Imageready are easier to use for me on my PC, same goes for text processing.
    PC are great at some things that Macs suck at, and Macs are great at some things that PCs suck at. It's all about opinion and preference. In the end you're all just fighting over big, overpriced, chunks of metal.
    • bumblefoot, on 05/09/2008, -1/+3something i've never understood are the fights between mac users and windows users

      personally i've always seen computers as a tool, you use the tool best suited for the job you require it to do, personally i dual boot my notebook windows xp and ubuntu and that does exactly what i want it to do, exactly how i want to do it :)
  • kragil, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1I really hope someone ( probably Apple ) will make a decent eBook reader with eInk and 1024 pixels and a fast CPU that can flip through PDFs _fast_.

    Maybe they will call it the "iBook" and sell eBooks from the iTunes store.
  • srodrigo, on 05/09/2008, -2/+0gogo Mr.Jobs iTetris ftw XD
  • fuzed, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4Mac Gaming = Oxymoron
  • MaxMWood, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Yay. Even more overpriced iMacs.
  • j2002, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2Get ready for the iPippin! - Seriously can you actually imagine this - there are several reasons why it would all go wrong if they did.

    - Apple release new gaming device but steve jobs is so paranoid people will break it that its impossible to get an sdk so all games for the iPippin are made by Apple.

    - In order to keep with their current pricing policy the new device would have to be arbitrarily more expensive than any other device on the market, lets say £500 for a crummy hand held thing and maybe £2999 for a console based on Apple TV. Yep they'd make allot of money from retarded Mac fans but then retarded mac fans never play games so no-one who did manage to get an SDK would ever make any money so lose interest.

    - How much money and how long did it take Sony and Microsoft to get a hold in the market, Apple couldn't afford a big push anyway.

    - Apples sucess can be put down to its cuddly image (masking the evil, humourless interior), Nintendo have already cornered the cuddly gaming market, what would Apple do?

    In short - Big hit with asorted idiots, major flop in the mainstream - but maybe thats the strategy anyway - its worked for Apple so far!
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