Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Gaming on a Mac Revisited

- 2001.03.13

The last year and four months

One year and four months ago, I shared my impressions of how the Macintosh stacks up against the PC in regards to gaming. That was around the time when Quake III Test was out, and I was still toying with my Quadra 605.

Since graduating to a Sawtooth G4, I have had the chance to check out what the gaming experience on the Mac is like. I started out with the bare essentials consisting of Quake III, and Unreal tournament.

I really couldn't tell the difference from their PC counter parts while using a 3dfx Voodoo3, but the performance with the G4's ATI Rage 128 was unacceptable. Anything past 640 x 480 would make the graphics chunk, and I had to be very sparing with the detail settings. Other than that, the hardest part about getting both games going right was fumbling around with enabling two button mouse support.

While those two games are fun for a quick fix of entertainment, I began looking for games available for the Macintosh with a bit more depth. The first title I got my hands on was Diablo 2, which performed very well on my G4. After about a month, I got bored of Diablo 2, and I really couldn't find any other games in the limited library of the Macintosh games section at Electronics' Boutique.

At that point, I had no choice but to hook my Wintel system back up so I could play the PC version of Metal Gear Solid. Sure, I could have played it on Playstation, but if I have to choose between playing a game on a console or a PC, I will pick PC every time.

After hearing all the hype revolving around Dues Ex being on the Mac, I decided to check out the demo version. Even with my powerful G4 and Voodoo3, performance got really ugly. I was haunted by memories of playing on an ATI Rage 128.

Performance isn't everything these days, with Quake clones sprouting all over the place with the depth of a shallow pool. Gamers are longing for a game with a good plot and captivating story. A little action here and there doesn't hurt either.

So I grinned and bared the performance issues just to play a game with some depth, which I feel Dues Ex made a poor attempt at. I am sure I stand alone with that remark, but it felt like a cheesy version of Half Life.

Oni really surprised me when I was bored and sitting on my couch with my Pismo. I heard that Oni was out for the Macintosh, so I downloaded the demo and gave it a shot. About three hours later, I decided to purchase it. The action was great, and I really enjoyed the animation involved. That lasted for about a week, and I was quite pleased when Shinatima blew up, because she got really annoying.

The Now

It's great that the Macintosh will be the first to get the coveted nVidia GeForce3, and if you add in a G4 with Mac OS X, the PC will have some serious competition. That's if game companies decide to port their games, which 90% of probably won't.

Let's look at the still top three online games - Ultima Online, EverQuest, and Asheron's Call - none of which that has been ported to the Macintosh. There really is no reason that they should, considering that they are making money hand over fist with their current subscriber base.

Ultima Online has well over one million subscribed players paying around $10 a month to live in their online world. They would never get even close to achieving those kinds of numbers with a Macintosh version and might just break even after paying coders to port it.

Apple did make a leap forward that really shocked the PC crowd, with John Carmack giving the first demo of Doom III with his new graphics engine that no one up until that point had ever seen. Even my PC friends couldn't come up with a good insult, when the realized they had to use QuickTime in order to see what Doom III was all about.

We've got the hardware, the operating system, and the muscle to handle the latest and greatest games. Even with all that going on, gaming companies will still be hesitant to release their titles on the Macintosh.

Gaming companies will only release a game on the Macintosh if it was a huge blockbuster on the PC (with the exception of John Carmack, who can afford to port to every OS ever made). It all comes down to money, and if the game flops there is no way they are going to get funds to port it.

Maybe that's not so bad - being spared from some the worst games ever made. If you played Ultima IX, you know what I mean.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Apr. 2006 - The top-end MacBook Pro includes a 1680 x 1050, 2.16 GHz Core Duo CPU, and supports Apple 30" Cinema Display.
Group of the Day: G4 List is for those using Power Mac G4s or G4 upgrades.
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best iPod nano Deals, 11.25. Refurb 8 GB 4G nano, $99; new, $126; refurb 16 GB, $129; new, $150; new 5G/8 GB, $134.60; 16 GB, $161.12. Shipping included.
Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 11.25. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
Best 15" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.25. Used 1 GHz Combo, $400; 1.5 GHz SuperDrive, $449; 1.67 GHz hi-res, $600.
Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Mac Metamorphosis articles copyright © 1999-2003, 2007 by Eric DeStefano. � Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.