reprise a myth often enough , and people make out to bear it as fact . And there ’s a myth that ’s been repeat enough time by Mac gamers this year that bears that sure-enough saying out — that 2006 was a lean twelvemonth for Mac games because of Apple ’s shift to Intel - supplied central processing unit .
There ’s no motion in my mind that the Intel switch made things more challenging for Mac biz publishers , but let ’s get something unbent : 2006 would have been a lean year either way . People are n’t purchase game for their Macs in immense numbers . And no one ’s quite certain why , as the issue of Mac users has been increase . perhaps they ’re slaked with game consoles , or possibly they ’re not aware of what their option are . perhaps they just do n’t want to play game .
Whatever the reason , this trend started long before the switch to Intel Macs happened . And as it turns out , the Intel electrical switch is helping Mac play stay alive , not hindering it . front for more of the same to find as the calendar toss to 2007 as well .
Now that Apple ’s completed the Intel passage , bridge player - wringing about the future tense of products for PowerPC - based Macs is pointless , especially when it comes to games . If you have n’t replaced your Mac with an Intel - base organization , you need to get imagine about it , or you ’re going to be left in the dust . Because a well - ported game running on a iMac Core 2 twosome often run well than it does on a gamey - ending Power Mac G5 , and that difference in performance is croak to go on to increase over time .
The big picture
This next year is pass to be much like 2006 in one respect : The major commercial-grade Mac game publishers will pick and choose which game they ’re going to present based on what ’s a unanimous property with lots of appeal on the PC platform . Aspyr Mediais a honest causa in full stop .
Prey for deliveranceThe first - person hitman Prey will be one of Aspyr Media ’s first releases in the upcoming year ; the company has already set a January ship date .
One of Aspyr ’s first Mac releases for 2007 will bePrey , a first - person gunslinger from Human Head Studios , which we last saw age ago with the Viking - themed action game Rune . Prey is another shooter with an unusual idea — this meter you ’re a Cherokee warrior who suddenly gets very much in speck with his theme once man is jeopardise by an invading alien force . The game uses the same underpinnings as Doom 3 , so Aspyr is anticipate a speedy turnaround — it ’s planning on have Prey out in January .
Aspyr ’s also working onStar war : Empire at War , a real - time scheme biz set in theStar Warsuniverse during the period immediately before the events that took place in the firstStar Warsmovie , A New Hope . you could require squadron of X - Wings , AT - ATs , Star Destroyers and the other vehicle you ’ve seen in the movies as you square off for ascendency of placement like the jungle planet Dagobah , Yavin 4 and the desert permissive waste of Tatooine .
Aspyr has pushed back the spillage of its game atomic number 99 - commerce organization , first announced as “ Gamerhood , ” to sometime in 2007 . That system promises to resolve long - simmering issues with retail ledge space for game by making it potential to download full versions of Aspyr ’s titles , include titles in the caller ’s back catalog you have n’t seen in entrepot for a while .
MacSoftis prevent wet wraps on its program for the new year , but the game ship’s company certainly made a mark towards the last of 2006 with the spill ofa Universal Binary version of Halo : Combat evolve , the landmark first - person taw developed by Bungie , and the more recent release of Age of Empires III , the latest edition of the awarding - winning literal fourth dimension strategy game serial that takes you to the exploration and settlement of the New World by the dandy European powers .
MacSoft ’s parent company , Destineer Studios , first made its own mark on the gaming cosmos with Close Combat : First to Fight , a first - mortal police squad - based combat biz that put you in charge of a Marine ardour squad . Close Combat is a darling gambling franchise that prey Destineer ’s acquisition of Atomic Games , the series ’ Godhead . The good word is that Destineer is go on to work out on its own games and bear to produce a new Close scrap - theme claim in 2007 ; society President Peter Tamte says that Macs will be on the tilt of supported platform .
All Hail the Lion KingBlack and White 2 puts you in role of a sovereign being — look for Feral to release this “ god ” biz in 2007 .
Blizzard Entertainment is perish to have a license to print money withWorld of Warcraft : The Burning Crusade , its long - wait expansion large number for the popular massively multiplayer online theatrical role roleplay biz . merchant vessels simultaneously for the Mac and Windows mid - January , just as its predecessor did in late 2004 , The Burning Crusade adds countless unexampled component to the game , including a raw continent for eminent - level characters to explore , new monsters and dungeons , new items , novel playable races ( the Draenei and the Blood Elves ) , a new profession ( Jewelcrafting ) , and much much more .
PoorFeral Interactive—2006 was the company’sannus horribilis , thanks to a change of development studios , miss transportation targets and scheduling holdup . While there ’s some meter reading Feral will bring in much of its plate in the continue weeks of 2006 , 2007 is looking sound for the company , with the await tone ending of Black & White 2 , the unexampled “ god ” game from Lionhead Studios that set up you in the theatrical role of a sovereign divinity who derives power from being worshipped — it ’s up to you to make up one’s mind whether that adoration comes in the form of adulation or fear .
Indie efforts abound
Greetings , Professor FalkenAmbrosia Software ’s upcoming Defcon takes its cue from the movieWarGames , let you play a little Global Thermonuclear War .
Ambrosia Softwarehas long partner with U.K.-based developer Introversion to take its unequalled game to the Macintosh , includingUplink , the game that puts you in the theatrical role of a calculator firecracker hear to perpetrate corporate espionage , andDarwinia , a “ virtual themepark ” where you must destroy a rampant computer computer virus before it kill the sentient residents of the world . Now Ambrosia is bring to the Mac Introversion ’s most ambitious claim to escort : Defcon , which takes a Thomas Nelson Page straight from the 1983 movement image classicWarGames . It ’s meter to bet a game of Global Thermonuclear War — as an online multiplayer pretending . Can you take out your enemy ’s ICBMs while at the same time eradicate their civilian population ? Introversion calls Defcon a “ racial extermination ‘ em up ” instead of a “ shoot ‘ em up . ” ghastly ? Sure . Fun ? Surely .
We Could Be HeroesFreeverse is using Cider , the Windows plot rendering applied science , to bring Heroes of Might & Magic V over to the Mac in January .
The Windows equation
It ’s no enigma that Mac gamers ’ appetites have , in some cases , been sated by using Apple ’s Boot Camp software system , which lets Intel - base Macs run Windows natively . I ’ve played quite a few levels of Half - Life 2 and Tomb Raider Legends on my Intel - based iMac myself , so I ’m no elision .
We ’ll see that remain in 2007 as Boot Camp is made an official part of the operating system , with Apple ’s dismissal of Mac OS Adam 10.5 sometime in the first one-half of the class . But my experience — which I think is jolly distinctive — is that rebooting into Windows just to bet games is a prospicient row to hoe . I ’d rather just use Mac OS X all the time , so while there ’s some gewgaw in running Windows at aboriginal focal ratio , it ’s not a slap-up drug user experience , because what spend a penny a Mac a Mac is both the exquisitely designed operating organization and the exquisitely plan corner it amount in .
Parallelspromises to impart some form of 3 - D nontextual matter acceleration in a future release of its background for Mac software , which would facilitate to ameliorate at least one issue — having to reboot the Mac just to toy a biz . Hopefully that ’ll issue forth to pass before too long .
Cider is another virtualized political machine effort that predict to improve Mac gamers ’ choice of titles in 2007 . An appendage of TransGaming ’s “ Cedega ” movement on Linux , Cider enables a Windows lotion — to wit , a game — to run for on Mac OS X without need a distinct edition of Windows to be installed and without making the Mac reboot . Freeverse ’s release of Heroes of Might & Magic V will be a handsome litmus test for Cider , so we ’ll see how it goes — if Freeverse succeeds , perhaps it ’ll offer up some hope that other PC developers and publishers might be willing to put Macs on their lists of supported political program , if the engineering and accompaniment issues are n’t overwhelming .
at long last there ’s CodeWeavers , an rig that adapts the open - seed WINE labor ( WINE Is Not an aper ) to campaign on Intel - base Macs with itsCrossOver Mac product . Still in ontogeny as of this writing , CrossOver Mac promises to provide Mac users with some circumscribed power to run Windows executables , including some games , without have to partition off a big chunk of their disc to run a full Windows operating system as they do with Parallels and Boot Camp .
Looking down the road
This really only scratches the surface of what ’s happening in game for the Mac , but it gives you a preference of what to look in the newfangled twelvemonth . passing games are another burgeon marketplace , specially on the Mac , and we ’ll see stack of activity in 2007 from Big Fish Games , GameHouse , Popcap Games , PlayFirst , Large Animal Games and other companies that have taken the Macintosh under their wing as an important new platform for development and statistical distribution .
If you see plot you like , disregardless of whether they ’re casual titles or hardcore game , whether or not they ’re full - on conversions or making use of technology that ’s only possible now that Macs use Intel cow dung , please make certain to frequent the vendors by buying their products .
At the end of the day , the succeeder or unsuccessful person of the Mac game market is in our hands — and it ’s up to us to hold up the companies that plunk for Mac gamers .
[ Peter Cohen covers games in the Game Room web log . ]
