It ’s a tough time of year for stalwart Mac gamers asSonyandNintendolaunch young secret plan consoles and Microsoft move into class two of itsXbox 360campaign . With so many sinewy video biz cabinet on the market , does the Mac even weigh for games anymore ?
Gaming on the Mac is just as relevant today as it was a year ago or five year ago . I ’m sure that some will see that as damning with faint praise , and I should temper my answer with realism too : For many people out there , consoles are perfectly sufficient as secret plan platforms and it ’s altogether unnecessary for them to expend their Macs to dally games on as well . But for my gaming dollar bill , I still think the Mac provides an excellent political program for secret plan — peculiarly for games that I really ca n’t or do n’t require to playact on consoles .
get me back up for a second . Please do n’t think this is unmitigated pro - Mac evangelism . We ’re enceinte console fans in my house . We have an Xbox , a PlayStation 2 and until two weeks ago , when we replaced it with a Nintendo Wii , we had a GameCube as well . So I ’m no stranger to the cabinet market . And if I could afford to , I ’d buy an Xbox 360 and ( presuming I could even get hold one that did n’t be an subdivision and a leg ) a PlayStation 3 as well . We take our game pretty gravely in my planetary house , and I have to tell you , it ’s only peripherally related to the fact that I’mMacworld ’s “ game guy . ” The fact is , everyone in my house have a go at it video games . Except maybe for the cat , who does n’t respond well to anything involving heaps of flashing lights and dissonance .
My kids have their own electronic computer , as does my wife , and when they ’re not doing schoolwork , after - school projects or other things that have some redeeming calibre ( or deadline ) associated with them , they can often be found gaming there too . And that brings me to the first area where I believe ( for now , anyway ) computers have consoles beat : social networking .
My wife and tike all pass a just amount of time on Web sites that actively further participants to interact with each other while they ’re playing games . They ’ve really run for the gamut of online sites likeYohoho stupefy Piratesand the similar , but most of the time , they can be found on two site : Gaia OnlineandNeopets .
Neopets is a “ virtual ducky site ” that boasts more than 70 million users and more than 160 game , while Gaia Online is more of what we used to call back in the mean solar day a “ MUD , ” or multi - user dungeon . Its creators call it a “ practical space ‘ haunt ’ ” that ’s rife with other users and non - player characters ( or Nonproliferation Center ) , some good and some speculative . And there ’s plenty of games and distractions , include exceptional case . ( An alien invasion that culminates around Halloween is always a great hit at the Cohen house . )
Now , I know a good deal of you reading this will pick up up and say , “ But hold back , Xbox hot Arcadelets you do that too , ” and you ’re perfectly right — after all , where did Microsoft get the idea ?
But Xbox Live Arcade is predicate on two basic concepts : One is that you require to use your Xbox 360 — whether it ’s in your living way , bedroom , family room or whatever — as your master conduit to social networking biz , and the other is that you ’re willing to pay the bounty to play on Xbox Live Arcade . Sure , many on-line game charge a fee , but many offer limited access for liberal , as well .
Now , for my money , I prefer to playWorld of Warcraft — almost to the exclusion of all other online games . But a big part of the understanding is because Blizzard put Macs on a layer playing line of business with PC when it get along to political platform support . It ’s also a lot of fun to create your own characters and train them over time . It ’s a place where I can often find out friends and acquaintances to run with , too .
What ’s more , I ca n’t travel well with cabinet games . I certainly strike down my PSP into a haversack and take it with me on slip , as my ally do with their Nintendo ScD , but at the ending of the 24-hour interval , it ’s a moderately insular experience , even if you accost up to a WiFi approach full stop and play some on-line games with ally or superintend to get going an ad - hoc game somewhere . Playing on a laptop computer let gamers continue the online experience we ’ve already started — for myself , in World of Warcraft , or for my wife and the small fry , on Gaia or Neopets . I also care to hale out the PowerBook on the train or plane and dispute myself to a game of Klondike patience or even a few laps with Jammin ’ Racer when the mood strikes .
Finally , there ’s the illusion of productivity . I often dally fooling games like Scrabble orBurning Monkey Solitairein windowed mood , so I can keep iChat undefendable or check my e - chain armor , surf the vane and do other things in between rounds . It helps keep me alert and interested in what I ’m doing , though I ’ll let in I ’ve been driven to beguilement a few fourth dimension . ( At that point , it ’s significant to have enough self - restraint to cease and get back to work . )
With Apple ’s transposition to Intel CPU , Mac performance has gotten good than ever across the Cartesian product blood line . That includes games , too ( except maybe in the type of Macs that feature integrated nontextual matter chips like the MacBook and Mac mini ) .
As I say at the outset , I do n’t require the Mac to be all things to all hoi polloi . For many folks otherwise satisfied with their Macs , a video plot console is a enceinte postscript that will provide them with the only gambling fix that they ’ll need . But for many of us it , it ’s just not enough . And it ’s there that the Mac is a great form of amusement that wo n’t be retired just because there are some shiny new boxes on the shelf at Best Buy this holiday season .
