Michal Ždanský In the second part of our two-part article about gaming on Apple devices, this time we will look at the Mac OS X operating system and introduce the new revolutionary gaming service OnLive.
Mac OS X today and tomorrow
The Macintosh operating system is at the complete opposite end to iOS devices when it comes to games. Mac OS has been struggling with a lack of games, let alone quality titles, for years, and the change has only occurred in recent years (if we do not count the possibility of running games for Windows, for example, using CrossOver Games). Maybe everything would have been different if Steve Jobs hadn't narrowly missed out on a contract with a development studio Bungie, which is responsible for the series Halo, which Microsoft's Xbox 360 heavily benefits from, and which the Redmont company acquired just days before Jobs.
Games for the Macintosh have existed before, but not to the same extent as for Windows. Let's remember the Myst with unbeatable graphics and an atmosphere that PC owners could only envy. But in the mid-90s, another legend reigned on computers with a bitten apple - a game series Marathon by Bungie. For example, the game had perfect stereo sound - if someone shot you and didn't kill you by pure chance, you heard the flight of the bullet first in one earpiece and then in the other earpiece. The game engine was able to create the perfect atmosphere. You could walk, jump or even swim, the characters cast shadows... The game was later ported to Windows, but it did not achieve the same success.
Thanks to the ever-increasing share among operating systems, other game developers became interested in Mac computers, and Mac versions began to be developed in parallel with versions for PC, Playstation and Xbox. The milestone was the announcement of the cooperation between Apple and Valve, which resulted in the portation of older games (Half-Life 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2, ...), but above all the launch of the service Steam for Mac.
Steam is currently the largest digital distribution network for computer games, which currently has no competition. It has been reducing the share of brick-and-mortar sales every year and is partly credited with revolutionizing game sales. The advantage is undoubtedly zero costs for one game, there is no need to press DVDs or print booklets, you will receive both the game and the manual in digital form. Thanks to this, the games sold in this way are often cheaper and, thanks to various discounts and promotions, they achieve much greater sales. In practice, this is a similar model to the App Store, with the difference that Steam is far from the only distribution network. The presence of Steam and now also the Mac App Store gives developers the opportunity to reach many more users, while not having to worry nearly as much about promotion. and so what does the current offering of Mac games look like?
In addition to the already mentioned games from Valve, you can play, for example, a great FPS Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, an action adventure game Assassin's Creed 2, race in Flatout 2, conquer the world in the latest installment Civilization, cut down hordes of enemies in Torchlight a dragon age, or join the intergalactic world in an MMORPG Eve Online. Also new are ports of successful parts (except the last one) Grand Theft Auto, with the penultimate San Andreas is considered the best part ever and even today it does not offend with its graphics. Thanks to the Mac App Store, we also received news Borderlands, Bioshock, Rome: Total War a LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 od Feral Interactive.
The question remains which publishing houses will join the apple wave next. Due to the existence of the Unreal engine for iOS, we could also expect games from Epic Games, Electronic Arts as one of the biggest suppliers of iOS games could also join. He shouldn't be left behind either id Soft, whose Quake 3 Sand has been running on Apple computers for several years and which showcased the first sequel to the upcoming post-apocalyptic action Rage just on iOS.
Mac development issues
The problem that caused the Mac OS to suffer from a lack of quality game titles was largely due to the proliferation of Apple computers, as already mentioned above. Currently, Apple has a share of around 7% in the field of operating systems worldwide, and then over 10% in America. Of course, this is not an insignificant number, moreover, if we take into account the trend of ever-increasing shares of computers from Apple. So, if the argument of low share has de facto fallen, what else prevents the expansion of the gaming portfolio for Mac?
One would think it's a GUI. After all, Windows has DirectX in its system, which is used by almost all new games, and graphics card manufacturers always proudly announce the support of the latest versions. However, this assumption is odd. OS X has a cross-platform OpenGL interface, which you can also find on iOS or Linux, for example. Like DirectX, OpenGL is constantly in development, updated every year (the last update was in March 2010) and has the same, if not more, capabilities. The dominance of DirectX at the expense of OpenGL is primarily the success of Microsoft's marketing (or rather marketing massage), not greater technological maturity.
Apart from the software, we can therefore look for the cause in the area of hardware. The fundamental difference between Apple computers and others is fixed configurations. While you can build a Windows desktop from whatever components you like, Apple only gives you a few models to choose from. Of course, this has to do with the combination of software and hardware, which Apple computers are famous for, but despite the quality of the hardware, the Mac, with the exception of the Mac Pro, is not a candidate for hardcore gamers.
The basic component for gaming is primarily the graphics card, which you cannot replace in an iMac and you cannot choose it in a MacBook. Although the graphics cards in current Apple computers provide decent performance, with graphics rendering in demanding games such as Crysis or GTA 4, they would have a big problem in the native resolution. For developers, this would mean a lot of time spent on optimization with an unclear return due to the fact that there are not as many passionate gamers among Mac users as there are on PCs.
OnLive
The OnLive service could be referred to as a minor gaming revolution. It was introduced in March 2009 and was preceded by 7 years of development. It has only recently seen a sharp deployment. And what is it about? This is streaming gaming, or Games on Demand. The client installed on your computer communicates with the server of this service, which streams the image of the game. So the graphics calculation is not done by your machine, but by the computers of the remote server. This practically reduces the hardware requirements of games, and your computer becomes just a kind of terminal. Therefore, you can start the most demanding graphic pieces such as on an ordinary office PC Crysis. The only demands are placed on the speed of your Internet connection. It is said that only 1,5 Mbit is enough to play at the resolution of a normal TV, if you want an HD image, then at least 4 Mbit is needed, which is practically the minimum these days.
OnLive has several payment methods. You can "rent" a given game for 3 or 5 days, which will only cost you a few dollars. This time is more than enough for avid gamers to finish most games. Another option is to buy unlimited access, which costs you the same as if you bought the game. The last option is a ten-dollar monthly subscription, which allows you to play an unlimited number of games of your choice.
The service is cross-platform, so you can play the same amount of titles as PC owners. OnLive also offers a $100 mini-console with a controller that lets you stream games to your TV without connecting to a computer. OnLive also includes social networking, which you can also see on Steam. So you can play with friends, compete in the leaderboards and compare your score with the whole world.
As for the catalog of games, it is quite rich despite the recent launch of the service, and most of the big publishers have promised to cooperate, and over time, a large part of the latest games could appear that you would not normally be able to enjoy due to the demands on the hardware or the lack of a Mac version. Currently, you can find here, for example: Metro 2033, Mafia 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Boarderlands or Just Cause 2. As mentioned, a constant internet connection is required, so it's not a solution for traveling, but if you like to play from the comfort of your home and own a Mac, OnLive is literally a godsend. You can see what such gaming on a MacBook looks like in practice in the following video:
If you are interested in OnLive, you can find everything at OnLive.com
1st part of the article: The Present and Future of Gaming on Apple Devices - Part 1: iOS
Well, OnLive doesn't work for me because it requires 3Mbit speed, not 1,5, when I want to start the OnLive app and log in, it says I have a slow connection (I have 2,9Mbit because our hole can't go any further). If I am doing something wrong and it goes over 1,5 Mbit, then I would be interested, but I suspect that the limit is currently 3 Mbit and not 1,5 as stated in the article...
And San Andreas doesn't seem like the best GTA to me, but that's probably a subjective opinion :). Otherwise good article.
I honestly also like GTA 4 the most, but a lot of people consider San Andreas mainly because of the RPG elements that disappeared in the 4th part. In addition, San Andreas offered 3 different urban locations + the countryside, unlike GTA 4, where one could only move in a variation of New York.
According to that article, I would say that gaming is still not Apple's dominant feature. But it's not quite for work either (until recently there wasn't even autocad) so I wonder what it's for. Other Apple products such as iPad, iPhone are Supr, but they also do not expect the same from a computer.
"But it's not quite for work either, (until recently there wasn't even autocad) so I wonder what it's for."
And how did you figure that out? in the early 90s, almost all print production (90%) was done on the Mac. Today, the ratio is different, but there are other areas where you can hardly find a PC. Check out the recording studios. Film post-production, tricks...
"Thanks to this, the games sold in this way are often cheaper and, thanks to various discounts and promotions, they achieve a much larger sales"
I would rather not say that, new games are always more expensive on steam than the box version.
HAHAHA :-D The guy made me laugh when he played Darksiders, a cutscene came and "yeah yeah..no body cares" :-D.
Otherwise, I was pleased with what I saw and read, because it's been a week since I bought a MacBook Pro 13″ and when I see what's there, it's so great :)
We're happy about that. Otherwise, we have published several Switcher articles for novice Macanese – http://jablickar.cz/?s=switcher
I'm sorry that you missed games from Blizzard, who are apparently the only ones (correct me if I'm wrong) who release games simultaneously on Mac and Win. WoW, Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 and I will definitely continue :)