Poll: Are RPGs/regular video games "too good" for Macs? (MacBooks in particular?)

[tenkerasu]

This is from a reader who owns a MacBook and is looking for a "free" RPG that she could play on said MacBook whenever she was bored.

No, really, I am looking for an RPG that I can play on my Mac - preferably an online one. All of the ones I keep getting are either too big for my poor MacBook, or are only and ONLY for PCs.

Also: this is a thread for people to give shout outs for RPGs to be on Macs.

It's not that hard to make a .dmg file, is it?! COME ON! Not to mention that there are older games that you either had to get for a Mac - or just not play it at all. I have a dozen games like that, as I grew up on PCs, and since I'm technically now old enough to play them...they don't work on Macs. Not to mention NO ONE HAS THEM ANYMORE. I found this wicked cool game called "Nihilist" somewhere in my grandparents' house (don't ask), and I can only play it on a PC...that doesn't have Vista because Vista hates everything I give to it.

So please, everyone, regard this not as a complain thread, but as a note to video game designers: Macs are becoming more popular! Bring out the games!

Superfluous options edited out of your poll.

-moderator

 

[shatnershaman]

Macs are only 4-6% of the market of course there going to left out.

You could get Myst or WoW though. Or just put windows on the Mac.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Blizzard games have MAC versions, go to their website and I think you can download some, not for free though. If you've got the free space for it you can put windows on a MAC too but I'm not sure if it takes vista only or not, and vista's a rip off at the price it is now (seriously this thing just refuses to go down in the OEM market), and I could go on and on about why XP is still the better choice since most of Vista's "upgrades" are purely cosmetic.

I think we should blame those at the MAC HQ though, they keep giving an "anti-gaming" image because they try so hard to be "cool" - someone should pull their heads out their ass.

Also, best free RPG ever = www.kingdomofloathing.com

 

[shatnershaman]

Blizzard games have MAC versions, go to their website and I think you can download some, not for free though. If you've got the free space for it you can put windows on a MAC too but I'm not sure if it takes vista only or not, and vista's a rip off at the price it is now (seriously this thing just refuses to go down in the OEM market), and I could go on and on about why XP is still the better choice since most of Vista's "upgrades" are purely cosmetic.

I think we should blame those at the MAC HQ though, they keep giving an "anti-gaming" image because they try so hard to be "cool" - someone should pull their heads out their ass.

Also, best free RPG ever = www.kingdomofloathing.com

Didn't know security was cosmetic. But no I won't get into that (like I know you can too), get XP though if you want to play games on your Mac, When you put windows on with bootcamp you can only read files with vista kinda ruining the point although the partition can only be up to 32GB on XP(above and it will crash).

 

[EmperorDude]

Mac should really try harder getting a better gaming rep. I mean yeah you can use microsoft on a mac but shouldn't the point of making macs be to try and be BETTER than Microsoft? But as least they're not ripping some elses OS off...

Speaking of vista...

I know Microsoft stopped shipping xp to retailers but mom and pop computer stores can still install it right? Or I'm I going to have to buy it on Amazon or Ebay and install it myself? Fucking vista's a resource hog.

 

[Iori Branford]

http://spidweb.com
http://ambrosiasw.com
http://freeverse.com

All Mac-first or Mac-only developers through and through. Can't believe you haven't heard of 'em.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Didn't know security was cosmetic. But no I won't get into that (like I know you can too), get XP though if you want to play games on your Mac, When you put windows on with bootcamp you can only read files with vista kinda ruining the point although the partition can only be up to 32GB on XP(above and it will crash).

I said "most of" - but me and you have a history of threadjacking so I'll stop there. Besides, the person's got a MAC, they don't need to worry about security.

 

[Alex_P]

If you've got the free space for it you can put windows on a MAC too but I'm not sure if it takes vista only or not, and vista's a rip off at the price it is now (seriously this thing just refuses to go down in the OEM market), and I could go on and on about why XP is still the better choice since most of Vista's "upgrades" are purely cosmetic.

Enh, these days they're both equally sucky (for a while after release, Vista sucked more), so it's a wash. You really should make the choice based on which one will support the applications you like better -- both have some gaps in what they'll do or at least do well. Predictably, some of the shiniest new stuff really needs Vista and XP is good for some older software that's got some kind of quirk that makes it impossible to run on anything but XP..

For example, I bought Vista only for DirectX 10 and use XP on an older computer because I need it to work from home. That said, paying $80-120 just for an OEM version of Vista just to run games has me pretty annoyed because it definitely does feel like a massive ripoff, whereas XP at least gave me some value all those years I was sitting around waiting for Linux distros to really get their act together on the usability front.

I'm not sure I'd recommend either for a MacBook. Might be better off just putting that money into some non-free Mac-compatible games to play (e.g. WoW).

-- Alex

 

[tenkerasu]

Okay, I do hear most of you, but since I'm female and I have only recently (i.e. in the past year and a half), I really don't want to compromise space using XP and I REALLY don't want to buy a subscription to something I don't think I'll play more than an hour a day, if that...

Really, I just want to thank you all for commenting, and posting your personal ideas. Thank god for the internet.

A note to lori Branford: thanks! I had no idea those sites even existed, to tell you the truth. I am SO bad with looking for those things.

Again: this thread is for people to complain and explain. Thanks again!

 

[Alex_P]

Some commercial MMOGs don't use a subscription model these days (they try to get your money with stuff like micropayment content or expansion packs instead). Would you play one of those if it appealed to you? Basically just pay for it like a regular game and then later on you can buy add-ons if you feel like it?

It's a little long, but try looking through this list [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mac_OS_X_games]. A quick glance reveals the following MMOGs:
Puzzle Pirates - my Mac-using friends all loved this when it came out; you can play for free if you don't mind micropayments for premium swag, or get a subscription if you don't like that.
Shadowbane - an MMOG that was created a few years after EQ, heavy on the PVP aspects; it was horribly buggy back then but supposedly they've fixed it up a lot; these days it's ad-supported freeware; closest thing to a full-on WoW- or EQ- style MMOG that you're going to find for free.
Crossfire - some kind of old-school-ish isometric thing, totally free and open-source.
Toontown - somewhat kid-oriented, free but they charge a subscription for premium content.

-- Alex

 

[Rob Sharona]

As Mac presence gets stronger support for it will as well.
But yeah, I wish there were more games for Macs. I love my Mac so much for my work and also because it doesn't really go wrong ever, unlike PCs. I miss PC gaming but I don't miss the grief that comes with owning a PC.
Currently enjoying Mac Tiberium Sun. Lots of fun!

 

[tenkerasu]

Right, my problem is: the downloading for mmoRPGS. Not just MMOs. MMOs I've played a lot and yes, they're fun, they're just...well, they get boring after a while. And so do RPGs, but those take a bit longer. And more specifically I'm looking for a games that I can actually use on my Mac, along with these RPGs. I understand that there are .RAR expanders (I have and use one myself), but it doesn't take the ENTIRE .exe file and convert it. It even says so on the website and the program. But if I wanted to play something FOR a Mac, such as KotoR, or a LEGO game, I could. My problem is (sorry, I'm using Star Wars because I'm a geek and I happen to love the gameplay for these games) that I REALLY want to play Pod Racing. It's only for PC.

 

[ceejf65]

Well I have a number of Macs and PCs, and play quite a few games on the Mac (though a vast majority of my games are Windows only).
If you have the PC version of a Blzzard game (Diablo 2, WarCraft III, Warcraft II Battle Net Edition) you most likely also have the Mac version (they're on the same disk). Blizzard actually just released a patch for Diablo 2 that makes it work on Intel-based Macs (not native, but through PPC emulation), so you'd need to download the 1.12a patch and the Mac OSX installer (the installer on the CD is for Mac OS9, which if you don't know what it is, you probably are better off not knowing, it's ancient history now). The Latest Warcraft III patch is Intel native, but I don't know how well it'd run on a MacBook (probably OK).
I'd recommend against loading Windows (XP or Vista) on a MacBook for games, simply because the MacBook uses intel integrated graphics. iMacs and MacBook Pros have dedicated graphics cards by ATI or nVidia (varies depending on specific model) and are much better for Windows gaming.
In addition to the sites listed by lori Branford above, you might also want to check out:
http://macgamefiles.com/
as well as the Apple website game section.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/games/

-Cheers

 

[Alex_P]

tenkerasu,

Can you please be more specific about what you want? You said "RPG... - preferably online" before but now said that you prefer single-player games.

What exactly do you want? Action-y stuff like Diablo? Games that focus on exploration/collection? Games with Bioware-style "story"? Games with JRPG-style "story"? Casual games? Something repetitive? Cute games? Non-cute games? "Old school" play in the style of gold-box games and Nethack?

-- Alex

 

[tenkerasu]

Ha, as a reply to ceejf65, I do know what MacOS9 is. And it gives me the shivers. (Were we really THAT lame? I think I remember earlier versions as well! And how much they crashed! Ah, the good old elementary school Macs...)

As another reply to Alex_P...well, it's sort of a mix of both, I apologise if I've been too confusing in that regard; what I honestly meant was almost any and ALL games that are for PCs, and then more specifically the RPGs. I'm just looking for anything that you can play on a PC...that they have for Macs. Did you not read my first post?

 

[Alex_P]

I'm just looking for anything that you can play on a PC...that they have for Macs.

Check out the Wikipedia list I linked. Lots of Mac games of different genres there.

-- Alex

 

[tenkerasu]

I did. Thanks.

 

[Iori Branford]

games that are for PCs

If your OSX version is 10.5 (Leopard) or later and you can get Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later, you should be able to use Boot Camp. http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html

If not, use Wine. http://www.kronenberg.org/darwine/

If you can't be bothered...um...Neverwinter Nights has a Mac port. http://nwn.bioware.com/about/macversion.html

The following FREE games also have Mac versions.
http://wesnoth.org/
http://crawl-ref.sourceforge.net/

 

[tenkerasu]

NO. Getting a PC for a Mac is not the point of getting a Mac. Getting an XP is not what I'm looking for, and I'm sure a bunch of other people would agree with me. I know a lot of people have said it, "Go get Boot Camp" - but that's just defining the problem here! This means that people can't play games on their Macs for this reason!

 

[shatnershaman]

NO. Getting a PC for a Mac is not the point of getting a Mac. Getting an XP is not what I'm looking for, and I'm sure a bunch of other people would agree with me. I know a lot of people have said it, "Go get Boot Camp" - but that's just defining the problem here! This means that people can't play games on their Macs for this reason!

Macs are not for gaming what did you expect?