eeh. Have you ever seen BF3 on a macbook pro on lowest settings? Such a low FPS. You won't be able to use a macbook or mini for BF3/4.
Depends what kind of Macbook Pro. Besides, Battlefield 3 looks the exact same on high and ultra, it's kind of silly.
BF4 pre-orders just started - sadly no mention of a Mac version.
Gameplay footage is available here:
video
Do not loose your hope yet. Maybe They'll launch BF4 for Mac after it will be launched for PC.
We can also add Valve onto that list.
Valve's Source games (Half-Life 2 + expansions, Portal 1/2, Left 4 Dead 1/2, etc) are not native ports. If you check in the SteamApps folder, you'll see that the downloaded files are the same as what you'll find if you install the game on Windows.
They are native ports. Files being the same does not mean that the port is not native. PC/Mac/Xbox/Playstation games all usually share the same data files. My Mac native copy of Quake 3 from years ago has the exact same files as the PC version.
What matters is only the executable file being native, and all the Source games have native executable files.
I can play HL2 and the like at native resolution, full AA and AF, with vsync on and stay locked at 60 fps all day long when running Windows. Switch back to OS X on the exact same hardware, and I have to lower everything to get similar performance. If all that's needed is an executable to make something a native port, does it simply come down to Apple's lousy OpenGL support that accounts for the vast difference in performance? I don't entirely buy that because Call of Duty: Modern Warfare runs basically the same whether I'm using the App Store version on OS X or Steam on Windows.
I'm not trying to make it sound like you don't know what you're talking about, far from it. I genuinely want to know. Are the performance issues with Source more Valve's problem or Apple's?
It's possible that there are some games where the difference isn't as big between the two operating systems. If the game never gets demanding enough for your computer's hardware so you'll notice the frame rate dip in OS X compared to Windows. Maybe Call of Duty 4 is one of them? I also remember it as playing fairly similar in OS X vs. Windows.
The thing is, the Source engine upon which HL2 and its ilk are based is older than that of Call of Duty. Also, given that Valve did the porting for OS X themselves, you would think that performance would be much better given that CoD 4 was done by Aspyr.
Apple's poor OpenGL implementation and support is certainly part of it. I have no doubt games would run much better if they actually put in some OpenGL 4.0 extensions into OS X since recent Mac hardware is capable of running it.
The thing is, the Source engine upon which HL2 and its ilk are based is older than that of Call of Duty. Also, given that Valve did the porting for OS X themselves, you would think that performance would be much better given that CoD 4 was done by Aspyr.
Apple's poor OpenGL implementation and support is certainly part of it. I have no doubt games would run much better if they actually put in some OpenGL 4.0 extensions into OS X since recent Mac hardware is capable of running it.
AMD/Nvidia already make the OS X drivers for their hardware. If Apple wants better performance, they should give them more money, because the Mac market doesn't justifying investing much on performance.
The drivers delivered by AMD/Nvidia aren't made for gaming, they are made for boosting work. OpenGL accelerated applications such as most Adobe apps or 3D-moddeling apps are known to work better in an OS X environment than under Windows.
-Adobe is going to the same route, because apple is slow giving support to them - the nvidia 6xx series are still unsupported for advanced GPU rendering (2011 macs with the ati 6xxx series are faster with premiere and after effects).
That isn't 100% correct. You need to modfiy a little document by simply adding your GPU's name to a list to make CUDA working in AE and Premiere with your GTX6xx cards. I can confirm this, my GTX680 makes After Effects fly (but yeah, editing registries isn't what you bought a Mac for..)
But you're probably right with your other points.
What is with the 10.6.4 update?