Gaming life on a new Macbook Pro - worth the investment?

[Curb]

Hi all - that's not a financial investment as I bought one 2 weeks ago.

It's more a case of time being dedicated to the Pro as a gaming platform and OsX as first choice to run it - so less of a can my Mac play games and more of a will Mac be a serious platform in itself - will we be hearing on 360, Wii, PS3, Mac and PC on big titles?.

I've got all the current consoles and enjoy gaming on them, but sometimes crave for a change of pace and structure. I've had a Macbook for around 3 years before updating and never played anything on it but now my current Mac has the potential for it, I've been getting really interested in Eve Online and StarCraft 2, and with Steam being on Mac now it seems that the Mac is on the way to establishing itself as a serious gaming platform, and it's great to see this. I wasn't really considering it for gaming but after seeing how well my model flying sim (Phoenix) ran on it, it's looking promising.

Now, I'm not saying games weren't enjoyed on Macs before - I just don't have any experience of them.

But will you be playing games natively or relying on Windows? Is that the reason why Mac gaming has taken so long to progress - or is it why being taken seriously in the first place?

 

[xi mezmerize ix]

I just got a MBP a few weeks ago. If a game is available for Mac and PC, I'll of course get the Mac version. But most of the games I'm interested in are only on PC or run better on PC.

 

[runebinder]

I've gotten rid of my Bootcamp partition and that's partly due to Steam. Got enough Mac games for the time being (FM2010, Sims 3, Orange Box and Torchlight), to keep me occupied. I have my Windows box if I want to play anything else.

Just wish Bioware/EA Games would put Dragon Age Origins on Steam as I bought it on the PC client.

 

[apolloa]

I don't think anyone can give a definitive answer to your question as it entirely depends on the market.
But on evidence so far I think it has a very bright future for games. I mean Star Craft 2 will be natively launched on Mac OS. And we have the Steam games.

It all really depends I think on how well Steam goes, if developers can see a market in it they will sell to that market as well as the other platforms. A lot of normal consumers have purchased Macs and they will want to play games. Trouble is though these day's you have the console. I have a PS3 and love it, it's so simple to use, hassle free, has lots of games and most importantly has easy free to use online features and online gameplay. This was what we didn't have on consoles really, not in a wide spread way until this gen.

But I think the futures bright, Valve wouldn't have bothered if they didn't think they could make money.

 

[archurban]

it's too early to tell. not yet. because steam mac version is opened to us, it doesn't mean everything is available and smooth without problem. of course, Valve works hard to get job done faster as possible. if you expect pure mac game, you have to wait further. still windows game is dominated. the problem of mac game is that optimization isn't well done or doesn't at all. OpenGL is good enough to play game. but Apple needs to develop special treatment just like DirectX. so far nothing is to defeated.

 

[Huntn]

Mostly I'll be playing Windows games under Bootcamp/Vista because I want the best possible performance. The last native Mac game I played was WoW and it played fine. When they get rid of the performance and porting issues under OSX, and when the selection of Mac games available through Steam gets better and I'm reading that the performance is good on Mac Steam, I'll consider more Mac games. But Steam is not my primary choice even on Windows. I much prefer stand alone games because I don't like the Steam's hoops and not being able to sell used games. However I acknowledge the DRM problem seems to be worsening across the board.