Gaming on macbook

[Yashamaru]

Hi, I'm new to the forum but I have a question...
I bought a new Macbook 3 months ago;
2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB SDRAM
5400-rpm 160 GB
Intel GMA X3100

Now my question is, what games can I play? (Mac games and games for windows through bootcamp or parallel)
Which games will run on my Macbook and at what quality?

I know Mac's aren't real gaming machines, espacially not the macbook, but still...

 

[italiano40]

any game that isn't too graphic intense

like
-World of Warcraft
-Steam Games (Orange box, CS:S, CS 1.6)
-etc

 

[Yashamaru]

I'm glad to hear that apparently I can run CS:S (I used to play it a lot until I change Windows for Mac)

I also used to play Prey and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and I was thinking about buying the mac versions, will I be able to run any of them or are they to intesive?

 

[nagromme]

There's a Prey demo--I tried it on my MacBook Air (similar specs to yours) and it was playable at low detail, but not great. Quake 4 demo was pretty poor when the action picked up, and I'm guessing Doom 3 and Quake Wars would be about the same. I wouldn't buy anything that recent that you don't have a demo to test with. (A Mac QW demo might come out, but there's none yet.)

Some 3D games I have that DO play well on my X3100 under OS X Leopard:

* Unreal Tournament 2004, with detail turned low

* World of Padman (free) even with detail set pretty high (this is the best combination of quality and performance I have seen on the X3100)

* Hordes of Orcs

And various older games may be fine too--but look for ones that are Universal.

 

[Yashamaru]

Thanks guys, I'll remember it.

Does anone know which is the best way to play windows games, is it through bootcamp, parallel desktops, ... does it make any difference?



Oh does anyone know if Medieval 2: total war is playable?

 

[nagromme]

Boot camp.

VMWare or Parallels will play less-demanding, non-3D games OK--casual stuff--but for 3D stuff you currently need Boot Camp. (VMWare and Parallels are both working on improving 3D support though.)

In any case, you'll have more system resources if you run one OS (meaning Boot Camp) instead of two. Games will thank you.

 

[eXan]

There's a huge thread about gaming on MacBooks. Shouldn't be too hard to find using search

P.S.: MacBook is a terrible gaming machine. It can run 4-year-old games at lowest possible graphics settings at playable FPS. If the game is newer, don't even bother. Either it won't work due to unsupported graphics chip, or run like a s l o w slideshow.

 

[SamoanDude]

I play all the old school games on mine. Hitman, RTCW, etc. They play great

 

[nagromme]

There's a huge thread about gaming on MacBooks. Shouldn't be too hard to find using search

P.S.: MacBook is a terrible gaming machine. It can run 4-year-old games at lowest possible graphics settings at playable FPS. If the game is newer, don't even bother. Either it won't work due to unsupported graphics chip, or run like a s l o w slideshow.

It's not a question of whether it's a "good" or "terrible" machine--the OP has one already and wondered WHICH games run well. Many do. (Most, in fact, if you consider that most games aren't even 3D at all.)