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Mac vs. PC Games

D

davidg4781

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 28, 2006
2,953
472
Alice, TX
Are there any real differences in buying a Mac or a PC version of a game? I've been itching to play The Sims 2, along with a few other games, and I'm not sure which one to get.

I have Windows installed, via BootCamp, and a few older games I can play on there. I also have a MacBook, so the video might be an issue. From what I understand, the video card can be more productive under Windows running natively than using OS X.

Also, is it possible to play on a network against PC users? For instance, let's say we're playing Age of Empires II, and I want to go against a PC user. Will that work, or do we need to both have the same version of the software (both Mac or both PC)?
 
No difference in gameplay. Some have minor diffs, in Halo:CE for Mac you are able to have up to 8x Anti-Aliasing, while AA isn't an option at all in PC. Usually you can play cross-platform, there are a few exceptions. The box will tell you, or a quick google. Buy the Mac to support Mac development ;)
 
MAC vs Windows

I have not tried many games but except for the WoW, Mac games tend to cost more and are buggier than their Windows counterpart. After a not so great experience with HoMM V on Mac, I am going to be very careful in purchasing Mac games and will likely stick with their Windows version.

Hopefully though since they sell more and more Mac, companies may be more careful in developping the mac equivalent.
 
They do say Civ IV tends to run worse (or take much more resources) on a Mac than on a PC. It' s an issue of the port/conversion.
 
I heard HoMM V was buggy all around. I'm interested in it, even tried to buy it but contrary to the big Discover logo on Freeverse's website they don't take Discover (I know I contacted them). So then I was annoyed and decided to take my money else ware, I was on the fence anyway since they don't have a demo. I'm now the proud owner of a 3G nano. :)
 
Depends on the game

davidg4781 said:
Are there any real differences in buying a Mac or a PC version of a game? I've been itching to play The Sims 2, along with a few other games, and I'm not sure which one to get.

I have Windows installed, via BootCamp, and a few older games I can play on there. I also have a MacBook, so the video might be an issue. From what I understand, the video card can be more productive under Windows running natively than using OS X.

Also, is it possible to play on a network against PC users? For instance, let's say we're playing Age of Empires II, and I want to go against a PC user. Will that work, or do we need to both have the same version of the software (both Mac or both PC)?
Click to expand...

I bought a 20" iMac last fall, and lived with three other guys all running xp machines. I got UT 2004, and for the first couple weeks was able to network no problem with their games, or host the games(which is usually what happened). Then for some unknown reason I could no longer see their games, and only one of them could see my game. I was running wireless the whole time, and my roommate was messing with the router alot trying to make it more secure from other people stealing our internet. So that might have been what caused it, by then though we switched to Battlefield 2 where I was forced to boot into xp to play.
Between the difference in games between the two OS's, I have found that it usually doesn't matter to much, but in general the windows version will run a little smoother, usually due to much more time spent on debugging the windows versions. For example I played World of Warcraft for a couple months, and at first I was forced to lower my settings so i could get a decent 30 fps. but after a couple weeks blizzard released a couple different updates that allowed me to run at full settings easy and have no problems at all with framerates. While at the same time the built in iTunes controls so I could change songs or the volume of iTunes without having to exit the game, since in OS X you can't switch out of full screen applications. I never bothered to see if my roommates had these controls in their xp versions. But after a couple of updates i was convinced that WoW running on OS X was just as good or better than on XP. Through my wireless connection i ALWAYS had a lower ping rate than any of my wired roommates using a 1000mb connection to the router. Mine was usually around 18 and there's usually about 35-40.
I continue to buy OS X games over windows as I can, even though occasionally they will be more buggy,because I know the larger the mac gaming community gets the more time companies will spend on making the versions as good as they can be. And I much more enjoy working inside of OS X than XP. I don't even keep music or movies on my XP partition, just games.
Another game i had that we networked between macs and pc's was Prey, it networked just fine, and with me always hosting the games it still ran great.

Guitar Hero 3 for mac's and pc's October 29th.
I think I might just have to get it.:)
 
Do ya'll think Gears of war on PC and Mac will run equivalently to eachother? Does Epic usually do a good job with the unreal engine port?
 
we can only hope

triskadecaepyon said:
Do ya'll think Gears of war on PC and Mac will run equivalently to eachother? Does Epic usually do a good job with the unreal engine port?
Click to expand...

It's impossible to say, but epic seems to do a good job with keeping with their mac games, such as unreal tournament 2004, and with them releasing unreal tournament 3 and gears of war this fall both for pc and mac, i have a feeling that it's going to be just as good on the mac as on windows. Between Aspyr, Id, EA, Blizzard, and Epic I think that mac gaming is really going to take off. And I suspect more and more companies to start making games run on both systems, and continually update both.

This fall
Guitar Hero 3 - Oct. 29:rolleyes:
Unreal Tournament 3 - Nov. 6:)
Gears of War - Nov. 12:D
I just hope the companies do simultaneous releases on all these or at least don't make us wait until next year to see the mac versions.

It will be interesting to see if EA follows through with what they said this summer about from now on pc and mac games will be released simultaneously. Doesn't seem like there's gonna be a nfs pro street, crysis, or hellgates: london for mac come release day. I wonder if we will ever see them on the mac platform.....:apple:
 
Denali9 said:
After a not so great experience with HoMM V on Mac, I am going to be very careful in purchasing Mac games and will likely stick with their Windows version.
Click to expand...

HoMM V runs using Cider, so essentially it is the Windows version, not really a Mac game. Apparently they tweaked the source code so it ran better with the GMA 950 though. Typically Mac games actually have fewer bugs, since they are ported from the Windows version later, so there's more of an opportunity to fix stuff.

--Eric
 
Gears of war for mac?? SERIOUSLY? GET IN! :) sorry for caps im just rather excited by this prospect...i know it won't look anywhere near as good as on 360 but stil :) woo haha
 
Isn't it all down to whether the PC game was originally coded for Windows (DirectX) or multi-platform (OpenGL).

Presumably if it's a DirectX game then it'll need porting to OpenGL & that may not go too well. If it's an OpenGL from the beginning than shouldn't it run just as well when tweaked to run on Windows, OS X or Linux?

Epic seem to like OpenGL, so hopefully there'll be Mac versions of all their games & they'll run equally went on any platform (if the hardware supports it).
 
davidg4781 said:
Are there any real differences in buying a Mac or a PC version of a game? I've been itching to play The Sims 2, along with a few other games, and I'm not sure which one to get.

I have Windows installed, via BootCamp, and a few older games I can play on there. I also have a MacBook, so the video might be an issue. From what I understand, the video card can be more productive under Windows running natively than using OS X.

Also, is it possible to play on a network against PC users? For instance, let's say we're playing Age of Empires II, and I want to go against a PC user. Will that work, or do we need to both have the same version of the software (both Mac or both PC)?
Click to expand...

This is an interesting question as I'm seriously considering buying ET: Quake Wars after playing the brilliant demo via bootcamp. The upside of buying the Mac version is the financial support for Mac game development but if the downside is a poorer FPS then it's not an option. The Mac version from play.com is also £8 more expensive, which is about a 30% increase which I'd be glad to pay if it ran as quick as it does on XP.

My previous experience with the last ASPYR game I bought (MOHAA) wasn't good either as they upped the specifications for Medal of Honor after it was released, after I had bought it and the frame rate was pants considering I had just got a new iMac. :eek:
 
Can't Apple release a version of the iMAc with a decent gaming nVidia/ATI GPU so that Mac owners can play the latest top games via bootcamp? If Gears of War is coming to OSX, is it going to run well on an ATI Rad 2600!

Also, if Mac aren't serious about gaming (for what ever reason), why can't I buy an iMac with a basic Intel GPU & save some cash to buy a PS3?
 
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