OS Neutral The future of Mac gaming looks bright.

[N19h7m4r3]

At GDC NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel showed that with OpenGL it's possible to driver overhead by 10 times or more. Along with it they can get anywhere from 1.2/1.3x the performance all way up to a staggering 15x if proper time is taking to tune the performance.

http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2014/03/20/opengl-gdc2014/

It's an absolutely fantastic read, and with the many of the large AAA graphics engines moving towards OpenGL support the future looks bright.

Even if we entirely ignore gaming in general, imagine the profound impact this can have on professional work. Everything from CAD, Animation and more. Anything that uses OpenGL.

Here's also the video from the Valve Dev Days.

 

[Solomani]

Do I have to wear shade(r)s?

 

[Wardenski]

Good to see the likes of Valve pushing these technologies.

In my opinion, hardware is far in-front of software when it comes to gaming. Not enough games use all cores.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Do I have to wear shade(r)s?

Going to need some solar shades, otherwise you might get blinded.

Good to see the likes of Valve pushing these technologies.

In my opinion, hardware is far in-front of software when it comes to gaming. Not enough games use all cores.

Not just valve, It's AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA working on removing the driver overhead as well.
Even the other big boys like Crytek, and Unreal's new engines support OpenGL.

 

[VoR]

Not just valve, It's AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA working on removing the driver overhead as well.

Valve have been churning away doing utterly amazing work for Linux (and as a byproduct, osx) for a fair while now. amd are inconsistent, nvidia unfriendly and intel have infinite resources when it comes to the hugely potent but currently un(tiny?)profitable OSS/non-directx future.
Valve's efforts, even if they are mainly motivated by anti-windows store-ness can't be overstated enough, I really hope they do continue drag everyone into this bright looking future

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Valve have been churning away doing utterly amazing work for Linux (and as a byproduct, osx) for a fair while now. amd are inconsistent, nvidia unfriendly and intel have infinite resources when it comes to the hugely potent but currently un(tiny?)profitable OSS/non-directx future.
Valve's efforts, even if they are mainly motivated by anti-windows store-ness can't be overstated enough, I really hope they do continue drag everyone into this bright looking future

Oh certainly!

The fact that they opened up their ToGL DX9 to OpenGL translator for anyone to use is fantastic. It can help so many people, and along with the API news is a good kick in the rear for many developers I think.

 

[TallManNY]

Games

Also developers must realize that Macs are dominating the high end computer sales, especially in the US. They know they are missing out on some of the most affluent customers by not supporting Macs. And the trend seems to be in favor of Macs getting a larger and larger market. The developers are using Macs to make the games. The other programmers and software guys in Sillicon Valley are all running Macs in their startups and to develop Apps for iOS. They need to make the move and go where their customers are going.

I've got bootcamp, but I'm much more likely to buy a AAA title if it comes out on Mac and runs well. I'm sure I'm not alone in this. And if the next generation of consoles don't catch on, this is going to be an even more pressing issue.

 

[saturnotaku]

And if the next generation of consoles don't catch on, this is going to be an even more pressing issue.

Keep dreaming.