HUGE news in Mac gaming
The techies out there may be able to tell me if this is really true but I had a realization today that Mac gaming could be in for a big boost.
According to Xbox Soltion and Mercury News, Microsoft's next Xbox (the "XBOX Next" actually) will be based around a core of three IBM 64 bit chips (future iterations of the Apple G5 chip) with an ATI graphics chip. This alone does not mean too much by itself but there is a more juicy tidbit in the article.
Microsoft itself is currently using Apple G5 Powermacs to develop the next generation of XBOX games. Quite ironic, but that is beside the point. Here is the quote:
"The top executives of both Electronic Arts and Activision said this week that they have not received formal ``software development kits'' from Microsoft yet, but they did say they have begun creating next-generation games. Internally, Microsoft has begun developing game prototypes, and it is using G5 systems to do so."
Now, I am not a programmer so you guys who are, correct me if I am wrong. But, it seems that if the games are being developed on Mac systems for use on a console that is very similar to a PowerMac it would not be too far a leap to put that software onto the Mac platform.
I don't know, maybe the operating system optimization or compatibility would be to big an issue but it is very interesting none the less.
According to Xbox Soltion and Mercury News, Microsoft's next Xbox (the "XBOX Next" actually) will be based around a core of three IBM 64 bit chips (future iterations of the Apple G5 chip) with an ATI graphics chip. This alone does not mean too much by itself but there is a more juicy tidbit in the article.
Microsoft itself is currently using Apple G5 Powermacs to develop the next generation of XBOX games. Quite ironic, but that is beside the point. Here is the quote:
"The top executives of both Electronic Arts and Activision said this week that they have not received formal ``software development kits'' from Microsoft yet, but they did say they have begun creating next-generation games. Internally, Microsoft has begun developing game prototypes, and it is using G5 systems to do so."
Now, I am not a programmer so you guys who are, correct me if I am wrong. But, it seems that if the games are being developed on Mac systems for use on a console that is very similar to a PowerMac it would not be too far a leap to put that software onto the Mac platform.
I don't know, maybe the operating system optimization or compatibility would be to big an issue but it is very interesting none the less.
Comments
Nintendo uses a 400MHz PowerPC processor in the GameCube. When this information was first released a few years ago, it sparked rumors and speculation like wildfire that Apple would get some sort of partnership with Nintendo and get the games ported easily. It never happened. Nothing even came close.
Code can be developed on any platform. Technically, I can write code for a Windows program on my Mac or vice-versa. This doesn't logically conclude that I can run that program on my machine, though.
If lots of Mac users buy games, we'll get games.
Hehe... A Microsoft box running OSX, and linux. That's just funny.
Originally posted by Brad
No, don't think any easy XBox-to-Mac conversions will be likely.
Nintendo uses a 400MHz PowerPC processor in the GameCube. When this information was first released a few years ago, it sparked rumors and speculation like wildfire that Apple would get some sort of partnership with Nintendo and get the games ported easily. It never happened. Nothing even came close.
Code can be developed on any platform. Technically, I can write code for a Windows program on my Mac or vice-versa. This doesn't logically conclude that I can run that program on my machine, though.
Good point about the nintendo, however, if they were just writing code why would Microsoft choose to write the code on Macs? Why would they develop their code on Macs unless the software they were developing would only run on or run better on Macs? I really doubt Microsoft would use Mas for anything unless they had to.
Also good point about the demand problem for Mac games. There is just not enough users on the platform to really support a thirving game market. However, if these games could just be ported right over then the cost would be low enough to allow it. Of course like I said earlier I don't know about the difficulty of making the actual game work on the OS rather than just developing the code.
Also, there is probably no reason for me to even worry about these games as I will probably have a XBOX 2 to play them on. I would still love to see HALO 3 on Mac before PC. I know...doubtful very doubtful.