Will Apple ever release a machine for gamers ?

zenarcadezenarcade
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
I remember buying my second mac, the iMac 450 DV edition.



When playing Unreal Tournament, I had to lower the graphic settings. And these days, lots of kids are coming over to my son to play the assorted multiplayer games, on the household´s different G3/G4 flavours.



Theses kids, 12-15, are all impressed by OS X but putting all the true-blue-coolness aside, they want to play games !



Do any of you think that Apple will ever release a machine, directly aiming at the youngsters ( I am 33, with long hair, still rockin´ to MC5 ) and their gaming needs ?



Firaxis "Alpha Centauri" was awesome !!!



Zen
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 68
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    One of the influences in my upgrade from a 333Mhz Beige G3 to a Dual G5 was games. Quake would run on it at about 20FPS and it was manageable, but nothing to brag about. I needed to put those PC's in their place. I think my new rig will be still be good for the next 2 years of graphic intense games. The only dissapointment is the limited selection of games available for mac. I wish more companies would tap into the power of a G5.
  • Reply 2 of 68
    wrong robotwrong robot Posts: 3,907member
    I don't expect apple to release a gaming machine anytime soon, but, with the promise the g5 has, I do imagine to see far improved gaming performance on consumer machines once that thing filters down the lineup
  • Reply 3 of 68
    kraig911kraig911 Posts: 912member
    The thing we need the most for mac to make some more headway into the gaming market is for microsoft to goof up direct x somewhere down the line. But thats so far off and unlikely the world will never know.
  • Reply 4 of 68
    sideshowbobsideshowbob Posts: 26member
    MC5 do rock



    As for the games it is just not worth the effort for a company like EA. They are happy to sell their licenses off and let someone else do the conversion. I think the other side of it is that the company buying the license mostly wants to wait and see how the game sells and what reviews it gets before buying the license. I use a PC at home mostly for games. I gave my G4 to my girlfriend (she only plays The Sims ). At work I use a Mac most of the day so I am happy with the variety I get.



    Still if games came out at the same time then I would probably grab a G5 and have both platforms at home again.



    Sideshow
  • Reply 5 of 68
    big macbig mac Posts: 480member
    Game software support is like any other segment of the software industry. A certain number of developers lose no sleep over ignoring ~3% of the market. Apple has to be bold and aggressive in the pursuit of market share, or else we'll continue to slide down into the abyss.
  • Reply 6 of 68
    mrmistermrmister Posts: 1,095member
    Apple will never release a gaming machine. Period.



    That said, the G5 does a pretty good job--though it won't help if people aren't porting, or are poorly porting, games to the Mac.



    I'd state the obvious (e.g. CONSOLE CONSOLE CONSOLE) but that just degenerates into a flame war.
  • Reply 7 of 68
    concentricityconcentricity Posts: 434member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by mrmister

    Apple will never release a gaming machine. Period.



    That said, the G5 does a pretty good job--though it won't help if people aren't porting, or are poorly porting, games to the Mac.



    I'd state the obvious (e.g. CONSOLE CONSOLE CONSOLE) but that just degenerates into a flame war.



    yeah, quite frankly, the PC gaming market is shrinking, while the console and handheld markets are growing. (see ars if you're "confused")



    there's very little reason for Apple to invest substantial R&D (or anything else) in gaming initiatives. the machines they have are 'good' for gaming, and that's enough (from a business strategy standpoint). that said, i would personally love to see a killer mac gaming rig, but it won't happen.



    also, it would really require ATI and/or nVidia to make a big push into the Mac market for anything to happen. what can Apple really do (beyond the incredible bandwidth etc in the G5) for gaming?
  • Reply 8 of 68
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    macintosh is like the porsche of computers, and would porsche ever release an suv?

    HELL NO! er...uuuhhh...ummmm...WHEAAA, did hell freeze over??



    long 'bout this time last year the scuttlebut was itunes on windows,everybody said na it cant happen and well, hell froze over yet again in the fall



    while i doubt an apple gaming rig is in the cards, ya just never know these days, anything is pnossible



    <more to say>

    i agree with some of the other posts the gameing industry is shifting to consoles, it makes sence, far less demanding requierments for (almost) equil graphics because a tv needs a feed at 640x480 at 29.? fps compared to most gaming pc's, 100+fps at 1024/768 even hd doesnt need that kind of power, they only need 60 fps tops

    </more to say>
  • Reply 9 of 68
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    I doubt Apple would ever release a gaming machine. However, built-to-order is there for a reason. If you need a gaming Mac, customise a G5 with a phat graphics card, lots of RAM, buy a CRT (not a $$$ Apple display) and a Microsoft mouse.



    Apple use to have a fragmented product line... Macs for TV watching, Macs for education, Macs for video editing... then Steve returned and Apple introduced BTO. Again, it is there for A REASON.



    Barto
  • Reply 10 of 68
    strawberrystrawberry Posts: 181member




    Been there, done that.
  • Reply 11 of 68
    rara Posts: 623member
    The problem is that Apple thinks their iMacs are great gaming machines.
  • Reply 12 of 68
    jadejade Posts: 379member
    Actually it needs to start from a different angle: 3D animation needs to be done on Apple's which will lead to high end video cards which leads to more experience developing this stuff for the platform which leads to games. Games are played most on the platform that created them . Starts with 3D studio Max and trickles down.
  • Reply 13 of 68
    resres Posts: 711member
    Judging form some of the replays in this thread, I'm not sure that everyone means the same thing when they say "Gaming Machine."



    A good gaming machine is a computer with a real fast processor and a top of the line video card -- that's it. Some people will say it also needs a good sound card, but half of the gamers are using headphones and gain no benefit from it.



    Macs used to be good for gaming, then came the whole Motorola fiasco and Macs fell behind PCs in performance. I built my first PC because, even with the best video card I could buy for it, no mac at the time was able to play Unreal tournament well.



    The current G5 powermac with a radeon 9800 Pro is an ok gaming machine, but not a great one. The dual processors don't help for most games, and the G5s doesn't seem to be any better then an Athlon at the same speed when it comes to pumping out simple polygons.



    Later in the year, when we get G5s around 3Ghz with whatever the best videocard is at the time, the Mac will make a great gaming machine. And in the future, if IBM can push ahead of the competition, it might even make the best.
  • Reply 14 of 68
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Res

    Judging form some of the replays in this thread, I'm not sure that everyone means the same thing when they say "Gaming Machine."



    A good gaming machine is a computer with a real fast processor and a top of the line video card -- that's it. Some people will say it also needs a good sound card, but half of the gamers are using headphones and gain no benefit from it.



    Macs used to be good for gaming, then came the whole Motorola fiasco and Macs fell behind PCs in performance. I built my first PC because, even with the best video card I could buy for it, no mac at the time was able to play Unreal tournament well.



    The current G5 powermac with a radeon 9800 Pro is an ok gaming machine, but not a great one. The dual processors don't help for most games, and the G5s doesn't seem to be any better then an Athlon at the same speed when it comes to pumping out simple polygons.



    Later in the year, when we get G5s around 3Ghz with whatever the best videocard is at the time, the Mac will make a great gaming machine. And in the future, if IBM can push ahead of the competition, it might even make the best.



    That's true. But I think most of who read this were under the impression he was referring to something like an Alien Ware, gaming machine, or something. I'm glad you pointed that out. With that said, the only problem after speed bumped PowerMacs is going to be what games are actually available.



    UT2k4 Mac Demo is a whole lot of fun.
  • Reply 15 of 68
    xiaxinxiaxin Posts: 44member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by zenarcade

    Do any of you think that Apple will ever release a machine, directly aiming at the youngsters ( I am 33, with long hair, still rockin´ to MC5 ) and their gaming needs ?





    I am a macuser but I bought a P4/2.6 GC/Geforce4 mx 440 for gaming. I don't think Mac is a good gaming machine for cost and performance wise reasons, buying a PC for gaming will be a much better choice since PCs are now dirt cheap (sub 800 US dollars) and it games. Don't get me wrong, Macs are still better than PC in lots of aspects but as for gaming.......PCs are better.
  • Reply 16 of 68
    greggwsmithgreggwsmith Posts: 523member
    There are very few games for Mac's anyway. Why bother.
  • Reply 17 of 68
    smalmsmalm Posts: 677member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by onlooker

    UT2k4 Mac Demo is a whole lot of fun.



    Unreal really sucks on my mac (G4 1.17GHz GF4MX). Slower than on my Pentium3 (600MHz GF4MX). Hopefully the game engine of UT2004 is a better port from DirectX than the old engine - a lot of games will use thise engine.



    Onlooker I hate you! Now I have to download 200MB
  • Reply 18 of 68
    krassykrassy Posts: 595member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by onlooker

    UT2k4 Mac Demo is a whole lot of fun.



    i heard its multithreaded?
  • Reply 19 of 68
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by onlooker

    That's true. But I think most of who read this were under the impression he was referring to something like an Alien Ware, gaming machine, or something. I'm glad you pointed that out. With that said, the only problem after speed bumped PowerMacs is going to be what games are actually available.



    UT2k4 Mac Demo is a whole lot of fun.



    aleinware,you say? just bring back the b/w g3 enclosurer slap in a g5, replace the blue with a blindingly ugly neon green and wvala...an apple gaming rig
  • Reply 20 of 68
    bangstudiosbangstudios Posts: 88member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by concentricity

    yeah, quite frankly, the PC gaming market is shrinking, while the console and handheld markets are growing. (see ars if you're "confused")



    there's very little reason for Apple to invest substantial R&D (or anything else) in gaming initiatives. the machines they have are 'good' for gaming, and that's enough (from a business strategy standpoint). that said, i would personally love to see a killer mac gaming rig, but it won't happen.



    Y'know, maybe I'm "old before my time" (I'm 35), but I've never understood the mentality of spending thousands of dollars on a PC (or, keeping in line with this thread, a Mac) to play games on, when an XBox or PS2 costs a couple hundred bucks and does a fine job of it.



    Or is it just me?



    -J
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