PC games under Virtual PC?

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  • Reply 21 of 30
    chagichagi Posts: 284member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Steve

    Well, Soul Caliber II is actually pretty cumbersome with the unorthodox GameCube controller (I prefer the smaller Xbox one), and it runs in 1280x867 HD resolution on the Xbox as opposed to 640x480 on the GameCube. And Camelot's still working on Mario Tennis. As for the already-released Golf, I'm undecided.



    If you own a Mac and no PC, are you going to be able to play games like Deus Ex II, Half-Life 2, Doom III, Mafia, Max Payne 2, and so forth? Many people in the industry would argue that they're far from B-class. If you own a PC and are looking for exclusive content, the future is bright as well, with MS now commanding Rare, with the Conker update, stylized modern beat-em-up Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Namco's Breakdown, Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden successor, and titles by famed designer Peter Molyneux like B.C. and Fable? Not to mention the best versions of games like potential masterpiece Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, et all.



    And if you want online play, there's only one console to turn to (well, unless your name's Electronic Arts). I tend to prefer Xbox Live over the PC, because of such perks as unified voice communication, unified ID, auto-patching, complete and utter absence of cheating, and so on. So, yes, it is a fantastic alternative. Most modern Macs can't even play PPC-optimized games like UT2003 without huge compromises (the G5 is the only real "gaming" system in Apple's lineup), so how do you expect to do so through EMULATION? Want PC-styled games and own a Mac? Buy an Xbox. It's that simple.



    Does this thread make me look totally pro-Microsoft? It might. But that black monstrosity has arguably done more for console gaming than the iPod has done for portable music; and not only through feature-completeness in the hardware and comprehensive online solution, but it's clear that freedom-oriented, nonlinear Western game design first found on PC has affected almost every developer. To judge it on name alone would be highly hypocritical, after all the affection Apple's deck-of-cards-sized music library has garnered from the Windows world. It's not always black and white, people (though the Xbox and iPod are, respectively ).




    Valid points, all comes down to the reason you need to purchase something.



    Consoles have generally advanced to the point of being the equal of many of the PC genre games. Prior to now, most console games were pretty shallow.



    I needed a new computer anyways, and worked for a PC store, so I built a PC. I also had a good price on my video cards, so I decided to buy what was 1 year ago very good (GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128MB).



    Laptops are usually horrid choices for playing games, as they are always slower than a desktop PC due to the design compromises necessary when making a mobile unit. Just look at the $1300 - $2000 USD price segment for PC laptops, with few exceptions, they use horrible onboard video chipsets (horrible for gaming purposes that is).



    $200 for a Gamecube? Almost a no-brainer really.
  • Reply 22 of 30
    I don't understand the slam on VPC. I have it and run Win2K and Linux. As a matter of fact I have run them both at the same time.
  • Reply 23 of 30
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    yeah really back on topic. I don't either lots of people here are bashing it, it is amazing for what it does! It is almost perfect on my PowerBook. A simple matter of using the graphics card would make it perfect, along with more speed of course.. With the gfx card it could play any recent games up to just a few years ago. Of course it won't run Doom 3 but hey, I just want to play a few games that never came to Mac. With a fast Mac and good graphics card that VPC could use then I don't see why it couldn't run Half Life for example. Especially if you have dual video cards. I really think Microsoft might actually be cool here and add in 3d acceleration. After all if VPC is too good that could help them, they won't have to write native software! \
  • Reply 24 of 30
    resres Posts: 711member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Steve



    -Snip-

    Most modern Macs can't even play PPC-optimized games like UT2003 without huge compromises (the G5 is the only real "gaming" system in Apple's lineup), so how do you expect to do so through EMULATION? Want PC-styled games and own a Mac? Buy an Xbox. It's that simple.







    No, you don't by an Xbox -- you build or buy a PC. Consoles have improved, but they still don't match computer games.



    Back on topic -- video intensive games just don't run very well on VPC, so if you like games it is better to just keep a PC around to play them.
  • Reply 25 of 30
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Res the only reason they don't is because Connectix was lazy and didn't support 3d hardware. You can't play modern 3d games without hardware acceleration.
  • Reply 26 of 30
    resres Posts: 711member
    You are right, if MS adds 3d acceleration back into VPC it would really improve game play. We will have to wait and see what they do with it.
  • Reply 27 of 30
    Hmmmm, I wonder if MS will add the hardware support? Maybe they fell it would take away custom from the X-Box? But then again, as someone here said, MS have a big investment in a number of games companies and will want to make money on a game title regardless of the format that it's released on...
  • Reply 28 of 30
    chagichagi Posts: 284member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Indecisive PC user

    Hmmmm, I wonder if MS will add the hardware support? Maybe they fell it would take away custom from the X-Box? But then again, as someone here said, MS have a big investment in a number of games companies and will want to make money on a game title regardless of the format that it's released on...



    I wouldn't hold your breath. I'll also point out that emulating current 3D games would be painful, as you lose a great deal of speed when emulating hardware in software.



    At this point, if games are a high priority, you either:



    a) build a PC. It's worth keeping in mind that there are a number of Mac OS games out there that you could play on your Apple system, but often there are long delays to get a game the was released on another platform.



    b) buy a console. Definately your cheapest option for what you get. Even the Gamecube blows me away for what you are getting at the price they sell it at.



    c) Make do with what is available on the Mac.
  • Reply 29 of 30
    Will VPC run an online poker application? Its not intense with graphics. I have many friends that play poker together online and I cannot participate because there is no Mac version of the software. I have no other use for VPC and would hate to waste the money on it.



    thnx
  • Reply 30 of 30
    Connectix was able to add support for the Voodoo 1/2 cards because they don't act like other graphics cards. Unlike other cards - including all of today's cards - which support 2D and 3D, the Voodoo 1/2 only support 3D acceleration. Since another card has to do the 2D work, the V1/V2 are idle until an application specifically requests them. Among other things, this means that there aren't any drivers talking to the card until an app actually starts using it. This allowed VPC to provide the drivers for the card.



    Today's cards do both 2D and 3D, so they're always in use by the OS. That means the OS provides the drivers for the card. When VPC comes along it can't provide its own set of drivers for the card, since cards and OSes don't support multiple concurrent drivers for a device.



    It may be possible to write a shim layer for the guest OS that would talk to the card via the native (OS X) drivers, but that would be a fairly major undertaking. Connectix said on multiple occassions that gaming support was not a priority, and that the costs necessary to do true 3D emulation would far outweigh the minor increase in sales. Finally even with a shim the system wouldn't be capable of running the latest + greatest games well due to the overhead imposed by the emulation. I assure you that Connectix wasn't just being lazy, they had valid reasons for not doing it (it's *hard*, and not worth the money to them).





    So instead of bitching at Connectix/MS for not making poor business decisions, how about writing them a polite letter explaining that you'd pay for 3D emulation? Get enough requests, and they might give it a shot.
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