[Texas]

I have a rapidly aging PC that I'm wanting to replace some time in the near future. My first computer experiances wear on Mac's and enjoyed them very much but moved away from them because I couldn't find the software I wanted for them especially games. Is this still the case with Mac's? Do many games particularly adventure games have Mac versons and if so wear can you find them?

Thanks for all the help guys.

[eXo]

Haven't you seen the commercials?

PC's are square nerdy men who do nothing but work. Macs on the other hands are obviously hip young dudes in touch with the mainstream.

PC's like to work on spreadsheets, but macs love to rock out to iTunes.

Upgrading a PC is like friggin heart suggery, but Macs have it all built in - right from the start (because you can't upgrade even if you wanted to)

PC's are so secure that it's annoying (I'm not making this up - this is what the commercials say). Macs don't need protection, because nobody bothers coding a virus for 5 computers anyways.

PC's are very mousy and seek attention from mousy people. Macs are all up IN YO FACE and like to have sex in public places! (ok - I did make that one up, but its the next logical step in their damned avdertising campaign)

Apparantly, if you decode the above - PC's are for people who know what they are doing, know how to upgrade a system (ie: use a philips head screwdriver), don't need nazi iTunes software taking over all media capabilties, and most importantly - don't believe insanely ludicrous advertising campaigns which attempt to paint PC users as complete morons.

Now, for the one helpful thing I will state for this topic. Simply go to eBay, and try to find Mac copies of games versus PC copies of games. I know for a fact that it's harder to find Mac software, it typically costs double (for the classic AG games), and there has been quite a bit of discussion at the ScummVM forums about the superiority of graphics/sound in PC versions of older games. As far as new games go, i have no idea. Unlike Mac users, PC users never have to friggin worry if a game is available for them.

I can already see arguements just waiting to happen in this thread... this is going to be worse then "Are adventure games dead?"

[Melanie68]

Now, for the one helpful thing I will state for this topic. Simply go to eBay, and try to find Mac copies of games versus PC copies of games. I know for a fact that it's harder to find Mac software, it typically costs double (for the classic AG games), and there has been quite a bit of discussion at the ScummVM forums about the superiority of graphics/sound in PC versions of older games. As far as new games go, i have no idea. Unlike Mac users, PC users never have to friggin worry if a game is available for them.

Yes, there have been plenty of arguments about PC vs. Mac which often happen in chit chat. You said yourself, that was the only helpful part of your post. The rest of it was inflammatory and just inviting the argument (or something that likes to think it's an argument). So let's just keep it to the question at hand because the general PC vs. Mac war is tiresome.

[Dasilva]

Macs are like PS3's, their status items, you just have one so you can brag about it because it was so expensive.

[Melanie68]

That is not answering Texas' question.

So just stop with those kinds of posts. Last warning.

[kuze]

Software is easy to find for Macs and usually cheap/free (unless you need something special). Games are not. New commercial adventures don't come out for the Mac, some indie games however do. If you are into old-school gaming, there is ScummVM and DOSBox for older games like MK1-3 and such.

If you consider gaming, buy a PC.

Hey Melanie, where is that avatar of yours from? Looks kind of familiar.

If you play mostly DirectX 8 based games, you can get an intel based mac to run most of them in VMWare . Of course, VMWare costs money... so I don't know if it's very economical.

[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by kuze

Hey Melanie, where is that avatar of yours from? Looks kind of familiar.

It's Emily the Strange

[Spiwak]

Jesus, when did you become so demanding, Mel?

Anyways, Macs are still not a good option for gaming at all. They are not status items, as some people, myself included, actually like OS X or plan to use it for exclusively Mac programs. I think having a Mac is great if you just don't want to bother, as they are simple to use and relatively hassle-free, plus Apple is very good about repairing even minor things. But since you care about games, I'd say just go with PC.

[VictimOfScience]

Um, MACs are just fine for gaming. Parallels will run just about anything you like very well, so its not really even a valid question of whether or not a game is available for MAC or not. In short, MAC allows the benefits of the productivity of MAC software/hardware while also allowing the all-too-familiar Windows experience for those games that aren't ported. Sure, its a little more money up front, but it pays for itself in no time. Enjoy!

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by eXo

[PC's]don't need nazi iTunes software taking over all media capabilties, and most importantly - don't believe insanely ludicrous advertising campaigns which attempt to paint PC users as complete morons.

While I agree the switch ads are pretty banal, they are for the most part clearly 'tongue in cheek'.

Now watch the Vista 'wow' ad and try not to be completely offended by it. It can't be done. And yet, there is NO intended humor at all. Microsoft marketing would have you equate Vista with space flight and the beauty of nature among other grandiose events.

To keep on topic, games on the mac are nowhere near as prominant as on PC. There's a number of reasons for it that need not be discussed here.

The latest intel macs can dual boot if thats an ok solution to you (run windows or mac-osX, the hardware inside is basically the same).

Parallels still won't run 3d apps and is no solution.

A lot of mac's future as far as gaming could rely on the success of Cider with PC game developers. Think of it as wine from the linux world only commercially supported at the developer level.

[Spiwak]

I also think gaming could become bigger for Mac as they gain more market share. The only problem with that, of course, is that when more people get Mac more viruses and malicious software will pop up, pretty much negating one of the reasons I went Mac in the first place.

I personally prefer Macs but I grew up with them so...

Macs are fine for gaming, granted PCs have a much bigger library but as already mentioned you can dual boot

Possibly my favorite feature on a Mac is that if you do something REALLY stupid to your computer it won't kill it which for people like me is quite an added plus...

Originally Posted by Ghettobob22

Possibly my favorite feature on a Mac is that if you do something REALLY stupid to your computer it won't kill it which for people like me is quite an added plus...

lol. That reminds me of the story about the girl who was having her first day at a new job. Now, this was back in the DOS + win 3.11 days. Anyway, somehow she had managed to type "format c:" and thus deleted everything on her PC. When the boss came to check on her she said "I am not sure what happened. I just typed in a command, and suddenly the PC started giving me error messages."

Or another story from when I was working with computer support. This guy called in and said "I just re-installed windows, and already somebody has installed all these programs on my PC. I don't want them. How can I get rid of them?" then when my coworker tried to find out what exactly he meant, it turned out he was in the "Program Files" folder and were trying to delete all the files there.

[daikatana_]

Originally Posted by marsan

lol. That reminds me of the story about the girl who was having her first day at a new job. Now, this was back in the DOS + win 3.11 days. Anyway, somehow she had managed to type "format c:" and thus deleted everything on her PC. When the boss came to check on her she said "I am not sure what happened. I just typed in a command, and suddenly the PC started giving me error messages."

Or another story from when I was working with computer support. This guy called in and said "I just re-installed windows, and already somebody has installed all these programs on my PC. I don't want them. How can I get rid of them?" then when my coworker tried to find out what exactly he meant, it turned out he was in the "Program Files" folder and were trying to delete all the files there.

)
It reminds me something also. When customer called, that his computer won't start. When I arrived, I found out he was trying to turn computer on with monitor power button

[eXo]

Originally Posted by VictimOfScience

Um, MACs are just fine for gaming. Parallels will run just about anything you like very well, so its not really even a valid question of whether or not a game is available for MAC or not. In short, MAC allows the benefits of the productivity of MAC software/hardware while also allowing the all-too-familiar Windows experience for those games that aren't ported. Sure, its a little more money up front, but it pays for itself in no time. Enjoy!

As if winodws machine aren't capable of producitivty? According the the mac commercials it's ALL they are good at.

How does a mac pay for itself? Seriously??

If I can't rip on MACs around here Im sure not going to sit by and let comments like that slide either.

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by eXo

Im sure not going to sit by and let comments like that slide either.

Yes, you are.

For the second, and last, time, this thread is about someone who wants to know whether s/he'll be able to play games on a Mac. If you have nothing helpful to tell him/her about that, then shut up.

[Jayel]

I can see how a mac can pay for itself if you're a developer. If you're developing for Windows, you'd have to pay what, close to a grand on Visual Studio? Of course there are freeware options on both Windows and Linux side... Even though they don't exactly measure up to Microsoft's or Apple's development tools.

I personally would love to try a mac. Too bad you can't upgrade video cards in iMacs

[daikatana_]

If you really want to play just games, go for PC or some console. Usually, if some software is for MAC, it is for PC also. But not the other way around. And the good thing about PCs is that you can upgrade whatever part you want. Need better CPU, just buy new one and replace it or video card or sound card, anything... PC is like a LEGO, you just put some parts together to make the whole thing, you can't even make any mistake.

[Catbert]

And considering Windows/Linux have to make those trillions of combinations usable and they do it well, I'd say we have a winner.