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Cross-Platform LAN Gaming Suggestions?

Posted by simoniker on from the living-together-in-harmony dept.

darkstar2a writes "Back in the dot.com boom years, a bunch of us would crash the empty customer service department for some fun LAN gaming. Nowadays, though, we use our own computers, and have a significant ratio of Mac users - about 55%. This has brought up a huge frustration in finding games that work cross-platform (PC and Mac), and what exactly we need to make them work. We've only been reliably able to get the following working: Unreal Tournament (but the same game can get kind of old after hours of play), 4x4 Evo 2 (which we got cheap and was a great change of pace), Descent 3 (out of print and relatively difficult to locate.) This has to have been covered somewhere, but we've been unable to locate a resource for it. Can Slashdot Games readers help?"

51 comments

  1. Q3 by mrpuffypants · · Score: 4, Informative

    Quake 3 and its accompanying mods run fine on both platforms.

    1. Re:Q3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      As does Warcraft III, and America's Army

  2. Blizzard games by Randar+the+Lava+Liza · · Score: 4, Informative
    Any and all recent Blizzard games would work fine. Diablo, Diablo II, Warcraft II, Warcraft III, Starcraft. Many will allow LAN play with up to 8 players with just one cd!

    New Blizzard games are simultaneous releases of Mac & PC on the same cd. Buy War 3 and with the same disc play on either platform.

    Older titles are really cheap too. You can get the Starcraft or Diablo battlechests for around $20 or less.

    --
    Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. - Anais Nin
    1. Re:Blizzard games by Derkec · · Score: 1

      Yup. The latest "craft" game is almost always a key part of our cross platform Lan parties. We've had excellent success getting the networking to work smoothly and the various machines to play nice.

  3. Any newer ID game by norwoodites · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Any newer ID game will work.
    Any blizzard game will work also.

  4. Blizzard titles by ArmyOfFun · · Score: 1

    Pretty much anything blizzard puts out works on macs and pcs. Diablo II, Warcraft, etc...

  5. Starcraft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Starcraft.

    Kinda old but we play it at eveyr lan party cause everyone can play it. Win and mac users there.

  6. Go here already by BMonger · · Score: 4, Informative

    MacGamer

    It lists all kinds of Mac games and if they are compatible with their Windows counterparts.

    Tada. Case Closed.

  7. Bungie by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 1, Informative


    Bungie was (once) known for this, too. You might try Myth--a slower pace, to be sure, but more rewarding all the same.

    For FragFest Fun, you probably won't do better than Unreal. Try getting new maps and mods to change up the fun; or try team combat.

    Can Ghost Recon be played multiplayer?

    --

    --
    $tar -xvf .sig.tar
    1. Re:Bungie by jeblucas · · Score: 3, Informative
      For FragFest Fun, you probably won't do better than Unreal. Try getting new maps and mods to change up the fun; or try team combat
      I agree. Both StrikeForce and Tactical Ops are available in PC and Mac flavors for UT. They have both been favorably compared to Counterstrike if that's your bag.

      Tactical Ops: SWAT v Terrorists, realistic guns, damage, etc.

      Strike-Force: all of the above, plus "pulse", a neat feature that takes into account how much gear you are rucking and what you've done recently--keeps folks from hopping constantly--pulse lowers their accuracy and makes them breathe noticeably, exposing position. Windows users click here.

      --
      blarg.
  8. Quake 1, Quake 2 by molo · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I know for sure that Quake 1 works under MacOS X. There's a recent port (GPL). Getting Quake2 to run should be possible too.

    -molo

    --
    Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
  9. i'd hate to be your customers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a bunch of us would crash the empty customer service department

    Well, that's nice to know how important your customers are to you...

    1. Re:i'd hate to be your customers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no you're parsing that wrong, it's the department where they service the "empty customers"..

      He works at a whorehouse and that's just their slang for the folks who've already shot their load.

  10. Bungie games by Daetrin · · Score: 3, Insightful
    They're a little old, but Myth and Myth 2 are very good for net play. Especially when you start downloading all the fan-created maps.

    I remember a really cool Pool Party one with mostly dwarves and wights. It would rain on and off, so big piles of bombs would collect when the fuses were getting put out, then the rain would stop or a bomb would manage to go off...

    Yeah, Bungie was really great back then, before getting bought out by Microsoft. Any word on if they're ever going to come out with Halo for PC like they said? And will there be a Mac version?

    --
    This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    1. Re:Bungie games by dalangalma · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it should be out in the next couple of months. They're just putting the following touches on it - the movies and screens of it that I've seen look great, and there are rumors of it shipping with mod tools.

  11. Exactly what you didn't ask for. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get some coder friends together and port the xmame net code to the windows mame codebase, test, and have a library of a couple thousand games to play lanstyle.

  12. Games? Theres plenty... by DiSKiLLeR · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Unreal Tournament (OS9/OSX)
    Unreal Tournament 2003
    Warcraft 3 + Expansion
    Diablo II
    Quake 3
    Quake 3: Team Arena
    Jedi Knight II (this is awesome)

    Plus I am sure there are stacks of others. These are all games that I personally play on my LAN at home (I have a Titanium PowerBook, the other machine is a Pentium III XP box).

    No problems what so ever!

    Some of those games (Like War3, D2) are hybrid cd's and contain PC and Mac on the same CD. Others like Q3 are very easy to convert... just copy pak0.pak of the CD, and get the latest q3 patch off the net to get the OSX binaries. Your off!

    D.

    --
    You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
  13. Crossfire by flonker · · Score: 1

    Try Crossfire. It's open source too.

    1. Re:Crossfire by d3kk · · Score: 1
      Alternatively you could put the computers away for the night and try the Milton Bradley classic bearing the same name.

      Crossfire! You'll get caught up in the.. Crossfire! CROSSFIRE! CROSSFIIYAHH!!!

  14. Few more games by MonaXier · · Score: 1

    Other than the ones already mentioned, there's Ghost Recon, America's Army (not sure how LAN friendly it is), Neverwinter Nights (just shipped for Mac, not sure how available it's going to be for the next few weeks), Myth 3, Q3 based games (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is a lot of fun, RtCW works if you mind the version numbering), Deus Ex, Rune (these two don't have OS X version, however).

    1. Re:Few more games by General+Ishmoo · · Score: 1

      I'm going to second the Deus Ex comment. Most people (I think) play it purely single player, where it is indeed great. However, it does have a multiplayer component, which is tons of fun! You have mastery in all weapons, but at the same time there is a limit on how many weapons you can carry. Plus you choose which augs you want. From my experience (I only got to play 1v1) it seems to be a little slower paced than a traditional FPS; more thinking tactically, less twitching. Give it a try!

      The one downside is that it's OS 9 only on the Mac side, but I've been running it in Classic emulation under X (yes, using Classic for a game!) and it's still smooth (800 mHz PBG4).

      --
      ----------
      (define (.sig) (cons 'my (list 'other 'car 'is 'a 'cdr)))
      http://4horsemen.net
  15. Three platform games by MaxQuordlepleen · · Score: 3, Informative

    What about games that are network compatible on Windows, Linux and OS X:

    • all the Quakes
    • UT..
    • bzflag.
    • Soldier of Fortune.
    • Myth 2.
    • Freeciv.

    As far as Mac and Windows, don't forget about Ghost Recon..

    1. Re:Three platform games by Time+Doctor · · Score: 1

      It is important to keep in mind that since Loki expired SoF isn't network compatable via the internet. Though it is network comptable on the LAN as long as everyone sticks to 1.06 (referred to as "Gold"). Over the internet it would try to use WON, which is a service that Raven dumped in favor of GameSpy support for 1.07.

      --
      Check out ioquake3.org for a great, free, First-Person Shooter engine!
    2. Re:Three platform games by MaxQuordlepleen · · Score: 1

      Excellent point! If you buy the "SoF Platinum Pack" for Windows you are not network compatible with Linux... found that out the hard way

  16. Neverwinter Nights by gtshafted · · Score: 2, Informative
    Bioware just released a MAC client for Neverwinter Nights!

    There are currently hundreds of mods (ranging from traditional D&D, Diablo hack fests, and even RTS ) and dozens of virtual server worlds... not to mention being able to play with your Windows and Linux buddies.

    http://nwn.bioware.com

    I think the site is currently down till tommorow though....

  17. One game for the list... by dJCL · · Score: 1

    Spaceward Ho! I play it on my macs, on my windows boxes and it runs in wine or BasiliskII on my linux boxes... And the network play just needs a file share somewhere that all the platforms can reach, so one linux box can share the savefile.

    --
    On Arrakis: early worm gets the bird. Magister mundi sum!
  18. Something different.... by Midnight+Ryder · · Score: 1

    There's a couple o' games that fall into the 'something different' for LAN play that are pretty cool. Orbz 2.0 and Think Tanks Both are pretty cool :-)

    --

    Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr - looking for something to read? Check out my three free novels at MidnightRyder.org

  19. hunt by wcbarksdale · · Score: 1

    Play hunt. It's playable on anything with a telnet client.

    1. Re:hunt by WTFmonkey · · Score: 1

      Parent has it right. "Hunt the Wumpus" whomps ass.

    2. Re:hunt by wcbarksdale · · Score: 1

      hunt, not wump.

  20. Ebay by AvitarX · · Score: 1

    currently on eBay, plenty of PC Descent 3

    and 1 Mac Descent 3.

    I would imagine keeping an eye out you could have a massive descent3 collection in no time for cheap.

    Also Quake 3.
    Mods are lots of fun. The original game has a nice pace that newer stradegy based FPSs lack, though I play the newer ones more often, Quake 3 can refresh. It is real cheap on eBay. And runs on ancient Hardware.

    Unreal Tornament is cross platform, but the new one needs more hardware (does it run on mac, I don't know, but assume so).

    Quake 3 gives a huge variety of game play (within the tiny niche of FPS)

    --
    Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
  21. QUAKE by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 1

    I know people have already recommended Quake 1, but you might have been misled by their suggestions of other games alongside it, creating the appearance that Quake has an equal. Honestly, Quake 1 is all you need. No matter whether you prefer gameplay or eyecandy, Quake has the hookup, and an active development community to ensure it stays that way. Hell, run the Team Fortress mod with the DarkPlaces engine and have your cake and eat it!

  22. Q3A Mod - Urban Terror. by jfisherwa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I highly suggest Urban Terror. -- it's a team-based (or DM) semi-realism mod that bares some semblence to QuakeWorld mixed with Counter-Strike. Very fast paced when you want it to be, but has semi-realistic weapons and excellent maps. Personally, I found that it always beat Counter-Strike in pure fun-factor hands-down.

    Enjoy!

    1. Re:Q3A Mod - Urban Terror. by jea6 · · Score: 1

      init flame(UT){
      Urban Terror is what the kids who grew up to play True Combat used to play :-)
      }

      Also X-Platform friendly.

      --

      sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
  23. Console Games by DarkGamer20X6 · · Score: 1

    So far I haven't seen anyone bring up the fact that consoles are entering into the online multiplayer community.

    Cross-platform gaming is going to become extremely important not only between Macs and PCs but also with if not today's console systems, then tomorrow's.

    I would love to see games like Halo, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and Tetris (Why not?) played throughout an all-encompassing community including Macs, PCs, Playstations, and X-Boxes. Hell, let's get those portable systems in there too!

  24. Marathon: Aleph One by danaris · · Score: 1

    Someone mentioned Bungie earlier, but said nothing about their flagship title: the Marathon series. It was originally Mac-only (with a port of Marathon 2 to Win95), but the source was released some time ago, and there has been a massive effort to bring Marathon into the 21st century. The results can be found at source.bungie.org: the Aleph One project. They've added all sorts of things, like scriptability (not so interesting for netplay), OpenGL support, and lots of other cool stuff. They've also, quite recently, done major rewrites of the net code, making it not only possible but pleasant to play over the Internet, and also even better over LAN. It works crossplatform, of course, and it's free and Free. What more could you want?

    Dan Aris

    --
    Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
    1. Re:Marathon: Aleph One by GiMP · · Score: 1

      Good call. I think that the original Doom, Doom II, Hexen, and Heretic games should be mentioned too. They might be old, but they are good :)

      I have a simple website devoted to this subject which I created while organizing my own lanparty. It concentrates for Windows and Linux games, but many of those games are also ported to MacOS.
      http://bwbohh.net/~raptor/games/games.html

      Infact, I'd find it likely that there are many more games that are ported to both Windows and MacOS than there are that are ported to Linux and Windows.

  25. recent games by bedheading · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm surprised I haven't seen Medal of Honor: Allied Assault or Spearhead on this list, nor Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Both are great and somewhat modern FPS that work just fine cross-platform.

  26. I'm surprised by Drantin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    No one has mentioned Armagetron yet...

    --
    Actio personalis moritur cum persona. (Dead men don't sue)
  27. Heretic 2? by claud9999 · · Score: 1

    I gave my OSX version away when I sold my Mac, but I would guess that Heretic 2 can be played multiplayer. And you can play the adventure mode cooperatively and save the multiplayer adventure as well so you can resume your adventure where you left off. Very cool!

    ('course, it's based on Q2.)

  28. Alien Vs Predator get my vote. by Leareth · · Score: 1

    Althought the second one isn't available for the Mac (so far as I know) we just picked up 6 copies of the original for $5 each from the discount bin.

    1 Mac and 5 PC.

    Besides, I love the way the Mac Marine wimpers when you pounce and bite thier head off.

    --
    *A)bort, R)etry, I)nfluence with large hammer.*
  29. Re:55% Mac users ??? by WTFmonkey · · Score: 1

    55% isn't bad--he forgot to tell you tht he works at Apple.

  30. Some suggestions... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ghost Recon
    Midtown Madness
    GTA 1

    Starcraft is always in style!

  31. TerraForge might be able to help by p0z3r · · Score: 1

    Searching for an answer to your question, I ran across TerrForge. They have a cross-platform gaming solution, not only for Macintosh and PC, but also for console to computer. Read more here

    1. Re:TerraForge might be able to help by darkstar2a · · Score: 1

      Hmm. Either this is a joke or these guys have a great tounge-in-cheek sense of humor. If it's the later, can't wait to see what they come up with.

  32. Re:55% Mac users ??? by darkstar2a · · Score: 1

    Nope, but most of my friends are artists. Many of them do own a PC as well, but for whatever reasons their macs are easier to move or more powerful.

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