Cross-Platform LAN Gaming Suggestions?

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?"

Comments

Q3

[mrpuffypants]

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

Re:Q3

[Anonymous Coward]

As does Warcraft III, and America's Army

Blizzard games

[Randar the Lava Liza]

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.

Go here already

[BMonger]

MacGamer

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

Tada. Case Closed.

Bungie games

[Daetrin]

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?

Three platform games

[MaxQuordlepleen]

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..

Re:Bungie

[jeblucas]

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.

Q3A Mod - Urban Terror.

[jfisherwa]

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!