The Sims 2 For Mac

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Posted by Zonk on Wednesday October 20, 2004 @04:45AM from the apples-and-oddballs dept.

Aspyr Media and EA put out a joint press release yesterday announcing Aspyr's conversion of The Sims 2 to Macintosh. Information on the game is available via Aspyr's site, and will soon be available for preorder. No information yet on when the game will be available on the Mac platform.

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Used PC Copy by GopherDylan · 2004-10-20 04:52 · Score: 3, Insightful

Anyone want to pre-order a used copy of Sims 2 for PC?
I was torn when this first came out over what platform to purchase it for. Earlier this year I had purchased I nice, shiny, new G5 with a pretty nice video card. But for some reason not knowing when the Mac version would be avalible had me to decide to upgrade the old PC Video card ($46 expense) to play the game on the release date.
The kicker in all this is that I played it for a week and then stopped. It's not that I don't like the game, I do, but it is time consuming and still just a sims game.
I think it would run better on my Mac, but would it be worth the trouble to purchase this game a second time?
I kind of miss the days when software came out for both platforms in the same box. I understand this would be a lot more difficult now, but I still miss it.
1. Re:Used PC Copy by chrish · 2004-10-20 05:21 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I don't think it really needs to be more difficult, although it does double your testing/QA.
  
  Platform-independant things like SDL, OpenGL, and OpenAL work quite well on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux... but almost nobody seems to want to use them when developing a commercial game. Know anyone using OpenGL for a game that isn't based on one of id's engines?
  
  --
  - chrish
2. Re:Used PC Copy by CaptMonkeyDLuffy · 2004-10-20 05:43 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Well, if I recall correctly City of Heroes uses OpenGL for graphics, and I'm pretty certain it's not based on an id engine.
3. Re:Used PC Copy by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-20 07:43 · Score: 0
  
  Tribes 1 and Tribes 2 used an opengl engine, and Tribes 2 got ported to Linux.
  
  However, Sierra had their heads too far up their asses and cancelled the Tribes 2 Mac Port.
  
  (By the way, the Tribes engine lives on as Torque, developed by GarageGames.com. It's for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.)
4. Re:Used PC Copy by Abjifyicious · 2004-10-20 09:11 · Score: 1
  
  Warcraft III can run with OpenGL, though it uses DirectX by default on Windows.
5. Re:Used PC Copy by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-21 05:43 · Score: 0
  
  Epic's Unreal Tournament series.
um... pre-order? by jxyama · 2004-10-20 05:15 · Score: 4, Insightful

so it's a press announcement for a pre-order... but can you honestly say something is a pre-order when you don't even know when you can order it for real?
am i missing something or is there a significance to accepting orders when you don't know when you'll finish? aspyr isn't some small, semi-scamish operation... no one doubted that this isn't a vapor. why don't they let people pre-order when they get the release date set?
1. Re:um... pre-order? by AvantLegion · 2004-10-20 06:44 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  so it's a press announcement for a pre-order... but can you honestly say something is a pre-order when you don't even know when you can order it for real?
  am i missing something or is there a significance to accepting orders when you don't know when you'll finish? aspyr isn't some small, semi-scamish operation... no one doubted that this isn't a vapor. why don't they let people pre-order when they get the release date set?
  
  Because the interest in Sims 2 is at a high point RIGHT NOW.
2. Re:um... pre-order? by javaxman · 2004-10-20 07:48 · Score: 1
  
  is there a significance to accepting orders when you don't know when you'll finish?
  You must be new around here. Software companies do pre-orders all of the time.
  Heck, right now, you can go to Amazon.com and preorder OS X 1.4. Does that mean they know when it'll ship? Heck no. They have an "expected ship date", which is completely fictional - it'sjust there because it's required by a dumb law that doesn't require the date to be true.
  The *significance* is that if you pre-order, you get it as soon as it's in the shrinkwrap. If you know you want it, and you'll want to get it ASAP, you can pre-order, and when it's ready, you'll get it, you don't have to even think about it.
  Also, AFAIK, you typically aren't charged until the item ships.
3. Re:um... pre-order? by jxyama · 2004-10-20 09:15 · Score: 1
  
  yes, as i said, "am i missing something?"
  i know pre-orders are common. i wasn't sure how common it is to take pre-orders when the available date isn't even determined.
  also, i don't see OS X 10.4 (which is what you meant, i assume) pre-order on amazon, as you claim. can you show me where?
4. Re:um... pre-order? by javaxman · 2004-10-20 10:36 · Score: 1
  
  i wasn't sure how common it is to take pre-orders when the available date isn't even determined.
  Yea, it's actually really quite common to take preorders when the exact date of completion isn't announced. Lots of ( especially non-shrink-wrap ) vendors work that way. It's not like Oracle waits until it's dev and QA teams have finished approving their latest version _before_ sales guys start touting it's features to customers and scheduling upgrades.
  Here is the "Tiger" pre-order link.
  I think the real significance of the announced pre-order that you might be getting at/wondering about is this:
  The software publisher has announced that they _will_ have a product available, has agreed to sell it to a particular vendor, and vendor trusts the publisher to eventually produce the goods. Usually, the publisher has announced a timeframe for shipment, usually 'by the end of the third quarter' or something sufficiently vuage and non-contractual.
  Sorry if I put you off with a slightly snarky "are you new here" comment, it just seemed like an odd question to me, preorders happen with video games constantly, and has been pretty standard for years, even with actual ship dates in doubt. It's not like it's a new practice, or even slightly unusual.
Re:Sounds about right by SkyWalk423 · 2004-10-20 05:16 · Score: 2, Insightful

I suppose you didn't find it newsworthy when the Grand Theft Auto box set for Xbox was announced? Because you knew it was coming out, right?
The state of games on the Mac by Matt+Clare · 2004-10-20 05:17 · Score: 4, Funny

The intent to produce a verion of a popular game for the Mac is news.

I love my PB and other machines, and most of all OSX, but it's a good thing my favourite game is Google.

--
.\.\att Clare
How many people care about Mac gaming anymore? by melatonin · 2004-10-20 06:42 · Score: 1

Seriously, I'm asking :P

When OpenGL came to the Mac and Quake 3 was a near-simultaneous cross-platform release, and then with Halo right around the corner, Mac gaming was very exciting. Deus Ex, Alice, Unreal, and other games were hits on the Mac near there PC releases.

But it seems to have become incredibly boring over the last couple of years, or maybe it's just that I don't pay attention anymore. It's also not easy to get good video cards for the Mac at a reasonable price. I wanted to get a new graphics card and buy Halo, but then I realized it's way easier and way cheaper to get an Xbox with the game.

Once I got a Gamecube I've just ignored Mac gaming. Wave Race, Super Monkey Ball, Metroid, F-Zero, Zelda, Soul Calibur, Tales of Symphonia... all these games rock. Even my Dreamcast gets more of a workout. Heck, my N64 gets more of a workout than my Mac (Excitebike 64 woot).

What are your favorite Mac games? What PC games do you wish you could play? What graphics hardware do you have?

--
Moderators should have to take a reading comprehension test.
1. Re:How many people care about Mac gaming anymore? by AvantLegion · 2004-10-20 06:48 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  UT2004, Doom 3, Battlefield 1942, America's Army, WarCraft III, Call of Duty + expansion, Diablo II..
  When you look at the Xfire front page and see the top 10 most popular online games people are playing, 7 are available on the Mac platform.
  While 7 != 10, 7 most certainly != "lol omfg n00b Mac has no gaymezz!"
2. Re:How many people care about Mac gaming anymore? by melatonin · 2004-10-20 07:51 · Score: 1
  
  ok, what graphics hardware do you have?
  
  --
  Moderators should have to take a reading comprehension test.
3. Re:How many people care about Mac gaming anymore? by javaxman · 2004-10-20 08:09 · Score: 1
  
  GeForce FX 5200. It's the minimum found in G5s, I think.
  Runs UT2004 fullscreen quite nicely, thanks. Why do you ask?
4. Re:How many people care about Mac gaming anymore? by melatonin · 2004-10-20 08:28 · Score: 1
  
  Well, my original questions were,
  
  What games do you play? (I don't care what top 10 games are available)
  
  What other PC games do you want to play?
  
  How much money did you spend on graphics hardware, excluding whatever came with your Mac? (Unless you buy Macs often)
  
  I'm just trying to measure this stuff.
  
  --
  Moderators should have to take a reading comprehension test.
5. Re:How many people care about Mac gaming anymore? by javaxman · 2004-10-20 10:44 · Score: 1
  
  Oh. I tend to play one game at a time on the Mac, get a good one and stick with it for a while. Right now it's UT2004. Very cool game. I'm an adult, free time limited, no *real* interest in other games at the moment. Also play a lot of PS2 games, but only buy maybe one or two new ones a year. Typical Macintosh hardware expenditure of $1700 every 4-6 years or so "if I can".
  If there was Doom3 for the Mac, I might get it, but I'm not in a hurry, I can wait. I have plenty of games.
6. Re:How many people care about Mac gaming anymore? by javaxman · 2004-10-20 11:13 · Score: 1
  
  which is to say, by the time I feel a need to upgrade the graphics card in my PowerMac, it's time to upgrade the whole thing if I can. I know a guy who upgraded his PowerMac's graphic card a few times, but he's definitely not the norm, especially among Mac users.
7. Re:How many people care about Mac gaming anymore? by Ilgaz · 2004-10-21 01:16 · Score: 1
  
  If you have nv5200 like me, on G5 mac desktop you won't need to upgrade for long time.
  
  At least no game company will dare to leave you in cold.
  
  Why? iMac G5 comes with nv5200 :P
  
  besides, I liked the performance and especially colour quality of this card on CRT 19"
Do people care about PC games anymore? by amichalo · 2004-10-20 06:55 · Score: 4, Insightful

It has been posted that the Mac is not a good game platform or the PC always gets the games first but I don't see the appeal to playing games on the PC(or Mac) anymore.

Other than Tetris or some other arcade style time killer, what is the appeal to playing some long, complex game on a computer rather than a cheap console?

An Xbox/PS2/GameCube is about $150-200 and has ergonomic interfaces for game play, rather than a mouse and keyboard. So why buy an Alienware desktop for $2000 when you could buy every console and 10 games for each one for that price?

I play Civ3 on my Mac but I wouldn't cry if I had to buy a PS2 to play it the times that I want to. It really isn't that big a deal.

--
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
1. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by StocDred · 2004-10-20 07:08 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I agree entirely, but you are about to be destroyed by the pro-PC crowd in a massive flamewar.
  Or, you would be if they hadn't seen the Mac-centric headline and bailed!
2. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by chrish · 2004-10-20 07:29 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Perhaps some of us like long, complex games?
  
  --
  - chrish
3. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by javaxman · 2004-10-20 08:06 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  what is the appeal to playing some long, complex game on a computer rather than a cheap console?
  While I agree to you to a large degree ( I play the vast majority of games on my PS2 ), there is a place for games on a computer ( PC, Macintosh, Linux, SGI, whatever ) today.
  That's in games where it's all about gee-whiz graphics. Games big in customization and other aspects that require large save files also benefit on a real computer, unless you're putting a hard drive in your console.
  While modern consoles are pretty slick and getting faster, and some can ( or newer versions will ) hook up to high-definitions TV sets, the reality is that graphics cards, displays, and processors are all more capable on high-end computers, and always will be. I'm thinking that even for a game like Sims2, a computer-based version is going to end up looking a lot better than a current PS2 or Xbox port, at least if you have an up-to-date mid-to-high-range graphics card. Of course, this leaves the market for such high-end PC games to people with a lot of free time and money to burn. Mainly teenagers...
  But yea, where is Civ3 for the PS2? I'd buy that. Of course, maybe it requires save files that would eat an entire memory card, but you *can* buy hard drives for the PS2, even though almost nobody does... there's a lot of customizable stuff in the current Sims games and even more in Sims2 that is generally left out in console ports.
4. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by Bob+The+Cowboy · 2004-10-20 08:26 · Score: 1
  
  Uhhh... I don't think you'd want to play The Sims on a console. Or FPS games. Or most RTS games. I'm not terribly familiar with the Civ series, but would it really lend itself to a controller?
5. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by Poseidon88 · 2004-10-20 09:52 · Score: 1
  
  Other than Tetris or some other arcade style time killer, what is the appeal to playing some long, complex game on a computer rather than a cheap console?
  I own a computer for multiple reasons. Gaming is one of them, but I also use it for development, word processing, e-mail, web browsing, photo processing... I could go on for a while. It makes more sense to me to have a single device that can do all these things, as well as play most games better than any console, rather than owning a single device (or multiple devices) that can only play games.
  An Xbox/PS2/GameCube is about $150-200 and has ergonomic interfaces for game play, rather than a mouse and keyboard. So why buy an Alienware desktop for $2000 when you could buy every console and 10 games for each one for that price?
  The interface is not a valid argument. Any controller you can use on a console has an equivalent for PC, only the PC generally has many more options. I have, in my own collection, a simple joystick, a joystick/throttle set, a force-feedback steering wheel, and a gamepad. In adition, I can still use the mouse and keyboard for games that are better suited to them (FPS games, strategy games, etc). Again, the flexability of the PC is superior. As far as price, while the initial investment may be steep, a PC can be upgraded fairly easily over time. I've been incrementally upgrading the same PC for over 10 years now. A new processor here, a faster video card there... Admittedly, the only original part I have left is the 3.5" floppy drive. This still costs more money over time, but PC games get more technologically advanced all the time. To see a major advance in console games, you have to wait for the next generation of consoles to be released.
  In the end, there just aren't that many games unique to console systems that I really want to play. Usually, if I wait, the really good ones get ported to PC anyway (Halo, Splinter Cell, GTA3). On the other hand, there are a very large number of games I enjoy playing that are only available on PC.
6. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by amichalo · 2004-10-20 09:57 · Score: 1
  
  my favorite game ever is Civ III - which is available on the PS2. Is there a longer, more drawn out game than Civ III?
  
  (please don't answer that)
  
  --
  I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
7. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by amichalo · 2004-10-20 10:00 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  for $150 you can upgrade a PlayStation to a PlayStation2 - and you get a free PlayStation!
  
  --
  I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
8. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-20 11:14 · Score: 0
  
  Two words: Flight Simulator
  
  try that on a console
9. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by hai.uchida · 2004-10-20 16:47 · Score: 1
  
  I can give you a few reasons off the top of my head...
  
  - The graphics. Until HDTV becomes affordable you're stuck at 640x480 on your TV.
  
  - Online access. It's already there, no dealing with dubious equiptment and servers.
  
  - The keyboard and mouse. Some games just don't either work or feel right with a joystick-- like Starcraft, which was miserable on the N64. Whether FPS's are better or worse with a joystick is a matter of opinion, but I prefer the mouse. A complex game also allows for a greater number of "hotkey" shortcuts on the computer.
  
  - Expandability. Levels and mods designed by other players are easily accessible on a PC game. You simply can't release an "expansion pack" for a Gamecube or Playstation game. Though I have to admit cheater hacks have ruined some games.
  
  That's a few reasons PC games won't die... I'm sure there are a lot more...
  
  --
  my password is private, but unchanged.
10. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by DAldredge · 2004-10-20 18:28 · Score: 1
  
  NWN.
11. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-20 19:09 · Score: 0
  
  Agreed! Grandparent is a genius!
12. Re:Do people care about PC games anymore? by Juanvaldes · 2004-10-21 17:49 · Score: 1
  
  Civ does not. It sucked bad on the SNES back in the day.
well I think this is a rant about Mac gaming... by sir_ze0 · 2004-10-20 08:14 · Score: 1

Maybe I am just getting old (I keep telling myself gaming in general is just maturing, but I still think that proves I am in denial).

My PC which is very capable of playing Doom 3 and all the other game is just collecting dust. The monitor is about to go and I just don't care.

Ever since I got my Mac, I hardly use the PC for anything much less games. My gaming has switched to where it should be on the PS2/XBOX/GAMECUBE/Atari etc.

I have realized that I actually play games to have fun or to hear a story. Instead of to make my hardware work, to see if Windows will crash, etc.

The only good the PC does me is for multiplayer. Once you can play games as fun as UT2004 as easy online as you can on a console, then I will be in utopia.

On a side note, I remember Linux gaming. It was such a fun protest to buy the Linux version of Quake 3. Did it do anything for me or ID Software... no. I just had to wait two extra months to play it and they outsourced it anyway. Mac gaming is just like linux gaming.

Games should not define the functionality and usefullness of a platform. If all you need a computer for is to play games, its a hell of a lot smarter to look elsewhere (an expensive lesson learned by many!).
1. Re:well I think this is a rant about Mac gaming... by Blitzenn · 2004-10-21 07:27 · Score: 1
  
  I agree. And because the Mac is such a little used platform, comparatively speak, I think it is a waste of time, effort and money to port ANY software to it.
I might be interested... by lpangelrob2 · 2004-10-20 10:33 · Score: 1

...as long as Aspyr provides a better experience with it than Curse of Monkey Island 3. I bought the game, took it home... and it turns out I needed to boot into classic to play it successfully. Unfortunately, my PB is one of the latest versions, and is physically (logically?) incapable of booting into classic.
That was back in the days of 10.1, though, so I'm hoping their games are OS X compatible by now.

--
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
1. Re:I might be interested... by cyclobotomy · 2004-10-20 11:00 · Score: 1
  
  EFMI was the last classic-only game Aspyr released
2. Re:I might be interested... by Quobobo · 2004-10-20 22:42 · Score: 1
  
  Er, I call bullshit. First off, the Powerbooks that can't run OS9 natively were released about a year after MI3 (about a year and a half later in the case of the 15 inch model). The minimal operating system for these is 10.2.3, so I don't know where you're getting 10.1 from..
  
  Also, did it say that it was compatible with OS X on the box (I very much doubt it)? If not, this isn't really Aspyr's fault; a lot of OS9 games don't run well (or at all) under Classic, which you should have anticipated or at least looked up.
3. Re:I might be interested... by lpangelrob2 · 2004-10-21 15:28 · Score: 1
  
  10.1 was when MI3 was released. By the time I bought it (two months ago) I had owned the non-Classic bootable PowerBook. Maybe that wasn't very clear... It said it was compatible with 10.1 on the box... and actually, it mostly ran on Classic. Just no video due to out-of-date drivers that weren't available anywhere on the web.
  
  --
  -Rob
  Marriage doesn't have to suck!
4. Re:I might be interested... by Ohreally_factor · 2004-10-22 02:29 · Score: 1
  
  Same deal with Combat Missions: Beyond Overlord, which is a really great turn based 3D squad level World War 2 game. Unfortunately, it's based on RAVE 3D, and Apple dropped support of that API in OS X. Possibly Curse of Monkey Island 3 is also based on RAVE 3D.
  
  --
  It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
5. Re:I might be interested... by Carthag · 2004-10-25 20:43 · Score: 1
  
  I completed my copy of MI3 with ScummVM (www.scummvm.org). It only had a couple of graphics glitches all of which I could live with.
It is scheduled for release in May 2005 by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-20 13:00 · Score: 1, Informative

The information is on their project status web site
http://www.aspyr.com/games.php/status/
1. Re:It is scheduled for release in May 2005 by Ilgaz · 2004-10-21 01:42 · Score: 1
  
  Thank god it will be released at 2005 at least...
  
  I recently bought Sims and vacation expansion lol..
A theory by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-20 13:49 · Score: 0

The people who wonder why Mac gaming isn't as great as PC gaming must have skipped out on Economics 101.

~Andrew Jackson