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Mac Game Devs Speak on Intel Move

Posted by Zonk on from the pack-your-bags dept.

An Anonymous Reader wrote "InsideMacGames has posted a response to the news of Apple using Intel processors from both original Mac game developers as well as people who work on porting Windows games to OS X. Some negative and positive feedback is expressed, though it seems there's more uncertainty than anything else at this point. Can the fear of a Wine-like VM solution gutting the biz be balanced by faster CPU speeds?" From the article: "We think Apple's move to Intel is great. For one thing, it demonstrates that Apple is really serious about giving Windows-based computing head-to-head competition. For another, it lays the groundwork for the future of personal computing in a digitally connected home. And, for another, it's going to narrow the gap between the release of a game on Windows and the release on Mac -- maybe to zero."

3 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. DirectX by jtshaw · · Score: 4, Informative

    "And, for another, it's going to narrow the gap between the release of a game on Windows and the release on Mac -- maybe to zero."

    What about those games tooled towards DirectX... it isn't the architecture screwing us here...it is the lack of DirectX for OSX that is screwing us.

    1. Re:DirectX by Cthefuture · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Endian issues are minor though (usually not a problem at all) compared to the API differences.

      I don't see the difference between porting between Windows/Linux, and Windows/OS X (Intel). The same problems will still be there.

      I don't see Linux ports all over the place dispite the fact that my CPU and even my hardware is the same as I use in Windows. I don't see why OS X would be any different (other than industry support, but that doesn't make it easier).

      --
      The ratio of people to cake is too big
  2. Hmmm by Auckerman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Games are only relevent when you start thinking about APIs. With DirectX being Windows only, I really don't see how it's going to be that much easier to port.

    The one issue it might solve is byte order problems (big/little endian) on the graphics cards. Though, theres going to be no guarantee that drivers for OS X for any off the shelf card is actually going to be any good.

    It may be some time before Apple gets around to even caring that the Half Life 2 market exists, much less builds machines to compete in that market.

    --

    Burn Hollywood Burn