Game Developers React To Intel Switch
Posted by jerry on 07 June 2005 - 05:55 · 21 comments & 3826 views
Following the announcement that Apple will be switching to Intel in 2006, IMG contacted several Mac game developers to get their initial thoughts. As you might expect, the reaction has been one of shock and fear. What seems to be worrying Mac game developers the most is the possibility that Windows games will run at close to "full speed" on an Intel-based Mac.

After the keynote, Apple's Phil Schiller stated that there are no plans to sell or support Windows on an Intel-based Mac. "That doesn't preclude someone from running it on a Mac. They probably will," he said. "We won't do anything to preclude that."

The implications of that statement are troubling. If Windows apps can run on Intel-based Macs, at full frame rates, with all the features turned on, the effect on Mac gaming could be devastating. Other sources I've talked to say that Mac ports will still be necessary. Only time will tell.

View: Read More @ Inside Mac Games

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There are 21 additional comments
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Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by CaKeY on 07 Jun 2005 - 06:19
So theres gonna be a directx for mac os? Dont most "windows only" games need directx? Someones going to have to make a mac version of WINE or something similar for those games to work and I fail to see how they'll get it to work better than whats being done on Linux already, let alone on windows.

I dont think those Mac Gaming people need to be worried about anything just yet.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by seta-san on 07 Jun 2005 - 06:48
yes.. but the added market of mac users to simular chips could entice them to develop for OpenGl instead. Game makers could see it as more feasable to port to mac rather than selling licenses to MacPlay or anything like that to port games.
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by SojIrOu on 07 Jun 2005 - 07:39
if macs can run windows apps then windows would be able to run mac apps? so that means there won't be a need to have two teams to develop for different platforms and in the long term it means the product development can go faster
Quote this comment #3.1 Posted by mAcOdIn on 07 Jun 2005 - 07:52
No you got it all wrong.

What they're saying is an x86 machine will almost always be able to run windows, everyone who makes x86 hardware will pretty much make a windows driver, however a hardware company will probably not make alot of x86 Mac drivers.

So you still won't be able to just build your own mac and run OS X, however a mac will most likely be able to dual boot windows.

So the fear is that if all Macs will be able to dual boot windows, why port the game to the mac at all if a mac gamer will just dual boot windows for the game support.
Quote this comment #3.2 Posted by Smigit on 07 Jun 2005 - 09:03
thanks for that explanation, helps but then why would it matter if a developer sold a Windows or a Mac copy, if they sell the software does it matter alot? Or am I missing something, is this for companies that specialise in Converting Windows compatible games to Mac or something and dont actually make a Windows version themselves?
Quote this comment #3.3 Posted by ghostrider on 07 Jun 2005 - 18:35
If you only develop for the Mac then you should worry, because now you are competing with the larger Windows game house.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by kaffra on 07 Jun 2005 - 08:51
QUOTE
So you still won't be able to just build your own mac and run OS X, however a mac will most likely be able to dual boot windows.


i think its very naive to think it wont happen in someway, mod, emulation etc.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by mac15 on 07 Jun 2005 - 08:54
I'd love a Virtual PC running at full speed but the rate that the MacBU develop's I think that it atleast 3-4 years off
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by LPC on 07 Jun 2005 - 10:05
'mac gaming' is there mac gaming ?
Quote this comment #6.1 Posted by nookadum on 07 Jun 2005 - 10:39
Well, I can run UT2004 and Doom 3 (*nix native binaries) on my PowerBook. Of course there's gaming.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by pickleman on 07 Jun 2005 - 10:45
QUOTE
'mac gaming' is there mac gaming ?

I understand that solitaire is pretty intense
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by envision on 07 Jun 2005 - 10:56
If Apple are going to be using Intel CPU's in their nextgen machines.. then surely that means they will have to develop OSX to run on x86 hardware.

Surely that is one step closer to OSX running on a regular x86 PC with no need for emulation or wine. I don't expect for a moment that Apple would want this.. so some sort of security to only allow OSX to install on their own systems will surely be put in place.

mAcOdIn wrote:
"however a hardware company will probably not make alot of x86 Mac drivers"

Well they will if they have the demand to make them... and as the Mac gaming scene is sorely lacking.. I have no doubt there will be demand.

It's a bit silly to assume companies will pass by the opportunity to make more money selling their games direct to a whole new market. They will find a way!
Quote this comment #8.1 Posted by soothsayer on 07 Jun 2005 - 13:50
They already have OSX running on x86 hardware.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by SojIrOu on 07 Jun 2005 - 11:50
i guess the best is to wait and see what happens when it comes along or if anyone can get their hands on the developer kit and experiment a little
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by STanger on 08 Jun 2005 - 10:50
Didn't anyone watch Jobs WWDC Keynote??

Steve Jobs said in his WWDC keynote that every version of OSX has been cross compiled for PPC and Intel for the "just in case" scenario

I took the OSX Tiger cd for my mini mac and installed it on my Dad's laptop
OSX Tiger boots but of course none of the apps will run ...that's where Rosetta comes in

it allows the ppc apple apps to run on an intel based mac

The is a new version of Xcode (v2.1)(compiler)) which allow for what Jobs called a "universal binary" that will install on both PPC and Intel platforms

the transition also will take approximately 2 years ..very gradual
Quote this comment #10.1 Posted by theyarecomingforyou on 08 Jun 2005 - 23:46
QUOTE
Didn't anyone watch Jobs WWDC Keynote??

Steve Jobs said in his WWDC keynote that every version of OSX has been cross compiled for PPC and Intel for the "just in case" scenario


Yes, cross-compiled internally... certainly never made public.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #11 Posted by Syphonic on 08 Jun 2005 - 17:43
To sum up then, what will current PC game developers have to do to make their games work on mac? What im getting at: is it likely that in the future there will be a load more games for mac or will companies still only do windows versions?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #12 Posted by LaNcom on 08 Jun 2005 - 18:26
Ryan C. Gordon (Epic's porting mastermind and icculus.org founder) doesn't seem to be worried about the ability to run Windows (or Linu games on OSX/ x86 via Wine or the Linux binary interface. Quite the contrary. At least for games, this could be an interesting opportunity: if game developers ensure best possible compatibility and performance with Wine, this would help OSX and Linux gamers - and at least for companies that are too scared or stupid to create cross-platform games this might be an option. I just hope Apple won't pull a stunt like they did with KHTML, forking Wine to the point where it's impossible to merge the code with the official Wine tree (if they even want to rely on Wine - maybe not, but for games it could be a good idea).

Keep in mind that VPC won't be an option for gamers. VPC will _never_ allow direct hardware access. On OSX/ x86, VPC doesn't need to emulate the CPU, which gives a nice speedup, but that's about it. Without direct access to sound and graphics hardware, games will perform poor at best.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #13 Posted by Patrick_ on 08 Jun 2005 - 18:52
I think it's a bad move for Apple... but then I don't. On one hand, more people might buy a Mac because you can run Window$ on it. But on the other, this means more window$ domination... or does it?
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #14 Posted by DKAngel on 09 Jun 2005 - 06:40
im just looking foreward to osx on x86 =] sweetness =]
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #15 Posted by dangel on 10 Jun 2005 - 09:18
Why bother to port to the mac if most of the userbase can runs windows already?
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