Holiday 2006 best bets for Mac gamers
by Alan Rose 
{ Nov 27th 2006 at 2:18PM }
With Apple's transition to Intel processors completed earlier this year, and emerging technologies such as Cider promising full compatibility with Windows games, the Mac platform is seeing even fewer native releases these days. But there are still some gems for dedicated Mac gamers this holiday season:- Age of Empires III
- Big Bang Brain Games
- Call of Duty 2
- Cars: The Videogame
- Civilization IV
- Dominions 3: The Awakening
- Quake 4
- Sims 2: Nightlife
- Spongebob Squarepants Diner Dash
- WingNuts 2: Raina's Revenge
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (coming in Jan.)
- X-Plane 8.5
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
HaloBreaker @ Nov 27th 2006 3:08PM
Don't forget Breakout and Super Breakout!
mac_attack @ Nov 27th 2006 2:42PM
Some of these games are over a year old, but it's nice to see they finally made it to the Mac. Looking forward to Cider, and whatever Apple has in store for Leopard.
darko82 @ Nov 27th 2006 2:48PM
Hopefully, Aspyr, MacSoft, and MacPlay will be irrelevant once we can play Windows games on the Mac without having to dual boot. I have nothing against those companies, but since Macs and PCs have the same guts now and can both run Mac OS and Windows, what's the point of having separate development efforts for a game?
Old gamer @ Nov 27th 2006 3:58PM
I think this is a good news for all Mac-owners.
Glad to see Civilization IV and AOE in this list.
apple-eye @ Nov 27th 2006 2:57PM
I'm a Mac user. Thanks for posting!
Mac Guy @ Nov 27th 2006 3:05PM
As a former mac user, i can say that any Mac user's best bet this christmas for games is:
A) An Xbox 360
B) A Wii
noire @ Nov 28th 2006 8:29AM
"since Macs and PCs have the same guts now and can both run Mac OS and Windows, what's the point of having separate development efforts for a game?"
Direct X is Windows (and Xbox 360) only; so efforts need to be made to adapt games to a different API.
the Brayn @ Nov 27th 2006 4:30PM
Mac+gamers = ROFLMAO
Also, darko82 just so you know a lot of Windows games use DirectX which is not available for the Mac as far as I know. So either you're going to have to dual boot still or else game companies will have to continue seperate development efforts so that it will run on a Mac. Hardware isn't always the only thing that prevents games from running on a system.
Bill @ Nov 28th 2006 12:05AM
Thank god I now have an Xbox 360 to go with my Macs. I love the Mac, but gaming has never been its forte.
naiberson @ Nov 27th 2006 4:16PM
Unfortunately none of the quake4 mods work unless they're server side. That was a huge disappointment for me. =/
Civ4 is good news, but unless you're running on intel it's still a little to slow for my tastes. It's a dog on my dual 2.5 G5.
Like Mac Guy said, fortunately I have a 360 and DS.
darko82 @ Nov 27th 2006 4:32PM
"Direct X is Windows (and Xbox 360) only; so efforts need to be made to adapt games to a different API."
That's where Transgaming's Cider comes in, guys.
Looi @ Nov 27th 2006 5:36PM
I installed Bootcamp yesterday in a moment of weakness. Damn you GuildWars!!
Miharu @ Nov 27th 2006 4:45PM
From that list at least Quake IV, Civ IV and CoD 2 have been out for a long time now for Mac. And I'm a "Mac gamer". I play WoW.
apple-eye @ Nov 27th 2006 5:19PM
Nobody said these are all new games, Miharu. But each one came out in 2006 (with the exception of Burning Crusade).
evoX @ Nov 27th 2006 9:02PM
Lmao, Games and Mac don't match. a guy went ever further and opened www.gamesformac.com as to mock gamesforwindows.com :P
Sarah @ Dec 28th 2007 5:16AM
Sims Nightlife? We've already had two expansions since that one--Open for Business and Pets for Mac. Sheesh.
Andy @ Nov 27th 2006 11:31PM
I'm also a Mac user, ignore all that crap above, i appreciate this!
moksha @ Nov 28th 2006 2:47AM
No need to flame just because developers don't make a lot of Mac games. If you use Windows and think you're superior, go ahead. I've got a MacBook Pro which I use for games in both WIndows and OS X, as well as an Xbox 360 and a Wii.
Brian Howell @ Nov 28th 2006 3:33PM
Do any of the games listed above work with Logitech's (or any brand) USB game controllers?
rpg_man @ Nov 28th 2006 11:30AM
@noire, that's where Cider technology comes in.
Stephan @ Nov 28th 2006 1:14PM
You're missing the best one: Football Manager 2007!!!
Katy Jack @ Nov 28th 2006 12:19PM
Yeah, I've got a Mac and I do have a couple of games for it, but I had to get a Windows machine so I wouldn't be wasting time waiting for the Mac release.
I have to second the recommendation of an XBox 360 for any Mac gamers this Christmas.
Liquidmark @ Nov 28th 2006 12:44PM
Hmm...
Kill Monty and Jets N' Guns should be on that list.
I mean, both games have hundreds of heads exploding! Who doesn't want that?
denisvj @ Nov 28th 2006 3:10PM
Don´+t forget that crossover can play ( some )windows games , i am playing enemy territory ( faster thant the powerpc version ) and a friend plays halflife under crossover ! , so you can try to play your favorite games and see what happends ( YMMV ).
Mac Tech @ Nov 29th 2006 1:22AM
I find it so funny that as soon as ANY post about Macs are made on ANY web page, the first few responses are from windows users making fun of Mac users. But, it must be the MAC envy those windows users have to spend time trolling the Mac forums.
Game on Mac.
Macbook Pro with windows. Best of both worlds, all the viruses from one.
Galley @ Nov 29th 2006 9:56AM
Bejeweled 2 is the only Mac game you need.
Flash Gamer @ Dec 6th 2006 3:27PM
I plan on getting a Mac early next year. I think I may consider snagging AOE 3 and Civilization 4 to go along with it.