Diablo 3 shipping simultaneously on Mac

by Ross Miller { Jun 28th 2008 at 10:10AM }

The Diablo 3 FAQ is being hammered at the moment (we couldn't imagine why), but just in case you were worried, Blizzard assures us that the game will work on Apple computers. So sayeth the website: "As with all of Blizzard Entertainment's recent releases, Diablo 3 will ship for both Windows and Mac simultaneously." As for whether your Mac will be able to run the game, that's an as-of-yet unanswered query.

Gallery: Diablo III

Tags: apple, blizzard, Diablo-3, mac, wwi

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

NaeemTHM @ Jun 28th 2008 10:16AM

But...how I scroll wheel? ;___;

Lorben @ Jun 28th 2008 10:20AM

Get a real mouse? They're not PC exclusive.

Rask @ Jun 28th 2008 10:18AM

You go out and buy a normal, logitech mouse, hook it up to your Mac and regal in the fact that the Mac does have right click functionality and support for scroll wheels.

Gary @ Jun 28th 2008 10:40AM

Mighty Mouse?

freecajunlove @ Jun 28th 2008 1:12PM

Never...ever... get a mighty mouse... save your money and get something with a real scroll wheel and right click.

alex @ Jun 28th 2008 8:03PM

@Rask

OS X has supported right click functionality for a while now? I'm not a fan of their Mighty Mouse, but even that has scroll and right click, although I personally like my Razer mouse better.

Ethan @ Jun 28th 2008 10:04PM

Two fingers if you're using a trackpad. You're probably not.

Arno @ Jun 28th 2008 10:27AM

Score!

Starcraft 2 as well, right? I got all I need this year.

Arno @ Jun 28th 2008 10:29AM

Diablo 3
Starcraft 2
Spore

:D

Vault @ Jun 28th 2008 10:29AM

My Mac can run WoW... although it's minimum requirements. I'm hoping dearly it will run Diablo 3.
If it won't I'm buying myself a new Windows machine. Again.

Verde @ Jun 28th 2008 11:01AM

Or you could just upgrade to a new Mac? Same logic. But do whatever makes you happy!

Vault @ Jun 28th 2008 11:04AM

Well yeah, but I do prefer Windows. My old XP was fried when unbeknownst to me, a virus scan started running at it's scheduled time at 2 in the morning once a month, and I happened to be playing TF2 at the time. My computer just up and died. I'm resorting to my somewhat lame PowerPC 512mb RAM 10.3.9 iMac.

Josh @ Jun 28th 2008 11:05AM

Don't count on it. WoW came out in 2004, and you can barely run it. Diablo 3 is coming out in 2008 or 2009. That's a 4-5 year difference...

Well, maybe you'll be able to run it, but really, I would be surprised. =/

Verde @ Jun 28th 2008 11:39AM

@Vault, gotcha. I'd be suprirsed (like... jaw-drop) if that Mac could run Diablo 3... If anything I'd guess Blizz would drop support for 10.3, and possibly 10.4 depending on how far in the future the release is.

deslock @ Jul 1st 2008 2:39PM

I really, really hope it can't. Nothing against you but I want this game to kick ass and if they dum down the visuals I'm going to be pissed.

I don't mind if blizzard disables some of the whiz bang for lower end systems but if they simplify the models and animation just to satisfy pathetic systems, I'll be disappointed.

offday @ Jun 28th 2008 10:31AM

Never played any Diablo games. I need to find a copy of 2.

Verde @ Jun 28th 2008 10:58AM

I love Blizzard :)
Why can't all companies do what they do? I think the amount of Mac owners that buy games is underestimated.

Can't wait for the release!

aristokrat @ Jun 28th 2008 11:20AM

It's something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. People don't think Mac users game, and so companies don't make games for Mac users, meaning Mac users can't game.

It's kind of dumb because most Macs are very capable of gaming, especially now, as they are medium- to high-end computers and don't really target the entry level consumers (per the 80-20 rule). People claim there aren't enough Macs to justify making games for them, but the irony is that 90% of Macs are powerful enough to play a lot of games, while probably only 40% of PCs are equally capable (those $300 Walmart specials can barely run Solitaire). For an analogy, that be like a tire (or tyre) company saying that they are only going to make racing tires for Dodge vehicles and not for Porches because there are so many more Dodges on the road even though most Dodges wouldn't need such tires (slightly different percentages, but it's the same concept). Games that come to Mac sell relatively well, as MacSoft and InterPlay have made their entire business strategy porting games to Mac. Now that the CPU architecture is the same, it's dumb for any company to forgo the possible profit of selling to both systems (when the development costs of going multi-OS are going down since Apple is trying to work with game developers to make things easier - look at EA). I'm not saying that all Macs are super powerful and capable of playing every game at maximum settings, but most standard PC's aren't either, and both are pretty upgradeable to achieve your desired result. It comes down to developers acting like fanboys about their platform of choice (see Mark Rein) and publishers not saying "Look, it'll only cost $X more but it will make $XXX more, so do it."

Since the Intel transition, and with Macs once again the number one computer on college campuses (I get the impression there might be a decent number of gamers in higher education?), there is no responsible reason not to develop for Mac simultaneously (unless you're going the Crytek route and don't really want anybody to be able to play your game). An upgraded Mac can be equally powerful to any upgraded PC.

If I were a stock-holder in Blizzard, I'd be very happy that they've always understood getting your product out to as many people as possible, regardless of system or computer speed (they've always had great scaling to system specs).

Verde @ Jun 28th 2008 11:34AM

Well put, aristokrat. Add Aspyr and Feral to the list of porting houses!

I think some of the problem is that some companies don't even bother trying the Mac market. I can understand though that not all developers have the resources to program 2 platforms simultaneously, and they'll obviously go with the route with the most potential customers.

Apple also needs to get its act together before Mac gaming can really flourish. Their GPU drivers are not always good...

Oh well, I knew what I was getting into when I got a Mac - gonna take whatever games I can get!

quasimoto @ Jun 29th 2008 12:38AM

The main reason most other companies can't do what Blizzard does is because they don't make a bazillion dollars every month.

GoldenS1104 @ Jun 29th 2008 1:02AM

@aristokrat

I couldn't agree more. I happen to be a great example of what you're talking about. I'm getting a Mac for college and I couldn't be happier that Diablo III is coming to Macs. Not to mention, I also plan on picking up Spore. And I'm hoping Red Alert 3 comes to Macs too. If developers make the games I'll buy 'em. I haven't done any computer gaming in a while since my PC hasn't been capable of that since 2004, but with developers like Blizzard offering games for Macs with reasonable system requirements, things are looking good.

James @ Jun 29th 2008 10:41AM

@aritokrat
Wow, I got my mac for college too.
Still, I can always just- run windows on my mac..

michas_pi @ Jun 28th 2008 11:05AM

Fuck yes, THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!

Thank you, Blizzard, for keeping true to your promise of supporting the Macintosh platform.

Let's just hope they don't ditch PowerPC Macs. My iMac G5 still have plenty of life left in it.

Borman @ Jun 28th 2008 11:09AM

The best part about Blizzard is they have always (in the past anyway) actually ported the game, and not relied on Cider or any third party solutions (as if they existed at the time), so I have high hopes for this one.

Will @ Jun 28th 2008 11:10AM

I used to care, but then I built a gaming PC and no longer use my laptop for gaming. But I remember how the mac gamers (yes, some mac users do enjoy games) feel, so I suppose it's nice for them.

PeterF @ Jun 28th 2008 12:09PM

Its too bad for them. I, on my Windows laptop, can play Windows games!

superbagman @ Jun 28th 2008 11:59AM

Hell, besides Penny Arcade Adventures the only game I have on my Mac IS Diablo 2, so this is sorta non-news to me, I always just assumed that Blizzard would come through again for us Mac users. Nice to see confirmation.

mattimeo48 @ Jun 28th 2008 1:20PM

I assumed it would at least be made for Intel-based Macs running 10.5 too. Its good to see the trend continue. This means I won't have to take Oblivion off my partition running XP.

knight666 @ Jun 28th 2008 12:39PM

No Linux love? :(

BigD145 @ Jun 28th 2008 1:40PM

Why not just make it a hybrid linux/win/mac disk?

Ethan @ Jun 28th 2008 10:05PM

Yeah, this'll probably be a bit of virtualisation here and there with tweaks. Mac gaming indifferent woo.

samfish @ Jun 28th 2008 10:48PM

Wow, I'll actually get to play this. I really liked the first two Diablo games (hate WoW and Starcraft, though), so I imagine I'll get around to buying this one sooner or later.

GoldenS1104 @ Jun 29th 2008 12:52AM

This is good. I'm getting a Mac for college and I am now satisfied that I get to play both Spore and Diablo III. I would get them both as soon as they come out for Windows, but I don't think my PC would be able to handle it. I'm a senior in High School and I've had my PC since sixth grade. In technology years, that's really old.