BioShock opens Rapture to Mac owners October 7
Finally, two years after the original release of BioShock, Mac owners get a chance to see what all of the fuss has been about. Andrew Ryan opens the doors of Rapture again on October 7, inviting Mac gamers (yes, they exist ... somewhere) to spend $49.99's worth of ADAM (£34.99 in the UK, €39.95 throughout Europe) for entry into the aquatic kingdom full of genetic abominations and pipe-powered electronics. With a description like that, who could say no?
The port is being handled by London-based dev Feral Interactive. We spoke with Brad Gibson, director of Marketing/PR at Feral, who told us the port "does not use Cider," the current go-to portability technology to get Windows games running on Intel-based Macs. We've put some more questions in to Feral to see if BioShock is the first native Unreal Engine 3 game on the Mac platform.
The port is being handled by London-based dev Feral Interactive. We spoke with Brad Gibson, director of Marketing/PR at Feral, who told us the port "does not use Cider," the current go-to portability technology to get Windows games running on Intel-based Macs. We've put some more questions in to Feral to see if BioShock is the first native Unreal Engine 3 game on the Mac platform.












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
RKN @ Sep 24th 2009 5:33PM
What sane Mac owner would wait two years for a port rather than installing frigging Bootcamp!?
Stop wasting time with Mac ports, Mac users will just use Bootcamp anyways!
Adv2k1 @ Sep 24th 2009 5:54PM
I don't want to waste harddrive space. That's why i don't use bootcamp. I have 30 gigs left of my 80.
Platinum_Skeet @ Sep 24th 2009 6:09PM
Well for it's only $50 for 320 gig HDD...
Space is nothing...
Giroro @ Sep 24th 2009 6:27PM
A mac that only shipped with an 80gig HDD probably isn't good enough to play bioshock.
G-Anderton @ Sep 24th 2009 8:02PM
That better be one beefy mac... Unless you've got a top quality macbook pro or a desktop, you won't be able to play it. This is the folly of "mac gaming". Virtually no one who owns a mac will be able to play this unless they spent $2,500+ on the system. You can build a PC that will run games from the distant future for half that price. I can tell my macbook (non-pro) brothers right now to not waste their time even asking if this will run on the plastic wonder.
That said it's not that big of a deal to build a PC with intel x86 hardware and download kalyway OS X for a hackintosh (cheap PC hardware that can run a hacked version of OS X) with bootcamp.
I'll never buy a mac from the apple store again.
cknblade @ Sep 24th 2009 5:35PM
Well, that's good and all, but you can get Bioshock for five dollars for Windows...I don't see the market here. Anyone who's interested in a game like Bioshock and owns a Mac probably already has it for Xbox or runs bootcamp.
Jerk Face @ Sep 24th 2009 5:42PM
My thoughts exactly - who is this FOR, anyway? Those four random Mac-only gamers out there who don't realize they are doing it wrong?
Scott @ Sep 25th 2009 3:38AM
Yeah, the price thing is ridiculous. I think the Apple Store still sells Civ4 for like $49.99. It's really ridiculous. The money you'd save by buying 10 year-old PC games versus their undiscounted Mac Ports would be enough to throw together a system that could run them better than the mac could.
I'm saying this, and I'm a big mac user. Multiple macs at work, multiple macs at home.. I almost never turn on my PC.......except when I want to play a computer game. Because sadly, this is just the way it is.
Scott @ Sep 25th 2009 3:40AM
should clarify: i meant ten games that are more than a year old :P
budget prices... which, like, exist in the PC world...
kal326 @ Sep 25th 2009 1:18PM
@Jerkface
No Cider or Bootcamp.
Only OSX.
Thats who its for....
cloud858rk @ Sep 24th 2009 5:36PM
I thought it used Unreal Engine 2.5.
Giroro @ Sep 24th 2009 5:58PM
I also thought that
Einhanderkiller @ Sep 24th 2009 6:24PM
It does use Unreal Engine 2.5.
Dustin @ Sep 24th 2009 5:37PM
Great, but I boot camp'd my MBP and got Bioshock off of Steam when it was on sale for like $5.99.
SpaceFox @ Sep 24th 2009 5:38PM
What's a Mac?
Kodros @ Sep 24th 2009 6:09PM
It's the little machine that beat the crap out of the slow, bloated king. Oh...we're talking about computers not Punch Out. Nevermind
CheeziePotato [Now with more cheeze for a limited time only] (PSN: talic10 | XBL: InfiniteMovie) @ Sep 24th 2009 7:02PM
Little Mac K.O. Mike Tyson in 1st Round
Special Agent Steve @ Sep 24th 2009 5:38PM
For a second I thought it was Bioshock 2. I almost shat a brick. A very large brick.
u83rmensch @ Sep 24th 2009 5:45PM
Now thats just silly...
what i want to know is this:
If the devs can make it work for Mac, why not make it work for linux too? Cant be that hard seeing as Mac is based off BSD/Unix.. come on now? if you would just do this for me.. i would never have to use windows anymore :/
supakoopa @ Sep 24th 2009 6:22PM
People who use Linux are less likely to pay for downloads, and are a really small market.
Aguiluz @ Sep 24th 2009 5:55PM
I thought you can install games on Macs because they just work?
RogueJedi86 @ Sep 24th 2009 6:00PM
Yeah, that's one thing the Mac commercials neglect to mention. That young hip 20-something guy portraying the Mac would likely be a gamer, which means he'd be using a PC since the Mac either doesn't get a given game at all, or gets it 2 or 3 years after PC. So much for those commercials being accurate of their stereotypical user.
Rob47 @ Sep 24th 2009 6:02PM
I guess you'd expect PS3 games to work on a 360 then...
Special Agent Steve @ Sep 24th 2009 6:18PM
"I guess you'd expect PS3 games to work on a 360 then..."
Right... because Microsoft is always toting how you can use the PS3 firmwares on their systems.
so wrong @ Sep 24th 2009 7:33PM
Im sure the vast majority of people that buy a mac for osx, are doing their gaming on a console anyways.
PR0F3TA (PSN - PROPHETA) @ Sep 24th 2009 5:56PM
i'm a Mac appreciatee... but i had this game a while ago, what the use.
If they can port over Fallout 3, then please do!
Greendomo @ Sep 24th 2009 6:05PM
Come on Joystiq, how hard is it to photoshop this screen shot so he says "Only Mac" instead of "Only Man"???
Special Agent Steve @ Sep 24th 2009 6:19PM
They have a better sense of humor than that?
Giroro @ Sep 24th 2009 6:30PM
Only Mac would be a lie, the game has been out on 3 other platforms for quite some time.
Shmil @ Sep 24th 2009 6:05PM
Spam
nukee @ Sep 24th 2009 6:18PM
Better late than never. Although now I've got a craving to fire this game up and play it for a bit. Damn you fluid mechanics homework!
Special Agent Steve @ Sep 24th 2009 6:18PM
Bread.
mds @ Sep 24th 2009 6:42PM
What exactly is the point of cheap shots against Mac? I use mine to do work at home and a minor amount of gaming. We generally game on consoles otherwise.
When we had a PC? We generally gamed on consoles. Who. Cares.
WiredKnight: Keeper of Threads @ Sep 24th 2009 6:56PM
Macintosh does nothing but take cheap shots at the PC industry. We like to push back whenever we get the opportunity.
Kizzle @ Sep 25th 2009 12:44AM
"What exactly is the point of cheap shots against Mac?"
...you're fucking kidding, right? "I'm a Mac / I'm a PC?" Hello?
Apple is good at one thing - marketing/hype. No self-respecting gamer would only have a Mac to play games.
Diskoboy7 @ Sep 24th 2009 6:58PM
Mac + Gamer = Oxymoron.
WINterfang @ Sep 24th 2009 6:59PM
= delicious and cheap sandwich.
level250geek @ Sep 24th 2009 7:00PM
So I guess we have Big Mac Daddies now.
CheeziePotato [Now with more cheeze for a limited time only] (PSN: talic10 | XBL: InfiniteMovie) @ Sep 24th 2009 7:05PM
Southern McDonalds
gatotsu911 @ Sep 24th 2009 9:56PM
I thought this was awesome (I've been having trouble running Boot Camp lately) until I saw that they were charging full price for it. What the fuck??
Ranus Studios @ Sep 24th 2009 10:44PM
Universal binary, or...?
Ranus Studios @ Sep 24th 2009 10:46PM
Oh wait, just read the minimum requirements. Oh well. Got it on every other platform anyhoo.
wayne @ Sep 25th 2009 12:48AM
well you can play bioshock on macs now, but not on windows 7. Awesome. I never finished it before I made the move from xp to 7, and now it won't play. Boo!
BlackBeltJones @ Sep 25th 2009 3:09AM
You can get it for $5 on D2D on PC during their anniversary sale.
screwed73 @ Sep 25th 2009 7:55AM
I thought about getting this, but I'm downloading it on Xbox Live instead. >.< Anyways, I like how this is going. I really hope that cider and ports of the engines change Mac gaming.
Ucial @ Sep 25th 2009 9:56AM
fucking macs, i hate fucking macs, im forced to use them at uni and its like going back in time, the OS sux, one button mouse wtf! 'but macs are fantastic, theyre the industry standard for music and film making' woteva, they cant even play games ffs, all shine and no content, id rather have a horrid looking PC they can actually get the job done! and for half the price
elazo4 @ Sep 25th 2009 1:53PM
yaa... stop lying. you've never used a mac before. how do i know?? because you CAN right click on an apple mouse. you would know that if you DID use a mac. stop being a fan boy and believing all the misconceptions of a mac. damn troll...
Diskoboy7 @ Sep 25th 2009 3:55PM
I agree. My parents bought a Mac in 1986, before we bought our first IBM compatible, and I loathed it. I still hate them, and their pretentious users.
Oh, and I also agree about the Mac vs. PC commercials being totally hypocritical.... Go back and look at some of Apple's old promotional videos - it screams YUPPIE SCUM. And now they THINK that cool teens want one, and PC's are the yuppies.. Really? I don't see any PC's in my office (except for my laptop) - just Mac's as far as the eye can see. Any gamer with a hint of credibility wouldn't be caught dead, with a Mac.
Go look at the promo video for the Apple Lisa, if you need a good laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W35vpsPIwlU
Jeremiah Moon @ Sep 25th 2009 1:41PM
I'm a member of the intended market, but that price is absurd. You could buy Windows 7 student edition and Bioshock for windows and you'd save 15 dollars.
wayne @ Sep 26th 2009 5:24PM
yeah but again, bioshock has all sorts of problems and doesn't even run on windows 7. I don't know what it's bloody problem is, 99.9% of software runs excellently on w7. It's like they just don't care about supporting their magnum opus game anymore on the operating system everyone's going to be using soon.