the games are dead, long live the games
When Apple transitioned its hardware to Intel, many pundits wondered what impact it would have on the games market for the Mac. Most thought it was a death knell for any new games being ported to the Mac, since it was assumed that most people would just boot up into Windows if they wanted to play a game, especially if they had to wait while the Mac version was ported. Ported games were dead, they said. Perhaps the small game developers who were Mac only would survive, and even thrive, but the big players like Aspyr and EA would abandon the Mac market.
Well, EA is back, as of today, they announced at WWDC. Yes! Of all the announcements, I think this is probably the most significant. Yes, that’s right, games. Games, games, games. Because no matter how cool the whole lifestyle thing is (iLife, or iTunes, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD), games sell computers. And particularly, games sell new computers. Games usually push the limits of the computing power available, and are the kind of apps that cause upgrade-itis in the consumer. And the games are going to be available in the Apple Stores, featured prominently, I’m sure.
Personally I’m going to pick up a copy of Need for Speed… it’s been soooo long since there was a decent racing game on the Mac (if there even ever was one) that I want to support it! Oh, and I hope they bring WANT Tiger Woods Golf too… that’s another must have… heh heh.
