Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
Summary: With the advent of the Mac App Store, games which started their lives on iOS have been trickling on to the Mac. Ease of porting and a simple, Apple-managed distribution system built in to operating system make it a surefire way to attract new gamers.
Games have never been the Mac's strong suit. The reasons for this are multitudinous and too lengthy to get into for the purpose of this article, but suffice it to say that it is so. However, there's been an interesting shift since January of this year - with the advent of the Mac App Store, games which started their lives on iOS have been trickling on to the Mac, too.
A casual check of the Mac App Store reveals that popular iOS titles have been converted to Mac OS X, including the ubiquitous Angry Birds - every bit as popular, it seems, in the Mac as it is on the iPhone, Android and every other platform it touches. Gameloft's equally ubiquitous Asphalt 6: Adrenaline is there also. There are other examples, as well.
The bulk of the games inventory on the Mac App Store comprises titles that were originally developed for the Mac or converted to the Mac and released before the Mac App Store debuted, but the backflow of titles from iOS to Mac OS X is unmistakable.
What's causing it?
A straw poll of developers indicate that the ease of converting apps from iOS to Mac OS X is one strong motivator. Because iOS and Mac OS X share common underpinnings, there isn't a radical amount of reengineering to rework titles for the Mac which originally designed to work on iPhones, iPod touches and iPads.
Although the tools have steadily improved over the past few years, that equation hasn't changed radically since the day that Apple first offered an API for iPhone app development - that's one reason why many early iOS developers were Mac developers.
Since then, however, the iOS ecosystem has filled out with tens of thousands of developers who had no previous experience creating software for Apple platforms, including some whose products are now in the Mac App Store.
Many developers - especially small independent ones with limited resources and personnel - don't want to go through the logistical hassle of marketing and publishing a game for the Mac (or going through the permutations of finding a publisher). So the Mac App Store gives them easy access to a growing legion of Mac users who want software for their new computers.
The Mac App Store is now standard issue, built right in to the Mac operating system with the release of Mac OS X 10.6.6 - a new icon on the Mac OS X Dock. And it'll be front and center with Mac OS X "Lion's" release later this year.
The downside, at least for the "hardcore" crowd, is that the games are, by and large, casual titles - not the sort of game that really sets the traditional gaming crowd's hearts aflutter. They're priced accordingly, with some as little as 99 cents (or free).
The Mac platform hasn't been a huge hit with the hardcore crowd for years, so chasing after hardcore gamers on the Mac is throwing good money after bad anyway. Besides, the hardcore PC gaming market has declined steadily as piracy and spiraling budgets have made more risk-averse publishers exit the PC or sidelined it in favor of consoles.
What's more, for each one of those hardcore types, there's a veritable legion of people who don't self-identify as gamers, but still want to play games. New Mac buyers. Professionals with MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Moms and dads. Grandparents. Students.
The Mac App Store has an added benefit for new Mac users - it's an Apple-sanctioned way to get software using the credentials they've already created for buying software and music through iTunes and the App Store. It isn't a third-party Web site using a payment system they've never heard of before. The risk to the buyer is low.
Ultimately, the Mac App Store isn't going to radically rejuvenate Mac gaming create a hardcore gaming market for the Mac out of whole cloth, but it does give iOS game developers and Mac OS X game developers alike an opportunity to reach a new, receptive audience - exactly the sort of empire-building success that the original iOS App Store contributed to. Just on a very different, much smaller scale.
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Talkback
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RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
- Peter
I know about Steam
I have an account with Steam. It's good for the "technically literate" gamer who knows it exists. I am not much of a "gamer" any more. If you have a Mac you almost certainly have an iTunes account which is all you need. I think Apple's built-in and easy to use app store is going to be the way to go for Average Joe.
Why did not stop play games? And in what did you play in the past?
Well I don't want to make this about me
But since you ask I was a big time game junkie forever (Atari 2600). I played all the good FPS games and MMORPG's (UO, DAOC, WOW) and my last big game infatuation was World of Warcraft. Two years 11 months ago, right before my twins were born, I did a "time played" query then I closed my online accounts (yes multiple) and deleted the games. Since then I am very deliberate in staying far away from "deep" computer games.
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
Besides, Impulse (a Stardock app for Windows) has the same sort of store. The Mac app store is no different. They're all forms of evolution, not revolution.)
I try to be open minded
But you just suggested a Windows only solution in a Mac discussion. Then after telling me I shouldn't trust Apple with my account information I'm supposed to trust some other online store I've never even heard of? Kind of defeats the purpose. IMHO the primary purpose of using Apple's app store is to have a single company to deal with, and while Apple may or may not be more secure than someone else, in my book opening a single often used account with one company beats the tar out of opening many seldom (or single) use accounts with many companies any of whom may be careless with your personal information.
Apple is a better Games Platform than the PC
People are slow to understand that the PC platform didn't do a good job with regular computing tasks either. The monopoly, and glassy eyed admiration of open architecture didn't allow many alternative experience. Apple was marginalized, but it was also producing consistantly better user experiences and productivity.
So there you have it. The PC community has simply been wrong. Outright wrong. Wrong for many years. Apple didn't suddenly "get good" with the iPhone. It's been better since day 1. For years, undersupported, underfinanced, understaffed, and underappreciated, but better? since 1984.
Folks are finally understanding that Apple is a better platform and vehicle for software as a whole. Only the rubes think Apple is "hardware first". They are "experience first". No one company has done more to champion the sale of bits and to make us covet them. Software trumps hardware. There is a cadre of second rate PC OEMs that are nothing more than blue-eyed front ends to logisti always has always will. Games are software. Do the math.
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
You're obviously not a gamer ;-)
Really impressed someone tarted up Artillery with graphics so young people could see a 30 yr old game.
Having published a game for WP7 and looked at what Apple calls a development environment, I really don't know what you are talking about.
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
>>Having published a game for WP7 and looked at what Apple calls a development environment, I really don't know what you are talking about.
Agreed. Having written apps and games for multiple mobile platforms, I can say confidently that XNA beats it and that is the advantage of WP7. Now if Microsoft can bring a tablet based XBox with 7 to 9" multiple point touch screen with XNA and Silverlight as platform, that would be awesome.
I Am
I am a "gamer". The problem is, that many people who self identify as such, are not going to understand this argument. The understanding usually comes with iPhone/iPad ownership. I'm not talking about /apple's clear lack of substantive support for games. Nor am I talking about the culture of Apple which is much less inclined to endorse or champion violent computer games. This "Apple" has been left out of the loop by "gamers" and rightfully so. The entire platform has been marginalized, why wouldn't games be as well.
So, use your imagination. Try and map out some hypotheticals here and stop making declarations of the obvious. The point is, that closed architecture will make more money for developers. More money will come from smaller casual titles. Bypassing publishers creates an even playing field. It allows smaller companies to excel. So far, Apple IS proving to be a profitable and nurturing environment for hundreds of gaming company. Forbes just came to the conclusion that Apple as a company is much better managed than Microsoft. After years of viruses, piracy, expensive graphics card arms races, technical complexity, and monopoly, even the serious gamer is fed up with the Windows platform. The failures of the PC platform, and open architecture extend to gaming. The successes of Apple post OSX have been gaining ground. This extends to Apple's gaming. It may take years, but the writing is on the wall.
As for the development environment? it will be a developer's conceit and their crutch. Somehow, miraculously, Angry Birds runs on iOS. Tell me again how hard it is for ngmoco or Rovio because their feedback conflicts with yours. The original dev kit for the XBox was a PPC Mac tower. Go figure. More importantly, consumers don't give one flying fudgecake as to whether it was hard to develop or not. They care about the experience. You want me to open up a can of worms called Games for Windows? Do you want to talk about Plays for Sure? The betrayals have been epic.
Buddy, I know you don't know what I'm talking about. The marginalization of the Windows platform to the business ghetto is underway. Consumers drive this boat. They always have. Apple's 0s and 1's are just as capable as any platform in meeting the new lower and more casual thresholds, and it's not going backwards. Let's compare Crysis 2 sales on console and PC. Do you want to take a guess at the result? People have already made the compromises in graphics quality and save 3k in the process. Steam has wrestled the all important download kiosk from MS. Steam for Mac is gaining titles. As per the article, the App store in now built into Leopard and Lion. This just started ? where do you think it will go?
WP7? Fly at it. Knock yourself out. I'm happy they've made it easy for you to knock out some code. I'm sure millions will download your game and review that code out of appreciation and interest.
Message has been deleted.
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS
RE: Mac games get a shot in the arm from iOS