this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I am with Valve, who plays games on Mac anyway?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Blizzard used to support Mac very well. Diablo and WoW always supported Mac. Valve as well, most Valve first party titles released for Mac. Played lots of Portal 1/2, CS:GO. Also played Minecraft, Sims, KSP.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Ye, but why? Probably some deals between the two companies.

When Microsoft - Activision deal will finalize, you can forget about that too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For a while it was Intel and ppc but similar graphics back end. Then it was Intel on both. But Mac had a special graphics back end. Now with Mac it's arm and proprietary graphics back end both. While they've been willing to put up with one or the other in the past. It's just not worth it to deal with both for such a small user base.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Exactly, and they can simply use Windows in a virtual machine anyway.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I've been in the games industry for 10 years, and worked for Fortune 500 companies before that. I can tell you that people assume there are a lot of "deals" between companies when realistically the companies aren't making deals with each other. Companies are still companies and attempt to make money off of the sources that they can.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I do! Lots of modded Minecraft, also Hades, Witcher 3, Tears of the Kingdom and Hollow Knight.

It often requires some tinkering and there isn’t that many games but other than that I love it. Baldur’s Gate 3 released on Mac so I’ll probably play it too eventually. Used to play CS GO, Portal 2 and the other Valve classics back in the day.

If Apple cared about Mac gaming it would actually be great since the recent Macs especially are really capable. But they don’t, so.. it’ll probably stay a niche thing.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I do too! Minecraft and Factorio for sure. BG3 is underwhelming on my M1 MBA, even with the extra RAM, but I mostly use GeForce now for games. I found an adapter from Cable Matters to get that sweet 120Hz at 4k through HDMI. It looks amazing on my TV. The company provides some alternative firmware you can put on the USB-C dongle to make it work, though you need a Windows machine to upgrade the firmware.

I really have no interest in getting another laptop or building a gaming PC I will ignore. I can't justify it. This thing is light, has amazing battery life, and runs everything I need it to. I have a console for other games. If the game isn't on console, osx, or GeForce Now, I just won't play it.

I do agree with some of the others that it would be nice if they got on the Vulcan train.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Ayy, nice! I got a base 14" M1 Pro myself and it's a blast, especially thanks to that display. The refresh rate, brightness and colors are amazing. If you'd like to stay with a single computer, I'd totally recommend upgrading to it as the performance makes a lot more games playable.

Check out the Create mod in Minecraft if you like Factorio, you will love it. It's basically Factorio but in Minecraft. Oh and Hades should run well on your MBA as well, I'd recommend you try it if you haven't already!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

though you need a Windows machine to upgrade the firmware.

that's a hilarious detail.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Indeed. They were upfront about it at least. You are literally using their inhouse firmware tool that isn't publicly available. After sending the request, I had the files and guide same day. I used my work laptop for it and it took 5 minutes. Easy peasy.

This is the model I got: https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1485-126-usb-c-multiport-adapter-with-8k-hdmi-2x-usb-30-gigabit-ethernet-and-power-delivery.aspx

Article/Blog Post: https://www.cablematters.com/Blog/HDMI/how-to-get-4k120hz-with-mac

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But why? Why would you buy a Mac twice the price for gaming when you can buy other cheaper gaming brands?

You said it right, Apple doesn't care about gaming, and so are their customers.

Apple would not move a finger without return.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They probably use it for many things other than gaming?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

That's exactly my point lol

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Never said I bought it for gaming. It’s my main computer I use for everything, and if I can use it for games, I will.

I also have a desktop PC I use only for gaming but I rarely turn it on, it’s annoying to switch computers and I would rather play on a laptop most of the times.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did you buy it for browsing and social media? Watching movies maybe? Lol

Come-on let's be honest here, most Mac users buy a Mac just for the Apple logo and nothing much.

I bought my MacBook Pro 2011, never did anything more than social and consuming medias. Any laptop would have worked out for me (since that model has Intel graphic).

Any integration between an iPhone and Mac can be achieved between an Android and a PC (Windows or Linux).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Typical Lemmy user lmao, come on. I feel like this is the kind of shit I used to read on 9Gag 10 years ago.

I bought the thing for programming, photo editing, graphic design, video editing and general tinkering. And indeed it’s fantastic for media consumption as well thanks to the great display and speakers.

The main reason I enjoy macOS is the third party apps. There are lots macOS only apps I absolutely love to use because of their great UI and features. Things like Transmit, Telegram for macOS, Final Cut, Screenflow, IINA, Alfred, BetterTouchTool, Parallels Desktop and Fantastical come to mind. There are alternatives to these elsewhere of course, but none come close in quality in my opinion.

I don’t even use any of Apple’s services, not even iMessage. I think lots are unreliable (or there are better third party alternatives) and I don’t like the feeling of being in a walled garden.

It’s a great investment because it holds its money really well. My old 2012 MacBook Pro can still be sold for like 400€ whereas most PC laptops of that era would be worthless by now.

Not going to defend Apple’s stupid attitude towards right to repair or any other issue. They’re FAR from perfect.

Not saying you’re wrong about the Apple logo thing when it comes to normies, but as a power user there are many reasons to love Macs. And even normies can enjoy good build and software quality, just let people enjoy their things. As long as it’s not a monopoly like iPhones are starting to become, I don’t see the problem.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

So you agreed with me then.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 1 year ago

Get a real computer

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't think I have ever known anyone who has played a game on mac since the 1990's.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I did a ton of years ago, using wine bottles to run pirated windows games... ran like shit on my macbook

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Nanosaur is the last game I played on Mac back in like 2001 on an iMac.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same amount of people who play games on Linux. They only support Linux because they have a financial incentive to do so. It's just not attached to player count but instead the success of their own operating system. Steam investing in Linux is like Google investing in Linux.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mac users are different from others, they don't buy overpriced machines just for gaming. They buy a Mac for the workflow and ecosystem, not for gaming.

Valve saw that, and decided not to waste money on the Mac market.

Apple always makes decisions based on the revenue, Valve did the same for once.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Valve did the same for once.

You mean Valve did, as they always have.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I don't know man, Valve seems more pro users than Apple to be honest.

EDIT: I just want to add some context; Valve made Steam Deck fully reaperable, where Apple always adds restrictions on what you can repair in an iPhone or Mac. When I buy a device I always look for its reaparibility.

At the launch of Steam Deck, Valve was very responsive and they replaced many units (even if sometimes it was user's fault) for free, where Apple would find any way to charge you for the repair (and you know better than me how much expensive is to repair an iPhone or Mac).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly, Steam lacks a lot of pro-user rights. Developers are restricted by a lot of things that even itch allows you to do. Like a pay-what-you-want model or mentioning another storefront in your own demo/game. Not to mention that all you are truly buying on Steam is a lease to a copy of the game rather than the actual rights of owning a product. This sidesteps a lot of consumer laws in the USA.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

About the lease thing I agree, but Steam didn't really remove any games, if they did was because the original devs decided so.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I never said steam removes games but they absolutely do against the developers wishes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Against developers wishes? Could you tell when this has happened before?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you serious? https://www.google.com/search?q=developer%20has%20games%20removed%20from%20steam it's happened many times for many reasons. I can tell you as a developer whose released on steam Valve also rejects games that include references to itch.io.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

From what I can read, the dev himself removed the game because of "stress". Steam has previously removed the game for copyright reasons, but readmitted it afterward.

The stress was due to the huge popularity the game got thanks to YouTube and Twitch.

Rejecting is different than removing.

I don't know what the problem is between the Steam Store and itch, but your Google search confirmed what I just said: Steam never removed a game just because; they removed games that break copyright rules or their TOS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I never said "just because" in fact, I never said, "Steam removes games". You didn't even say "just because". You said "Steam doesn't remove games against the developer's wishes." which is entirely wrong as you now admit and moved the goal posts. This whole thing is a silly argument perpetuated by you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Just miscommunication then. All game platforms did that, so I don't understand your point on bringing this up. Sony, removed Mobile Games from PsVita. Apple removed Fortnight from AppStore (and countless other apps). Probably Microsoft did that too.

I don't know what you're complaining about.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You brought up that steam removes games. I said that Valve is just going after money like they always have. Like every other game company. You said valve has a more pro user stance, I brought up a bunch of examples how they don't really have a pro user stance, you said yeah but they don't remove games against developer wishes. I said that I never said anything about removing games but they totally do, as we've proven.

So I'm not really complaining about anything. I'm just not holding Valve up on a pedestal and saying they aren't like every other company out there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

There are other instances where Valve is very pro users.

  1. Return policy: you can return any game, if you play it less than 1 hour.
  2. Valve works with iFixit to distribute parts and repair guides for the Steam Deck.
  3. When Steam Deck launched, Valve replaced many Steam Decks devices, even if it was literally an user's misuse or mistake.