4 posts from 2008

I got a heads-up on this via Twitter.  It turns out that Santa Claus has joined the social media craze.  You can watch Santa on Ustream.tv everyday until Christmas Eve ( Watch Santa ).

I've been watching Santa for a few hours now, while I work, and it's really great.  He's really putting me in the Christmas spirit.  Stop in and say 'Hi' and Santa will be sure to return the greeting.

Merry Christmas!

Any public discussion that mentions gaming and the Mac is likely to recieve the above enlightened wisdom from some jackass.  Granted, hot new titles are predictably released for Windows well in advance of a Mac release... if a Mac release ever comes.  However, I think the above comment is based solely in ignorance of the complexity that is Mac gaming.  I'm suspicious that even gamers with Macs aren't fully aware of the situation, or the potential of Mac gaming.  So, let's see if we can clarify some things.

Boot Camp was born shortly after Apple made the change from PowerPC to Intel processors.  This little bit of software made it possible for anyone with an Intel-based Mac to run WindowsXP or Vista.  It wasn't an emulator like VirtualPC.  Instead, the Mac running Windows as if it was just a regular PC.  This opened the door to a whole new world of gaming for Mac users.

Apple's switch to Intel processors, however, had another effect on Mac gaming.  As time progressed, new games began appearing that would only run on Intel-based Macs.  Those of us with PowerPC-based computers, even though still powerful machines, were left with fewer new titles to choose from.  Boot Camp and the switch to Intel processors is slowly killing Mac gaming for older machines.  Here we have a duality, and I think it is important we draw a distinction between Mac gaming and gaming on the Mac.

Mac gaming involves playing games native to the MacOS.  Call of Duty 2, Doom 3, World of WarCraft and EVE Online are all games that can be run from within the MacOS.  No need to run Boot Camp.  This category can be further sub-divided into PowerPC-based Mac gaming and Intel-based Mac gaming.  The first category is slowly dieing (with a few major exceptions), while the later category is starting to thrive.

Gaming on the Mac involves playing games on a Mac regardless of whether they are Mac-native apps or require running Windows via Boot Camp.  New Macs can handle both situations.  My new MacBook runs Warhammer Online without problem.  In fact, I have yet to find a game that won't run on the new MacBook.  I can go to my favorite game store and choose anything I want from the selves.  Although I still prefer to run MacOS-native software when possible, being able to run Windows games is very cool.

Here we could get into the differences in hardware and operating system, DirectX vs Quartz and OpenGL.  But I think the answer to this question is very simple: I game on the Mac because I love the Mac.

I use the Mac for work and every aspect of my personal life.  And when I want to game I want to game using my Mac.  I don't want to deal with Windows.  I don't want to deal with loading video card and audio drivers just so my hardware will work with the operating system.  And I don't want to reload my entire OS and all my applications every 6 months because viruses and spyware have take over my computer.  I use a Mac specifically so that I DON'T have to deal with those issues.  So why would I want to deal with them when I want relax and play games?

There's nothing scientific or objective, and it doesn't even have anything to do with games.  It's 100% a matter of personal choice.  If you like using Windows and tinkering with PC hardware, then I can totally understand and respect your preference.  My preference is different.

Blizzard is the current powerhouse in the gaming industry.  World of WarCraft is the biggest MMORPG, with some 8-10 million subscribers.  Being #1 means that everyone releasing a new MMO has their sights set on taking business away from Blizzard.  How do they seek to do this?  Game mechanics, slick graphics, setting the game in a popular world, blah, blah, blah.  What they don't do is look at how Blizzard approaches its games.

Blizzard has a long history of shipping Windows AND MacOS versions of their games right from day one.  You buy one copy of the game and you can install it on either a PC or a Mac.  They've been doing this since the earliest days of the company.  WarCraft, StarCraft, Diablo and World of WarCraft have all shipped supporting the Mac from day one.  In fact, WoW is the only AAA MMO that still supports PowerPC-based Macs.  Perhaps this helps explain why WoW is such a huge success (The Secret of WoW's Success).

Blizzard has always been a corner-stone of Mac gaming.  They've proven that supporting the Mac doesn't have to mean compromising income, and that it doesn't have to be done as an after-thought.  It's good to see games like EVE Online and City of Heroes producing MacOS-native versions of their games, but why is this done years after their games go live?  Here again, I think the reason stems from ignorance.  Developers under estimate the capabilities of the Mac, underestimate the value of the Mac gaming market, and overestimate the effort it takes to build Mac software.  Blizzard has been doing it for over a decade, and they continue to grow and grow.  Supporting the Mac equally with the PC hasn't hurt their business, and I would be so bold to suggest that their success is due in large part to their support for the Mac.

Mac gaming is a subset of the huge realm that is gaming on the Mac.  Now that Apple has switched to Intel processors, Macs can run a huge selection of Windows games.  We get the best of both worlds.

That being said, I am a Mac gamer because I am a Mac user.  And to all you Mac-ignorant forum-troll douche-bags: STFU!

I've had my new MacBook for the better part of a week now, and all I can say is OMFG!!!

I was so excited when it arrived that I couldn't refrain from streaming the unboxing via Qik using my iPhone (video).  Although it's been said many times (even by Steve Jobs himself), you really can't appreciate how small the MacBook's packaging is until you see it for yourself.  The MacBook is protectively nestled inside plastic tray, like a piece of art on a pedastle.  One important note: if you ordered accessories like an Apple Remote or display adapter, be sure to check under the folder containing the software and manuals.  I found my accessories under there wrapped in a white plastic caccoon.  I'd like to share my experiences using the new MacBook.  I won't be focussing on benchmarks, but more on how it has integrated with my life.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I stayed with the default 160GB 5400 RPM drive when I placed my order.  Apple wants an additional $100CND for a 250GB 5400 RPM drive, and $200CDN for a 320GB 5400 RPM BTO option.  After looking through the hard drive section of my favorite local vendor's website (http://www.b-com.ca), I found a much cheaper option.  For $125CDN I was able to buy a 320GB drive running at 7200 RPM.  Big, fast and cheap!  I also bought an external enclosure, so that when I swap-in the larger drive I can use the smaller one as a portable backup drive.

After going through the initial new Mac setup procedure, I decided to try my hand at swapping the drives.  It really is a straight forward process, but I took some video anyways (video).  One screw holds the drive in place.  The one thing that surprised me were the little metal nubs screwed into the sides of the stock drive.  Luckily, I own a T6-size Torx driver and was able to move them to the new drive.  After a quick re-assembly I was able to boot the MacBook from the drive without problem (I had installed Leopard before making the swap).

This is definitely a user do-able upgrade, and can definitely save you some cash.

My only previous experience setting up Boot Camp was on a friend's Mac Pro.  That was using the Boot Camp beta with MacOS 10.4 Tiger.  Back then you had to create the partition with the assistant, burn a driver disk, install Windows into the partition, load the driver CD and then you were done.  Now with Boot Camp in Leopard you run the assistant to create the partition, then insert the WindowsXP or Vista disk.  The Mac reboots and runs the usual Windows installation process.  Once that's done and the system has successfully booted into Windows, insert the Leopard install DVD that came with your Mac and it will automatically load all the drivers and other software Windows needs to properly use the Apple hardware.  A much simpler process than before.

To be honest, it took me two tries to get WindowsXP loaded onto my Boot Camp partition.  The first time I forgot to format the partition, so when I tried to boot into Windows I got a disk error.  An error made simply by not reading the onscreen instructions properly.  It does illustrate the best feature of running Windows on a Mac rather than normal PC hardware: when Windows becomes unusable you can still boot into MacOS and use your computer.  Had I been running a PC, that machine would be totally unusable until I had the problem solved.

The two issues I have with my PowerMac G5 Quad are portability and no support for Boot Camp.  Although I will be discussing Boot Camp in greater detail below, the MacBook is extremembly portable.  With the lid closed it reminds me of the PowerBook Duo 280c I had many years ago.  Although bigger than the Duo, the MacBook feels lighter than any other portable I've owned.  I can rest it on my lap without it feeling heavy, or getting hot.  

Battery life has been fantastic.  When I sat down to write this post the indicator said I had 6 hours and 17 minutes of battery life.  An hour later I have 5 hours and 2 minutes remaining.  Backlight set on lowest possible setting, AirPort active with Twitteriffic checking for new tweets every 3 minutes.  Even more impressive is the fact that I setup two virtual machines in VMWare's Fusion while running on a freshly charged battery.  Each requiring a full install of WindowsXP from CD, and when they were finished I still had over an hour of battery life to continue writing this blog post.

Although I don't plan on using the MacBook to replace my PowerMac, I really want to have the pair work together as seamlessly as possible.  With Apple Remote Desktop installed on the MacBook, I can control my PowerMac from anywhere in the house.  This means a large portion of the software and documents I use regularly do not have to be migrated over to the MacBook.  I can simply access them remotely as needed.  I can use a tool like Coda to do remote development work.  So far the system has worked well.

So, does has the MacBook compared to my other computers?

My job requires me to run IE6, IE7, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and WebEx in a Windows environment.  My employer issued me an Acer laptop that I use to run everything but IE7.  I hate that laptop.  It's heavy, slow, loud, hot, the video camera doesn't work, nor does the mic.  Since I only recently learned of a way to get IE6 and IE7 to co-exist on the same drive, I run IE7 on an old, rehabilitated PC.

With Boot Camp setup I could easily have the MacBook do everything the Acer does.  However, there are a couple issues here that bother me.  First, I'm a firm believer that as little software as possible should be installed into Windows and that Windows should only be used for the tasks that absolutely require it.  For example, I would rather run MSN on my PowerMac then on the Acer.  One less app taking up limited laptop screen space, and one less piece of Microsoft trash to cause problems.  Secondly, using Boot Camp means that I either have a Mac OR a PC.  If I need to switch from one to another I need to reboot.  Time consuming and kills workflow.

So, instead of running everything in WindowsXP I'd like to run those mandatory Windows apps along with my MacOS apps.  To accomplish this I downloaded and installed VMWare's Fusion (Fusion).  One virtual machine will run IE6, Firefox 2.10, Safari 3, Opera 9, Chrome and DreamWeaver.  This will be my main work VM.  Another VM will run IE7 and Firefox 3.  Setting up VMWare was easy.  Creating each virtual machine required a separate install of WindowsXP.

The only problem I was having with Fusion was that it wouldn't allow me to mount my Boot Camp volume as a virtual machine.  I thought it has something to do with the partition being formatted in NTFS rather than FAT32.  However, it turns out that the there was actually something wrong on the Boot Camp partition.  Big surprise, problems with Windows.  Deleting the partition and another reinstall of Windows solved the problem.  Now I can load my Boot Camp partition as a virtual machine, as well as mount another VM for work.  So, now I can rid myself of both the IE7 PC and the Acer laptop.

Creating two VMs for work takes up very little space, and it has the added benefit of not cluttering my Boot Camp partition... which can now be used solely for gaming.  Which brings me to my next topic...

This is where the MacBook really blows my mind.  Once Boot Camp was setup I immediately started installing Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.  My gaming PC runs WAR fairly well.  The MacBook, however, leaves now doubt that any comparison between the two machines is meaningless.  The game loads quickly, and I have no difficulty clicking interface buttons.  Smooth camera panning and animation with all visual settings on high.  No lag when RvR raiding during peak hours.  And quitting the game gets me back to the desktop in seconds (whereas the PC can take between 7 and 10 minutes to quit WAR and return me to desktop).

So far the only MacOS-native games I've installed and tested are World of WarCraft and Jets'n'Guns.  Like WAR, WoW runs in 1280 x 800 fullscreen mode with zero lag.  Jets'n'Guns is a 2D side-scroller that certainly does not require a lot of graphics horsepower.  However, the audio is full and rich on the MacBooks internal speakers.

Initially, the quality of gaming on the MacBook had been a concern of mine.  After seeing it in action, I know this tiny machine will more than meet my needs.  One thing I notice is that the fan runs constantly while playing WAR, and the MacBook gets warmer than usual.  However, it does not actually get hot to the touch... unlike other portables I own.

Right out of the box the MacBook felt snappy.  Flipping through Spaces happens quickly, as does scrolling in Safari.  I'm not sure how much of an effect expanding the RAM had on the machine's performance, but what I do know is that with 4GB I should be able to have several apps operating without seeing much of a performance hit.  For me spending money on additional RAM rather than a faster processor was the correct choice.

Between Boot Camp and VMWare's Fusion I can start tossing my collection of PCs and assorted parts.  This also means that I can do a large chunk of my daily work away from my desk... perhaps in a coffee shop or on the couch watching a soccer game.  I now also have a fantastic gaming machine as well (certainly compared to my previous rig).  No more lag in Warhammer Online.  I can also play new Mac titles like the upcoming City of Heroes Mac Edition.

I simply love my MacBook.

Having read all the reviews of the new MacBook and MacBook Pro that I could find, I placed an order with Apple's Online Store.  I'm still waiting for it to arrive, so the subject of this post will focus on the reasoning behind my choice, how I envision this machine changing my life, and a few other tidbits of info.

My unibody notebook of choice was the 2GHz MacBook.  I chose the standard 160GB 5400 RPM HD, but maxed the RAM at 4GB.  I'm sure some of you are wondering why I chose the slowest and least impressive of the new line-up.  Looking at the price differences between the 2GHz and 2.4GHz models was $350CDN.  However, doubling the RAM cost only $150CDN.  A faster processor is nice, but any speed gained from a faster processor can easily be negated when apps are forced to rely on virtual memory and constantly save application data to the drive.  Maxing the RAM is a must for me, and 4GB should be enough for me.

Economics played a role in my chose of drive size as well.  I can buy a 320GB 7200 RPM drive from a local dealer for less than the cost of getting the 320GB 5400 RPM BTO option.  The faster drive speed should make the machine feel snappier too.  This is an upgrade I plan to do almost immediately.

I spent some time at the local Apple Store comparing the displays of the MacBook to the MacBook Pro.  The 13.3" display has a resolution of 1280x800 which is respectable.  The MacBook display seemed large enough during my hands-on with the machine, and if I truly want/need a larger display I will just connect my 23" Cinema Display.  When compared to a 23" ACD, the increased display size of the MacBook Pro seems negligible.

The MacBook will not be replacing my current Mac.  After almost three years of unfaltering service, I still love my PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5GHz, with its 4.5GB RAM, dual 1TB HDs and 23" Cinema Display.  It's handled everything I've thrown at it from video editing, 3D rendering, Photoshop, software design, file serving...  Its only shortcomings are: 1) portability; and 2) no support for Boot Camp.

Portability isn't a critical issue, and honestly, I'm not a big fan of notebooks.  I have a history of terminating the lives of several laptops, and find them harder to maintain and less reliable then a desktop.  That being said, it would be nice to work while watching soccer or relaxing at a coffee shop.  This was probably the largest deciding factor for going with the low-cost model, because if I kill it I won't be out a pile of cash.  It's small size also brings back memories of the used PowerBook Duo 230c I had many years ago.

The lack of support for Boot Camp has led to over-crowding in my home office.  A quick head count reveals:

Let's take a look at how the MacBook will alleviate some of this clutter.

Acer notebook and IE7 box:  I need these for my day job as a web developer.  IE6 and IE7 won't co-exist, and given how old and slow the Acer is, it is just easier to have a separate box for running IE7.  The Acer's lack of a DVI port prevents me from connecting my Cinema Display to it, and so I design web pages on a 15" LCD (at a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels).  A failing wireless card tethers me to a desk via an Ethernet cable.  On a good day it can run Dreamweaver and 4 browsers simultaneously.  I'm forced to rely on my PowerMac to handle all the email, documents, Photoshop, Word, Excel, and MSN action required for this job.  The only thing I actually need the Acer for is running browsers.

Two Boot Camp partitions should let me run IE6 and IE7 on one machine (with a reboot to make the switch), so there goes one PC.  Compared to the Acer, the MacBook is faster, has more RAM, and can alleviate my dependance upon the PowerMac for things like Photoshop and... email.  The 802.11n wireless card will work perfectly with my Airport Extreme base station, so I should be able to work anywhere in the house.

Gaming PCs: Honestly, my gaming machine is a joke.  I ressurrected it as a friend was in the process of throwing it out (actually, he physically threw it into his garage and bent the case).  It is old and slow, has a small maximum RAM capacity, uses DDR RAM for extra slowness, and has an AGP video slot.  The secondary gaming machine has more RAM, and more powerful video card, but for some reason I can't update the version of WindowsXP on it.  Nor will it let me reinstall a new copy of XP, or recognize a different drive with XP already installed on it.  This means I'm stuck playing newer games on the slower machine, and old games on the faster one.  WTF?!?

My recent gaming habits consist of Warhammer Online, Star Wars Battlefront II and the Dawn of War series of RTSs.  I mostly play MMOs these days, so my graphics needs are not that severe.  My PC handles my favorite titles surprisingly well, but playing Warhammer Online during peak hours is so laggy it's unplayable.

I was nervous about the nVidia 9400 in the MacBooks.  Several current Mac games are incompatible with the GMA950 integrated graphics of previous MacBooks, and I absolutely didn't want to have any issues with gaming.  All my fears were assuaged when I saw a video review of a 2.4GHz MacBook running Warhammer Online (read it here).  It was this review that cemented my choice for the MacBook.  Performance seemed at least as good as I was getting on my PC.  Having access to more RAM would certainly tip the odds in favor of the experience being better on the MacBook.

Result: That's at least 4 headaches I can rid myself of.  Two whole work areas will be clear and available for other activities.  Numerous wall plugs and router ports will be freed, and the mess of cable snaking through my office will go away.

I'm very excited about the iSight camera, and even more excited about the headphone port supporting the iPhone earphones.  I've always wanted to use my PowerMac for voice/video chatting, but never wanted to spend the cash for a USB headset.  Video chatting would require me to connect my Canon HV20 video camera, which is a major hassle and seems like a waste of a $1200 video camera.

Xcode and the iPhone SDK will be amongst the first apps I will be installing.  I'm very eager to get back to writing MacOS apps, and to try my hand at developing apps for the iPhone.  Coda will be included as well, which should be a staple app for any developer.

In Part II of this series... once I actually receive my MacBook... I will go through my impressions of the machine, my experiences running software and games, how well it replaced the PCs in my life and whether or not I regret my choice.