[Peter Cohen]

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Instead, the Macworld Hall of Fame games are littered with titles like Soduku and Star Wars Lego...

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I'm not aware of Sudoku getting a Game Hall of Fame award this year. Big Bang Brain Games did, which got it, but the entire package was the award recipient, because it's a fun, challenging collection of titles that look wonderful to boot. As far as the Lego Star Wars game is concerned, you're welcome to your opinion -- but I think the game is fantastic fun, and many game reviewers for other magazines agreed.

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Seeing as though just about every game released for the Mac now qualifies the "Hall of Fame" listing just by default

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That's just wrong. Many, many games didn't make the cut this year.

[Steve_S]

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As far as the Lego Star Wars game is concerned, you're welcome to your opinion

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Exactly. For the record, the entire article based on opinion (in this case yours). Nothing wrong with that, but it is just that... opinion.

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I'm not aware of Sudoku getting a Game Hall of Fame award this year.

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Okay, to be more precise, the gaming categories are equally what's laughable: "Best Way to Flex Your Sudoku Skills". The mere fact that two of the five categories you have are "Best Way to Flex Your Sudoku Skills" and "Best Hookup Between Your Mac and Your Game Console" should indicate how bad Mac gaming is these days.
Really, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. Are you defending that quality of games we Mac gamers have to choose from? If so, compared to what? You can't tell me that Mac gaming today is nearly as good as years past in terms of the titles we get. Imagine the fun a PC gamer would have reading this article. It's nothing personal, it's just the state of Mac gaming today.

[jackdawsson]

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It does, but it's not a real solution either. I have a Mac Pro, but have no interest in Boot Camp for gaming purposes.

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I agree that Boot Camp is a far from ideal solution, but I think for many (circumstances allowing) it's now an increasingly feasible option. Either that or a gaming PC, which I'm also considering. Your other points are probably very indicative of how many Mac gamers feel.

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I'm surprised there was no mention of Starwars Empire at War. That was one of my two commercial purchases and it's quite good. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

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Indeed. Might I also mention for strategy gamers the excellent value "Strategy Pack 6" released this year (containing Europa Universalis 2, Hearts of Iron 2, Crusader Kings & 3 others). It won't of course make any "Game Hall of Fame", but it's the type of package I'd like to see more of on Macs. For eg. a similar Total War pack up to & including Rome would do me very nicely thank you. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Also, pleased to see Universalis 3 & looking forward to Starcraft 2.

[hayesk]

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As far as the Lego Star Wars game is concerned, you're welcome to your opinion

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Exactly. For the record, the entire article based on opinion (in this case yours). Nothing wrong with that, but it is just that... opinion.

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True, but you attempted to use the Lego Star Wars game as an example of why Mac gaming is abysmal. That is not a valid complaint and the Lego Star Wars game has been huge game on game consoles and PCs. Whether or not you like it is irrelevant in trying to prove your point.
Saying Mac gaming is abysmal is implying that the big games are not on the Mac platform. Lego Star Wars is one of the "big" games.

[Peter Cohen]

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Okay, to be more precise, the gaming categories are equally what's laughable: "Best Way to Flex Your Sudoku Skills".

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Right. There's another one involving acid-spewing alien sphincters. Obviously, the game categories are meant to be taken tongue-in-cheek.

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The mere fact that two of the five categories you have are "Best Way to Flex Your Sudoku Skills" and "Best Hookup Between Your Mac and Your Game Console" should indicate how bad Mac gaming is these days.

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The mere fact you're complaining about this demonstrates more about your lack of a sense of humor than any reflection on the state of the market. Which I readily discussed in the preamble to the list.

[Steve_S]

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True, but you attempted to use the Lego Star Wars game as an example of why Mac gaming is abysmal.

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No, I stated that my comments much like this article is based on opinion. As for Lego Star Wars, I said "Thanks, but I'll pass." and I stand by that comment. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Specifically, the reference to that comment was in the context of my spending habits.

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Whether or not you like it is irrelevant in trying to prove your point.

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Seeing as though sales figures have not been provided, we can only speculate whether this title has been successful on the Mac or not. However, in the context of my spending habits from which my comment was made, I did not purchase the game, nor do I intend to. My point was that I used to purchase more Mac games and that I want to purchase more Mac games. However, judging from the titles that made this years list, it was a very weak year for Mac games. In this thread, I'm not alone in that opinion.
Peter isn't exactly disputing this either. Not just in response to my post, but his own story says things like:

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"The past 12 months wont go down as a landmark year for Mac development."

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and

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"Meanwhile, Aspyr, MacSoft and Feral Interactivethree companies weve grown to expect big things from each yearreally didnt have the same volume of high-profile, big-selling titles weve come to expect, either. Whats more, shelf space for games in Apple retail stores is looking pretty slim these days. "

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Are you trying to dispute this?

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Saying Mac gaming is abysmal is implying that the big games are not on the Mac platform.

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Says who? That was your inference only. Surely, having no big games on the Mac platform would be abysmal, but who says that's the only criteria? The fact is, the Mac gaming market was never really very good. When your platform is known for having few big titles has a year with even fewer big titles, the word abysmal comes to mind. Combine that with fewer sales, shrinking shelf space, etc. and what word woud you use? Sorry if the truth hurts, but there is a level of frustration amongst what's left of us Mac gamers.

[Steve_S]

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Obviously, the game categories are meant to be taken tongue-in-cheek.

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Seeing as though there is no consistency from year to year, yes, it is obvious. It would also be embarassing to have categories with no legitmate entries.

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The mere fact you're complaining about this demonstrates more about your lack of a sense of humor than any reflection on the state of the market. Which I readily discussed in the preamble to the list.

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When someone tells a joke and nobody laughs, is it the audience or the comedian to blame? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif The fact that your comments only serve to enforce my opinion of the "state of the market" only weakens your position. I don't blame you for the "tongue-in-cheek" type of categories. But, let's face it, if we had a strong year of Mac games in all genres, it would have made more sense to do a more traditional hall of fame with categories people are familiar with. Given what you had to work with, I agree with the approach you took. (yeah for you). But, the flip side to that is that you didn't have much choice and no, I don't think you chose that route to be funny. If you did, don't quit your day job. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[MarkZebra1]

Macworld isn't known for its cutting-edge humor. Where's the journalism in this Hall of Fame piece?
I like to see an article looking into why game developers aren't creating anything good for the Mac directly. What obstacles remain, with the technical prowess of Leopard, its integration with Intel chips, its ability to run Windows, etc. I'm not the most diehard gamer, but it's always been astonishing to me that Apple hasn't made the overtures to the gaming industry that it should, given its obsession with controlling music and video sales. What ramifications will this have for the future of Apple's sales, etc.? I love my Xbox 360. It's a Microsoft product and the XBox Live Store runs the way an Apple interface would, in terms of ease-of-use (I won't mention the red ring-of-death hardware issues they've been encountering...well, I just did).
So, yes, you might as well review PC games that run under Boot Camp.

[cottinghamk]

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So, yes, you might as well review PC games that run under Boot Camp.

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No, he shouldn't. If you want to see reviews for PC games that run under Boot Camp, look on a PC website. Apple computers running Windows are no different from any other computers running it (outside of the basics: graphics card, processor speed, etc.).
And seriously people, quit complaining about the list. He needed to write an article about the games released for Macs this year and made do with what he had. It's not his fault that the Mac is seriously lacking in games like Crysis, Oblivion, and other huge names that dominated all the critics' Top 10 lists. He did exactly what he needed to do: give a short list summarizing his opinions on the top games of the year.

[mflender]

My favorite game of the year is Battlefield 2142. I am one who isn't a fan of Boot Camp. I'm also not a huge fan of Cider ports versus native ports. However, I would rather use a Cider port than maintain a Windows installation for games. However, Aspyr's and Destineer's lack of game releases have forced us towards Boot Camp and Cider. Crysis and COD4 are great examples that have been mentioned. I am thankful that a few notable exceptions have been announced. Namely: Gears of War, UT3, Quake Wars Enemy Territory, and Starcraft 2. Hopefully these will be released in time for us to play against PC users online before they have moved on to other games.

[trip1ex]

If you want to game on the Mac then you'd better get used to playing games that are at least 2 years old and games made by Blizzard.
Cider won't help this. Really it's up to Apple and so far they've dropped the ball. Kind of hard to game on the Mac when there is no Mac that has a decent gaming video card on it.


btw, just found out BootCamp doesn't like multiple OS/X partitions. I can't boot up to Windows anymore. And you can't use BootCamp to make a Windows partition if you already used Disk Utility to make a 2nd OS/X partition for purposes like storing your iPhoto Library on there.

[leoantix]

one game that was overlooked, yet not surprisingly for it has a small yet very tight knit community. Redline ... recently updated for stability and containing over 150 community addons from cars, tracks, and sillies. no, not anything like NFS carbon, yet i perfer my games to have a soul. anyone interested? ... visit www.LEGACYOFLIES.COM /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Steve_S]

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one game that was overlooked, yet not surprisingly for it has a small yet very tight knit community. Redline

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I agree that's a great game and one that I did purchase, it's also not a 2007 game (released in Sept. 2006). Likewise I doubt it was overlooked as it would not have even qualified for the criteria.

markzebra1 wrote:

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Macworld isn't known for its cutting-edge humor. Where's the journalism in this Hall of Fame piece?

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Exactly. Anyway, I'm not knocking the content of this article as these awards would be an opinion piece by definition. But, it was disingenuous for Peter to pretend he's known for his humor.

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So, yes, you might as well review PC games that run under Boot Camp.

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I disagree. If there is nothing Mac specific of value to add, they shouldn't bother writing reviews of PC games. I already subscribe to PC Gamer for that information. There are many other sources for PC Game reviews and lets face it, it's highly unlikely PC game reviews would be better here than those sites dedicated to that function already.
cottinghamk wrote:

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And seriously people, quit complaining about the list. He needed to write an article about the games released for Macs this year and made do with what he had.

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I think you've misinterpreted the spirit of the posts in this thread. Nobody really cares about Peter's choices or more specifically that Peter has validated their choices. Rather, this year's awards underscore just how pathetic the state of Mac gaming has become. There were very few real contenders worthy of any real awards this year. Moreover, the "tongue-in-cheek" categories are there less for humor and more because the contenders for traditional categories aren't worth mentioning. As I stated, I agree with Peter's approach to this article. I (like others) were just lamenting on the state of Mac gaming. Don't read more into it than that.
trip1ex wrote

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If you want to game on the Mac then you'd better get used to playing games that are at least 2 years old and games made by Blizzard.
Cider won't help this. Really it's up to Apple and so far they've dropped the ball. Kind of hard to game on the Mac when there is no Mac that has a decent gaming video card on it.

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Which port of a 2 year old game would you be referring to? There was a time when it was just a matter of waiting for your favorite A-list game to be ported (or at least many of them). Now, we mostly get "casual" games. I don't think we'll have to wait 2 years for the next UT or Gears of War.
As for Cider, I'm not a big fan of that approach, but let's face it, we wouldn't have the 5 most recent EA titles without it. These were at least "near simultaneous" releases. I have NFS Carbon and it plays well on my machine. In short, I'd rather have the Cider port of this game than not have it at all. As I mentioned, Boot Camp is not an acceptable solution for me.