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When a Mac user walked into a room of gamers and started talking games, he was laughed at, beaten, bloodied, and dragged to the nearest ditch to die.

Well, he was laughed at, anyway.

But times have changed. Not because Apple has really strengthened their Mac lineup to support games (despite Apple’s random announcements over the years implying otherwise), but because of the numbers of former PC users now flocking to the OS X platform. Admittedly, a huge part of this diaspora wasn’t because OS X is simply a solid operating system, but because Vista isn’t. Of course, there’s still much to be desired regarding Apple’s hardware lineup as far as gamers are concerned, particularly because there aren’t any good middle-of-the-road options price-wise, but OS X has proven itself capable for running games, even if much of that proof is in ported titles.

The real truth is in Blizzard’s cash-cow, World of Warcraft (WoW), which had a simultaneous release on OS X. In fact, only one version of the game was ever sold, with both Windows and OS X versions on the same discs. Blizzard has been a forerunner in this regard for years now, having released previous Warcraft games on both Microsoft and Apple platforms, including their other franchises (Starcraft and Diablo).

This is an important thing for gaming companies to consider, because despite the rumblings among the development community that it’s not easy to port Direct-X code to OS X, oftentimes even considering the licensing of frameworks and APIs to ease in this porting, Blizzard was vastly successful in supporting OS X, even going so far as to add unique features to their OS X branch (such as native video recording).

Our personal experiences are such that we’ve had much less issues running WoW under OS X compared to Windows, to the point where we could count out WoW crashes under OS X on one hand, whereas under Windows, summing the crashes and restarts would require too much time than we have in a given day.

The real consideration for developers isn’t how well a game can run under OS X, however, but rather the number of gamers a developer will ultimately abandon if they don’t develop OS X versions of their games. In massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), not only is supporting the OS X crowd a boon, but supporting them from the get-go is nigh mandatory to win their allegiance.

Over the past six years or so, we’ve slowly migrated away from PCs, to the point where we recently sold out last gaming box and are now without Windows outside a virtualized form. And even virtualized, we rarely give Windows a look unless it’s to access legacy hardware (like our Garmin GPS). The point is, after WoW, it would take a significant revolution in gaming to make us even think about buying another PC, particularly since that PC would only serve to run the game in question. And let’s face it: with even die-hard PC gaming developers supporting consoles these days, we’re tempted to finally agree that PC gaming (relegated to Windows-only, that is) has its days numbered.

We’re not alone in our abandonment of PCs, either. Over the last couple years, we’ve witnessed many of our post-collegiate colleagues shedding their PCs, and either replacing them with Apple machines, else turning to consoles for their gaming needs. Like us, many have returned to their console roots, even if that’s one area that Microsoft still has our attention.

Yet despite the exodus we’re seeing from Windows, it still seems that most PC gaming developers are ignoring OS X. Aside from WoW, the only other “major” MMOG to support the OS X platform is EVE Online, which was only recently ported to OS X after years of successful operation in a Windows-only world. Given the number of gamers playing both EVE and WoW on Macs, it would appear that there’s some profit to be made here, even if the PC world is what’s jump-starting sales.

To say that developers of upcoming games have learned their lesson would be a major overstatement, however. Age of Conan, nor the upcoming Warhammer MMOG, will support OS X upon release. This is particularly odd for the latter, given it’s expected sales and already-hyped appeal. While Mac gamers may not even make up a quarter of sales upon release, why bother cutting them out at all, given that development of simultaneous platforms shouldn’t be that taxing now that Apple is using Intel hardware, and that there are actually options out there for porting Direct-X code. After all, in order to conquer the giant that is WoW, developers of future MMOGs should certainly be leveraging every possible opportunity they can.

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s an alchemical breakthrough: the transmutation of optical media to an older, analog format. According to Boing Boing, Aleks Kolkowski is using a vintage record cutter to cut grooves into CDs/DVDs such that they can be played on a record player. This physical mutilation obviously destroys the ability to keep playing the old CDs/DVDs in their original forms, but for turntable fans, this is a cool function, despite it’s limited applications.

What applications, one asks? For one, DJs who refuse to use newer forms of media will jump at the opportunity to dig out old AOL CDs that they threw in the closet back in 1998. So too will fans of steampunk phonographs jump, merely because of the novelty behind the concept. Others will release their small-label songs in hybrid forms, requiring a turntable to listen to their album’s bonus track.

Then there are those who might actually do this en masse, because gramophones don’t use electricity thanks to their hand-crank technology. This means that reusing otherwise discarded optical discs could very well become the green solution for recorded music playback. All that’s missing is an easy way to obtain a reasonably-sized record cutter, and a reputable gramophone dealer with solid restoration work.

Unfortunately, modern record cutters are quite expensive, even if restored gramophones make it to one’s local flea market. This means that to leverage hand-cranked, recorded music on the cheap, paying for the service to have a record cut onto CD is a more likely scenario than the overhead one would pay for the machine to do it at home.

Considering there’s a pretty cheap way to build a replica phonograph, we’re surprised there’s not a cheaper record cutter on the market. Maybe we just missed it though - anyone have more information?

Popularity: 1% [?]

After reading Maxator’s post about his go-to Mac applications, we decided to give ClamXav a spin. Content with ClamXav’s memory footprint and happy with the fact that it’s anti-virus engine is open source, we decided to add the application to our own list of must-have OS X applications. We’ve also added Ulysses to our list of writing apps, on account of it’s excellent organizational functionality. These two changes are reflected in our updated OS X applications list, mendax.mac.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Let’s clarify that: in order for the next big massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) to become a real competitor to World of Warcraft (WoW), it will need to be built upon an established background. World of Warcraft (WoW) set this precedent when it was released; WoW wasn’t a success overnight, but rather, because of the intellectual property (IP) that it was built on (Blizzard’s three real-time strategy Warcraft games), thousands of fans immediately flocked to Blizzard’s MMOG offering. It was these fans that managed to convert the skeptical. Arguably, if WoW wasn’t based on the Warcraft games, WoW’s growth would have been much slower.

Today’s MMOG market, dominated by WoW, isn’t open to a drastic change in subscription-base unless one of two things happen:

1. A major innovation in MMOGs occurs, which will be so awesome, WoW’s dated gameplay will be too reminiscent of Everquest to matter.
2. The IP behind a new game is so alluring, that players won’t much care if this new game still utilizes the archaic tank/healer/DPS foundation on which existing MMOGs are mostly based upon.

Obviously, the first variable here is uncertain, because if someone had an idea that was so groundbreaking compared to existing MMOGs, the concept would likely have already been tried, or is already in the pipeline. We’ll focus, instead, on the second variable noted.

If the next big-budget MMOG is based on already-successful IP, the fans of that IP will try out the new game regardless of whether they know anything else about it. We’ve seen this from countless other game franchises, and for MMOGs, the appeal to jump into a “sandbox” world that players have already come to love is too great to pass by. They key, however, is for such a game to be based on relevant IP, and that’s where games like Age of Conan fail. Who, aside from a small group of gamers, cares about Hyboria? If there had recently been a Conan movie, highly read graphic novel, or even a successful single-player Conan game, then things might be different, but only a small number of individuals are going to give Age of Conan a serious look right now, and that’s unfortunate given the improvements it’s said to sport over WoW.

The other barrier, we ought to mention, is the type of machine required to run MMOGs. Blizzard has always been good about writing code that will run on a wide range of computers, whereas games like Everquest II, Age of Conan, and other “photorealistic” MMOGs won’t appeal to as many gamers as possible because the system requirements are too great. WoW is easy to get into for most people because their existing computers can run it, even if it’s a few years old.

At present, there are two games on the horizon whose IP is enticing enough to draw in the amount of players from the get-go. Firstly, is Warhammer, which is based on the highly successful line of tabletop war-games. This will entice not only many current MMOG players, but those who may have never entered the MMOG fray but who are current or former Warhammer aficionados. That’s a very large player-base, without even considering the number of dissatisfied WoW players who’d be interested in giving a similarly-themed game a go.

Secondly, the Fallout MMOG that was announced some time ago will undoubtedly offer a backstory that many current gamers have come to love. Bolstered by November’s release of Fallout 3 on the XBox 360, the Fallout IP is going to receive some serious love, which will hopefully carry over to an expansion, else directly to the MMOG itself. In fact, the Fallout IP may very well be what it takes to get a non-fantasy MMOG into the mainstream.

An existing, familiar background won’t guarantee success, but it will nonetheless be a required variable for any up-and-coming MMOG for the immediate future. In fact, we’d say that this variable will be just as important as the developers ensuring that players won’t need to upgrade to brand new systems.

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The latest version of the “award winning” WoW UI suite is available for download. This version includes fixes for CT Map Mod, Damage Meters, and several others. Enjoy.

Popularity: 2% [?]