I admit it. I’m a Boot Tramp. I use Windows on a regular basis on my Mac. Sometimes, I switch on my Mac Pro and hold down the ALT key on start-up. Sometimes I don’t even know I’m using a Mac, sometimes I boot straight into Windows without knowing it! Oh god, sometimes I forget what I’m using – is it OS X or Vista?! It’s gone too far to be stopped, I’m a Windows user now. Might as well face it. I am a Boot Tramp.
I’ve been a Mac user for ages. I used to be a fan boy. Not anymore though. Now I’m level headed. Well, I’m less of fan boy and more level headed, I wouldn’t go as far to say level headed. Anyway, when Apple moved to Intel it was a bit of a shock. But that gave way to the ability to boot into Windows. To play Half Life 2 on my Mac. To STALKER on my Mac. Dreamfall on my Mac. Mass Effect, Crysis, BioShock, and more. Boot Camp opened my eyes to the world of games. I’d never owned a PC until Apple released Boot Camp.
There is a shortage of games for the Mac. There are some great games for the platform but most, sadly, do not find their way over. Boot Camp lets you play everything available for the PC. For this reason, it’s pretty damned essential to have on your Mac.
The run up to Christmas 2008 is a one littered with excellent titles, none of which are coming to the Mac. Some of them I simply have to play. In particular I’m looking forward to Fallout 3 (potential masterpiece), the next generation post apocalyptic from Bethseda, and Left 4 Dead, the zombie co-op from Valve. Sadly, Fallout 3 will be the first game in the series (forgetting the horrors like Fallout Tactics) not available for the Mac and is unlikely ever to be ported.
By using Boot Camp on your Mac, you too can be a Boot Tramp, like me! I’ll be focusing on how games run under Boot Camp, what hardware we have for the Mac and PC side of Boot Camp and what games are worth playing. It’s also a sneaky way to cover the latest games under the title of Mac. Cheating, hell no! We’re still using a Mac, aren’t we?
No, I wholeheartedly disagree.
OS X transforms a beautiful piece of technology into a Mac.
At least for me, it looks and feels wrong to boot into Windows on Apple hardware.
I know people who just bought an iMac to install Windows on it. “Hey, it looks great, isn’t it?” They couldn’t even be bothered to try out OS X and find out why other people prefer it over XP or Vista.
To me, these people aren’t Mac users. They try to buy a certain lifestyle and not an opportunity to discover an elegant, well crafted combination of hardware and software.
I’ve been gaming on the Mac since 1990, starting on a Mac Classic with a 9″ b/w-screen and 4 MB RAM. It never “killed” me not to play a particular game or wait a year or two for an outstanding title.
There’s so much more to life than just gaming. As long as the good people in Feral or other porting companies bring out some good native OS X games every now and then – I’ll be fine.
I’ll think of when you when I’m wandering the post apocalyptic landscape of Fallout 3!
Maybe I’ll accompany you on your journey – from my PS3.
Seriously, I guess I know what you’re getting at: There always seems to be THAT game you’d be dying to play and, for one or another reason, it’s not available for the Mac. At least not right now.
But my question is: How many Windows-exclusive titles are really out there? Today’s gaming is dominated by next-gen consoles and I just don’t think it’s worthy to maintain a second OS for 1 or 2 titles per year.
I don’t think gaming is dominated by consoles. However, most of the games I play you can probably get on a console.
How many Windows exclusives? How about a better question: how many PC exclusives? World of Warcraft, World of Goo, EVE Online, Crysis, Dreamfall, Spore…
Ok, I know some will be developed for consoles, but they are at home on a PC. WASD and mouse can’t be matched by ‘orrible controllers from a PS3 or xBox. And if you feel the need to plug a controller into your PC – heresy! You should be burned!
Lets see… WoW, EVE, and Spore are not PC exclusive. There are Mac versions out there. Where have you been?
I’m big into strategy games, particularly old school turn based. I’ve had really good luck with Crossover. It let’s me run Windows software without needing Windows or Boot Camp.
Ah, I’ve been there for them! I’ve WoW’d it up as a Druid to L66, roamed space in EVE Online and evolved duck things to Space Gods in Spore. But I just can’t let games like Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead slip past. CrossOver is great, but it’s not going to run them well enough in OS X.
I have some thoughts on the themes of PC exclusives, and console gaming being dominant. Whilst many titles are being released for PC, xbox 360, and PS3 simultaneously, there are some advantages to the PC option. In our flat we have both of those consoles and a PC. Having seen a number of games up close on the 3 formats over the past couple of years, I would always choose the PC version simply for the excellent graphics. Examples include Oblivion, Bioshock and the recent Fallout 3, all of which look considerably more stunning on a mid range PC with a 9600 GT nvidia card in it (by no means top of the range). I noticed just last night that whilst the xbox version of Fallout 3 is impressive, up close the textures look pretty sketchy.
Replace “Boot Tramp” mac into the above and I think the reasoning would still stand for many mac gamers.
CIDER!!!
no really, there should be some program like crossover, one that can play ANY game, not just a few.
Well, I.D. Software is taking the matter into their hands. The are releasing the post-apocalyptic game named “Rage” simultaneously for the Xbox 360, Playsstation 3, Windows PC, and YES MAC OS X!!!