Is Mac Civving on its way out?

[FlameFlash]

I know we have CivIII single player, CTP, and SMAC/SMAX, along with MOO3. But really, is Mac gaming and especially civving starting to go by the wayside?

I already expect CivIV to be less supported than CivIII was, I mean, part of the lack of sales of CivIII was the lack of the espansions, part of the lack of the expansions was the lack of CivIII initial sales, so I just don't see, under this logic, why they're going to even both porting CivIV to the Mac.

Honestly, what would be the point? They'll undoubtably use something MS only again for MP, and that means no Mac support for MP.

CivIII is fun, was fun. But I play CTP and SMAX more often. Why? Because they actually have MP support on a Mac.

Now games like NWN are out, fully supported on a Mac, sure. But what economic sense is it to go and buy the game and its expansions when you could get the PC version of the expansions and the core Mac game (there are open source installers that take the PC expansions and install them, meaning that there isn't any difference but the installer, which Mac users shouldn't have to pay so much extra for, IMHO.)

Well, there's my Civ-Mac rant for the day. How do fellow Mac users even try getting around these problems? Buy a PC? That's about all I can see.

[Gatekeeper]

I'd like to see Civ IV come to the Macintosh, but so long as any new Mac I get can play Civ II, I'll be satisfied. After all, I didn't get a Mac because it's such a hot gaming platform.

(I have yet to try Civ III ... let's see ... when it was ported, the 1.17 patch was included ... the 1.21 patch released ... not sure on the 1.29 patch, if that ever came over to the Mac version of Civ III).

Gatekeeper

[FlameFlash]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
I'd like to see Civ IV come to the Macintosh, but so long as any new Mac I get can play Civ II, I'll be satisfied. After all, I didn't get a Mac because it's such a hot gaming platform.

(I have yet to try Civ III ... let's see ... when it was ported, the 1.17 patch was included ... the 1.21 patch released ... not sure on the 1.29 patch, if that ever came over to the Mac version of Civ III).

Gatekeeper

Yes, the 1. 29 patch is out for Mac. It even is an official no-CD update.

You're right on that one, Gatekeeper, but isn't it disappointing to have the ability to play the full versions of these games? It's not like they're simple piddly games made by some company that doesn't have the resources or wherewithall to do a Mac port. They just choose not to.

[Gatekeeper]

I once tried reading the minds of Macsoft, et al., and didn't do so good, so I got out of that business. Well, at least until the next annoyance occurs.

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

If I remember right, wasn't the 1.29 patch the last major one before the expansion packs came out? If so, at least that means Civ III vanilla has been fully patched for the Mac.

Gatekeeper

[FlameFlash]

Yeah... it means we have the full, equal to PC version of CivIII vanilla.

*Insert most non-energetic 'hooray' here*

[Gatekeeper]

**pats FlameFlash on the back** That's about all I can do, son. Hope it helps raise your spirits.

Gatekeeper

[Agathon]

I think the problem with Civ III is that the company porting it was sold right about the time they were considering the port of the first expansion.

From what I have seen, Civ IV will be a pathetic attempt to cash in on the Civ series reputation. There have been strong indications that it will be dumbed down significantly.

It will probably get ported though. I imagine that more copies of the vanilla Civ III were sold than the expansions. If they had a 35% take up on the expansions for PC, then that may well have made the difference for a mac port.

On the other hand, Paradox have been pretty good about porting their games to the Mac.

G - Civ III runs fine without any bugs for me. It's worth a look and you can probably get it cheap now.

[FlameFlash]

Exactly why I want CivIII, not CivIV to be fully ported to the Mac.

Since it won't be done, that's it. Civ gaming may not be dead or on the way out, but it sure is for me. Already planning my next comp purchase to be a win laptop.

Of course, that's probably a ways in the future yet. But at least then I can finally play the real CivIII and CtP 2.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

or you can get out of gaming entirely and just get an apple, which is what im doing.

[monolith94]

As a college student, possibly thinking about grad work, I have precious little time for gaming on my mac. Considering my mac is 3 years old, it isn't proper for todays games anyway! However, every month I find myself drawn again to that old chestnut, civilization 2.

And I still play it on my mac. As long as we have civ 2, mac civ gaming will never be truly be dead. Truly an eternal game.

[Gatekeeper]

Agreed — Civ II is a timeless game. Right now, I'm playing the Aztecs and whupping Eurasia's *ss. Next on my "to-do" list: Africa and the Draka!

Gatekeeper

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Agathon
On the other hand, Paradox have been pretty good about porting their games to the Mac.

Amen to that, brother! And, Crusader Kings and HOI2 are slated for port-ation over the next months.

Right now, I'm in the middle of a great Vicky GC as Pru..., no wait Germany.

Originally posted by FlameFlash
Exactly why I want CivIII, not CivIV to be fully ported to the Mac.

FF, you really ought to go over to CFC and d/l'ed the GOTM mod. Just make a separate installation of Civ3: one vanilla and one GOTM mod. With the mod, you can play the ever popular GOTM save file (don't have to submit it), and you can even generate epic games using the features of PTW/Conquest and many of the new civs, including others as well, through bluebox's GOTM scenario mod. Be sure to use AlanH's all-in-one GOTM installer for the Mac.

Bluebox's GOTM Scenario

Mac Discussion Thread re: Bluebox GOTM Scenario

[Insane]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
Agreed — Civ II is a timeless game... Gatekeeper

Most definitely. On those rare occasions that I actually have time to spare... it's either Civ II or MOO II for me. Personally I think both of these series should have stopped at II.

[dojoboy]

Another thought about the decline of mac gaming:

We are definitely seeing high end PC ports on the FPS / RPG games. Aspyr is cranking them out w/ the occassional RTS (e.g. C&C: Generals & exp). MacSoft has released an RTS (RoN Gold) recently. But, there seems to be a developing niche market for mac games that Virtual Programming, Ltd. seems to be on the forefront of. This market is fueled by older PC games that are attractive, but only now affordable to port to the mac after a couple of years or just never got a good look upon release.

VPLtd. really got started with only Europa Universalis II, VGP2, and Kickoff. Now, they have over 20 games released, some not yet released. Paradox strategy titles now have developed a niche for them, and somewhat of a cult following. Crusader Kings and Hearts of Iron 2 a slated for ports soon. Massive Assault has been very popular for them, as well as Celtic Kings.

Now, their ports can be released buggy, but that is due to more to the fact that they don't have a portinghouse hammering away at code. And, they do make sure the bugs get fixed. From what I can tell, they recruit individual programmers to port specific games or series. However, they are diligent about keeping games patched to their PC equivalents. From shear volume, I'm etting unit sales over time are going to be their strength. Where else can you purchase a new mac game for $30 US?

I say all this to argue that there is really an expanding market for mac games. Aspyr and MacSoft are going to release the blockbusters, while smaller publishers are able to exploit good games that may not always appeal to the masses.

As far as the civ series go, I doubt seriously MacSoft would pass on a cIV port for very long.