Cause it's gonna cost ya. Yes, Bootcamp does allow you to run Windows programs. That's how I play the game...and i spent an extra $120 just for the privilege.

 

Right now a large number of players use Macs running Bootcamp, and they spent $100-$180 for the chance to play this game.

 

Some of us really love this game. We'd love to get some of our friends and family members to play...but they use Macs to.

 

Every time you say, as Daniel Erickson did during the Guild Summit Livestream, that "Bootcamp works just fine," while discussing making this game accessible to as many systems as possible is "you bought an expensive computer that can run this game like a champ....clearly you can afford another $100, and therefore you are not a priority market for us. On the other hand, letting your grandmother run it on her 10 year old PC is an important demographic."

 

I realize that creating a client for another system is harder than optimization for one system, but being so dismissive of a decent chunk of the population is not helpful, nor does it engender goodwill in the customers who did pay an extra $100-$180 just to play your game.

 

There is another MMO company out there (you may have heard of them...they dominate the industry) who has done near simultaneous releases since 1996 with the second of the franchise that launched the most successful MMO ever...and that MMO was also launched for both Windows and Mac simultaneously.

 

I understand if your answer is "not soon." It's a technical hurdle and you didn't build for it from the start (though you probably should have). However, saying "if you want to play it, go drop an extra hundred bucks for you, your spouse, and everyone else you know who you want to get into the game and happens to be Mac people" is quite insulting to hear.

+1, Bootcamp Buddy.

 

- DH

Edited March 6, 2012 by Diet-Hutt

To be fair, That Other Company was waaaaaay ahead of the industry (and still is) by always doing cross platform releases for every game they made. Even when, 15 years ago, it made no sense & the entire industry thought Apple was in the process of bankrupting itself.

 

I'm a Bootcamper & I'm not insulted by their response. By dual booting, I'm kinda proving Bioware's point.

Tell your friends to get a real gaming machine and leave the Mac's for multimedia.

It comes down to cost vs reward for them, and rightly so. They determined that the money spent on creating and supporting Mac version wouldn't really gain them anything, or enough to make it worth it. Because of Bootcamp it gives developers even less incentive, since it is highly likely that any Mac Gamer is going to have Bootcamp anyways. So it comes down to how many more subscribers would they gain if they had native Mac OS support, over the people already willing to play the game with Bootcamp?

Get a pc? The gaming market for macs arnt exactly large...The resources to port it is not worth the effort, especially when there are options out there that work atm. If you bought a mac with the intention of playing games then you knew damn well you'd be purchasing bootcamp as well.

 

Regardless I still say get a damn pc as macs are overpriced garbage.

I'd rather see them release a linux version.

I have to ask, what advantage does Mac have over a PC that makes it worth the extra money spent on the Mac? Perhaps better for some professions out there?

Even when, 15 years ago, it made no sense & the entire industry thought Apple was in the process of bankrupting itself.

 

Apple still isn't popular with game developers or gamers as far as I can tell. It's a general waste of resources in most cases. And I don't get why it costs more to "emulate", is it the program or something else I'm missing that costs about a 100 extra dollars?

Checking various sites, Mac vs PC and PC have 85-90% of the market (checking one site would not give a proper average hence multiple sites), now as a business you need to see where you want to invest your money in for the quickest return.

 

Also you have to look at what percentage of Mac users are actual gamers and out of that 10-15% you have about half which is not a lot of people to justify spending on programming for another platform where the return may not cover the expense.

 

And if you notice the trend, regardless of what That big company did and make a release for both platforms, that is one out of tons of companies that don't do that and they still strive.

 

Either accept boot camp and those around you that want to play will need to do the same or buy a PC, something that will still do multimedia as well as gaming.

I have to ask, what advantage does Mac have over a PC that makes it worth the extra money spent on the Mac? Perhaps better for some professions out there?

 

It comes down to engineering, Unix, and "quality of life" features. That's about it.

I have to ask, what advantage does Mac have over a PC that makes it worth the extra money spent on the Mac? Perhaps better for some professions out there?

 

Answer: absolutely no advantage.

 

If you're an educated/savvy user then a PC does everything and more that a Mac does. It's a logical fallacy that Macs are better at multimedia. 15+ years ago they were but these days it's no longer the case. If your machine has the resources then it can handle the load of Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and so on. I use a Mac periodically at work that ran a little over $5,000. My personal machine ran about $700 and it runs 'slightly' slower. It's laughable really.

 

In all my years I've never come close to being convinced that a Mac was worth the money. Get a loaded PC and spend 1/3 the money. You won't be sorry.

And I don't get why it costs more to "emulate", is it the program or something else I'm missing that costs about a 100 extra dollars?

 

The hundred bucks is the cost of a Windows OEM license.

 

You're not running anything in emulation mode on top of Mac OS X. You're booting directly into Windows.

I looked at EAs Mac OS games, they have 26 games in all, most of which are the various Sim games, Spore, Warhammer Online, Dragon Age 2, FIFA game, Portal 2, Harry Potter game, C&C 3, and Battlefield 2142.

 

So yeah, it doesn't surprise me that EA doesn't support Mac OS

Was this actually said? If so that's unacceptable, completely.

 

Who said it?

 

This may be news to them: BioWare, no one wants to play your game that bad, especially as it was delivered.

 

Also, it conflicts directly with this:

 

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/01/02/bioware-mac-version-of-star-wars-the-old-republic-is-something/

On the other hand, if you look at BioWare's publications they've eventually made a Mac OS version of nearly everything.

 

Btw fellow Bootcampers, if you shop around and don't care about the latest version of Windows then you can pick up an OEM liscense for well under $100. I got Vista for a little over $40. Works just fine and runs what little Win software I have perfectly.

Answer: absolutely no advantage.

 

If you're an educated/savvy user then a PC does everything and more that a Mac does. It's a logical fallacy that Macs are better at multimedia. 15+ years ago they were but these days it's no longer the case. If your machine has the resources then it can handle the load of Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and so on. I use a Mac periodically at work that ran a little over $5,000. My personal machine ran about $700 and it runs 'slightly' slower. It's laughable really.

 

In all my years I've never come close to being convinced that a Mac was worth the money. Get a loaded PC and spend 1/3 the money. You won't be sorry.

 

Actually, the Mac does everything and more that a PC does.

 

It's all about the available software... if you want to spend $1200 on a computer for gaming when a $200 Xbox will work - get a PC. If you want a computer for what they were intended for PLUS some gaming... get a Mac. Period.

 

There are, literally, million of WoW players who do so from a Mac. The Mac market is huge. And growing.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Notannos
rude, no warning

"That big company" didn't launch with Mac support either. It didn't add it until a little bit later.

 

Fact of the matter is this - Macs are not optimized for gaming, so it's hard to optimize a game for it. On top of that fact is another reason - Mac users make up at most 5% of the total gaming population in any game.

 

Why do you cater to the 5% instead of fixing and polishing what the 95% need?

On the other hand, if you look at BioWare's publications they've eventually made a Mac OS version of nearly everything.

 

Btw fellow Bootcampers, if you shop around and don't care about the latest version of Windows then you can pick up an OEM liscense for well under $100. I got Vista for a little over $40. Works just fine and runs what little Win software I have perfectly.

 

No, you need the full retail license for $200.

 

For the actual fact, the OEM license is not allowed to be installed on Boot Camp, therefore illegal. Probably no big deal other than it also excludes you from support from Microsoft.

 

And BioWare.

 

As a matter of fact, Call support right now and tell them you are running TOR on Boot Camp and you have some questions, see what their answer is. (And this is regardless of the Windows license issue mentioned above)

Edited March 6, 2012 by Lethality

"That big company" didn't launch with Mac support either. It didn't add it until a little bit later.

 

Fact of the matter is this - Macs are not optimized for gaming, so it's hard to optimize a game for it. On top of that fact is another reason - Mac users make up at most 5% of the total gaming population in any game.

 

Why do you cater to the 5% instead of fixing and polishing what the 95% need?

 

Yes, they DID launch with it on Day 1. On the same discs. In the same box.

 

Get your facts straight.

Apple still isn't popular with game developers or gamers as far as I can tell. It's a general waste of resources in most cases. And I don't get why it costs more to "emulate", is it the program or something else I'm missing that costs about a 100 extra dollars?

 

You have to buy a copy of windows to load onto your Mac, using Mac's bootcamp program.

 

They don't give you windows for free, obviously.

Actually, the Mac does everything and more that a PC does.

 

 

Like? I seriously want to know, cause I have yet seen a Mac do something that my Windows PC can't. Right now, imo, Macs are just over priced PCs. Every time someone tells me that Macs are better they say 2 things... 1- I just works and 2- It is immune to Virus:rolleyes: So yeah, obviously I keep hearing it from people who do not know anything about computers anyways.

 

So what does a Mac do that a PC can't?

Like? I seriously want to know, cause I have yet seen a Mac do something that my Windows PC can't. Right now, imo, Macs are just over priced PCs. Every time someone tells me that Macs are better they say 2 things... 1- I just works and 2- It is immune to Virus:rolleyes: So yeah, obviously I keep hearing it from people who do not know anything about computers anyways.

 

So what does a Mac do that a PC can't?

 

You tell me first: What does a PC do that a Mac can't?

Yes, they DID launch with it on Day 1. On the same discs. In the same box.

 

Get your facts straight.

 

Exactly. I know...I had those discs. As well as the dual-OS install discs for their previous three RTS games and expansions. (Their original RTS released for Mac 2 years later, and the sequel released within months of each other, and that was back in 1996).

 

"Buy a dedicated gaming machine" is a completely irrelevant, bordering on ignorant, answer. The context of the quote, and included in my OP, was around them having a dedicated team to help this game run on extremely old PCs.

 

Lots of older people play these games. They have a lot of free time, and they enjoy the social aspect that lets them interact with people without leaving their homes (you know...cause they are old). Old people tend to have one of two systems: old PCs cause they never upgraded, or newer Macs because they are easy to use. BW is focusing on only one of those two populations.

 

You also have college students, who can be divided into two categories: gamers and non-gamers. Apple gives a discount to college students, they are trendy, and easy to use. Non-gamer college students buy them in a high proportion, but are in a social situation where they are exposed to gamers...in other words are ideally situated to be recruited into MMO gaming.

 

That Other Company is as successful as they are, and other MMOs before that going back to at least EQ1 because they reached out and hooked the non-gamer demographic.

 

The "get a dedicated gaming computer" demographic is a very small part of the population. Yes, they create content for them, but they also are actively pursuing the super-casuals.

 

And, for those with the complete lack of reading comprehension telling me to get a PC...I clearly already said I'm running this on Bootcamp, so doing so would be a bit redundant. For those who say Macs aren't optimized for gaming, my Macs have always run their games like a champ, both natively in OSX and (for this game) on Windows 7.

You tell me first: What does a PC do that a Mac can't?

 

Nothing, but that is the point. Makes Macs an overpriced computer, nothing else.