(Mac startup chime)
- [MrMacRight] Believe it or not,
gaming on Mac has had a very long history.
There are many things you may not know about this system,
in regards to gaming.
Today we're looking at 10 Mac Gaming Facts,
you probably didn't know.
Number 10, early dev kits for the XBOX 360
was in fact a Power Mac G5.
Back at E3, 2005,
Power Mac G5 systems were being
used to run the Xbox 360 demos.
The 360 consoles were in the kiosks,
but weren't actually running,
as they were only for show.
The G5 systems being used to demo the games,
could only use a GeForce 6800 Ultra,
or an ATI Radeon X800 XT,
which meant developers had to reduce the
image quality of their games being demoed.
Games were not being run under Mac OS X,
but instead a custom operating system to demo the games.
Number 9, macOS games on Steam are at an all-time high,
with over 8,000 games supported for our platform.
Now, if we go back to 2010,
when Steam was released on Mac OS X,
only 68 games were supported for Mac OS X.
But going further a few years,
you can see how much it has grown.
Number 8, Halo was going to be an
exclusive game for Mac and Windows,
with Microsoft's console the Xbox, not in the picture, yet.
It was at Macworld in 1999,
that Halo was announced.
- Halo is the name of this game,
and we're gonna see, for the first time, Halo.
- [MrMacRight] And it was very different game.
Designed initially as a real-time strategy,
later evolving into an over-the-shoulder shooter,
as seen at Macworld.
The game was utilizing OpenGL,
and it was praised for its advanced graphics
and light technology at the time.
However, this Halo version, was completely scrapped when
Microsoft bought Bungie away from Apple in 2000,
and switched it to a first-person shooter.
(rapid gun fire)
Apple computers did at least get to see the game in the end,
when a port was released in 2003.
Still, imagine what would have happened if Microsoft didn't
buy Bungie away from Apple,
things could be different.
Number 7, while we're on the topic of Apple events.
- Now, there's one other topic I want to talk about today,
while we're talking about Applications.
(audience cheers)
And that's games.
- [MrMacRight] Apple has often showcased
Mac gaming at their Apple events.
For instance, back in 1999, at Macworld San Francisco,
Steve Jobs announced 12 popular games
coming to Mac that year,
and then it was followed by a quick demo of Quake Arena
running on a Power Mac G3, with OpenGL support.
And then, in 2001 at Macworld, Steve Jobs introduced DOOM 3,
running in real-time on their new operating system Mac OS X,
and using GeForce3, which used updated textures and models.
While it can be said that Steve Jobs
was never really interested in gaming,
he did recognize their technical
achievement for the Apple Mac.
- We think GeForce 3 is going to be a landmark
in 3D computer graphics.
- [MrMacRight] Then, in recent years
we have Fortnite being demoed at WWDC 2015,
to promote Apples new graphic API Metal,
and at WWDC 2018, the upcoming game,
Book of The Dead was running on a
MacBook powered by an eGPU.
- [Jobs] And that's all rendered live,
on a MacBook running with an eGPU.
It's pretty great.
- [MrMacRight] Number 6, Apple designed their own game
console called the Apple Bandai Pippin back in 1996,
and it was a disaster.
It was based on the Apple Macintosh platform,
and included the classic Mac OS architecture.
- The Pippin platform is being positioned by Apple
as a new media appliance for access to vaster array
of interactive content.
- [MrMacRight] The Pippin failed, badly.
It reportedly manufactured fewer than 1,000 systems,
but only sold 42,000 systems before being discontinued.
It had a poorly designed controller,
it had hardly any games.
Plus, the system was overpriced,
compared to a Nintendo 64,
and the PlayStation at the time.
- [Teen] This is not very ergonomic.
- [Man] No, it's a very weird controller.
- [MrMacRight] Number 5, you used to be able to buy
disc-based Mac games from retail stores.
Even Apple offered games in their stores.
I remember back in 2005, when I was 10,
I bought the Sims 2, 4x4 Evo 2,
and Ford Racing 2 for my iMac G5,
and I was quite impressed to see a
dedicated shelf for Mac games.
But in recent years buying disc-based Mac games,
is pretty much, nonexistent.
Due to the market of Mac gamers being so small,
retailers became reluctant to stock Mac games.
Plus, big Mac developers stopped shipping disc-based games.
For example, Feral Interactive and ASPYR Media.
But all this isn't such a downer anymore,
as all modern Macs don't have disc drives,
and game companies sell their games digitally,
through gaming platforms like Steam.
Number 4, speaking of disc-based games,
Pangea Software, a well-known Mac gaming developer,
based in Austin, Texas, in the early 2000s,
was well known for offering their games
for digital download from their website.
In 2009, a Canadian woman didn't understand this concept,
and calls them for tech support.
- [Woman] We bought something off of you on the internet,
and we don't have it.
But ya know, I've been billed.
It's a game.
I'm not good with computers,
make yourselves available.
- [MrMacRight] She claims that she
purchased a game from them,
and never received it via post,
not understanding that you could just
digitally download the game.
She says she'll call the fraud company,
call the Canadian cops,
put a stop on her Visa card,
and then calls Pangea computer freaks.
- [Woman] You computer freaks!
Get to me!
- [MrMacRight] It's quite funny,
I've included a link to the video,
in the description, if you want to watch.
Number 3, remember when I said Fortnite
was demoed back at WWDC 2015?
Well that game has become one of the most
popular games on Mac today.
- Nice!
And there's our friend laying down some covering fire.
- [MrMacRight] Fortnite has actually had a very
interesting history on macOS.
During the 2015 WWDC demo of Fortnite,
it was used as an example of the
graphic's potential offered by Metal,
which Apple debuted during this event.
Epic also released a trailer for the game
that same year, that was captured from a Mac Pro.
Epic even held early access invites for Mac users,
and many gamers praised Epic for how
well-optimized Fortnite was for low-end
and high-end Mac hardware,
during the beta testing.
And this was at a time,
before the Battle Royale mode was even released,
and before Fortnite would become pretty much,
the most successful game of today.
But when the game officially released,
as many of you probably already know,
it was poorly optimized for macOS.
Especially, for Macs with integrated graphics.
Now yes, the game has been, somewhat better
optimized for Mac since its release,
but, I think the major reason for all these issues,
was because Epic's focus was vastly
taken away from the Mac platform.
Because of how successful Fortnite became,
they had more important priorities
to focus their time and money towards.
(gun blasts)
- [Player] No, no, no, no.
- [MrMacRight] Number 2, there is a book
dedicated to the history of Mac gaming.
It's called the Secret History of Mac Gaming,
by Richard Moss.
If you're a passionate Mac gamer you should get this book.
The book goes into great detail about Mac gaming's inception
in the late 1970's to what it has become today,
and how Mac gaming actually played a big part in shaping
the gaming environment to what it is today, in 2019.
It was also funded directly by
readers through the website Unbound.
You can buy a digital version of the book from Unbound,
or via the link in the description.
Number 1, you can unlock arcade games on Mac via terminal.
You can play 5x5, Pong, Solitaire,
Snake, doctor, Tetris,
and more all via the terminal application.
To start games, open Terminal
and type eMacs into the prompt.
Now press Enter to open it.
Press Esc, then press the letter X.
Now, just type the game you want to play.
You can control the game with the arrow keys.
All the game names available are in the description.
It's just a little Easter egg by Apple,
and it's a nice little homage to classic games, I suppose.
What Mac gaming facts do you know?
Let me know one or two in the comments below.
If you liked this video,
share it around with other Mac gamers
who are passionate about our system,
and subscribe if you want to see more
content about gaming on Mac computers.
Thanks for watching.
Buh bye.
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