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Aug 5 / Ozymandias

Apple inCider (or Apple Gaming Strategy Theory #1)

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Just wanted to share a quick post to share this link about Transgaming’s Cider from Red Herring. Not a lot of information, but it appears Cider allows game developers to basically wrap their Windows game such that it can run on an Intel Mac. The key appears to be that a developer can use their existing source code base without a lot of changes. I’m sort of thinking of Cider as Parallels for gaming… which sort of leads me back to possible Apple strategies for gaming.


There are a few plays I can imagine, but I only have time to write up one now. That theory, in short, is that I can imagine Apple creating a Cider equivalent, but tied to OS X. I personally believe Boot Camp is a step on that continuum. As you probably know, Boot Camp allows you to dual-boot between different OSes. The next logical step has already been taken by Parallels, which enables virtualization (or allowing both Windows and Windows applications to run inside of OS X). Many people believe virtualization belongs in the OS directly, so it’s not hard to imagine Apple working hard to enable this in the next version of OS X. And at that point, it’s not that much more of a step to create an “Intel Mac Gaming SDK” that enables game developers to optimize what’s basically their Windows game codebase and simply run on the Mac, just as Cider appears to allow. Heck, I could even see Apple shortcutting the whole process and just acquiring Transgaming and putting those guys to work on the OS directly.


This would be a huge step forward for Apple as it could resolve that nagging problem of not having enough games on the platform. It’s probably of smaller benefit to the game industry as a whole since the total number of games being sold may not go up dramatically (after all, people are likely to buy only one copy for whichever system they want to play on). What it doesn’t address is Apple’s desire to expand iTunes reach into the living room and other devices… which I think leads to Apple’s other potential gaming strategy. More on that later.

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  • http://www.twistedtechnology.net Twist

    I don’t believe that Apple is very concerned with gaming. I have been following Apple and using Mac’s for almost a decade now and if anything Apple seems to care even less about gaming now than they used to. Almost a year ago now I wrote a <a href="http://www.twistedtechnology.net/mt/archives/articles/opinion/the_death_of_mac_gaming.php">big long post</a> about this subject on my blog that might interest you. So far most of my predictions were pretty close. Also until Apple deals with the driver and API issues it is still going to be better to run a game natively under Windows for performance reasons. I really doubt that the games will run as good under virtualization as they would natively under Mac OS X and we already <a href="http://www.twistedtechnology.net/mt/archives/blog/2006/wow_benchmarking.php">have information proving</a> that games runs better under Windows on the same hardware.

  • Escobar4Life

    I agree. I don’t think Apple is concerned with gaming.

    Damn I want a Mac really bad. I have to sell my current Gateway laptop in order to buy a MacBook or MacBook Pro. I really want to make a switch.  :(

  • Enzo304

    I’m so sick of Apple right now.  I’m trying to get a wireless adapter for my G3 iMac, and it wont work.  The drivers that are made for my OS (10.2.8) are old and suck, while the newer ones (for 10.3+) are supposedly quite nice.

    The only thing from Apple that I like is my 60gb iPod video.  I’ve been using Mac’s for about 10 years now, and am now done with them.  Forever.  I wont ever have to spend $150 on a new OS update again!

    (sorry for off-topic post, just very irrated right now)

  • Ozymandias

    I’m interested in the fact that you guys (at least who have posted) don’t think Apple is interested in the gaming market. Why is that?

    I’m with you in that there hasn’t been a lot of attention paid to it in the past from Apple. But I think it’s one of the big chinks in their PC turnaround today. Thoughts?

  • http://www.twistedtechnology.net Twist

    Like I said in my first comment have have been a Apple users for many years now and I remember back in 1999 or 2000 when Apple made their last big push for games. Everyone seemed to think that it was going to be a new age of Mac gaming. Apple went so far as to actually get Madden for that year ported to the platform. In the end though nothing really came of it beside getting OpenGL installed with the OS by default.

    I think Apple is more concerned with the much larger casual computer user market than the smaller gamer market. In fact they seem so concerned with the iLife crowd that they are often on the verge of alienating pro segment users like me. Mainly though I think that Apple realizes that until it expands it’s market share that the effort of attracting gamers can be better spent elsewhere. Third party developers and publishers (the only kind that exist for the Mac platform) are not going to expend the resource required to make the Mac a serious gaming machine until it has a much larger share of the market. If Apple wants to make the Mac a gaming platform then the first thing they need to do is purchase a few developers and start releasing first party titles. Creating a GameTap like application wouldn’t be a bad start.

    Enzo304 I have an old iMac as well (Rev C). Your best bet for getting it online wirelessly is to use an ethernet bridge, those USB dongle things don’t work so well with older systems. If you want to get 10.3 up and running on it you may be able to do so with XPostFacto (http://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/).

  • Enzo304

    Twist— Thanks for the link, interesting stuff there.  The problem I have isn’t that my Mac can’t run 10.4, it’s just that I don’t want to spend another $100 on it.  Thanks for the link, though, interesting stuff found there.

  • zmson

    Talking about portable gameing does anyone no anything about Xbox going into the portable gaming?

  • Escobar4Life

    If Apple wants to get gaming on Macs, they need to acquire game developers or something like that. That would be a great start. They need to have a gaming department at Apple. Maybe not a lot of people would play games on a Mac but that could change someday. And it would be another reason to buy a Mac.

    But I think Apple should get in the video game industry by coming out with their own console or portable. Maybe a portable would be better a better move by Apple. They should combine iPod and video games into one. You know a lot of casuals would buy it and gamers as well. This portable gaming system should have ‘iPod’ as it’s name since it’s so popular. Don’t know what the portable would be named. But this would sell like hotcakes. iTunes + Video Games + Video = $$$. It sounds a lot like the PSP though. But that wouldn’t be bad. I know many casuals who want a PSP just for those functions.

    But yeah, thats what I think. If they are successful with the video game iPod, they can get more support for Macs.

    As for the portable Xbox, MS is working on one. Theres been many hints at it too (don’t have links at the moment). Maybe MS will announce/release it next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was called ‘Xbox’ something.

  • Enzo304

    the Zune?  www.comingzune.com

    Do you think Apple has the resources (aka MONEY) to start up a new division there for gaming?  I’m curious to see just how well they are doing as a company.

    I’m never buying their stock, haha.

  • Ozymandias

    Their stock has been up ten-fold over the last 2-3 years. Not too shabby. :)

  • Escobar4Life

    Not bad. But just look how popular the iPod brand is. That alone can help it sell. Similar to the Playstation brand. I’m pretty sure Apple would be successful if it came out with a portable gaming system. Maybe not consoles at the moment (too much money).

    I do think Apple will come out with a gaming console someday. Microsoft is doing it, why not Apple? But I don’t know if the console would be successful. MS had the advantage with the money.

    P.S.: I love Xbox 360!!!

  • Enzo304
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