Apple's Bootcamp and the future of Mac Gaming

[CottonMouth.]

I have been playing the BF2 demo on my MBP with bootcamp and XP home for the last two weeks.
With the exception of the occasional crash, it runs better than any of my mac games on OS X.



MBP 2.16 core duo
2gb RAM
RadeonX1600  256VRam

[CottonMouth.]

Also... AA 2.6 seems seems to run pretty flawless.

[Toxic::Joka]

Join ze dark side 

PS. GRAW Demo could be out by next week. 

[cottonmouth]

GR:AW demo is out for PC. Installed it on my MBP and was a little dissapointed.  Runs a little laggy, like the lag on AA2.5 for mac before the auto login fix (not as bad).  I'm curious to see what PC people are saying.  
COD2 demo on the other hand runs great!! Gonna pick up the mac version when it's released.

[theweakspot]

should hace my mactel soon....

[*DAMN Mauti]

Well cottonmouth, as we know the ATI graphic chips are powered lowered than the normal ATI X1600. So you could increase the GPU speed in bootcamp and may gain up to 50 percent speed, as did a few gamers.

Bye,

Mauti

[Ethion]

Well cottonmouth, as we know the ATI graphic chips are powered lowered than the normal ATI X1600. So you could increase the GPU speed in bootcamp and may gain up to 50 percent speed, as did a few gamers.

Bye,

Mauti

If you feel like "overclocking".

[*DAMN Mauti]

Sure the risk of wasting your mighty Mac comes included for free ;-)

[BTs_Mysterio]

If you feel like "overclocking".

Well, no. The MacBook Pro's GPU is actually under-clocked for battery life and fan noise reasons. You can gain 30-40% performance simply by setting it to stock frequencies.

Reference: http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1693

[*DAMN Mauti]

Well the point is that you lose your guarantee if something goes wrong and user reports from different users on xl8ryourmac.com have shown very different results. While some could even exceed the stock frequencies, some couldn't even get close.

[Ethion]

If you feel like "overclocking".

Well, no. The MacBook Pro's GPU is actually under-clocked for battery life and fan noise reasons. You can gain 30-40% performance simply by setting it to stock frequencies.

Reference: http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1693

Well of course, that's why I used quotionmarks. Even though It is not used correctly in this circumstance, I mean that you aren't actually overclocking it, you are just putting it into the right settings.

[cottonmouth]

Thanks for the suggestions, but since gaming is secondary to running FCP Studio, I will not be messing with any hardware. Bootcamp is still just a baby, so I hope when it is 'officially' released they add more user prefs, maybe some tool for overclocking, which I know absolutely nothing about. For now I dont want to give apple any reason to void my MBP warranty.
I will keep ya'll filled in on performance with bootcamp and PC games.

I am totally hooked on BF2, the graphics are so amazing, I find myself just looking at the sky watching the Choppers and fighter jets shoot missles and have dog fights.

[BTs_Mysterio]

Well the point is that you lose your guarantee if something goes wrong and user reports from different users on xl8ryourmac.com have shown very different results. While some could even exceed the stock frequencies, some couldn't even get close.

The real question is whether they used XPoM or Bootcamp, because the former did have fan control issues apparently. If the cooling system wasn't thinking properly then it's safe to assume setting the clock rates at what they should be isn't a good idea. Anyone know what stock frequency Apple put on the 17inch?

[Toxic::Joka]

GR:AW demo is out for PC. Installed it on my MBP and was a little dissapointed.  Runs a little laggy, like the lag on AA2.5 for mac before the auto login fix (not as bad).  I'm curious to see what PC people are saying.  
COD2 demo on the other hand runs great!! Gonna pick up the mac version when it's released.

Runs just fine on my PC (2400, X800, 1024mb). The gameplay is awful though, nothing like the orginal GhR, just another shoot em' up game. 

[KoS.Rebel]

GR AW demo has been a dissappointment to the pc gaming community. Runs fine on my comp, but others it doesnt. AI is garbage, many bugs, many crashes. Lots of people wondering if the full version will be worth the time and agony. I personally am going to buy it. Ill update with how MP is as soon as I get some time with it.

[onwig]

i dont want to get to off topic but... do you think gaming is at a point of where they just want to make games as pretty as possible and don't care about gameplay? some game trailers look like film trailers at the moment

[Ethion]

i dont want to get to off topic but... do you think gaming is at a point of where they just want to make games as pretty as possible and don't care about gameplay? some game trailers look like film trailers at the moment

That's what they want to do with the Xbox360 and PS3, they want it to look as much as a movie as possible.
But still playable as a game. For example, Condemened for PC/360, and Lost Planet for 360. Both looks alot like a movie.

[BTs_Mysterio]

That's what they want to do with the Xbox360 and PS3, they want it to look as much as a movie as possible. But still playable as a game. For example, Condemened for PC/360, and Lost Planet for 360. Both looks alot like a movie.

Condemned is right up there with the best gameplay designed for a console ever in my opinion. It's very intuitive and fun to play. It's far more than still playable. I personally find that most of the truly great games do look awesome as it is a measure of effort as much as anything else. For example, back in the day:

 Unreal Tournament: looked amazing and played even better
 Max Payne: Best graphics for the year and was very innovative and fun along side a great story
 Dues Ex: Best looking game to ever use the original UT engine in my opinion, and never has it's game play style and non-linear feel been matched
 Red Faction: Cheesy storyline, but it sure made up for it in graphics, gameplay, and innovation.

Those are the ones off the top of my head, but I personally can't think of a truly great game that had subpar graphics for it's time. I think the "pretty" games get a lot of misplaced anger, as it can be pretty predictable when a game is going to be bad. In the end of the day, you can safely say "Oh, Ubisoft made this? I'll get the demo before ever buying it [or rent for console]". Now off to find some old Connery/Bond movies for a project.

[KoS.Rebel]

Yes and no. Games that look great most of time play great as well. No point in taking the time to make a game look amazing just to have it suck in the gameplay section. Elders Scrolls 4: Oblivion by far has some of the best graphics on PC and 360, and the gameplay is amazing. There are some games that did lack even when the graphics were sweet, but I cant think of them off the top of my head.

[:MoD:Shade]

Check the end of this thread: http://www.damnr6.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=9865.0

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