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Peter · Jun 8, 2004, 10:28 AM

Aspyr Media announced today that the Mac edition of James Bond 007 Nightfire has gone gold and will ship to retail outlets throughout North America on June 18th. Nightfire for the Mac was licensed from Electronic Arts by Aspyr Media and lets players take on a first-person action adventure as the world's most popular agent in an all-new original storyline. You can learn more about the game at the link above.

Not too bad a game

Gamespy
I am more amazed at Gamespy doing mac news...

Frumpy · Jun 11, 2004, 08:31 AM

I still don't understand how Aspyr can sell this game for near $40. It's been out for two years on the consoles. It was good, but not the best FPS on the Mac by far. I'm a big console fan, and this just seems like another example of gouging the Mac gaming market for every penny they can get. You know there's something wrong when UT 2004 (a brand new game) is going for the same price as NightFire (a two year old James Bond console game). Ugh.

Ryan Becker · Jun 11, 2004, 11:42 AM

Originally posted by Frumpy:
I still don't understand how Aspyr can sell this game for near $40. It's been out for two years on the consoles. It was good, but not the best FPS on the Mac by far. I'm a big console fan, and this just seems like another example of gouging the Mac gaming market for every penny they can get. You know there's something wrong when UT 2004 (a brand new game) is going for the same price as NightFire (a two year old James Bond console game). Ugh.

The game is $29.99 and no one is saying that you have to buy it! If you have it for the console already, why do you care about how much it costs on the Mac?

I appreciate Aspyr taking the time to bring the good games to the Mac, no matter how long it takes. I don't care if I'm playing a game 2 years after it came out on the console, cause I don't own a console. I'm still trying to beat Max Payne 1, and guess what, even though it's old, I'm still loving the game and enjoying it just the same.

Gaming isn't just about being the first to play some new game.

Now, the only thing that annoys me is that the requirements for this 2 year old game seem to be quite demanding, more so than Call Of Duty, which I just don't understand. 64mb vid card required!? I don't get it...

-Ryan

Leonard · Jun 11, 2004, 01:27 PM

I want try this game... it looks interesting.

Frumpy · Jun 11, 2004, 01:51 PM

Really? Eh, I guess $30 isn't too bad. I work at a GameStop and one of the main components of the job is being very, VERY up to date on what the newest games are all about. Also being a big Mac fan, it's very frustrating to see a company (Aspyr) bring a game that only had moderate reviews at best on the colsoles over to the Mac, TWO YEARS after it came out in the console world. For those who don't care about how old the game is and don't own a console, this may be a great game for you. But for what I would say is the majority of PC/Mac/console gamers, we're looking for the best of the best that's going to be coming our way. UT 2004. World of Warcraft. Sims 2, even. I would rather see a major Mac gaming developer spending time to make sure that these games 1) run as well as they can on the Mac when compared to the PC version and 2) release them around the same time as the PC version than to come out with games that are considered 'yesterday's news' in the gaming industry. Is Aspyr bored? Have they run out of ports to bring over to the Mac that would actually bring us up to the standards that PC gaming has today? Where's Far Cry? Why are we releasing NightFire before Battlefield?! Where's Doom 3, City of Heroes, Full Spectrum Warrior?! How about some Grand Theft Auto action on the Mac? Those titles sold like CRAZY for the PC. My point is that Aspyr could be trying a lot harder to get some of the MAJOR titles on the Mac. Being one of the top Mac game developers, it's their job to make it seem to new computer customers that the Mac has something great to offer as far as gaming is concerned. NightFire, a two year old game that will be sitting on the shelves of Apple stores around the country, will not be very impressive. They'll be asking the same questions that I am right now. Am I wrong?

RooneyX · Jun 11, 2004, 02:39 PM

I played the demo on my last PC. Terrible really. Everything Or Nothing is a really good game. Wouldn't mind a Mac version so I can play with mouse and keys.

Frumpy · Jun 11, 2004, 03:47 PM

Yup, Everything or Nothing would be a great addition to the Mac family of games.

Ryan Becker · Jun 11, 2004, 06:24 PM

Originally posted by Frumpy:
Really? Eh, I guess $30 isn't too bad. I work at a GameStop and one of the main components of the job is being very, VERY up to date on what the newest games are all about. Also being a big Mac fan, it's very frustrating to see a company (Aspyr) bring a game that only had moderate reviews at best on the colsoles over to the Mac, TWO YEARS after it came out in the console world. For those who don't care about how old the game is and don't own a console, this may be a great game for you. But for what I would say is the majority of PC/Mac/console gamers, we're looking for the best of the best that's going to be coming our way. UT 2004. World of Warcraft. Sims 2, even. I would rather see a major Mac gaming developer spending time to make sure that these games 1) run as well as they can on the Mac when compared to the PC version and 2) release them around the same time as the PC version than to come out with games that are considered 'yesterday's news' in the gaming industry. Is Aspyr bored? Have they run out of ports to bring over to the Mac that would actually bring us up to the standards that PC gaming has today? Where's Far Cry? Why are we releasing NightFire before Battlefield?! Where's Doom 3, City of Heroes, Full Spectrum Warrior?! How about some Grand Theft Auto action on the Mac? Those titles sold like CRAZY for the PC. My point is that Aspyr could be trying a lot harder to get some of the MAJOR titles on the Mac. Being one of the top Mac game developers, it's their job to make it seem to new computer customers that the Mac has something great to offer as far as gaming is concerned. NightFire, a two year old game that will be sitting on the shelves of Apple stores around the country, will not be very impressive. They'll be asking the same questions that I am right now. Am I wrong?

I don't think you quite understand gaming on the Mac. There are very few big name Mac game developers... Blizzard is about the only one I can think of right now. Aspyr, and the likes, are just game porters. They don't actually develop the game, but instead they "port" the PC code to the Mac. So, obviously this means that the Mac version has to come out after the PC version. In the recent case of Call Of Duty, Aspyr was pretty darn snappy about getting us that port not too long after it came out on the PC. But, I think it's pretty obvious why they made that game such a priority.

But, most of the time, Aspyr is just porting over the games that did well on the PC, and "fit in" to the Mac style of gaming. There is a note somewhere on their website about what goes into picking what games to port. First, not all games can be ported to the Mac. So, they have to find the ones that can, and go from there.

The company you really need to be mad at is, as always, Microshaft. They developed a little thing called DirectX, which almost all new PC games use. Well, the hitch, DirectX doesn't run on the Mac. Instead, Apple uses the OPEN SOURCE (note, when was the last time Microsoft used anything open source!?) OpenGL. If game developers would use OpenGL instead of Microjunk's DirectX, their games could be released for the PC and Mac at the same time, and even on the same CD.... like Blizzard games. But, for some reason they don't.... maybe DirectX is easier to use, or more forgiving on flawed code. I know OpenGL is very picky, and that is a big part of why it takes so long to port games to the Mac.

But, as the Mac gets faster and faster now with the G5s heading the race, maybe game developers will start to look at us as a serious gaming platform. Unfortunately, Mac gaming is getting a lot of bad press about pirating, and how it's ruining Mac game sales. Well, most of this is based on Halo figures, and that is not a good example, for many reasons I'm sure you can figure out. Anyway, sorry for rambling....

-Ryan

Frumpy · Jun 11, 2004, 08:43 PM

Alright, point taken. BUT, UT 2004 was another game that came out at the same time, woohaha. On everything else, you're right, and it seems to make perfect sense. I guess it just sucks that we don't have more companies hiring a couple of guys to work on the Mac versions of some of these big titles coming out on the PC. I'd like to think that I have a pretty nice Mac for todays gaming standards, and it runs UT 2004 GREAT. I just wish there was a little more to pick from, and at a smaller price. UT 2004 for $40, very nice. Call of Duty for $50, while it's $30 for PC at my store...kinda hurts a bit. But oh well, hopefully the situation will get better. FAR CRY...AHEM!!!