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G Barnett · Jan 9, 2002, 08:48 AM

Whoopie!

I think that says it all, really.

G Barnett

davechen · Jan 9, 2002, 09:34 AM

Originally posted by G Barnett:
Whoopie!

I think that says it all, really.

G Barnett

Kick ***. Now if they can get the ATI frame rate problem figured out.

dave

bOOzo · Jan 9, 2002, 10:10 AM

Not to mention the problems with NVIDIA cards..

Great!

Jansar · Jan 9, 2002, 10:26 AM

Sure, I'm happy, but it's just that it's about time Blizzard woke up.

NEWS ALERT! Apple has released Mac OS X!

Osirisis · Jan 9, 2002, 11:37 AM

Yes, Yes, Yes. I just read this myself and was over the moon. Microsoft just needs to deliver drivers for my mouse and then there's no reason for me to be in 9 anymore. I can hardly wait.

zeebe · Jan 9, 2002, 11:40 AM

Jansar, why so negative? It's not like Blizzard isn't doing anything else! Warcraft III will be out soon, as well as the other new WarCraft title they are working on. Plus they just did the Star Craft Patches. I don't see to many other companies rereleasing patches for their games that are over a year old! I would love to play Unreal Tournament, Dark Forces or even a SimCity game in X but I don't see those companies making patches! I say GOOD JOB BLIZZARD!!!!

As far as Mouse drivers go, I wish the guy that made USB Overdrive would release a version for X, his site has said one is coming since 10.0 I think.

[ 01-09-2002: Message edited by: zeebe ]

Jansar · Jan 10, 2002, 09:43 AM

It's just that Blizzard is taking too long. As fast as that company produces good games, it takes about one-millionth the effort to make a patch to run the game in OS X. Quake 3 made it early, and so did Oni, and Heavy Metal... (plus, look at how advanced the games are)

Elvin · Jan 10, 2002, 09:45 AM

I think it's really nice of Blizzard to go out of their way and provide support for their old games. StarCraft, now Diablo 2..while still aiming to release Warcraft 3 for both PC and Mac at the same time. Blizzard is definatly one company that knows what customer support is!

zeebe · Jan 10, 2002, 11:29 AM

The companies that made Quake III, Oni and Heavy Metal didn't make the patches though, a seperate group (Omni) did. Blizzard is way to busy and yet they are taking time out to make the patches. I wouldn't be surprised if these patches dramatically slow down the Mac version of WacCraft III. I bet it comes out 3-4 months after the PC version, because they are taking the time to make StarCraft and Diablo II OS X compatable.

[ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: zeebe ]

Rob Barris · Jan 10, 2002, 01:01 PM

Re - effort to do an OS X patch.

OS X 10.1 introduces some new GL features, that we would have felt complacent if we didn't try to take advantage of them to improve D2.

If somebody just wanted a software-rendering-only version of the game on OS X, it would be safe to say that such an effort would take a lot less time. Or if we were to just bring over the OS9 GL code unchanged, sure that would have saved some time too.

That said, we've drawn a line in the sand for ourselves with the announcement (Q1 2002 for D2/X). See you then..

Rob

Rob Barris · Jan 10, 2002, 01:08 PM

The phrase "time out" almost implies that we don't have enough man-power to pursue multiple efforts at once; we already get cross fertilization through common code, stuff we learned on the SC and D2 efforts feeds right into making War3 better too, esp. on OS X. 2/3 of the Mac team works on Warcraft III essentially full time.

Rob

Osirisis · Jan 11, 2002, 07:28 AM

Just a curiousity thing. I know you guys probably haven't gotten around to testing this yet, what with the coding still in development. Do you think the improved OpenGL in X will improve the problems some of us have been seeing even with the updated drivers in 9? Like I said, just a curiousity thing, don't really expect an answer. So happy to see that a X app is coming. This is the last game I'm waiting on. That and my mouse drivers.

The_Equivocator · Jan 11, 2002, 03:47 PM

The only news that topped this one was the release of the new iMac. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic.

Cross one off...

Reasons to boot up in 9:
1) Unreal Tournament
2) Connecting to my school's Netware system (they refuse to upgrade!)
3) Burning on my old, SCSI burner.
4) Baldur's Gate
5) Diablo II

juanvaldes · Jan 13, 2002, 07:50 AM

Originally posted by Rob Barris:
Re - effort to do an OS X patch.

OS X 10.1 introduces some new GL features, that we would have felt complacent if we didn't try to take advantage of them to improve D2.

If somebody just wanted a software-rendering-only version of the game on OS X, it would be safe to say that such an effort would take a lot less time. Or if we were to just bring over the OS9 GL code unchanged, sure that would have saved some time too.

That said, we've drawn a line in the sand for ourselves with the announcement (Q1 2002 for D2/X). See you then..

Rob

You'll see me.

What does Q1 mean to Blizzard anyway? Late March? July?

What kinds of differences would we be seeing with these new "GL features"? Are we looking at speed improvements like with starcraft?

Always great to hear from ya rob, keep up the great work and pass it along how much we appreciate it!

mitchell_pgh · Jan 15, 2002, 11:26 AM

GOD BLESS BLIZZARD!!!!

Arkham_c · Jan 16, 2002, 01:24 PM

Originally posted by The_Equivocator:
The only news that topped this one was the release of the new iMac. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic.

Cross one off...

Reasons to boot up in 9:
1) Unreal Tournament
2) Connecting to my school's Netware system (they refuse to upgrade!)
3) Burning on my old, SCSI burner.
4) Baldur's Gate
5) Diablo II

You can cross off the one about the SCSI burner too. I found a patch that makes old SCSI burners work in OSX. Get it here:

SCSI Helper

It works great on my LaCie 8x CD-R burner. I can burn from the Toast 5 Preview with no problems.

Guy Incognito · Jan 16, 2002, 05:17 PM

Does Blizzard accept donations? I'll give money to Blizzard for these OS X ports even if they refuse to take it.

Or I might just go buy the expansion for D2...ahhh D2, I've wasted precious hours over that game. I'd go to bed dreaming about new items I'd find and trying to figure out the best armor combo for a Player vs Player barbarian.

Dogma · Jan 20, 2002, 12:06 AM

Originally posted by Jansar:
It's just that Blizzard is taking too long. As fast as that company produces good games, it takes about one-millionth the effort to make a patch to run the game in OS X. Quake 3 made it early, and so did Oni, and Heavy Metal... (plus, look at how advanced the games are)

Bungie made Oni as a Carbon App, so it was always pretty X native.

Alos it didn't take much for the Quake 3 games to make the transition as most of them have been ported to Linux and stuff anway, plus once you do Quake 3 you get Heavy Metal, Star Trek Elite Force, Alice, and all the others based on the engine.

I'm just always surprised how long these companies are taking in their game development these days. I was pleasantly surprised to see Myth 3 on my local store shelf the other day, but that's been under development for about a third of the time Warcraft 3 has. It better be damn good.

But we also waited about two years for Oni, and that was a big fat disappointment. I just hope Halo doesn't suck, as I've been waiting for it for ages.

I think I'll start making up my own games...

Jansar · Jan 20, 2002, 12:09 AM

First of all, my feelings for Blizzard are totally different now. I love their games.

And second of all, I pray that Halo makes it to the Mac. Oh my god it's such a fun game!