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dawaves · Jan 31, 2001, 04:14 PM

With the recent announcement of Sega halting productions of their Dreamcast gaming consoles in lieu of horrible sales and profitability...maybe Apple should takover it to boost their own presence in the gaming community much so dominated by M$, Nintendo, and PC's...What do you guys think about this??? I think it would be wonderful if Apple could buy out their hardware division and incorporate a MAC with a Apple branded gaming console....even produce a new iTools channel for online connectivity for other Apple gamers!!!....That would be Kool....

penginkun · Jan 31, 2001, 05:00 PM

Actually, if Apple were going to forge an alliance with any platform developer, it would be Nintendo. The GameCube utilises a PPC architecture, which, while not the same as Apple's, is certainly going to require less work than Sega's.

I seem to recall hearing that Nintendo will even have a development kit which will run under the MacOS, though I think that was just a rumour.

Either way, Nintendo makes more sense, at least from my perspective. ^_^;

bleen · Jan 31, 2001, 05:48 PM

I don't know if Gaming would help Apple... Personally, I think Apple is in a perfect position for 3D graphics. Jobs should make Pixar a subsidary of Apple like FileMaker, and then buy Silicon Graphics and incorporate it into Pixar. The Alliance of the three comanies can create a great position in the corporate 3D graphics. The PowerMac G4 is great for graphics rendered with the Altivec engine.

dawaves · Jan 31, 2001, 07:01 PM

"bleen"...although I agree with you in that Apple should set the tone for the 3D graphics space (SGI & Apple, WOW!! now that would be cool), its just that I know of so many people buying PC's just to play the games...I got a roommate who just bought a $2500 Gateway just to play Counter-Strike...now dumb or not, Gateway made out!!!...Now if the Mac can attract those kinds of potential buyers, I think Apple would do a lot better in terms of their bottom line...I think gaming is an ESSENTIAL part of buying a PC nowadays and I just wish the MAC more closely resembled the PC in terms of Games available...Now I understand that Macs have come a long way (Quake, nVidia, etc), but I still think there's room for improvement of Apple's commitment to gamers!

bleen · Feb 1, 2001, 02:03 AM

I agree Apple needs to get customers for anyreason, including games. OS X with native OpenGL would help that. I just don't see how buying Sega would help Apple. Apple needs to modivate game makers to make the games for the Mac. My personal view on this is that Apple needs to do whatever it can for it's hardware or OS, 3rd Party companys need to make the Applications and games.

My previous post with Apple getting Pixar and SGI together as a Subsidary of Apple would help Apple quite a lot financially. I think that would be the smartest move for Apple if they were going to buy any companies.

Adam Silver · Feb 1, 2001, 02:42 AM

It wouldn't work. Console gamers and computer gamers are different. This is why we rarely see computer games ported to consoles or vice versa (and when it does happen, the results and/or sales figures are usually terrible).

Yes, I am aware that Virtual Game Station is a big seller, but people who buy that tend not to be big gamers.

As for a Apple/Pixar/SGI merger, it wouldn't work. Pixar uses Sun computers that use a Pixar proprietary 3D graphics technology, not OpenGL. In fact, Steve Jobs tried (and failed) to convince game developers to use this technology for Mac games before Apple embraced OpenGL.

austeros · Feb 1, 2001, 06:18 PM

it would be nice to see apple buy sega, but if they do so, i think they should stick to sega's idea of just making games for others platforms. Leave Sega pretty much untouched except for adding a few macos programmers. I wouldnt want to see the majority of sega games on the mac, but sega did make sports games that could stimulate growth in the mac market (yes, i know madden didnt do that great) but apple has to start somewhere. Microsoft has become one of the biggest manufaturers of games in the world, i think it would do apple well to follow their lead in that area (why do i feel so dirty?)
=)

nintendo would be cool too, but sega is in a better position for us right now.

Feb 1, 2001, 06:29 PM

I can see it now, "MACINATOR COMING TO A STORE NEAR YOU!"�

olePigeon · Feb 2, 2001, 05:02 PM

I think Apple needs to form another processor alliance with Sun/Texas Intraments. I think the Mac could use a little UltraSparc technology. Especially in the multiprocessing area, which Apple is relatively new to. (They've had maybe 3 computers with dual processors.)

And the two processors so alike, it would require little alteration to make a MacOS run on an UltraSparc. Which means a whole new platform for MacOS X to run on as well.

TimmyDee51 · Feb 2, 2001, 05:52 PM

Didn't Sega and M$ have some sort of deal worked out so that it would be very easy to write Dreamcast games for the PC and vice versa. If that was the case, then I don't think it would be in Apple's best interests. Plus, what with the X-box coming out soon, isn't it an interesting coincidence that Sega is looking to get out of the console market (or at least that's what's rumored), especially if there was some sort of Sega M$ relationship. They would be in a good position, then, to be an X-box developer.

austeros · Feb 2, 2001, 10:46 PM

when microsoft purchased bunige, they had already tried to buy sega, square etc. Sega is going software only because sales of every system after genesis just didnt cut it. The dreamcast is totally underrated, and should still go for another year or two, but no one wants it. If sega has a deal to make games for the xbox, so be it, then we could potentially see some of those games here. time will tell

Feb 2, 2001, 11:58 PM

Apple should just make a G4 or G5 console with a nice 128mbs of Graphics card of Open GL. I can see it now, The mac console is 1,000 better then the Xbox and Playstation 2.

TimmyDee51 · Feb 3, 2001, 01:16 AM

Yeah, an Apple console would be better than the X-box, but why would Apple make it? They are having a hard enough time pushing the hardware they have let alone trying to push a console. Plus, where would it fit in the product matrix? Apple is much better off focusing their energy on making their current products better gaming machines that inventing some new machine to play games.

natro301 · Feb 3, 2001, 09:36 AM

sega use Windows CE they could port it to CE PPC quickly port it to the Mac OS 9 / X

TomG3AKAMacguyver · Feb 3, 2001, 10:00 AM

I don't think Apple should merge with or buy a console company.
But I do think they should make a system with an upgradable processor and an upgradable video card that's more affordable. iMac and cube's are temporary systems (they are good for games for maybe 2 years, just look at the existing iMac, it was promo'd for gaming when they put the Rage Pro in there).

Alot is happening on the software side of Mac gaming, it's fregin awesome! But not everyone has $2k for a new system to play the new games. Apple needs to make a move here.

My mac is at the lowest system requirements for most of the new games. I can't go $2k for a new tower, if they had something more affordable (like the base iMac price range) more people would be able to buy them and it would help increase marketshare (more macs out there more ppl buying software). Heck, I would have bought several of the new games if they would run on my system. With an avid Mac gamer like myself not making game purchases, I can't help but wonder about the health of mac game sales.

Tom G3
Webmaster,
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