Will this mean that game editors are back and aiming to invest for the Mac market? Yes and no.
Behind this announcement there is a technology, Wine, and its game oriented application known as Cider, from the company TransGaming. This technology will be used to "repack" PC games in Mac format. There is no need to rewrite the code of games, as Cider will make most of the work by translating on the fly DirectX, OpenGL or normal APIs. So porting a game from Pc to Mac will take couple of weeks instead of months if not years before, when code had to be rewritten (where is Colin McRae 2005?).
Games might not be as stable as on PC (at the beginning), and nobody knows what will be the price of such ported games vs. PC version, as the integrated Boot Camp on Mac Intel will allow users to play them anyway.
The success of game stations has taken part of the game market share from the PC, and it remains unclear how this field will evolve in the future. If those ported games will not be fully Mac-native, we should be happy to have them coming to our platform, as it might have never been the case without Cider.
Last but not least, one will need an Intel-based Mac to run such games.
Below is part of Transgaming/EA Press release about it:
Redwood City, Calif., and TORONTO, Canada – June 11, 2007 - Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) has announced plans to bring top-tier games to MAC OS X this summer powered by TransGaming’s Cider™ engine, including: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™, Madden NFL® 08, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 08, Need for Speed™ Carbon, Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™ and Battlefield 2142™. TransGaming Inc. (TSX-V: TNG), a Canadian-based leader in software portability, has opened up new playing fields for Mac users.
“Traditionally Mac users had to wait to play the latest blockbuster games,” says TransGaming CEO Vikas Gupta. “We're thrilled that TransGaming's Cider engine will dramatically decrease the time it will take to bring EA's hit portfolio of games to a thirsty Mac market.”
“Leveraging TransGaming’s Cider technology to bring our hit franchises to Mac users is an exciting first step in delivering the video game experience that Mac users deserve,” said Scott Cronce, EA vice president. “With the launch of these titles, it truly is the best time to be a Mac gamer.”
Helping quench Mac gamers’ thirst is Cider, the revolutionary new technology, developed by TransGaming that enables the releases. Eliminating the need to rewrite a video game for the Mac, Cider acts as an interpreter between the game’s original code and the Intel Mac, imparting a great user experience on the Mac.
