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SWTOR News
11/5/09 7:33 PM -
Bad News Mac 
by Zoidberg
, posted November 5th, 2009 at 7:33 PM
We got some sad news for all Mac users that hope to participate in Game Testing:

Star Wars: The Old Republic is currently being developed for the personal computer (PC) using the Microsoft Windows operating system. While we recognize that there are other operating systems and platforms available for games today, our development is specific to the personal computer using the Windows operating system at this time.

For the purposes of providing the most stable testing environment possible, we are limiting our testing participants to those using the Windows operating system on a personal computer. At some point we may be evaluating compatibility with the Macintosh (and possibly Linux boxes, running virtualized installations/emulators) running Windows and we may put out an additional call for testers at that time.

When asked, Erick Adams helped clarify current testing requirements:


Originally Posted by Huskell

In that last sentence you say the team "may be evaluating compatibility with the Macintosh...running windows." Does this mean Mac users running Windows in Bootcamp will not be selected to test at this time?

Originally Posted by Erick Adams

At this time, that is correct.

Looks like if you want to hope to test you need a new computer or hope they change the policy in the future. Remember this is just initial testing and subject to change.
 
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45 Comments
Comment by Week in Review 11/8/09 | made on November 8th, 2009 at 9:56pm
[...] Bad News Mac. [...]
 
DH Team
Comment by emlaeh made on November 7th, 2009 at 1:04am
It sounds like they want to initially test using the same hardware environment as their biggest market share… it isn’t like the released game won’t run on bootcamp, and they might test bootcamp linux setups later on.
 
DH Team
Comment by Zoidberg made on November 6th, 2009 at 6:45pm
While everyone has their own opinions on this topic, PLAY NICE. I don't want to have to start deleting your comments.
 
Comment by Colm made on November 6th, 2009 at 11:33am
It is a sad day for the rebel alliance :( I bought a PC after testing a game on bootcamp. Mac Users will just have to wait 2 years after the game is out so they can play it.
 
Comment by Lethality made on November 6th, 2009 at 8:13am
I beg everyone that thinks they know what BootCamp is to please do research before posting.
 
Comment by Panzzer made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:25am
It is true that Mac's run windows better than PC's.
 
Comment by RogueJedi86 made on November 6th, 2009 at 3:26pm
You know what they call a Mac that's running only Windows? A PC.
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:41am
yep sure thats not a biased comment.
 
Comment by Panzzer made on November 6th, 2009 at 3:15am
there is absolutely no bias. Popular Mechanics magazine did a study on it.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207400285

Mac 1 - PC 0
 
Comment by Kanjiten made on November 5th, 2009 at 10:43pm
Parallels and VMware Fusion run virtualization (emulation) environments. Boot Camp runs Windows 100% natively on any Intel-based Mac. Boot Camp is merely the means to boot into Windows; it's not an "environment" in which it operates. So the term "a bootcamped window os" is misleading.

Lastly, in many cases a MacBook Pro runs Windows faster than a PC. Ask PC World magazine: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/irony/macbook-pro-is-the-fastest-windows-vista-notebook-317060.php
 
Comment by RogueJedi86 made on November 5th, 2009 at 9:08pm
Computer Gaming has been PC-dominant for 20 years. If you haven't picked up a PC by now for gaming, you really aren't a gamer. The Mac doesn't have much of anything in terms of video game support beyond Blizzard titles and third party ports 5 years after release. KotOR1 and 2 were PC-only(at least until a third party port 5 years after the fact), TOR wouldn't be any different.
 
Comment by Lethality made on November 6th, 2009 at 8:17am
So what does that say about BioWare? Are they inept? Do they make poor technology decisions?

I wonder how Blizzard does it? Oh yeah, better studio.

Also, KOTOR for the Mac came out less than a year after the Windows version.

Fact.
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:42am
i agree down with macs , those commercials every time i see him it pisses me off. Reason win got more viruses is due to fact MORE PEOPLE HAVE PCS. Now if ppl jump on mac bandwagon more viruses will start to come to that platform and people will see that macs are not safe at all. most of them probably unguarded because they think they can do whatever.
 
Comment by RogueJedi86 made on November 6th, 2009 at 6:05pm
The Mac commercials do annoy me. I'm okay with Macs, but I hate how ignorant the commercials are. Like a recent one with them going to a Windows 7 Launch, and all it has are people who are talking about how they switched to Mac. If that happened in real life you'd smack them for trolling, for going to a Windows 7 Launch just to say "haha, I switched to Mac and not Windows 7!". That seems to insult Mac users more than PC users, implying Mac users would do such things.
 
Comment by DarkTater made on November 6th, 2009 at 11:36am
They sure have a lot of money for a company that only has 3.36% of the world market share of computers. Granted that is up from 3.26% a year ago, and I wonder how much the cash cow that is ipod/iphone brings in.
 
Comment by Lethality made on November 6th, 2009 at 8:11am
Haha, when you watch those commercials you realize that the truth hurts.
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 6th, 2009 at 4:20pm
yeah right, im tired of ignorant fools.
 
Comment by Panzzer made on November 6th, 2009 at 3:18am
but there is still nothing incorrect with the ads saying that Mac's have no viruses because they don't. If it were switched and Mac had all the viruses, don't you think Microsoft would want to flaunt it?? Its simple marketing.
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 6th, 2009 at 5:02am
there are mac viruses , thats a fact just not alot.
 
Comment by AlphaAnt made on November 6th, 2009 at 12:06am
Unfortunately, I have to agree. This is why my laptop (where I do most of my work) is a Mac, and my desktop (where I do all my gaming) is a PC.

The keyboard shortcuts really mess with me, but it's manageable. Of course, switching back and forth between games does that too, as I noticed when I kept hitting the spacebar to jump in Dragon Age and having the game pause instead.
 
Comment by PurpleCliff made on November 5th, 2009 at 8:43pm
Wwhat? Why? Running Windows in bootcamp is just like running Windows on any other computer, and loads of people will be doing it ...

/hopes dashed epicly
 
Comment by RogueJedi86 made on November 5th, 2009 at 9:09pm
I believe Boot Camp only emulates a PC/Windows, it's not the real thing.
 
Comment by Lethality made on November 6th, 2009 at 8:19am
It's not emulated.
 
Comment by PurpleCliff made on November 5th, 2009 at 11:05pm
Boot Camp creates an actual partition on your hard drive. It runs Windows like any PC on your Mac's hardware. Crossover, Parallels and VMWare are the emulators.

Boot Camp DEFINITELY doesn't give bad performance! It's Windows!
 
Comment by PurpleCliff made on November 5th, 2009 at 11:07pm
(Well, it works as well as Windows goes)
 
Comment by Jet made on November 5th, 2009 at 11:31pm
Yeah, not only did Kotor 12 run well through bootcamp, but I've been playing Aion recently and it runs like a champ no issues whatsoever.
 
Comment by ValiceKohn made on November 5th, 2009 at 9:40pm
I would strongly disagree with you on this! I played CoD:4, and many other PC titles via Boot Camp and get great benchmark results. I would even go so far to say that I have never had a problem with a game crashing on me via BC. Unlike I did on my PC.
 
DH Team
Comment by sado made on November 5th, 2009 at 10:37pm
Well there were problems early on with performance but I guess since we haven't heard anything lately on it, the problems with bootcamp performance are likely fixed.

I am hoping to see a Mac/Linux client eventually. If I had a choice about it gaming wise I would be on Linux 24/7 but since most games do not run on Linux I keep Windows on a separate partition. However, I am sure that even if BioWare does not produce a Linux client then at the least Wine will be able to emulate it inside of Linux. Though I am guessing that sometime down the line, whether after release or before it, we will see a Mac/Linux native client.
 
Comment by STThreeTwoOne made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:44pm
I guarantee there will be no Linux client. You're stuck with Wine.
 
Comment by Panzzer made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:30am
"Though I am guessing that sometime down the line, whether after release or before it, we will see a Mac/Linux native client."

I would love to a mac release before the offitial release lol
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 5th, 2009 at 9:24pm
exactly best put!
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 5th, 2009 at 9:00pm
no lol , its not like running windows on a pc that has it installed like colm said(think hes mac guy) he tried playing a pc game on bootcamp and it sucked.
 
Comment by Lethality made on November 5th, 2009 at 10:40pm
You have no clue what you're talking about.

Running Windows on BootCamp is EXACTLY the same as running it on whatever piece of crap box you built. It's standard hardware, and you boot INTO Windows. Like any. Windows. Machine.

They're being extremely hypocritical if this is the case, so much so that I don't actually think that community/mod Eric knew anything about what he was saying. Read it again.

So to sum it up for everyone at darthhater.com and everyone else that reads this: It's NOT emulation, it's native Windows running on fast hardware... period.
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:43am
still doesnt change fact that its emulated ,and my pc aint crap, im glad it aint a mac, proud of it.
 
Comment by Lethality made on November 6th, 2009 at 8:12am
Honestly man, you're coming across like a 13 year old child. So, apologies if you are.
 
Comment by PurpleCliff made on November 6th, 2009 at 5:48am
Lol Revix. 1. It isn't emulated, it's a partition on the Mac's hard drive. 2. Why such hate? You want less people playing TOR? You want a monopoly in the computer market? Scared of how much people like their Macs? Peace!
 
Comment by PurpleCliff made on November 5th, 2009 at 11:20pm
Would they even be able to tell if you are using a Mac? The video card and stuff are pretty ordinary models (Nvidia 9600 or something for me) when you boot in Windows.
 
Comment by Lethality made on November 5th, 2009 at 11:35pm
Yes they can actually tell based on the hardware identifiers included in the dxdiag dump from Windows.
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 5th, 2009 at 8:21pm
this was always an obvious outcome , they dont want to test bootcamped window os or linux etc. macs go home :P
 
Comment by Panzzer made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:27am
how would it effect you negatively Revix if Macs were allowed to play this game?? You should really be hoping for a Mac port to come out so the community will be bigger which will spawn more and more additional content added by Bioware.
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:45am
Again , you think that i care for mac support do i want it for me no , but yes , its gonna come we all know that but we all knew my point was that it being developed primarily for PCS now. Then they will port it to mac. and from money stand point i can understand if you wasted your money on a mac and you dont want to get a pc. were in tough times cash wise.
 
Comment by ValiceKohn made on November 5th, 2009 at 9:41pm
"macs go home"

That's a snide comment to make, show's your age and lack of maturity.
 
Comment by Revix2k9 made on November 6th, 2009 at 2:43am
im 19 and i hate macs , you see these mac commercials i realyl hate macs , it pisses me off people get pissed off from young to old.
 
Comment by Panzzer made on November 6th, 2009 at 3:27am
Question, why do you hate mac's? They are rated #1 in customer satisfaction (and im not refenceing that, google it) and are good machines. Sure the they are a bit pricey but thats due to the higher end hardware that they have.

My battery lasts 6 hours, how long does yours last? 2?
 
Comment by DarkTater made on November 6th, 2009 at 11:40am
They are great machines, just not designed for gaming. If I was a developer I don't know if I would try and target Mac users, as they account for such a small population as a whole.