Where are the EA Mac gaming titles?
updated 03:40 pm EDT, Wed August 8, 2007
EA fails to ship Mac games
In June, Electronic Arts co-founder and chief creative officer Bing Gordon took the stage with Apple CEO Steve Jobs during the Worldwide Developers conference (WWDC), announcing that the game maker was moving staff members over to the Mac platform to once again release gaming titles for Mac OS X. Gordon promised that the first titles to ship for Macs would include Command & Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142, Need for Speed Carbon, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and that those titles would ship in July. It's now more than a week into August, and none of the promised titles have arrived, nor has Electronic Arts made any announcements on the subject. Several calls and emails to EA's press department by MacNN staff have gone unanswered.
Making the delay somewhat surprising is the fact that these games will not be native Mac OS X ports. Instead, they will (as far as we know) be made to run under Mac OS X with the aid of Cider from TransGaming (like X3: Reunion, Myst Online and other titles). This means they may not run at full native speed, and may exhibit other issues; they also will only run on Intel-based Macs -- leaving many long-time Mac users out in the cold. Cider is a portability engine that allows Windows games to be run on Intel Macs "without any modifications to the original game source code." The tool loads Windows programs into memory on Intel-based Macs using an optimized version of the Win32 APIs.
Even more disconcerting than the lack of shipment or any word from Electronic Arts on the Mac titles is the fact that Mac OS X does not even appear as a platform in the "Find a game" section on EA's home page.
fascinating...
08/08, 04:20pm reply
..for once MacNN publishes an article that asks all the hard questions (i.e. Why is EA stalling and blackwalling this issue), instead of just rubberstamped regurgitations --- and no one seems to care (i.e. 'no comments')
Personally, I think MacNN should also include the name of the editor responsible for each article, to make it easier to figure out who are the flakes, who are the illiterates, and who are the good kind.
ZinkDifferent
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2005
:(
08/08, 04:24pm reply
I've also been following this situation and it's so disappointing. I was really excited about this and the least EA could do would be to say *something*. They were ON STAGE at an APPLE EVENT talking about this, they could at least say what's going on!!!!
turbineseaplane
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
Not News
08/08, 04:25pm reply
This isn't news. These titles are two weeks late. Everyone knows timelines from marketing events rarely match up with reality.
njfuzzy
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2001
It's news
08/08, 04:29pm reply
This *is* news, because there isn't even MENTION of the Mac on EA's site and the whole premise was that Cider would allow concurrent launches of the PC and Mac versions of the games. If that were to happen, they would at least be mentioning it!
turbineseaplane
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
Oh wait...
08/08, 04:43pm reply
you thought we meant THIS July
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
madden
08/08, 05:01pm reply
i've been looking forward to madden on my mac for two months now (since i recently divorced my 360). it's looking like my only option will be boot camp. how disappointing. Thank you to macnn for bringing this issue to the forefront though.
worldwearyeyes
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2005
Colin McRae is no where
08/09, 02:35am reply
Yea and Colin McRae is no where to be found to except to be released soon. They've been saying that for the past year now. But that's Feral Interactive. At least they have a Mac section on there website. EA needs to answer the question, where are the games for the Mac? Why haven't they got a Mac webpage with these titles coming soon at least with info about them too. Why are they stone walling the press and everyone else for that matter?
horvatic
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2002
colin macrae mac featured
08/09, 03:31am reply
on..
http://www.insidemacgames.com/previews/view.php?ID=234
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
relax
08/09, 07:28am reply
They'll get to it. Just be glad they're willing to mention it. I happen to know for a fact that their CTO runs on a Mac PowerBook 17" among other systems. He loves it. All things take time. This has all been a short-term solution for a long-term goal. It will get better. MUCH BETTER.
mlowe969
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2002
but..
08/09, 12:00pm reply
if cider is really as craptastic as it seems to be, do you still want the games to come out?
darkelf
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2003