What is Nostr?
Chris Trottier /
npub1jeq…jglm
2023-09-20 00:07:57

Chris Trottier on Nostr: When it comes to gaming, I actually like Microsoft. I mean, there’s obviously ...

When it comes to gaming, I actually like Microsoft.

I mean, there’s obviously companies that I like more. If I had to pick between Valve hardware and Microsoft hardware, I’d pick Valve hardware every time.

But if I had to choose between Microsoft hardware and Apple hardware, I’d pick Microsoft every time. Here’s why.

At one time, Bungie was a developer that made games exclusively for Mac. They made Marathon, which to this day is the most influential FPS after Doom. It was Marathon that introduced the mouse controls that we all love and use today.

At the 1999 MacWorld, Halo was announced as a Mac exclusive. Bungie offered Apple to buy their company. Apple refused because, let’s face it, Apple themselves have never really cared about gaming.

But Microsoft knew what Bungie had, and that it was special. It was also Microsoft that switched Halo from being a 3rd person shooter to a 1st person shooter. And this ended up being a wise move because it was Halo that changed FPS games on both PC and console forever.

Microsoft put a lot of investment into Halo. In addition to games, they financed novel and comic book adaptions. They’ve even financed live action TV shows and films. Halo was something Microsoft truly believed in.

Contrast this with Apple. Ever hear of the Pippin? That was Apple’s lone foray into console gaming.

Marathon – yes, the FPS game made by Bungie before Halo – was exclusive to the Pippin. In the 90s, Marathon never showed up on the PlayStation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, etc. If Apple did was Microsoft did, then Marathon should have been the killer franchise that sold Pippins.

Instead, the Pippin sold 42,000 units and hardly anyone has experienced Marathon on a Pippin.

And why did that happen? Because Apple didn’t – and still doesn’t – give a damn about video games.

Gaming happens on MacOS and iOS not because of Apple but despite Apple. Despite those incredible M2s, Apple has never made a device specifically for gamer experiences, and I doubt they ever will. Even the Pippin wasn’t officially made by Apple – that was farmed off to Bandai.

Mac fans say that the reason gaming sucks on Mac is due to lack of marketshare. But I don’t buy this. I highly suspect that Windows has the marketshare that it does, in part, because of PC gaming. I, for one, purely own a Windows machine simply because Windows is great for gaming and Mac isn’t.

But here’s the kicker. When I buy a tower again, I’ll probably buy a Linux machine.

Why is this? Because when it comes to gaming, Linux is now good enough. As I said previously, if I had to choose between Microsoft and Valve hardware, I’d pick Valve 🙂

In no world should Linux be the better PC gaming platform than Mac. There are more Macs in the world than Linux. And yet, Linux now offers a much better gaming experience than Mac ever has.

As a PC gamer, the Steam Deck is Linux’s killer device. It is so good, I would rather use a Steam Deck as my main PC than a Mac. Docking a Steam Deck to my monitor would give me a more satisfying computing experience than an iMac or a Mac Mini would.

Valve has much, much less resources than Apple has, and yet they’ve made Linux a way better gaming platform than Mac. How do they accomplish this? By simply giving a damn about PC gaming, and making something that delights PC gamers.

You can talk all you like about the value of an intuitive UI/UX and great design. But there’s also a thing called “fun”.

Microsoft understands the value of fun. Valve understands the value of fun. Despite all the whiz bang theatrics of their keynotes, Apple doesn’t care about fun – which is best delivered through gaming.

There’s no other medium that provides the rich interactive, memorable, and narrative experience that gaming offers. It’s human to want to experience art, and PC gaming – even now – offers the best digital art possible on any computing device. Thus, there’s no reason gaming should be a second class concern on Macs.

I know someone’s going to bring up the diverse catalogue of games on iOS. But let’s be honest, would you rather play on a Nintendo Switch Lite or an iPhone? Despite the Switch’s smaller catalogue of games, I’d rather play on a Switch than an iPhone.

A Switch is simply more fun than an iPhone. And I’m saying this as someone who owns an iPhone and uses it every day! I only game on my iPhone when I have no other choice. Apple can make better gaming experiences on iPhone but they choose not to do this.

In some ways, I’m happy that Apple doesn’t care about gaming. If they did, Apple would have an even stronger stranglehold on the tech industry than they already do. Because they don’t care about gaming, stuff like the Xbox and Steam Deck can flourish and exist.
Author Public Key
npub1jeqcnv0u9nyz8vjknegr2p62f54hfm3v9srudwq4rzarz4tqwk7qlujglm