Spore Coming To Mac, But Analysts Remain Unconvinced
Apple's [http://www.ea.com] commitment to gaming.
The announcement was made at the Macworld Expo [http://www.macworldexpo.com/]yesterday, although no official release date for the game has yet been given. According to David McCombe of EA, the company will be making use of a new "wrapper" technology that will simplify the process of developing Mac or Linux versions of PC releases. "The technology wrapper goes around (the software), and traps the (code) calls native to the Windows environment, and converts them to the correct calls for Mac," he said. "It's not a complete code rewrite. It's more wrapper technology with some customer work." McCombe said that by using the technology, gamers should see no noticeable differences between the PC and Mac versions of the game.
But a DFC Intelligence [http://www.gamedaily.com/games/spore/pc/game-news/analysts-take-a-bite-out-of-apples-gaming-plans/4126/19089] said, "To me they just don't seem to have a high-end game strategy. They seem to feel they don't need that consumer."
"As far as the Mac, I just don't see it being a major option for a serious gamer and that is a reason, despite it having a new found cool factor, I think they have decided to concede the hard-core gamer to Microsoft [http://www.microsoft.com]," he added.
"I'm really unsure about their strategy," commented Michael Pachter of iPhone [http://www.wedbushinc.com/]would work fine for gameplay."
Lazard Capital Markets' [http://www.lazardcapitalmarkets.com/] Colin Sebastian said Apple has not pursued the game market as "aggressively" as other platform manufacturers, but expects that to change in the future. "Given the strong market growth it's difficult to imagine that they can remain on the sidelines for long," he said. "Particularly with the iPhone, Apple has an opportunity to drive increasing awareness and use of games and other digital media, where carriers and handset manufacturers have been slow to make progress."
Permalink
Apple's [http://www.ea.com] commitment to gaming.
The announcement was made at the Macworld Expo [http://www.macworldexpo.com/]yesterday, although no official release date for the game has yet been given. According to David McCombe of EA, the company will be making use of a new "wrapper" technology that will simplify the process of developing Mac or Linux versions of PC releases. "The technology wrapper goes around (the software), and traps the (code) calls native to the Windows environment, and converts them to the correct calls for Mac," he said. "It's not a complete code rewrite. It's more wrapper technology with some customer work." McCombe said that by using the technology, gamers should see no noticeable differences between the PC and Mac versions of the game.
But a DFC Intelligence [http://www.gamedaily.com/games/spore/pc/game-news/analysts-take-a-bite-out-of-apples-gaming-plans/4126/19089] said, "To me they just don't seem to have a high-end game strategy. They seem to feel they don't need that consumer."
"As far as the Mac, I just don't see it being a major option for a serious gamer and that is a reason, despite it having a new found cool factor, I think they have decided to concede the hard-core gamer to Microsoft [http://www.microsoft.com]," he added.
"I'm really unsure about their strategy," commented Michael Pachter of iPhone [http://www.wedbushinc.com/]would work fine for gameplay."
Lazard Capital Markets' [http://www.lazardcapitalmarkets.com/] Colin Sebastian said Apple has not pursued the game market as "aggressively" as other platform manufacturers, but expects that to change in the future. "Given the strong market growth it's difficult to imagine that they can remain on the sidelines for long," he said. "Particularly with the iPhone, Apple has an opportunity to drive increasing awareness and use of games and other digital media, where carriers and handset manufacturers have been slow to make progress."
Permalink
