Mac gaming is getting some press attention these days.  IGN recently took some time to look at issues facing Mac games, with the main criticisms being the delay in games released on the Mac and the perceived lack of support from Apple on the hardware and marketing side.  

While the Apple brand continues to grow in popularity, thanks to the iPhone and iPad, Mac gamers are still frequently forced to wait upwards of two years for major games to arrive on their machines. And despite increasing similarities in regards to hardware, one has to wonder if the Mac will ever stand shoulder to shoulder with its Windows-based counterpart. What’s holding these otherwise lauded machines behind?

However, as discussed in a recent interview with 9to5Mac, Aspyr feels this is improving quite a bit.  

Civilization V was within 2 months, Borderlands 2 was within 2 months, Duke Nukem Forever was within weeks, Rage within 2 months, and we released the Civilization V: Gods and Kings expansion day-and-date worldwide on both Steam and the Mac App Store. I’m proud of how we’ve been able to respond with timely Mac versions despite growing difficulties technically. If it’s a common goal of the developer, license holder and Aspyr, then shipping simultaneously is an option.

[Plus,] Our relationship with Apple is at an all-time high. The emergence of the Mac App Store has given us the opportunity to engage more deeply regarding our roadmap, ideas, successes and hurdles. … The people we work with at Apple have enthusiasm and support for what we do, and our success helps bring more awareness of Mac gaming within Apple.

We want to hear what you think! Do you feel Mac gaming is improving?  

The winds of change blow hard with the coming of Mountain Lion. Lines between OS X and iOS are blurring more with each release. Notification Center, Messages and many other iOS items are now a part of the home computing experience. Most importantly to readers of this blog is the integration of the popular iOS Game Center. For details on Game Center please visit our FAQ. The implications of Game Center integration for the future of gaming on Apple devices are exciting.

With Mountain Lion the App Store application itself got an update, now prominently featuring a Game Center section. It may seem natural, all just part and parcel with the Mountain Lion updates, but think of it this way: it is the first real sign from Apple that they’re ready to take gaming seriously. Previously, getting to gaming sections of the App Store or in the iTunes store took several clicks. Sure, major new releases might get a banner in the store, but that’s more the exception than the rule. While games are in the store, there just wasn’t a satisfying level of discoverability.

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Ever since the advent of video games there have been games about superheroes. Short of your own imagination after reading comic books, where else could someone put themselves into the fantastical shoes of these caped crusaders and fight crime? Unfortunately the limitations of the medium have made for some severely gimped superhero games that can’t hope to do the amazing feats of these characters justice.

Few heroes have as many games bearing his name than the Dark Knight himself, Batman. With release of The Dark Knight Rises this Friday, it seemed like a good time to reflect on the best and worst Bat-titles the gaming world has seen up until this point.

Today we bring you the dregs of his gaming appearances—games so lame they don’t even deserve the mantle of the bat.

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Depending on your perspective, this year’s E3 has been either incredibly exciting or exceedingly frustrating. Hardcore console gamers lament the lack of new console hardware (Sony, Microsoft) and when there was it fell short of heightened expectations (looking at you, Wii U). For those Mac lovers out there paying attention, it was exciting because almost everyone’s press conference and announcements were in debt to Apple in one way or another. It seems the Apple approach to gaming has left a lasting impression on the Big 3 of console gaming. Below is a rundown of announced products and how they have Apple’s fingerprints all over them. (more…)

Tsk, tsk, tsk Zynga. Copying other people’s games is frowned upon and you know better. The guys at NimbleBit, creators of Tiny Tower, called out Zynga for their blatant copying of certain game design elements in their “new” game, Dream Heights for iOS. Ian Marsh, one of the three guys at NimbleBit, tweeted an image to Zynga that exhibits how Zynga got their “inspiration.” We’ve got the same image after the jump for your convenience if you wanted to take a look at the comparison screenshots in the image as well as what NimbleBit had to say about this whole thing. (more…)

Being a mom and all,  thoughts of my job and gaming often travel back to how gaming applies in my own life.  We have a few methods of gaming consumption at home and with the recent addition of the Kinect®, the 360 is now beyond just the adults.  Seeing my husband and son play Super Hero Squad® on the Xbox 360 recently I got to thinkin’ – will I see this same scene in 20 years?  Will husband and son play multiplayer games from different homes some day, utilizing voice chat and probably some iteration of Face Time?  Will gaming be a way that we “spend” time together, even over long distances, even when the kids are all grown up? Thinking down this path I realized that the day has probably arrived for some of you out there.  Those of us in our 30′s and 40′s “grew up” on video games.  Being grown ups means we likely have kids, some of them maybe old enough to have flown the nest but still play video games. Are you a cross generational gamer?  Do you use gaming to connect with your children?  What are your favorite games to play with your kids?  Has gaming helped (or hurt) any of your family relationships?

We’re going to MacWorld 2011!  We’ll post more info on what we’ll be doing and how you can keep up with us later in the week, but for now we have something gravely important to ask: Which t-shirt design do you like the best? We’ll be giving these t-shirts out at MacWorld and for other events, so let us know which design or designs float your boat.  Your style (and ours) depends on it! Update: We have a winner!

For those not aware, Apple is launching a brand new Mac App Store on January 6, 2011.  The Mac App Store promises to bring the ease and functionality of the iOS App Store (for iPhone, iPod, and iPad) to Mac computers everywhere.  You’ll be able to search for thousands of different apps for your computer, and purchasing, downloading, and updating these apps should be easier than ever.  The apps also promise to be portable across different Mac computers. We at Aspyr are particularly excited about the prospects and potential the Mac App Store could have for gaming.  As almost anyone that’s paid any attention to the iPhone and iPad probably know, these devices have turned into incredibly popular gaming devices, with tons of new, innovative, and accessible games available for users of all ages and interests.  You’ll be able to find content from Aspyr in the Mac App Store in the opening days of the store’s launch. However, we want to know: what do our fans and customers think about and expect from the Mac App Store?  Will there still be a market for boxed retail applications?  Will you still purchase your favorite games from traditional outlets, like the GameAgent store and/or Steam?  Let us know in the comments if and/or how you expect the Mac App Store to change the way you use your Mac!

Since the Civilization V Mac announcement, we’ve been trying hard to field the mountain of questions we’ve received about the game, and while we’ve been able to answer most of them, we’ve so far avoided definitive answers on the full integration with Steam, particularly SteamPlay.  First, we apologize for not addressing these concerns sooner; however, we are still in intense, internal discussions about the pros and cons of utilizing the system. As some of you may be aware, we recently started a discussion in the comments of our most recent Civ V Mac FAQs post regarding the use of SteamPlay and buyer expectations.  As a result, we’ve received some awesome feedback from some of our readers and fans, and thus have decided to more formally invite others to comment on the situation by creating a dedicated post to the discussion.  Below is the comment that sparked the talk.

Hi Guys We obviously have had a lot of people inquire about SteamPlay, which is buy the PC version get the Mac version free (and vice versa). As I’m sure most folks would understand, as a company who invests heavily in the licensing, development and support of great Mac content giving content away for free is a difficult business model to support. We are still weighing the options but out of curiosity, how many of you have already purchased the PC version and expect a free Mac version? Did you purchase it on the PC to play via BootCamp in hopes you’d get the Mac version? Or did you purchase on the PC and just assumed you’d get a Mac version? Wondering what the expectation is out there. Thanks

As noted above, we would love to hear from more of you about your thoughts on the subject.  We know many of you will feel very passionately one way or another, so we do ask that anyone leaving a comment try to follow a civil and/or cordial level of discourse.  That being said, thanks for your time and your thoughts! Update: As BlogLady has noted below in the comments, we first want to thank everyone for their comments and thoughts, and we’re absolutely thrilled to have fans with such passion for Mac gaming.  Second, we do want to clarify that because Civilization V Mac will feature SteamWorks, the DRM and playing experience will be exactly the same no matter where you purchase the game, disc or download.

You will have Steam authorization rules and Steam encryption and access to Steam save game files, etc., no matter where you purchase it. So GameAgent DRM is not on the digital build and disk check is not on the disk.

Next, we want to let everyone know that we’re taking your comments very seriously, and that they have already made an impact on our internal discussions.  After all, where would we be without you guys? Finally, we want to take the discussion a step further:

Out of curiosity for you two machine owners – do you guys have PC home and Mac mobile? Or vice versa? I have to admit, I can’t even navigate a PC anymore I”m so entrenched in my Mac world.

Update #2: Again, thanks so much to everyone for their thoughts and comments!  We’ll be posting final decisions regarding SteamPlay, etc, in a final Civ V Mac FAQ on Monday, November 22.  Please stay tuned!

Friends, foes, followers – we come to you to find out more about your favorite Mac games. We often are asked “Where is ___ game? The last one is one of my favorites!” or “why aren’t you guys doing _____.” The truth is, we’re probably working very hard on getting ____ to our friends and followers. To help our cause tell us why a native Mac version of the latest game is ESSENTIAL for our partners to support. We want to hear what you’re thinking!