The product and info loaded keynote presentation of the 2012 WWDC has come and gone, but fans of Apple are still buzzing from the all the announcements. While it didn’t get as much attention as iOS 6 or the stunning new MacBook Pros, it was exciting to actually see a segment of the show dedicated to gaming. And what they had to say was incredibly exciting.
Game Center Comes to OSX
Prior to the WWDC, here are some important numbers to keep in mind:
Apple’s Game Center has 130 million users
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Users post 5 billion scores to Game Center every week
These numbers are far more impressive than anything most people could’ve guessed. And remember, this is for something that is only on iOS. With these figures it seems like a no-brainer to bring Game Center to OSX. Game Center on OSX, while cool, isn’t what’s really intriguing though. The intention of making it cross-platform is what’s so exciting. It means more people with Apple products connected and gaming than ever before. It’s common knowledge that casual gaming is on the rise, but with this move even more people will be motivated to play a quick game of poker or race with a friend, simply because they can now.
Apple TV Airplay Mirroring
Already a hit for iOS devices, using Airplay to mirror your Mac on the big screen seems like the next logical step. People have been clamoring for it for a while and finally have it with the release of Mountain Lion in July. Now movies, music, and yes, games can be streamed directly to your
Apple TV. Excessive wires to connect machines are becoming less and less of an issue, making for a clean, streamlined home entertainment system. Games like Diablo III or Civilization V will now be able to run on your television. With the new Apple TVs capable of 1080p, it will look absolutely gorgeous while doing so. Combine this with the added integration of Game Center that’s even more connected gaming on your television. Depending on what kind of games you play it’s making the need for a game console seem less and less necessary.
MacBook Pro with Retina Screen
For many this was the highlight of the presentation. If ever there was a Mac laptop designed to handle gaming, this is it. Here’s a glimpse at the high-end specs:
- 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz) with 6MB shared L3 cache
- 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3L onboard memory (up to 16GB possible)
- Up to 768GB of flash (SSD) storage
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory and automatic graphics switching
- Up to 7 hours of battery life
- Retina display: 15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2880-by-1800 resolution at 220 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors
That sounds like a beautiful setup. Consider those Retina display specs for a moment: that’s higher resolution than any other laptop on the market. To show off something so stunning Apple chose, of all things a game. Diablo III, to be exact, which will support the Retina screen natively…and will look amazing. This means games have the potential to look even better than a game on any television set. Combine that with the hardware mentioned above and you have a Mac gamer’s dream machine.
It’s nice to see Apple finally acknowledging gaming as a serious aspect of the Mac experience and have these new game-related products get their moment in the sun and excite Mac game enthusiasts. Thanks to these items detailed on Monday, it’s easy to see why the number of gamers on the Mac will see a considerable bump. More game connectivity than ever, the ability to play Mac games on the television and the most beautiful display on a laptop in the market today equal a win for game enthusiasts everywhere.
