It’s a good thing I have that Windows box for games…MacGamer has posted a list of system requirements for Doom 3 for OS X. Here’s the rundown:
- Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.6 or later
- CPU Processor: PowerPC G5 or later
- CPU Speed: 1.5GHz or faster
- Memory: 384 MB or higher
- Hard Disk Space: 2.2GB free disk space
- Video Card (ATI): Radeon 8500 or better
- Video Card (NVidia): GeForce FX 5200 or better
- Video Memory (VRam): 64 MB or higher
- Media Required: DVD Drive
Yowza. I guess my dual 1.25 GHz G4 with a gig of RAM and a Radeon 9800 Pro isn’t good enough to run Doom on OS X.
To be fair, they do say these are preliminary, but after seeing the less-than-spectacular performance of Halo on my G4, I’m not expecting it to be able to run Doom well, if at all.
One other thing: it’s nice to see Aspyr, like other Mac game publishers, fully embracing DVD-ROMs. It’s a cost-cutting measure I’m sure (1 DVD costs less than 5 CDs to package, I imagine) but it’s the kind of thing PC games should have started doing years ago.
i would assume that Aspyr and other Mac game publishers have the ability to fully embrace DVD-ROMs simply because they know when a G5 is required (or G4 for that matter) the user is going to have a DVD drive.
in my previous life as a PC gamer (not the magazine) i never went to the trouble of buying and installing a DVD-ROM drive. maybe i’m cheap, but i never thought to watch movies on my monitor when i had a 32 inch Wega for that.
since Apple is the only manufacturer of hardware, the known hardware combinations are somewhat, though not totally, limited. unlike the build your own hot rod PC world, where they are much closer to the side of unlimited.
the only road the PC game publishers would have is to manufacture both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM titles and see how they sell, but they would still find themselves without an optimal customer experience. some people wanting the DVD would likely buy the CD-ROM version and backwards. returns, RMAs, reshippments. in fact, since those two titles would have different SKU numbers, it would be hard to return the CD-ROM version for the DVD-ROM version in stores that have an “same title only” exchange policy.
i’m not saying it’s a bad idea for titles to be on DVD, and it will come sooner than i realize, but it will take a title that is DVD only and really fucking great to get people to rush out and buy it and DVD-ROM drives.