Why no "Mac" category?

[zenimus]

This site seems pretty meticulous about including all the versions and varieties of games, so why aren't there some categories dedicated to Mac games? I've got lots of old Mac games lying around, some of them exclusive to the platform.

There are three eras to Mac software:

Apple Macintosh Classic (1984-2000)
Apple Mac OS X (PowerPC) (2001-2007)
Apple Mac OS X (Intel) (2007-Present)

These could all be lumped together, or be kept separate since they're all mutually incompatible. What do you think?

[foxhack]

We don't have much info on Mac games... because we haven't had any Mac collectors show up.

Until you did, anyway.

We accept suggestions. We have the Apple II on the site, but that's about it...

[zenimus]

It hasn't really been the "go to" system for gaming since the mid-'90s, but there's been a number of influential games that got their start on Mac, like Maxis' Sim games, Bungie's Marathon (the pre-cursor to Halo), and the Myst series.

[scott]

Just wanted to mention.

We were talking about this on Work Night this week and we are still trying to decide on how we want to add them to the database. I think it'd be better to separate different "eras"/ hardware. BUt then again, we could lump all Mac stuff into one listing too (which could be a bit jumbled too).

So we'd like to get a bunch of info from Mac users as we can, so it can be accurate. That way we don't have to go back and rework it all later.

[jcalder8]

I am not a mac user but I think just having one listing is enough like the PC.

[foxhack]

I am not a mac user but I think just having one listing is enough like the PC.

Nooooooooooooooooo it isn't.

The three main "eras" (Motorola / PPC / Intel) of Mac OS are almost completely incompatible with each other. And some games were released for two eras (Motorola and PPC versions, or PPC / Intel versions).

I'd settle for three separate classifications, but we need more input from mac players.

[psydswipe]

I am not a mac user but I think just having one listing is enough like the PC.

Nooooooooooooooooo it isn't.

The three main "eras" (Motorola / PPC / Intel) of Mac OS are almost completely incompatible with each other. And some games were released for two eras (Motorola and PPC versions, or PPC / Intel versions).

I'd settle for three separate classifications, but we need more input from mac players.

Does compatibility matter when it comes to collecting though? Not all PC games work on all versions of Windows. Maybe I'm misunderstanding but I can't really think of a reason to separate Mac versions. Granted, I've only used a Mac a few times but this just sounds like the equivalent to separating each Windows OS, and DOS and Linux for PC. I'm not sure if it would benefit the site to break down that information, though if you really wanted you could possibly add a drop down menu or check boxes for compatible operating systems or whatever Mac details are needed.

Edit: I just noticed the first post in this thread. It would seem the year of release would be enough to inform someone about what version of a Mac game they are viewing on the website.

[foxhack]

Does compatibility matter when it comes to collecting though? Not all PC games work on all versions of Windows. Maybe I'm misunderstanding but I can't really think of a reason to separate Mac versions. Granted, I've only used a Mac a few times but this just sounds like the equivalent to separating each Windows OS, and DOS and Linux for PC. I'm not sure if it would benefit the site to break down that information, though if you really wanted you could possibly add a drop down menu or check boxes for compatible operating systems or whatever Mac details are needed.

Edit: I just noticed the first post in this thread. It would seem the year of release would be enough to inform someone about what version of a Mac game they are viewing on the website.

Well, you may be able to play a DOS game on a Windows 7 PC. But you can't play a NES cart on a SNES.

You can't play a Mac Classic game on an Intel OSX system. Windows systems can run old software because the base operating system is more or less the same, but Macs have a different base OS AND a different CPU to deal with. All three CPU types are very different.

[mkarasch]

We have Gameboy and GBC.  And Xbox 360 and Xbox.  And Ps2 and ps1.  If we are using backwards compatibility as a metric.</devil'sadvocate>

[scott]

We have Gameboy and GBC.  And Xbox 360 and Xbox.  And Ps2 and ps1.  If we are using backwards compatibility as a metric.</devil'sadvocate>

Ya, but those are all technically their own console releases too.

The argument could be made the the GB and GBC are the same thing, only the GBC has color. But The GBC has it's own set of GBC only carts that can't be played on GB, though some are dual mode. Personally, I consider the GBC to be it's own system w/ GB backwards compatibility. And as such, when we started doing the database I made sure we kept their lists separate. 

[foxhack]

We have Gameboy and GBC.  And Xbox 360 and Xbox.  And Ps2 and ps1.  If we are using backwards compatibility as a metric.</devil'sadvocate>

The GBC has a built-in emulation mode that lets it run GB games.
The 360 can't run classic XBox games if they don't have an official software emulator written for it.
The PS2 uses the PS1's CPU to handle its controller routines.

NOT the same thing.

Mac OS used to have Rosetta, which let it run PPC software and games, but that was removed on OS X 10.7.

[mkarasch]

Which further cements Zenimus' point, I think.  When you have to do extraneous things to enable backwards compatibility, it is rightfully a different hardware platform.  Mac OSX is especially selective when it comes to supporting old hardware and software, so I think it is fair to split it into three categories.

There isn't really an analog in Dos/Windows based computing, since Microsoft has been very diligent in trying to get older programs to run as well as possible on the newer OS.  As far as I understand, since Windows XP, any 16-bit software has been run in an emulator of sorts.  I for one wouldn't want to try to separate out my PC games to say: "This is a Windows 98 game, this is a Windows XP game" etc.  Yuck.

[jcalder8]

I can understand your saying foxhack. The problem that I have is that I have Ishar 3 for the "Macintosh Computer" as a non mac user I wouldn't know where to put it.

[driph]

Since DOS and Windows are lumped into the PC category, I'd suggest doing the same for Mac OS, and just go with Mac, and Mac - Digital Download, similar to the way the PC category is handled.

(this also fits in with say, Atari 8-bit, which would include XE games that are not compatible with some of the earlier hardware)

[tripredacus]

I don't see a problem lumping Mac together. I haven't gotten to add mine yet. I was kinda disappointed that PC is combined, as DOS and Windows should be separate. Drilling down into the actual "systems" of PC games can get kinda tricky... Especially when you consider the hybrid games which are designed to work on multiple platforms. I have some games that I know come in PC, Mac, Linux, Hybrid PC-Mac, Hybrid PC-Linux. I'm sure I have a Hybrid PC-Linux-Mac game or two.