PC games on Mac

[geezuzkhrist119]

I hear its possible to run PC games on a Mac but is it easy to do or do I just need to download a program to do so?

I want to play some command & conquer

[PapaStu]

First it depends on your Mac's internals. Is it an older Power PC or is it a newer Intel based system. If it's a Power PC, you're out of luck. The system architecture just won't support it.

Next you're going to need to either use Apple's BootCamp (free), or something like Parallels (not free) to allow you to dual boot your computer. Then you're going to need to make sure that you've got a fresh copy of Xp/Vista/7 that can be installed on the partition. Still with me? Good. Now get a copy of C&C and go to town.

EASY-PEASY!

And thus, that is the reason I am a console gamer and not a computer gamer (Apple/Mac user since 86).

[Vectorman0]

I believe many games can be played while running in Mac OS X using CrossOver.

[Gameguy]

First it depends on your Mac's internals. Is it an older Power PC or is it a newer Intel based system. If it's a Power PC, you're out of luck. The system architecture just won't support it.
If it's an older Power PC you can get an old copy of Virtual PC for Mac.

[geezuzkhrist119]

I'm rocking a brand new macbook pro.
Some games say that it can run on both platform on the cover

[Bojay1997]

First it depends on your Mac's internals. Is it an older Power PC or is it a newer Intel based system. If it's a Power PC, you're out of luck. The system architecture just won't support it.

Next you're going to need to either use Apple's BootCamp (free), or something like Parallels (not free) to allow you to dual boot your computer. Then you're going to need to make sure that you've got a fresh copy of Xp/Vista/7 that can be installed on the partition. Still with me? Good. Now get a copy of C&C and go to town.

EASY-PEASY!

And thus, that is the reason I am a console gamer and not a computer gamer (Apple/Mac user since 86).

Actually, as others have pointed out, there are options available to run PC software including games on a Power PC Mac. Indeed, DosBox is also available as a Universal Binary for both Power PC and Intel Macs. Now, admittedly, you're not always going to get the best performance out of certain PC games on a Power PC Mac, especially if it has very specific hardware and graphics acceleration requirements. Frankly, you're going to suffer a performance bump down even on a new Intel Mac when compared to a similar PC when running the same game, but it really all depends on what your processor, memory and graphics card look like on your Mac and what the requirements of the game are.

[alec006]

If it's an old DOS game you can run it using DOSBox. DOSBox can run on both a Power PC and Intel Mac. Command & Conquer seems to have a MS-DOS version, so it would run fine in DOSBox. It's always fun running Duke Nukem 3D on a Powerbook G4.

[Ed Oscuro]

And thus, that is the reason I am a console gamer and not a computer gamer (Apple/Mac user since 86).
Also related to the reason that I have a PC and not a Mac. (Executor is free, if I needed it - I have a couple classic Macs sitting around, not good ones though, outside the oldest models.)

Instead of Windows (not free) you could install Linux instead - it won't be any simpler for the end purpose of playing Windows games, of course.

[Jorpho]

It's always fun running Duke Nukem 3D on a Powerbook G4.DOSBox has its place, but for something like Duke Nukem 3D, it would probably be a much better idea to go with one of the source ports.


Also related to the reason that I have a PC and not a Mac. (Executor is free, if I needed it - I have a couple classic Macs sitting around, not good ones though, outside the oldest models.)You're painfully limited in what you can do with Executor, though it too has its uses.