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Not being blessed with the gift of prescience, it's hard for me to tell you what to expect down the road for gaming on the Macintosh. The release of Unreal for the Macintosh is a big positive, and Bungie Software's continued success developing high-quality games for PC and Mac simultaneously will hopefully inspire other companies to adopt their development model. The initial release of the iMac, with its third-rate 3D hardware and poor upgrade options, sounded an ominous toll for the future, but reports of iMac gaming stillbirth appear to have been exaggerated, based on the new hardware coming out. What about the future of 3D graphics on the Mac? It would be nice to see 3Dfx start supporting its Macintosh drivers, and it would be doubly nice to see the other 3D chip vendors, like Riva, Rendition, and NEC start to support Macs. Regardless, the platform has two vendors (MicroConversions and VillageTronic) leading the way with Mac-native 3Dfx-based hardware, while PC-native PCI 3D accelerators based on 3Dfx chipsets seem to work well with the Mac. ATI continues to make Macintosh a key element of their strategy, although their solutions aren't as aggressive as the aforementioned chip vendors; if that were to change, Mac gamers might see top-flight graphics solutions at the same time they are available to their PC friends. If more Mac users start clamoring for games, and if the games companies see a market where they can make more money, you'll see more titles ship for the Macintosh. It all depends on whether or not the Macintosh can gain back some of the market share that it lost over the last decade. Apple is in a stronger position than in recent years. Its stock price is back from the subterranean, the G3 line of Macintoshes are highly capable gaming machines, and the iMac is no slouch itself. I wouldn't hazard a guess. Thanks for Paul Smicker for all his help on this article.
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