Mac Beta Released

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As the beta has progressed, and as promised, the Mac client for StarCraft 2 beta has been released! If you've been waiting for this, I'm sure you're excited. But after 10 weeks of beta with no Mac support and being stuck in an emulator, maybe the lesson's been ingrained? Game companies just don't care about supporting the platform.

The Mac client can be downloaded from the same location as the Windows client, just select "Mac OSX." According to the Blizzard release the only supported OS is OSX, with further Mac OS support in the coming weeks.


Source: Battle.net

 

But Mac OS X is the ONLY Mac OS available. Classic is dead for years. Anyways, good news, now I can get rid of Windows on my Mac :-D

 

that;s the best part of the mac gone then marcus

 

I have been having a lot of troubles getting it to work....Which is to say that it still isn't working.

 

Game companies just don't care about supporting the platform.

I don't think you're being fair with that assesment: yes, the Mac Beta arrived 10 weeks after the PC Beta, but it's finally here --Blizzard ARE supporting Mac. To not support it would be to not release any Mac Beta. Do they see Mac as a PRIORITY? No. But simply because Mac is not a priority does not mean it is not supported.

A more journalistic tone might have been: ''Mac users will certainly (and rightfully) rejoice at the news. However, the 10 week disparity between the Mac and PC Beta launch is very much in line with what many perceive as the gaming industry's disregard for the platform.''

 

That's odd, because mine is working fine. Not great, because it seems the performance is not as good as in Windows, in the same machine.

 

JonX I think you're forgetting the days when SC1 was released.

The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998
A Mac OS version was released in March 1999

So us Mac users had to wait a year SC1. And that was a released version.
But times have really changed. Heck this is only a beta. And we will get the retail release the same time as the windows version. So really we can't complain. Many other gaming companies just say their games will not be ported to OS X at all.

"Game companies just don't care about supporting the platform" is not true.
Some game companies just don't care about supporting the platform would be a better description. As there is a lot of games out there for the Mac platforms, be it OS X or the iphone OS.

So we should be thanking Blizzard for thinking of all of their potential customers as they always do.

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To ZealotInATuxedo:

It's only 10 weeks and heck it's only a beta. This is not like waiting a year for the released version of a game as I mentioned above with SC1. Blizzard do care about their customers with Windows and OS X just as much. They just decided to allow the Windows users to test the beta first. It's not that much of a big deal really.

The retail version will work with Windows and OS X. And be on the same set of released discs. And that's the most important thing really.

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To marcusrodrigues:

Further OS X support Ima assuming would be more realms (as I think OS X people can only enter the US realms now). And also the Map editor and other things. I think that's what Blizzard mean by further Mac support. I think even Blizzard know the classic Mac OS's are long dead.

And if it's not working in OS X as well as windows for you, maybe Blizzard just used something like cider to port over the OS X version. Which would be strange as I would think they'd make a 100% native OS X version. Anyways I'll get on the game now as it jsut finished it's 1.5 day download. And I'll be able to see how well it runs.

 

A new post but this is important.

Yes the game is OS X only. That's pretty obvious.
But the SC2 Applcation is a Universal Binary. Which means it will work on intel Macs as well as PPC Macs. I feel this information should be noted. As I've had a lot of people as me this question.

Here is a nice thread about the system requirements for the OS X SC2 beta.
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=24630623195&sid=5000&pageNo=1

And for me I play the game on medium settings. And sure the fps is not great. it's surely very playable and it looks ok. And I only have an ATI x1600 graphics card.

And another question, why is the game intel only and then make the SC2 app itself a universal binary? That makes no sense? I think I'll have to ask this question on the official forums to get an answer.

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And here is a blue post about OS X preformance of the game:
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=24630542958&sid=5000&pageNo=1

And I found this blue post while searching the Blizzard forums. And I think it answers the bug question.
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=24630622934&sid=5000

So there you go the blue text of blizzard has spoken.

 

@ Zealot,

10 weeks is still a long delay for a client change. It's true, gaming companies have absolutely no interest in supporting these platforms.

They do it only after a longer period of time because they can get an added investment from sale of the new client down the road. Look at Valve's Left 4 Dead, they just released the Mac client for that in April. That's a full 15 months after original release.

Blizzard is likely only releasing Mac during the beta because they plan on eventually releasing a client for the actual game. I doubt very much they release it for Mac anywhere near the real release date. I'm thinking 3-4 months.

 

You are so very wrong, Jon. The game DVD is Hybrid, it comes with both versions in it. Just read the description of the Collectors Edition. It wil be a simultaneous release, no doubts there.

 

There is so much wrong with that statement JonX I will just point out a few of them.

1. Hybrid Blizzard discs are pointed out in the post above mine. And WC3 and Diablo 2 were hybrid discs with Mac and Windows versions on them. And Starcraft 2 is no different.
2. Cider was invented for the simple purpose of giving developers an easy of porting their windows games and other applications to OS X.
http://www.transgaming.com/business/cider/
Cider does not make a true port for OS X, more like a wrapper to allow the games to be played on an intel Mac. And for most people that is enough.
3. The iphone OS has more games for it than the Nintendo DS does. And many of them are not available on any other OS/system.
4. Freeverse are one company with many games that are developed for the Mac first and PC as an after thought. And there are other companies like that too. So it works both ways. But the main point is in the end both OS X and Windows users get to play the games.
5. What you said about steam is truth though. But we had bootcamp to tide us over till they made an OS X client. So there's not too much heartache there.
6. And if all else fails Mac users have bootcamp and the rest have the hackintosh.

 

I dont know why, but the "Download MAC-client" still doesn't work for me...

 

Report it to Blizzard on their forums.
The OS X client works just fine for me.

 

Sorry to be off topic, but I'm disappointed with this release only because it was supposed to come with the map publishing patch, which it didn't. Q.Q anyway carry on with your discussion. My two cents regarding the release has been stated.

 

I just want to make myself clear, as you seem to ascribe to me the opinion that Mac is not supported: I was simply offering a more journalistic tone than what Jon wrote. I found his tone to be belligerent and his facts innacurate. My position was and is that Blizzard supports Mac, but that it's not their biggest priority.

@JonEagle

Just for the record, Jon: I have no aversion for polemics, so long as the polemical arguments are based on facts.

 

There is so much wrong with that statement the8thark I will just point out a few of them.

1. You have no social skills.
2. You consistently attack the opinions of StarCraft2Forum.org (myself)
3. You have no repute among members of the forum on which to base your points.
4. Rather than ever actually contributing to posts you simply act as the troll.

Thank you for pointing out the technological availability of OSX support for games. But Blizzard has yet to confirm that they will simultaneously be releasing an OSX and Windows version of StarCraft 2.

Despite what the "description" might read on a site like Amazon or GameStop, the truth is that neither of those distributors know a lick of what they're talking about. Heck, a release date hasn't even been made official.

Game companies, incuding Blizzard, have a track record of delaying the launch of Mac-compatible products for the following financial reasons:

1. It is much more feasible to undertake a product launch on one platform at a time.

2. Mac users are a significantly smaller portion of the gaming population.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Furthermore, the commentary surrounding news posts on this site are meant as just that: commentary. You shouldn't take offhand comments made in a post regarding material within the post as absolute truths. I simply stated that since the Mac beta was released almost 10 weeks after the original beta launch that Mac is clearly not a high priority for Blizzard's StarCraft 2 launch.

It's a secondary platform. And that's the truth.

 

Gentlemen, let's please keep this respectful, if not friendly.

@Ark

Please, address Jon a little more respectfully. He's the one we have to thank for this great site.

@Jon

I understand you face a lot of criticism, and receive very little praise. But I do not understand how you equate criticism of SC2forums.org as criticism of YOU personally. I do not think that Ark's criticisms are personal attacks. As you know, if someone disagrees with your ideas, that doesn't mean that they are attacking YOU personally.

Here are two examples of personal attacks:

That's curious: I happen to value Ark's opinions. And since when has Reputation been the requisite for making a valid point?

However, I find this statement to be the most troubling:

So, astute critics are trolls? What does that make journalists who don't do their research?

Actually, you said this:

I then disagreed with your statement: companies DO support Mac. I maintain, as does Ark, that NO SUPPORT means that NO games are being made for the platform, which is erroneous. I particularly disliked the statement because it is innacurate and it is a belligerent generalisation. Do you game on a Mac, Jon? I know you don't... So, I don't understand why you'd be complaining on our behalf. What purpose did that comment serve other than to alienate some of your readers who ARE Mac users?

Please note that I am criticising the article, NOT you personally: I did not say that YOU are belligerent.

Jon, I think you do a great job with the site. This has been blown out of proportion. I was simply pointing out that the language used was perhaps not Page 1 material. Blogs are for propounding polemical statements that do not relate to StarCraft. The fact of the matter is that companies DO care about supporting the platform because there IS money to be made.

THAT I agree with.

 

Actually I generally disagree with their lack of support for Mac. But I honestly think it's more a problem with Apple than the game companies themselves. They refuse to open their arms to developers, just look at their relationship with Adobe.

And as for the8thark's reputation, I don't mean his reputation points I mean his general regard on the forum. He trolls a lot of posts. I'm not the only one frustrated by his antics.

Oh, and lastly, by "social skills" I mean he consistently posts in a completely rude manner.

"JonX there is so much wrong with your post, allow me to point it out." I realize it's possible English isn't his first language, but the annoyance has grown over time.

And by the way, on topic, if anyone is able to produce something where Blizzard states that OSX will have a simultaneous release, I will gladly withdraw my forecast of a 3-4 month delay.

 

I'm glad to hear that. However, why then berate the platform as one that no one is interested in? Why not adopt a more neutral stance and criticise the status quo in the 3rd person? It comes across as more neutral, and imbues both your argument and reporting with greater credence.

As for Ark, I agree that s/he can be "rude", but I suspect that it's not necessarily intended: s/he is obviously not a native speaker. I've worked in a call centre,and I've witnessed a lot of customers get really, really nasty with me. I also teach English as a second language. So, maybe that's why I'm more lenient towards Ark: when s/he criticises me, I don't take it personally. What Ark is doing is called a Register Error. That is to say, non-native speakers often choose the "wrong" words in a given context, so what they meant to be a little criticism actually sounds like a personal attack.

Do you speak a second langauge? If not, you should study one a little bit, Jon: you might better appreciate what non-natives go through. You'd also probably be more lenient towards non-natives who haven't mastered the langauge.

I agree: it most likely WILL be delayed by 3-4 months. That was never the issue. The issue was: "Is Blizzard releasing it for Mac?" The answer is, yes, they are, and therefore they support Mac. The only issue I had was the tone you adopted when speaking of Mac. People tend to be very protective of their platforms...

 

If it was the first instance, I would totally agree with you. However, it's far from the first instance.