Gaming on Mac: Must-Know Tips & Tricks

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Apple’s Mac computers are not meant for gaming – this is an age-old concept that is slowly fading over time. Earlier versions were indeed falling short of gaming capabilities with a very limited choice in compatible games. When Mac App Store gave users Flight Control and Angry Birds, it was the first step towards effective gaming on Mac PCs. So let us see how your gaming experience can be improved on Mac with a few tricks and tweaks.

System requirements for gaming on Macintosh

Mac has already proved its worth as an indisputable workhorse. Gaming obviously requires a state-of-the-art Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for a pleasurable audio-visual experience. So how will you know whether your Mac PC has the latest hi-tech GPU? To check whether you have the system requirements suitable for gaming click on ~ About This Mac from the start Menu. Then look for ~ More Info and choose ~ System Report.

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The details that you need to look for are:

  • Random Access Memory of 2GB minimum.
  • Steam, a software, that acts as a bridge between your Mac PC and the framework on which Mac games are designed.
  • Free memory of at least 37MB for installation of the software.

An alternative would be to have a separate partition on the hard drive and load it with the latest version of Windows OS. But it will block free hard disk space that could be utilized more judiciously. This is especially detrimental when you have a heavy work load too and the Mac disk space is reduced due to partitioning. So let us focus on optimizing Mac for gaming in its present state.

The power of Steam

With the advent of Steam, a platform that communicates and manages multimedia, gaming on Macintosh PCs is a lot better than before. Steam software permits the creation, automatic installation and management of games across any operating system. It also supports chat options in an over-the-cloud multi-player environment. So it is imperative to install Steam on your Mac PC. Create a Steam account with your email id and user name, and you are ready to experience the pleasure of real-time gaming on your Mac.

Steam gives your Mac the compatibility to access a large collection of games with HD quality visuals and life-like sound quality. Now you can comfortably access innumerable games and applications from the Mac App Store without worrying about compatibility or permissions.

Some of the available games are:

  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  • World of Goo
  • Angry Birds
  • Batman 2
  • Harry Potter
  • Bastion
  • Dragon Age
  • Rome: Total War
  • Call of Duty
  • Dungeon Defenders
  • The Room
  • Bioshock
  • Botanicula
  • Diablo III
  • Legend of Grimrock
  • Walking Mars
  • Assassin’s Creed
  • Cubemen
  • Civilization V
  • Gridrunner
  • Small Street
  • Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and many more

Most of the games have impressive 3D visual effects and real-life zooming that feels as if you are living the game. With such a long list of compatible games, the world of entertainment has come a long way from the old workhorse-like Macintosh computers.

If you are playing the game on Macbook Pro the battery will take a toll. The heavy-duty graphics and sounds will drain the battery so it is best to play with the power cable connected so that it recharges while you are playing. You definitely don’t want it to blink out midway, do you?! Some of the games give a better output on a Macintosh PC rather than on the notebook. But on the other hand the Macbook requires less tweaking for gaming.

With these tips and tricks you can set up your Apple Mac to maximize your gaming pleasure.

Ryan Larkin authors on behalf of Broadbandproviders.com – the leading provider of the best value broadband internet. He writes about the latest in Technology and everything about the Internet. click here