The future of PC gaming has been unpredictable for a few years now. With all the consoles (Xbox, Playstation) and portable iOS devices (iPad, iPod) lots of game developers have been coding for other platforms with more exposure. If you’re a Mac gamer, you’re in an even smaller (but growing) niche.
Fortunately lots of “big name” developers are still making games for the PC market. Often these bigger companies will even port their code for Macs! Because of this there aren’t lots and lots of games available for us, but the ones that actually ARE ported are generally good ones. Less, but better, selection. It’s also MUCH easier these days to port code – the underlying architecture is very similar now.
Some people out there (bless them) are passionate about making games for free! Lots of times these can only run on Windows or Linux, but some of the bigger projects have been generously ported. Here’s a few free games that I have been enjoying:
Glest and MegaGlest : Awesome real-time strategy game. MegaGlest was an offshoot in 2010 and is more complex and detailed.
Savage 2 : I’ve spent lots of hours on this one. It’s part strategy and part fighting. Very unique combat system that takes a while to get good at. Very good graphics and very fun.
Wesnoth : A turn-based, tactical strategy game. Fantasy-themed and very fun. Lots of different units with varying abilities and strengths. Pretty good AI that’s hard to beat.
PlaneShift : Free, multi-player online game. I just explored this one tonight, it’s sort of like World of Warcraft but free and a bit less pretty (what did you expect, Blizzard is a multi-billion dollar company). Despite a steep learning curve it looks pretty fun so far. Neat magic system and character development.
Urban Terror and Xonotic : I don’t really play first-person shooters that much. Killing people over and over again isn’t that fun unless they’re friends and in the same room. But these games are both free and have pretty decent graphics if you like mindless slaughter 🙂
Widelands : A strategy game. I love this game despite it’s simple graphics and relatively poor AI. I enjoy the building/upgrade system, and it has a built-in map making program. You can also slow down or speed up time at will. I really don’t understand how this game gives me hours of fun, but it does.
Warzone 2100 : Another real-time strategy game. This one is set in the future. The tech tree is HUGE, and takes a couple hours to get to the top tiers in a game. You can specialize in weapons, propulsion systems, tower defense, air units, or a combination to overwhelm your opponents. The AI is good too.
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