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Friday, December 11th Top Story: The Mac Observer Spin: It is companies like Micro Conversions and Bungie that are really pulling the Mac forward as a gaming platform right now. Bungie is the maker of the cross-platform smash hit Myth (and now Myth 2) as well as the 3rd person action/shooter called Oni that is coming out sometime in 1999. Micro Conversions brought us Voodoo 2 relatively shortly after the PC version was released and did so in a way that protected their interests. As Apple continues to rebound to greater heights and the Mac market continues to expand, the efforts of companies like these plays an important role. Unlike Techworks with their Power 3D product, Micro Conversions protected their investment by locking out their drivers with the use of any card except their own. This prevented people from stealing Micro Conversions work by using their drivers with a cheaper PC Voodoo 2 card. Techworks did not and subsequently lost their shirts as well as their ability and desire to make a Voodoo 2 card for the Mac. It is absolutely amazing to me that Mac gamers would do such a thing in the first place. The same people who would attempt to use a PC card with Mac drivers are often the same people who plaintively bleat out the question "Why aren't there more Mac things?" We have to support Mac companies that support the Mac. This brings me to the other aspect of this issue that sticks in the craw of many Mac people. Mac stuff is often more expensive than PC stuff. There are many reasons behind this, but the biggest one is the economy of scale. PC companies like Diamond Multimedia have the luxury of paying for their R&D costs and turning out a profit on a scale that is 20 times that of Micro Conversions or Techworks. This allows those companies to sell at a lower rate than is possible for companies like Micro Conversions, Village Tronic, Techworks, and others. Until we reach the day where Macs sell in nearly the same numbers as PCs, we will be faced with higher costs. It is up to Mac gamers and consumers to support the companies that support us until that day.
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