D'aww. I hold off for a week thinking that there's gonna be this big press release with pictures of dogs and the Canadian flag waving in the background, and then Trent goes and tells the world on Twitter.
Oh not released on the app store? That's unfortunate for me since I was saving a gift card for the app store, just for this. Will you guys eventually get it released to the app store or never? I don't mind waiting If not I will try to get it sometime when I have the extra funds.
I don't care about the app store, or steam, or gog, or beamdog client. Just let use download the game and use GameSpy like the old days. Whats wrong with that?
@Drakon Indeed it would, but SteamPlay is in Atari's hands. @Auryt Mac Store is still planned. I don't think it'll be that long after the beamdog version, but it's up to Apple. @Goddard there is no Beamdog client for the Mac. You just download the launcher and it downloads/updates the game for you. Just like how it works with Blizzard's games. Also, GameSpy should die in a fire.
@Drakon Indeed it would, but SteamPlay is in Atari's hands. @Auryt Mac Store is still planned. I don't think it'll be that long after the beamdog version, but it's up to Apple. @Goddard there is no Beamdog client for the Mac. You just download the launcher and it downloads/updates the game for you. Just like how it works with Blizzard's games. Also, GameSpy should die in a fire.
The pre-game lobbies are genius and every client should have them. I don't know if you want to give GameSpy credit for that, or some one else, but that is what I am talking about.
A everyone lobby with names and pictures and the ability to mute retards and then individual game lobbies before you launch your game.
You can meet new people and join others games. It was perfect. Not sure what issues you had with GameSpy.
@Goddard I hated Gamespy because they charged obscene license fees, which made it cost prohibitive for mac porting companies to port games that used it. They effectively dropped mac support by doing that. And I never felt it worked as well as other games' own multiplayer lobbies, or Gameranger.
News from Twitter: @TrentOster twittered: "We are just laying out plans to launch the Mac version and sync up the other platform versions. This is getting a little complicated."
Whoohoo!(?)
EDIT: sorry, this was already posted... Ah well, good news 2x = better news, right?
While someone previously explained the benefits of the Beamdog client does that mean the game will be buggy on release? I thought the issue with the Apple Store route was that fixes were needed?
The main issue with the Apple Store route is that it takes forever to update. Generally speaking, the Windows and OSX versions are the same. In other words, barring some rare platform bugs (I'm a beta tester and I haven't encountered any), one should not be buggier than the other. My experiences in the beta are positive.
Yes, the game will eventually be in the Mac App store.
Due to the nature of the game - where 80% of what makes up what you perceive as the game is common across platforms - the Mac version will always be as "buggy" as the PC version. There will be one key difference between the two platforms: there will be fewer hardware compatibility issues on the Mac because Mac hardware is much less diverse (and generally higher quality) than PC hardware.
Whenever any game is released, there are issues that are more easily found by thousands of users than they are by a small team of developers. Having their own launcher gives Beamdog the flexibility to address those issues on the same development cycle as the PC version.
There is a fallacy of opinion that Apple "tests" app store games, and rejects them if they are buggy. Anyone who has bought anything from the MAS or the iOS App store knows that this is just wrong. Apple rejects apps if they violate their development guidelines - using restricted APIs, violating their arcane sandboxing rules, etc. So what Apple is "protecting" you from are low level details that have no impact on whether or not you enjoy the game, and frankly Apple can require the developers to implement things in a way that you might call it a bug.
If you are currently debating whether to wait for the Mac version, or buy the PC version and run it in Parallels, then this announcement should make you happy. If you are waiting for a "bug free" version of BG:EE...well, take a look at the known issues list in the BGEE Bugs forum, and the known issues list in the iPad forum, and decide if you want to wait for a few updates before you buy.
@Bhaaldog Don't worry. As @Cerevant said the issues with the Mac version are the same as with the other platforms. Although I believe it will not be suffering the Intel Graphics problems due to better OpenGL drivers in the Mac side.
Crash bug and touch pad bug mentioned here earlier do not sound "violating developement guidelines" for me.
There's a difference between Overhaul pulling the build and Apple rejecting it. I reported the touchpad bug, and the crash bug was reported by another beta tester.
Comments
@rexreg Who? Me?
@Auryt Mac Store is still planned. I don't think it'll be that long after the beamdog version, but it's up to Apple.
@Goddard there is no Beamdog client for the Mac. You just download the launcher and it downloads/updates the game for you. Just like how it works with Blizzard's games. Also, GameSpy should die in a fire.
A everyone lobby with names and pictures and the ability to mute retards and then individual game lobbies before you launch your game.
You can meet new people and join others games. It was perfect. Not sure what issues you had with GameSpy.
But yes, lobbies are nice.
@bigdogchris Yes, that's why they are doing it.
Whoohoo!(?)
EDIT: sorry, this was already posted... Ah well, good news 2x = better news, right?
Due to the nature of the game - where 80% of what makes up what you perceive as the game is common across platforms - the Mac version will always be as "buggy" as the PC version. There will be one key difference between the two platforms: there will be fewer hardware compatibility issues on the Mac because Mac hardware is much less diverse (and generally higher quality) than PC hardware.
Whenever any game is released, there are issues that are more easily found by thousands of users than they are by a small team of developers. Having their own launcher gives Beamdog the flexibility to address those issues on the same development cycle as the PC version.
There is a fallacy of opinion that Apple "tests" app store games, and rejects them if they are buggy. Anyone who has bought anything from the MAS or the iOS App store knows that this is just wrong. Apple rejects apps if they violate their development guidelines - using restricted APIs, violating their arcane sandboxing rules, etc. So what Apple is "protecting" you from are low level details that have no impact on whether or not you enjoy the game, and frankly Apple can require the developers to implement things in a way that you might call it a bug.
If you are currently debating whether to wait for the Mac version, or buy the PC version and run it in Parallels, then this announcement should make you happy. If you are waiting for a "bug free" version of BG:EE...well, take a look at the known issues list in the BGEE Bugs forum, and the known issues list in the iPad forum, and decide if you want to wait for a few updates before you buy.