Playing Video Games – Mac OS X

While iOS devices have a wide variety of games, everything from Angry Birds to Grand Theft Auto to Fruit Ninja, Macs are sometimes left out of the gaming scene. Recently, however, this has started to change with the introduction of new gaming services such as Steam and OnLive.

In this article we will be showing you where to get the latest games for your Mac based on your gaming interests.

Mac App Store

While this may seem obvious, the Mac App Store is a favorite to “casual” gamers. The Mac App Store offers a wide variety of casual games ranging from the most popular new games such as Star Wars game to favorite classics such as Monopoly. Most of these games are reasonably priced and will run on most recent Macs with an Intel processor.

“Hardcore” gamers, on the other hand, won’t appreciate the Mac App Store as much as casual gamers. This is because many full-featured games do not appear in the Mac App Store. The hardcore games that actually are available on the Mac App Store, such as Call of Duty 4, tend to be overpriced and can be found cheaper on other online stores.

All in all, the Mac App Store is the best choice for the casual gamer because of its vast selection of indie and mini-games. Hardcore gamers and those looking for multi-player games should probably look elsewhere.

Steam

Steam is a download-only online game store run by Valve Inc., the maker of the popular Portal and Team Fortress series. Steam has recently opened its doors to Mac users by releasing a Mac version of their game store.

Hardcore gamers will love Steam as it offers the latest games–such as Portal, Garry’s Mod, and Call of Duty–at great prices. Steam has frequent sales on full-featured games during the holidays so you can be sure that you’re getting the best price.

Casual gamers won’t appreciate Steam as it doesn’t offer many mini-games. While Steam offers a few casual games, they’re usually expensive and can be found in the Mac App Store for a cheaper price.

OnLive

OnLive takes a whole new approach to Mac gaming. OnLive is a cloud gaming service which means that you don’t need a super powerful Mac to play video games at high quality settings. The actual game is processed on OnLive’s servers. This is good for people that would like to game on older Macs with slower processors.

OnLive has a vast selection of hardcore games including L.A. Noir and Saint’s Row. Hardcore gamers will love this service because of its range of multiplayer and shooter games.

Casual gamers will also like this service because of it’s wide variety of family and mini-games. Games such as LEGO Batman and Brain Challenge will definitely intrigue casual gamers as well as children of all ages.

Another awesome feature that OnLive offers is rentals. Gamers can easily rent games from OnLive for a great price. For example, a user can rent DiRT 2 for three days for only $3.99!

Finally, OnLive offers a mobile app (iOS and Android) as well as an OnLive system. If you’d like, you can buy a game for your Mac and finish it on your iPad! To me, this is a deal breaker for any on-the-go gamer.

We hope that we found the best gaming service for you! Check back soon for more Apple related content.

SK( Managing Editor )

Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.

Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.

In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.