Seems like Apple are planning on keeping GPTk up to date. It’s now at version 1.0.2. That’s good news I think, although as I’ve said before, I hope Apple aims to get people porting games, rather than creating a proton-like system.
I think this is excellent news, in that it shows that Apple is committed to its game porting tools, which are squarely aimed at developers. That's where a lot of the confusion and consternation among the Apple tech press and some hardcore Mac users comes into play. Apple's target audience for these tools is limited to developers who want to bring their games to the Mac. That's why it's difficult to install and has a restrictive license. Apple doesn't want this to be used as a replacement for native titles.
Game Porting Kit is great technology, but upsetting a lot of nerds who want this to be a Proton solution for the Mac. It's been weaponized by PC partisans, such as Linus Tech Tips, as a way to criticize Apple and their approach to gaming, not that they needed an excuse before. The difference is that long time Mac users and press members have jumped on the bandwagon.
I've used this opportunity to drastically cut down on the amount of technology press, opinion, and commentary that I consume. Back when Apple announced the switch from Intel to Apple Silicon, I was concerned that the ongoing disruptions, which started even before the processor swap with the death of 32-bit support and announced deprecation of OpenGL, would essentially kill off the remaining game developer support that the Mac had. In fact, the switch away from x86 coincidentally coincided at the same time with my renewed interest in computer games.
From WWDC 2020, with the announcement of Apple Silicon, until WWDC 2023, I spent three years researching PC technology as a "Plan B", in case I was forced to switch. I didn't want to switch to Windows and build a custom gaming PC, but I needed to be prepared in case Mac gaming ceased to exist. I don't need access to every computer game available on PC, just enough to keep me entertained, and I had what I consider to be a legitimate concern that the Mac would no longer receive support from game developers after the upheaval of the big switch.
Instead, Apple Silicon has revitalized Mac gaming and prompted better support, from game developers and Apple itself, than I had imagined. I switched to the Mac in 2005, shortly after Steve Jobs announced the Intel version of OS X, tried it out on my custom hotrod PC of that era, and bought my first Mac a few months after WWDC. Despite rumblings from hokum merchants like Gurman, WWDC 2023 turned out to be most eventful for both Mac gaming and the platform in general. After nearly two decades of being a Mac user, this was easily my favorite WWDC. To think I almost didn't watch it because I wasn't expecting anything noteworthy regarding the Mac. Over a month later, I'm still chuffed about the presentation. Apple gave me everything I wanted: they finished the transition to Apple Silicon, macOS Sonoma looks to be a "quality of life" release, and the game porting tools were a completely unexpected surprise.
Hence, I'm pleased to say that I am able to shelve "Plan B" and never have to think about PC hardware, Windows, or the annoying PC Master Race crowd ever again. As I said, I don't need access to the entire PC library, just enough titles to keep me entertained. We're at the beginning of the era of Apple Silicon gaming.
Unfortunately, this has a had a weird side effect on long-time Mac users. We've talked about them on multiple occasions. Therefore, not only have I dumped the PC websites and channels that I used to frequent, but I've also dropped traditional Apple outlets like ATP, Snazzy Labs, and most of Andrew Tsai's content. I consider Apple's gaming efforts to be a massive positive, not because it's what I want to hear, but because Apple seems to be committed to this endeavor long-term. Quinn over at Snazzy Labs sounds like Linus, Siracusa spends all of his time ranting about how much he hates the new Mac Pro and Apple's gaming efforts are doomed to fail. Andrew Tsai is a tweaker at heart, and only cares about Game Porting Kit being available to the average Mac user, which is the opposite of its use case.
You would think that Apple Silicon and Apple's efforts with gaming would unite the general Mac community, but it's been divisive. A small but loud cohort is upset with the loss of x86, Boot Camp, third-party GPUs, and the other trappings of the Intel era; they want the Mac to become a PC, rather than embrace Apple's historical vertical integration strategy, a strategy that has allowed them to reach a $3 trillion market cap once again. Others, like Andrew Tsai, are trying to make macOS into Linux, a tweaker's delight, rather than "it just works", which is what Steve Jobs always envisioned for the Mac.
There also seems to be a divergence in focus among some traditional Apple press members. Rene Ritchie now works for Google. I don't care about Gruber's political opinions, so I stopped visiting Daring Fireball. Even Max Tech has started reviewing mini PCs as sponsorships that they otherwise would have never covered.
As a result, I've dropped a number of Apple outlets from my reading/viewing list. For gaming, I'm now squarely in the "go native or go home" philosophy. MrMacRight is the only outlet that covers that market, and really the only one necessary for that coverage. I'm glad that CrossOver, Parallels, and potentially Asahi Linux offer alternatives, but I don't consider those to be performant enough solutions for anything other than older or less demanding games, not to mention concerns about compatibility.
Regarding the general Apple/Mac press, many outlets are trying to diversify, covering PC technology, non-tech subjects, or simply losing the plot. I stopped visiting 9to5Mac because they've become obsessed with the nonsense happening with social media, which has nothing to do with Apple.
In sum, it's strange how Apple has finally united the Mac under the Apple Silicon umbrella, with brand new porting tools for games, and a mature development environment with Metal. Meanwhile, the traditional Apple press is tearing itself apart, yelling at clouds, because they don't seem to be able to adapt to the new reality. The Mac is doing better than it ever has, and many legacy Mac users hate Apple for it.
en.m.wikipedia.org
