Apple products offer the user a comfortable experience, whether it be with developing art and designs or simply checking emails. This comfortable user experience comes at the cost of wanting to run programs that have higher output, like video games. Despite this, a particular announcement at the recent Worldwide Developer Conference, sees Apple making necessary strides in the video game industry. On Monday, June 6, 2022, Apple previewed the macOS Ventura, the latest entry in the macOS desktop operating system. The macOS Ventura seeks to take the Mac experience to whole new level. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, gave a brief overview of some of the new features of their latest operating system:
“macOS Ventura includes powerful features and new innovations that help make the Mac experience even better. New tools like Stage Manager make focusing on tasks and moving between apps and windows easier and faster than ever, and Continuity Camera brings new video conferencing features to any Mac, including Desk View, Studio Light, and more…With helpful new features in Messages, state-of-the-art search technologies in Mail, and an updated design for Spotlight, Ventura has so much to offer and enriches many of the ways customers use their Macs.”
While all of the newest features for macOS Ventura are sure to provide users with a more enriching experience, one stands as the most intriguing. Every new Mac will have the ability to run AAA games with ease thanks to Metal 3, the latest version of Apple’s graphics framework. Popular titles like GRID Legends, Resident Evil Village, and No Man’s Sky will arrive on Mac later this year.
Metal 3 will assist game developers in improving the mac gaming performance with the power of Apple Silicon, an 8-core CPU chip that Apple claims as “the world’s fastest CPU cores in low-power silicon.” Apple silicon will not only provide new Macs with a higher GPU performance but since it also powers the iPad, popular AAA titles can be played on either Mac or iPad. Other Metal 3 features like MetalFX Upscaling “enables developers to quickly render complex scenes by using less compute-intensive frames…”, resulting in an accelerated performance that makes games feel more responsive and with higher quality graphics.
macOS Ventura and Metal 3 seem to be the biggest step Apple is taking into the video games sphere. Sure the software might not emulate the experience a user might have with a gaming PC, but it’s a necessary start, one that will see Apple as one of the few platforms in the computer gaming landscape.