Musings from The Software Underground

Seems TransGaming is working on a technology similar to WINE (which it was based on originally) that will allow PC games to run on a Mac, without being ported.

Coming soon: Windows games that will run on Intel Macs thanks to TransGaming’s new Cider software. There’s no rebooting involved and no separate Windows partition to be installed. It all happens transparently.

Sounds interesting, but I'll believe it when I see it. If the library will have to be modified to support each game that works it probably won't amount to much. This would have to support pretty much ANY new PC game, when it's launched to really be a hit. I'm also reminded that marketing statements always make things sound like they'll be a lot better than they are:

Gupta said that PC games running using Cider on an Intel-based Mac provide near-native performance. “The average user won’t be able to discern any difference,” he said.

Though in some cases, Gupta indicated users are bound to see 10 to 15 percent lower frame rates than they would in a truly native game.

If this is for real, there will really not be much need for Mac porting any longer...

Read more here: 'Cider' makes Windows games run on Intel Macs