F
oryearsMacgamershavebeenthe
buttofjokes.‘Howtogameona
MacBookPro,’theimagemacro
went,overlaidinstarkwhitetextona pictureof
a wagusinga closedMacBookasa mousemat
fora WindowsgamingPC.TheSecretHistory
ofMacGamingbyRichardMossattemptsto
puttherecordstraight.
Publishedfollowinga crowdfunding
campaignonpublishingstartupUnbound,the
over-400-pagehardbackcombinesa dive
intoa rangeofgamegenresonmachines
rangingfromtheearliestMacthroughtothe
MacOSX era.It alsohasneatspotUVonthe
cover,whichmakethepixelatedMac’sCRT
displayshineintherightlight
Mosshasa welcomingwritingstyle,
weavinginterviewcontentwithfactual
descriptionsofa (non-exhaustive)selection
ofthemorepopularorfamousMactitles.The
textis splitupbytheinclusionofscreenshots
andphotographs,asis commonwithbooksof
thistype,presentedwhereappropriateinfull
colouronthematt-finishpaper.
However,theformattingleavesa littletobe
desired.Theoutsidemarginofeachpageis
razor-thin,whiletheguttermarginis gigantic.ontheBreakoutarcadeboardforAtariby
SteveJobs, without including the fact that Jobs
liedtoWozniak about how much Atari was
paying in order to keep the lion’s share.
Some of the technical information
presented can be a little shaky at times too.
Ross at one point claims a developer ‘got
his hands on the source code – or collection
of instructions – for the Motorola 68k
processor’, which would likely come as news
to Motorola.
All this doesn’t detract from a great read
though. The Secret History of Mac Gaming,
available now from amazon.co.uk for £14.26
(inc VAT) or your local bookshop under
ISBN 978-1783524860, is recommended
reading both for Mac gamers of a certain
age and Windows gamers who don’t credit
the platform with the impact it deserves.
The former will enjoy a walk down Nostalgia
Lane, while the latter will perhaps learn a
thing or two about the Mac’s impact on the
gaming industry.CUSTOMISATION / HOBBY TECH
REVIEW
The Secret History of Mac Gaming
Meanwhile, the text is set in a tiring sans serif
typeface rather than a more comfortable
serif type, and game and publication titles are
underlined rather than italicised, presented like
they should be clickable links in an ebook.
The screenshots can be a little odd too.
While presented in sharp quality for the
most part, they’re often positioned oddly.
Sky Shadow’s screenshots are placed long
before the game is mentioned in the text,
appearing even before the screenshots of
its predecessor Crystal Quest. Also, some
screenshots, such as A-10 Attack and
Splat’ers, aren’t mentioned in the text at all.
Although it can take a little while to get
used to the book’s idiosyncrasies, it’s worth
persevering. There are some big-name
companies and individuals covered in the text,
including Maxis co-founder Will Wright and
Flash creator Jon Gay, and each chapter ends
in a ‘where are they now?’ section.
Ross does, sadly, fall down a few holes in
the telling of history. An introduction gives
the Mac credit for many of the technologies
that were ‘inspired’ by a visit to the Xerox
Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC), although
this is gently corrected in later chapters. A
more telling omission is including the story of
Steve Wozniak being subcontracted to workGarethHalfacreeis thenewsreporter at http://www.bit-tech.net, and a keen computer hobbyist who likes to tinker with technology. @ghalfacreeThe narrow margin and huge gutter
are interesting design choices, but the
screenshots certainly stand outRichard Moss’ The Secret History of Mac Gaming
puts paid to some myths about the platform