The Sims 2 for Mac vs The Sims 2 for Windows?

a) iPersonally see no point in buying a license of window and installing it on my Mac, too much tie and effort. Also, iAm not going to put windows ANYWHERE NEAR my iMac. Lastly, there are some issues with windows itself running on a Mac, but not system endangering ones, just things like sound and drivers.

b) There will be little difference, The Sims 2 is ported by the AWESOME people down at Aspyr and other then the patches being released later than the windows version iSee no point in installing windows just for The Sims, buy the Mac Version! Although it will be costly as the games cost quite a bit and there are tons of expansions you may need to replace.

c) iWould think that the Mac version would work better than Bootcamp+Sims because you have one less software compatibility to worry about, also you avoid all the crashing of windows.

d)Tons of stores sell Mac games, Apple Stores for one! In fact the Apple Store Online has free shipping on [just] The Sims 2, but not the expansions, live near an Apple Store?

Try looking online for your major electronics store's site, chances are if they sell Macs (and are thus Apple Resellers) they carry Mac Software and games too!

Hope that helps!

Don't forget to mark posts as "helpful" "answer" and to mark your post answered once you are done!

Any game in order to run quick on OSX needs to be compiled as a Universal Binary. Otherwise, it will use rosetta emulation which is brutally slow... so older games written for PPC and not intel like Sim City IV, the Sims, and most likely Sims 2 will run better under bootcamp..

This has been my experience with the Sims and Sim City IV.


Will

The Mac version of the Sims 2 does not play on the aluminum iMacs due to the video cards. The Bon Voyage expansion pack was supposed to fix this, but it didn't. I don't know how the Windows version would play.

I'm not sure which iMac you have or which video card it has in it. The Sims 2 is definitely NOT compatible with the ATI Radeon HD 2400 video card. This is a known issue that Aspyr acknowledged as a problem months ago. They promised us a fix in the Bon Voyage expansion pack. Unfortunately, it is not until you read the info in the expansion pack itself that Aspyr says there are still issues imbedded in the HD drivers which it is "working with Apple proactively" to solve. After all this time I,for one, doubt that any solution is forthcoming. I wish that someone had told me about this issue before I bought a new iMac (and subsequently bought an expensive new expansion pack to get a nonexistent fix).

Ooops, you're absolutely right. I should have read your specs before posting. I'm just SO frustrated with the whole Aspyr/Sims/Alu iMacs problem that I'm not thinking straight.

When the game initially didn't work I contacted Aspyr who said I should have checked with them before assuming that their games would work on a new type of Mac computer. So before I bought the Bon Voyage expansion pack I DID check with them to make sure that the game would play correctly if I purchased this product. They assured me that it would. But it doesn't. And opened software is not returnable. (But they're still working proactively with Apple to solve the problem, whatever that means after all this time.)

I really just want to tell consumers about this issue before they waste their money, since it appears that Apple and Aspyr are not willing to do this.

iDon't mean to be rude Will, but you have your information wrong and must have read the post wrong.

A game does NOT need to be compiled as a Universal Binary to run fast on OS X, but rather be Universal to run fast on both PPC and Intel. It can also be just PPC and run on Intel using Rosetta which will slow it down; as well as just Intel in which case "Sorry!" to PPC Users.

The game e wants is the Sims 2, which is made by Aspyr and is Universal, the Sims (1) is not Universal and is also made by Aspyr, so e should have no problem under any Mac.

I myself found Amazon to be a great site. As you may have heard, the Canadian Dollar is at parity (if not higher) with the American Dollar, however prices do not match that. The Sims 2 in the us is 50$, whilst in Canada it is 70$, everywhere. Amazon.ca however offers The Sims for 50$! In fact it even offers University 3$ cheaper than the us price (at 27$ instead of 30 [moral/political victory, not price victory])!

Sims 2 works great on my 20" iMac with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 running in the universal binary. If you do get it, make sure you go to graphics options and turn the resolution to a higher setting! looks MUCH better.

iBeg to differ, it works great on my iMac, it's a bit sluggish because iHave yet to get the update that makes it a universal game, but none the less it works.

Too True! And if iMay suggest, the Graphic Options iFound were set much lower than my iMac could handle, so test out the higher settings and see if they work... no point not using them if you can!

If you read my iMac info at the bottom you would know iHave an ATI HDPRO 2600.

None the less, it's good that you posted that because iDidn't know, and anyone coming by to read this discussion for help with their problems may not have had a 2600.