Buying games from America for Macbook Pro

Question

Buying games from America for Macbook Pro

I have just purchased a macbook pro (still waiting its arrival) and wish to purchase a few games to kill time on long journeys. Firstly what are the implications of buying games from the US (cost, region settings, import costs if any)??? and secondly if i buy a game that doesn't have a Universal symbol will it still run on the intel based macbook pro??? i only ask because i've got a Quad G5 running on the power pc chip and wish to play games on that too?

thanks

P.S. i want my macbook pro

Power Mac Quad G5, G4 iMac 800mhz 17inch, 1st generation G3 iBook Turquoise, Mac OS X (10.4.8), I want a Macbook Pro!!!

Posted on Nov 16, 2006 9:36 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 16, 2006 9:43 AM in response to Reelsick Productions

Apart form poosibly customs taxes and high shipping costs there shouldn't any reason why you can't buy from the US. Why is it you can't buy the games you want from the UK?

Regardless, any game that you buy that is Universal will work natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs so this is what you should be trying to buy. Depend on the game you may be able to play PowerPC games although be prepared for them to not perform as well as you'd like.

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Answer 2

syntrak

Level 2

175 points

Nov 16, 2006 9:59 AM in response to Reelsick Productions

You can buy games from anywhere...

US prices are usually much cheaper as its the same number with dollar sign instead of a pound sign. Current exchange rates are 1.90 USD to the pound so if a game is $50 in the US its worth getting.

Try Amazon US site. Just go for regular Airmail and it shouldnt be too much.

Customs: Normally it should slip through the net no probs. But its against the law not to pay VAT on imported goods !! Up to you if you choose to pay !!!....

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Answer 3

Nov 16, 2006 10:25 AM in response to infinite vortex

Cheers for that. do you know of any good sites (uk based) that have a detailed list of games available?? i would use apple web page but they're over priced. additionally what would happen if i bought a game that wasn't universal, would it still work on the intel macbook????

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Answer 4

Nov 16, 2006 10:44 AM in response to Reelsick Productions

Why don't you try Amazon UK…

http://www.amazon.co.uk/

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Answer 5

Nov 16, 2006 11:58 AM in response to Reelsick Productions

isn't there region settings for games just like for movies especially games that are on dvd? I thought there was but I might be mistaken.

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Answer 6

jfr001

Level 1

95 points

Nov 16, 2006 2:32 PM in response to Reelsick Productions

Games or software in general don't have regional zoning, I bought games in the US many times without any problems.

Regarding Universal Binary, you should have a look there:
http://guides.macrumors.com/UniversalBinaryGames

This is a report of games that are UB, and more importantly, wether a particular non-UB game works or not on Intel-based macs.
This is generally reliable, although I noticed that Star Wars Knights of Old Republic (KOTOR) doesn't work, and the UB patch that should have been available never came...

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Answer 7

syntrak

Level 2

175 points

Nov 20, 2006 4:55 AM in response to Reelsick Productions

Amazon is quite good but just look around....Google is your friend !!!

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