BioShock 1 due for Mac next month

By Tom Bramwell Published 25 September, 2009

Rand about time.

British Mac conversion specialist Feral Interactive has announced that it will release 2K Games' BioShock for Macs on 7th October.

The game requires a 1.8GHz Intel Mac with at least 1.5GB RAM, a 128MB graphics card, DVD drive and 8GB of hard disk space, running OSX 10.5.8 or later. Apparently it doesn't like Intel GMA integrated graphics chips, but does run on the latest MacBooks and Mac Minis.

You can pre-order the game from Feral's online shop for £34.99 / €39.95 if you like.

Does anyone need introducing to BioShock? Released just over two years ago, it's a first-person shooter in which the player explores a dystopian underwater city ruined by infighting and too much Ayn Rand.

It's also one of our favourite games of this generation, and you can read our BioShock review to remind yourself why.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • andromeda #1 2 years ago

    This'll sit nicely next to Myst on my games shelf :(

  • gilroyneil #2 2 years ago

    I think I might buy a £40 copy of Civ 4 too ;-)

    They must be nuts! BOOTCAMP...

  • themorganator #3 2 years ago

    Good news!

  • bad09 #4 2 years ago

    This makes me think of THIS I found on Youtube :)
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 09:22

  • space_ace #5 2 years ago

    it's about £10 for pc/boot camp...

  • dominalien #6 2 years ago

    it's about £10 for pc/boot camp...

    Plus a Windows license plus the hassle of rebooting :-(

  • space_ace #7 2 years ago

    windows 7 rc is free and will do the trick, but you have a point, it's a hassle :) then again it will probably run better than the mac version :-/

  • dominalien #8 2 years ago

    then again it will probably run better than the mac version :-/

    Perhaps. On the other hand, it may run well, considering it's "native", as opposed to e.g. the stuff available from gametreeonline, which is emulated via Cider.

    Still tempted to try, even though I'd already played it through twice on the PS3, but rather not at this price. Maybe they'll make a demo.
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 09:57

  • dominalien #9 2 years ago

    ALSO:

    windows 7 rc is free

    It will not be free forever.

  • space_ace #10 2 years ago

    yes, but in this case - playing bioshock - it's free for enough time :)

  • dominalien #11 2 years ago

    On a different note: I wonder how much Feral had to pay for the "privilege" of porting Bioshock to the mac. Seeing as the price is very high, I guess a lot. This, BTW, is the reason none or almost none of the big games make it to other platforms (especially Linux, but the Mac as well): publishers demand a large sum up-front, which not many are able to pay.

    As an interesting point, while making a game requires entire teams of people, porting it to another platform can be done by a handful, or even one (as was the case with, for example, the recent Linux version of Prey).

  • Cappy #12 2 years ago

    I can't even get a consistent frame rate on the lowest settings with Mac native Universal Binaries of games from 2001-2003 on a 3.06 GHZ machine with a 512MB graphics card.

    I suspect all the money goes on the license with Mac ports whilst the standard of the port is very low on the agenda. I never even got to play Sim City 4 it always crashed within minutes of booting.

  • CARL05 #13 2 years ago

    It's a shame the prices are so high for mac games but at least they go through the trouble of giving mac owners the option.

  • edddeduck #14 2 years ago

    The Mac version has a consistent frame rate on all Intel Mac's (apart from the GMA based machines which like the PC are unsupported). We worked hard with ATI, Nvidea and 2K Games to make sure the Mac experience is just as good as playing on the other platforms and I hope when Mac users get to play it they will enjoy it as much as we did while making it. :)

    We will be having a demo so you can all try out the game on your specific Mac and see how you like it. Just like the PC demo the demo will be the first 2 levels of the game.

    Edwin

    Feral Interactive

  • TheVoice #15 2 years ago

    Utterly ridiculous price for a game of this age, especially considering it was £3.49 on Steam for a weekend some time ago.

    Respect deserved for the effort in getting some decent games onto OSX, but I imagine the vast majority of mac owners who wanted to play this would have done so via a Windows installation long ago. Or just have played it on a console instead.

  • Moribundman #16 2 years ago

    Honestly, who uses a Mac for games in this day and age? ;-)

    Macs = Design & Internet, PCs=High spec games (if you like) and strategy, 360/PS3=bread an butter gaming, Wii=Stupid kiddy games and gimmicks for casual gamers...

    Now *iPhones* are a different matter entirely!

  • bigbadbeasty #17 2 years ago

    I have the PC version. I can just remember the amount of hassle I had running it on Vista 64-bit, total nightmare, I never did get to finish the game because of all the issues it had.

    I will certainly at least try the demo on my iMac.

    And Cappy I dunno what is wrong with your iMac, I have found it can handle pretty much everything I throw at it at 1920x1200, just don't get greedy with the AA/AF settings.

  • Cappy #18 2 years ago

    Try running the Universal Binary of KOTOR at a smooth frame rate, it won't even do it on the lowest settings.

  • dominalien #19 2 years ago

    Try running the Universal Binary of KOTOR at a smooth frame rate, it won't even do it on the lowest settings.

    That's true... I thought it was my Mac mini, but it runs like crap. It's from Aspyr, though, not Feral. And the "universal" patch was put out long after the game's release and has been in beta for a long time now. I'd be surprised if Aspyr was still working on it.

  • Cappy #20 2 years ago

    Perhaps I'm just unlucky but that's my typical Mac gaming experience.

    I wanted to see if Black & White (ported by Feral) would finally run at a smooth frame rate the other day and it still can't manage it, I expect Rosetta was slowing it down a bit though. I've never got decent performance out of the game in all the years I've owned it despite my previous two Macs exceeding the minimum recommended spec by a considerable margin.
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 16:29

  • IneptPercy #21 2 years ago

    If people are stupid enough to buy a computer because it looks nice rather than a computer with highly compatible OS and better specs then they don't deserve to play good games.

    People can argue all day about PC vs MAC but if you want to play games then there is only really one way to go.

  • el_pollo_diablo #22 2 years ago

    As much as I love my dear old mac this is a bit sad really. I mean, Bioshock 1? Bit long in the tooth now isn't it?

  • edddeduck #23 2 years ago

    If you have a problem with a Mac game by Feral drop us an email (using the support address in the game) and we can have a look usually we can solve the problems with a few hints. If not we can log the problem for fixing in a patch. We do pride ourselves on making sure our after purchase support is good and that we keep supporting games long after they shipped we have even committed to slowly patching our more popular PPC only games to Universal binaries so people can keep playing them when they upgrade.

    Edwin

    Feral Interactive

  • Cappy #24 2 years ago

    Thanks edddeduck.

    It's great that Feral don't wash their hands of their back catalogue, I wouldn't expect any form of support for an old title like Black & White. It's just disappointing that I never once got to experience Black & White in a fully playable state. Choppy frame rates are not nice but the real problem is with another of Peter Molyneux's 'great' ideas. Inscribing symbols with your mouse in real time to cast spells, it's really hit and miss when the frame rate is all over the place, you just can't draw accurately with the pointer moving at such a variable speed.

    It gets a bit irritating when your computer far exceeds the minimum spec on the back of the box and that sort of stuff is happening even on the modest settings.

  • comissars_handgun #25 2 years ago

    My macbook is too old to run this, plus i played it on my 360 anyway. But I do play Paradox and Civ games on my mac and I prefer the mac versions rather than using bootcamp, I hate having to use windows even for the short time it takes to reboot and launch a game...

    If I was rich I would get a gaming pc, but I would get a sweet mac for all non-gaming computing tasks. Macs own.

  • septimus #26 2 years ago

    Bioshcok PC £3. BioShock Mac £35. Seems about right.

    Anyone looked at the game shelf in an Apple Store? It pure comedy genius.

  • JensonJet #27 2 years ago

    Is it envy or immaturity that has dickless PC owners make pathetic comments regarding Macs. I guess it's the same attitude as PS3 owning children that make comments about the Xbox. It must be a depressing life when other peoples choices upset you. Let's hope they have a short one!

  • clockworkzombie #28 2 years ago

    I think this is good timing, granted I played this on 360, enjoyed it and won't pick this up.

    With the sequel coming out soon it will pick up sales from the hype for that and there are mac users that refuse to buy consoles.

    I have some friends in this category. They were, for example, overjoyed at the mac release of Halo and that was way later than Bioshock.