I used to run a column on my website called “This Week in Mac RPG Gaming.” It was a satiric column, designed to point out the inadequacy of Macintosh RPG titles and an excuse to write about whatever. Over the period that I ran the column I talked about burritos, Assassin’s Creed, Robocop, and even the utilization of meat in games. It was a fun time but at the same time, disenfranchising.

Finally, the opportunity has arisen for Macintosh gamers to sink their teeth into the Spore Creature Creator. More specifically, I thought it was the time I could actually have a cool and streamlined game to play that isn’t named Diablo, Starcraft, or World of Warcraft. How absolutely wrong I was.

Just a few moments ago I downloaded the installer for the trial version, because what the hell I may as well try it out before I buy it. That decision was both a blessing and a curse. As soon as I propped it up on my dash I got this lovely message:



My Macbook is slightly over a year old, equipped with decent upgrades. Not to mention that it is running Leopard quite spectacularly. Perhaps the processor could be a bit faster, but it is essentially maxed out. So, after stamping around and blowing smoke all over the place I decided to download the installer on my iMac. I get another lovely message, this time telling me that I need to have Leopard installed to even bother.

Fuck you, Maxis and EA.

I may not be as privy as I would like with technology, or computer upgrades, but the machines I own are not that old by Macintosh user standards. Sure, there have been good upgrades over the past year, but Apple doesn’t expect every consumer to jump on the Macbook Air or Macbook Pros every six months, right? If Apple did, then Leopard would be as impossible to use as Vista.

Then why in the hell does Maxis and EA expect more than what Apple does of its consumers? Essentially these companies are asking potential Macintosh consumers to have a computer less than five months old. It’s not like Macintosh owners can just bate and switch graphics cards, either. Those things require visits to Apple Stores for the less industrious. This is compounded craziness considering how small the Macintosh user base is to begin with. Further segmenting what little there is just seems ridiculous.

Am I wrong to be pissed about this? Should I just keep buying new machines? Or are these really ridiculous restrictions?

I just want to make penis-monsters just like everyone else. That’s all.