Random Gaming Thoughts

[isiolia]

My parents were getting rid of there old MacBook Air, and I’m going to take it off their hands. It’s a 2013 model. I’m planning on wiping the hard drive and performing a factory reset. Once I do that, I’m going to put Steam on it. I assume it’ll be powerful enough to play some indie games like Doki Doki Literature and, maybe, some older inexplicable PC exclusives like Legend of Grimrock II. I don’t plan on throwing the latest spec intensive AAA titles on this thing, it I would like to know ho wear I can push it. Any thought on what this thing will be able to do?

Probably depends, to a point, on how many hoops you'd want to jump through to play games on it. Getting access to the most games you can with it will mean partitioning the already-small SSD for Boot Camp (technically modular, but Apple has their own slot for it, so options to upgrade are limited). RAM is soldered in, so hopefully they bought it with 8GB or it's going to suck for 10.12 or further.
That said, there are likely a fair number of Mac ports available, and Steam generally just gives you access to all the ports of a game you get on it.

Setting aside thermals/etc, it's only got Intel HD Graphics 5000 which will largely struggle to run titles that were current when it came out, much less after. Legend of Grimrock II specs a slightly better GPU at minimum.
Older or less demanding titles should be able to do well though.

IMO... if you dual boot to Windows, it'll probably do fine with pre-2010 titles provided they have DirectX 9 support or better (came out in 2002 so many earlier 2000s titles would be). Older versions may take additional tweaking. Plenty of lighter software, like VNs, would be fine anyway.

If intending to play games under macOS, I would keep it at Mojave, if not High Sierra. Catalina cut off support for non-64-bit applications. On the other end of that, the first version of OS X that eliminated support for PPC applications was Lion, in 2011, meaning not all of the games that would technically run well on the GPU may have gotten an appropriate update. Mac software support is fragmented, to say the least.

Might do fine with a lot of available-via-DOSBox titles too, which are likely spelled out more on GoG.

I would keep expectations low though. It should still be a pretty solid general use/internet type machine, if it's got that 8GB in it. Apple basically continued to sell a barely upgraded version through most of 2018. The low dpi screen really stood out, but the chassis/keyboard/etc were solid. Just wasn't really designed to game, or for other heavy tasks.

[RCBH928]

Eating my own words...

My parents were getting rid of there old MacBook Air, and I’m going to take it off their hands. It’s a 2013 model. I’m planning on wiping the hard drive and performing a factory reset. Once I do that, I’m going to put Steam on it. I assume it’ll be powerful enough to play some indie games like Doki Doki Literature and, maybe, some older inexplicable PC exclusives like Legend of Grimrock II. I don’t plan on throwing the latest spec intensive AAA titles on this thing, it I would like to know ho wear I can push it. Any thought on what this thing will be able to do?

As a mac user I can tell you not much than the older DOS stuff. I got MBPro and I see CPU temperatures shooting to 167F playing DOS era games like Shadow Warrior. Tell us how it goes. One thing I learned the hard way was that a dedicated GPU takes you a long way, I had an older Mac laptop that could run NGC emulation to my surprise and there was a much newer Air that had choppy playback, when I say choppy I am guessing it was like 3 FPS, that made me scratch my head.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Thanks, guys. I know it’s not really built for gaming, which is fine. I think I’m just going to pick up some old stuff from GOG, like Ultima Underworld, Akalabeth, etc., and install DOSBox so I can play old PC games on it. (I have two CD books full of old PC games and nothing to play them on at the moment. I also want to play some abandonware and freeware like Cosmology of Kyoto, Doki Doki Literature Club, and Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden.) I’m hopeful it won’t have too much trouble handling those.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Doki Doki Literature Club

"Oh look a free visual novel!"

This is how they reel you in. Go down this path and a year from now you'll be making daily visits to the VNDB, scouring the internet for "uncensor" patches, crying about the fact that Muv-Luv was only 80 hours long, rejecting the rest of your game collection in favor of pressing the space bar repeatedly while cardboard cutout anime girls dance about your computer screen. You'll become Elkin. Even worse, you'll become me. It's not too late to turn back.

[prfsnl_gmr]

All things in moderation...

[MrPopo]

Doki Doki Literature Club

"Oh look a free visual novel!"

This is how they reel you in. Go down this path and a year from now you'll be making daily visits to the VNDB, scouring the internet for "uncensor" patches, crying about the fact that Muv-Luv was only 80 hours long, rejecting the rest of your game collection in favor of pressing the space bar repeatedly while cardboard cutout anime girls dance about your computer screen. You'll become Elkin. Even worse, you'll become me. It's not too late to turn back.

I mean, of all the VNs to start with he picked the one most likely to make him never pick a VN again. So he still has hope.

[RCBH928]

and Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden.)

I Looked up that title and felt butterflies in my stomache and SNES vibrations in my body sending me back to mid-90s. I don't think I ever played that game but I haven't seen that package probably since before the N64 was out.

Are visual novels like interactive anime?

[RCBH928]

Switch Smash Bros. Controllers are $100 on Amazon, is this the MSRP or am I being scammed? There are "Japanese imports" for $60 but description says its original and just as good the the US version. Help?

[Ziggy]

Switch Smash Bros. Controllers are $100 on Amazon, is this the MSRP or am I being scammed? There are "Japanese imports" for $60 but description says its original and just as good the the US version. Help?

That's one really big problem with Amazon. As soon as Amazon sells out of something, all the third party sellers jack up their prices. Are you talking about the Gamecube-style Switch controller? PowerA has a licensed one. The wireless version is $50 and the wired one is $25.

[isiolia]

Switch Smash Bros. Controllers are $100 on Amazon, is this the MSRP or am I being scammed? There are "Japanese imports" for $60 but description says its original and just as good the the US version. Help?

The MSRP was $29.99, but they likely were not restocked. It doesn't look like any of the listed retailers still have a supply, just third party sellers that have marked them up.

That said, it depends on what you want. That product is just a first-party Gamecube controller with a Smash Bros. logo on it (might have some slightly better parts, not sure). While I think the Gamecube controller is/was something Nintendo had continued to manufacture and sell in Japan, we only saw waves of them available in the U.S. corresponding to Smash releases for the Wii U and Switch. Plus the associated USB adapter. At this point, both the first-party controller and adapter are in short supply, only really available via third party sellers that have marked them up accordingly.

Again though, depends on what you want. If you specifically want a new-in-box, first party wired Gamecube controller...then yeah, your option right now is to find the least marked up listing. Same with the adapter.
If you're fine with knockoffs, but wired Gamecube controllers, then you can find those cheaper. Or go used.

If, on the other hand, you just want that style controller for playing Smash on Switch... then, as suggested, look into PowerA's officially-licensed options.