11-08-2006, 09:30 AM

Can anyone point me in the direction of some decent kids games for my iMac? It's Intel so has no Classic environment and is running 10.4.8.

Seems that searching google and then looking at sites like kidsdomain.com is a huge waste of time as most of the games are pre-OS X and / or require Classic to run or simply don't state what they require.

I had a good few bought games for the PC that claimed to also have Mac versions but every single one requires Classic so they're all consigned to the bin.

Freeware / Shareware titles are a bit hit and miss but if anyone's seen any good ones please let me know!

If it's any help, my kids are 9, 6 and 2...

11-08-2006, 09:41 AM

Just check out the apple software lists on apple.com. To be honest I'm surprised you're finding so many that require a classic environment. There are quite a lot out there that have no Intel equivalent and so require Rosetta to run which can be a pain, but there are plenty of OS X games out there.

Unfortunately I got The Incredibles (both games) and the 3D graphics were appalling. The publisher has no intention of releasing a Universal binary patch, sadly, although I hear that Rise of the Underminer has Universal out of the box. I'm going to the Apple store soon anyway, so i'll see if I spot any.

11-08-2006, 09:58 AM

Apple.com is all well and good but I'd like to find some shareware / freeware just to get them started... there's plenty of PC stuff around but I don't want them having to start up parallels...

From memory (so please excuse any mistakes here!) I've got about 15-20 PC games for my kids. A few Sesame Street titles - all have Mac versions, all of which require Classic; A few Disney titles - again I think all have Mac versions, none of which will run on Intel OS X.

I've also got Jolly Post Office (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dorling-Kind.../dp/B00004UA83) and it requires classic although as far as I can see on that Amazon page it simply says "Macintosh"... doesn't inspire my confidence in buying software that's alledgedly compatible...

Also Adiboo Chu which was a great program on the PC (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knowledge-Ad...TF8&s=software) and also Amazon claim Macintosh compatibility yet it doesn't run on the Intel iMac... can you see a pattern emerging here?

I am very very dubious of walking into a store and buying a kids game that claims Mac support on the box and finding it doesn't work - having to return to the store and trying to explain to the numpty that although it claims to work it actually doesn't and trying to get a refund on it just doesn't appeal to me.

I'll have to look out more specific titles when I go home but I was very let down by this. On the other hand, I was surprised so many of the titles I'd bought for the PC actually had Mac versions on the same CD so don't read this as if I'd bought the iMac with my head in the sand - I didn't expect anything but when I re-read the boxes and saw Mac versions were included I was hopeful.

11-08-2006, 10:15 AM

Take a look here. There is a ton of downloadable freeware/shareware available.

11-08-2006, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by Jem

Apple.com is all well and good but I'd like to find some shareware / freeware just to get them started...

I meant the downloadable stuff that michaelstumpf has just linked to.

11-08-2006, 11:25 AM

Thanks michaelstumpf... and cazabam... sorry for not believing the first time around! I hadn't found such goodies when looking at apple.com before, it all seemed to be stuff to buy but these lists look pretty reasonable, I'll get downloading a few tonight