Flipping that little “D3DMetal” switch makes a difference — but not as big or consistent as you might hope.
(Image credit: Codeweavers)It’s no secret that Macs have been behind the curve when it comes to gaming, but CrossOver 24, one of the most popular ways to get otherwise incompatible games running on Mac, has just added in-depth support for even more titles.
In a recent blog post, the compatibility layer allowing macOS, Linux, and ChromeOS users to access Windows games, has announced changes to its software to allow users to access a better array of games. CrossOver 24 has made the following changes:
- “Planet Zoo now runs again after the latest game update
- Warframe standalone launcher now works
- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth no longer crashes
- Mafia: Definitive Edition now runs
- Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition multiplayer works again
- Horizon Zero Dawn and Anno 1800 now work well out of the box”
CrossOver is a piece of paid software that you buy once and keep forever. While the software is usually available for $74, there’s currently a deal that saves you almost $20 — head over to the CrossOver website where you’ll find it for $56.24.
If you’re not sure if you want to drop the cash immediately, there’s a free 14-day trial of CrossOver so that you can test it out.
There are other options out there as well, such as Whisky — a similar program that can run Windows games on Mac for free although it’s not quite as advanced or easy to use. Like CrossOver, Whisky adds to Wine, which is the initial compatibility layer for all Windows apps but, as it is free, it doesn’t get as many updates.
“In record time”
Though the new CrossOver update is fantastic, what makes it even more special is how long it took to finish. As pointed out at the start of the aforementioned blog post, CrossOver’s team took just a single month to put this update out after the launch of Wine 9.0. It’s important to note that CrossOver 24 also added more in-depth Linux support so further updates could take even less time.
As stated at the bottom of the blog post above, “CrossOver 24 is just the beginning of what our team has planned for this year. This is the quickest turnaround that we've ever had for including a stable Wine release in CrossOver, and we have grand ambitions of building on this success and continuing to ship new features as fast as possible.” No matter if you’re on an M1 MacBook Air or an M3 MacBook Pro, the best Mac, this new update shows that there are more ways to get games playing on your Mac than ever.
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