# PC Games on a Mac in Parallels/VMWare? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 25, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386 "2008-11-25T04:22:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386/1 "2008-11-25T04:22:17Z")
Long ago, I was a Mac guy. I switched to PC for the games, and I miss my Mac OS. The time is approaching when I need to upgrade my gaming desktop at home, and I am wondering if I can get away with switching back to Mac. I know I can use Boot Camp and dual-boot to XP or Vista for games, but what I really want is to be able to run Windows games within OS X. Parallels 4 claims to be able to do this, with fairly limited compatibility. What I am looking for is real-life examples of people who have had success getting high-end Windows games to run in this way. Can I do it? Or will I wind up sticking with Windows, or dual-booting? And if I am going to have to dual-boot, how long does it take to swap over? ---
**Author:** ![Unsquare\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@Unsquare\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unsquare_Dance)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386/2 "2008-11-25T04:56:36Z")
I would use [CrossOver](http://www.codeweavers.com/products/) instead of Parallels. I use it to run Windows games and applications all the time. However, dual-booting is easy. It takes as long as it takes for your Mac to restart. I have Windows XP installed for… well, for games that are so hardware-intensive that I don’t want to run them in emulation (that does tend to slow things down a bit, but it’s GREAT for older games). ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386/3 "2008-11-25T12:55:05Z")
Thanks, **Unsquare Dance**. May I ask what games you are running in Crossover, and which ones you need to dual-boot for? ---
**Author:** ![Unsquare\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@Unsquare\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unsquare_Dance)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2008, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386/4 "2008-11-25T13:40:44Z")
> [@Brainiac4](#): > > Thanks, **Unsquare Dance**. May I ask what games you are running in Crossover, and which ones you need to dual-boot for? I use CrossOver to run games like Unreal Tournament, the original Sims, Undying, and Grim Fandango. You can run slightly newer games—maybe last generation stuff—on a new Mac with it, but I use XP to play stuff like Half-Life 2 so I can use maximum settings. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386/5 "2008-11-28T02:37:15Z")
Okay. Sounds like my dreams of gaming in a virtual machine are not reasonable. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386/6 "2008-11-28T03:04:21Z")
I’ve had horrible results with Windows games within the VMWare and Parallels environments. The good news is EVE has already been ported to the Mac, and COH/COV is currently in Mac Beta. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386/7 "2008-12-01T01:48:24Z")
> [@Unsquare\_Dance](#): > > I would use [CrossOver](http://www.codeweavers.com/products/) instead of Parallels. I use it to run Windows games and applications all the time. > > However, dual-booting is easy. It takes as long as it takes for your Mac to restart. I have Windows XP installed for… well, for games that are so hardware-intensive that I don’t want to run them in emulation (that does tend to slow things down a bit, but it’s GREAT for older games). how does CrossOver Games compare? It seems designed specifically to allow for gaming (this just from a quick glance at the page) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pc-games-on-a-mac-in-parallels-vmware/474386/8 "2008-12-01T22:47:31Z")
I can tell you that I was better off running Warhammer Online using Boot Camp than with Parallels (for the 3 weeks I played that shitty, shitty game). Other than that, I would rather play a game that is Mac than ever have anything to do with Windows ever again.