When I was first looking at selecting a laptop, gaming was the farthest thing from my mind. In fact, knowing how I would allow gaming to take priority over other responsibilities, I went looking for a machine that would be prohibitive when it came to playing games, while being functional enough for my uses: writing, editing video, etc. In the end, I selected a Mac laptop: highly functional for what I needed, but with few games available on the platform, particularly when I got my first Mac: an iBook G4.

I'm not here to debate the merits of Windows over Mac. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, and a discussion of those not only takes us out of the casual gaming scheme, but is the stuff wars are fought over. The only statement I'll offer on the subject is that Windows has more games available for it. It tends to be the more popular operating system, therefore developers make more games available on it than on Apple's operating system. In the early days of owning a laptop, this was a very good thing for me. The lack of game availability kept me free from distraction. Eventually, however, I discovered games that were Mac-compatible: Blizzard tends to keep the operating system in mind with their games, particularly the popular World of Warcraft. In a similar vein, EA Games has made their Sims line available for both platforms as well. Since these are the types of games I'm drawn to, it wasn't long before I started using my laptop as a gaming machine.

The problem with starting to use my Mac as a gaming machine is that once you get used to having it, you quickly become disappointed when other games aren't available on the platform, and there are a lot of games that aren't available on the Mac. Thankfully, dealing with this problem has gotten easier with the passage of time, the development of technology, and a little work on Apple's side to make their operating system play nicer with other programs.

In the earlier days of Macs, running a Windows game required playing around with a Windows emulator like Virtual PC. This allowed Windows to run within the Mac Operating System, but was far from foolproof. In fact, it wasn't an easy solution for the casual computer user because it demanded more in depth computer knowledge. Especially for a casual gamer who just wanted to be able to start up a game, it wasn't much of an alternative.

Thankfully, Apple made things a little friendlier when they switched to Intel-based processors. That change meant the same machine could run both the Mac operating system and Windows. Software like Parallels or Apple's own Boot Camp made it easy to install two different operating systems, although this requires more hard drive space dedicated just to operating systems. At this point, you're no longer using a Mac for gaming, but housing Windows on your computer. It's an easier solution, but for people who are specifically looking to avoid Windows, it's a problematic one, not to mention that you have to buy two different operating systems (which aren't cheap) and software to manage the two different systems. For money and space, this is the least effective option.

The best solution I've found recently is a piece of software called CrossOver Games. Much like the old solution of Virtual PC, CrossOver Games acts as a Windows emulator for Mac or Linux systems. Instead of installing Windows directly on your computer like the previous solution, CrossOver makes the game software think that it's running on a Windows system. The software's website has a list of supported games (active titles which receive driver updates) and unsupported games (either titles from the past or current titles that work but aren't actively being supported). I've used CrossOver Games to play two different games, both of which were non-supported. Both games played flawlessly, without any trouble to slow down my game time. Of course, CrossOver Games isn't without a drawback as well: it's not free. You get a 15-day trial with the software, after which the software carries a price tag of $39.95 at Codeweavers.com.

Obviously, the easiest solution for the casual gamer is to stick to a Windows computer or to play games on other platforms (consoles, iPhone, etc.). I suspect as the popularity of the iPad and iPhone continue growing, the Mac operating system may also become more popular for gaming. A quick scan of popular titles on the horizon however (including the much-anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic), shows that games are still being created with Windows in mind, not the Mac. Thanks to software like CrossOver Games, these titles are widely available, even for us snooty Mac users.