Courtesy of OSWeekly.com

(Column) - OS X has never been as famous for its third party applications as it has been for the ones that Apple has directly included with the operating system. It seems like all you hear about is iLife, iTunes, QuickTime, and on a higher level, Final Cut Pro. All of those applications deal with digital media, and as you know, that's the niche that Apple fills in a big way. Graphic designers and other media junkies flock to OS X in order to be able to create, edit, and store their projects. After all, they only go where the best tools are.

Yes, many specific user groups are able to use Apple's OS to do what they want to do, but if you were to name one group that is drastically underrepresented, what group would you name? I know that my immediate first answer would be gamers. These folks have stuck to Windows like they're dependent on it for survival, and you really can't blame them. The overwhelming majority of video games are made for Windows, and you can always find something new to play in any genre that you're interested in. The machines are cheaper, the hardware is easily upgradeable, and the community is abundant.

Macs may be popular for their graphical ability, but that sure doesn't translate over to gaming ability. You might think it would, but it doesn't. I know several gamers who have really wanted to make the switch to Apple, but try as they might to justify it, they just can't do it. They're drawn to the coolness of the machines and the interface, but the lack of titles is too much of a turnoff.

As Apple fans, we sometimes try our best to inflate the percentage of market share that our computing lifeline commands, but the truth of the matter is that we are still a small band of zealots in comparison to the Windows crowd. Gaming companies aren't necessarily going to pour their resources into building games for a relatively small group of users when they can just continue what they're already doing by making games for the crowd that's already established.

This is frustrating from a Mac user's perspective. If you want to be depressed, take a stroll down the gaming aisle at The Apple Store. Many of the titles are way outdated, and the selection is completely pitiful. I'm not a gamer, but there have been a couple of titles that I've wanted to get my hands on just so I could have something to entertain me in my spare time. Nevertheless, I'm still waiting on those titles to be ported over to OS X...

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