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Mac users have always been disadvantaged when it comes to gaming, but now there are a number of ways to play PC only titles on your delicious Apple. All of the new Mac Intel machines come equipped with Boot Camp, which enable you to partition your Mac hard-drive and then install a Windows OS.

If you haven’t tried Boot Camp yet, before you get started, make sure that you have the most recent version and not Beta.

You should also ask yourself what you want to play. If you’re just going to be playing recent titles through Steam or otherwise you can run Vista with few problems. But, if you’re installing a Windows system to play older titles, say Full Throttle (originally for Win 95), then you should save yourself the headache and find a copy of Windows XP service pack 2 (SP2). I’ve seen too many complaints from tech forums about Vista bugs when running older Dos environments, so my advice is just not to open that box (hah).

So Why SP2? Well Boot Camp simply doesn’t support XP SP1, period. It’s unfortunate, yes, but you should be able to torrent a copy of XP2 if you can’t find a version for sale. I actually tried installing SP1 and got as far as the infamous Windows Blue Screen before the OS decided not to recognize any of my Mac hardware

When you’ve successfully installed XP SP2, all you need to do is run DosBox and/or SCUMMVM which create older Dos environments, and then you’re ready to game.

I’ve also heard good things about Crossover, what say you wary traveler?