Tired of using your Mac just to get work done? Then warm up your thumbs and prime those reflexes, because it's not just lip service anymore; when Apple said they wanted to make the Macintosh the best gaming platform on the planet, they apparently weren't kidding. How else would you explain their large booth at this week's Game Developers Conference? In the past, Apple has been conspicuously absent at the bigger entertainment-oriented electronics shows, and their presence at a game developers conference shows that they really are serious about bringing more games to the Mac. And those developers are sitting up and taking notice, according to a ZDNN article.

Apple's booth was a sea of translucence, with iMacs and "icebox" G3's running hit games like Myth 2 and the as-yet-unreleased-for-the-Mac Quake 2 (which developer John Carmack once said would never be ported to the Macintosh). We're guessing that Apple was trying to impress upon the programmers that every Mac Apple sells now includes 3D acceleration hardware, ranging from the ATI Rage Pro in the iMac to the heart-stopping Rage 128 in the new G3's-- and we've heard that the next iMacs will graduate to the Rage 128, making it an incredible game computer at a low cost. Besides showing off their cool new computers, Apple also gave away development tools that would aid programmers who wanted to start writing games for the Mac.

Developer response to Apple's presence was reportedly very positive, especially since the iMac is such a big consumer-level seller and all iMacs are (pretty much) the same; it's a lot easier to write a game when you know exactly what hardware on which it'll be played. Programmers can tweak their product to optimize it for the iMac and know that the millions of iMac owners will get a solid gaming experience. The future for Mac gaming looks bright, indeed-- which isn't to say that the present isn't pretty darn shiny, too. There are a ton of games available for the Mac right now; many more than you could ever play. The next step is just to give Mac users a wider variety from which to choose by bringing the number of titles more in line with the scads of games available for the PC. And it wouldn't hurt if more Mac-first and/or Mac-only games started showing up. We can hardly wait...

Speaking of the iMac, something very interesting is going on within Apple's walls. We've been hearing whispers from all over starting as early as a month ago that Apple was ceasing production of various iMac flavors, but over time, those whispers have coalesced into a rumor that Apple Insider addresses directly. Essentially, at this point it looks as though Apple has decided to axe the entire line of flavored iMacs from its production lists.

We haven't gone iMac shopping lately, but we hear that finding an iMac in the color of one's choice can be tough. Indeed, the last time we checked out the local Microcenter, they had a huge stack of iMacs for sale-- but only in Tangerine and Strawberry. According to Apple Insider, Apple has been having a tough time producing enough flavored iMacs, possibly due to a shortage of the required 266 MHz G3 processors. In order to meet demand, Apple is expected to introduce a "revision D" iMac next month which will use 300 MHz chips, which Apple can buy in bulk with no availability headaches. (Incidentally, we haven't heard whether or not 266 MHz PowerBooks are also tough to find, but Apple is definitely trying to clear out all of their PowerBook inventory in preparation for new models to be introduced next month or so.)

If true, this all means that Apple will be issuing its fourth revision of the iMac only about six months after the very first ones showed up on store shelves. How's that for a quick product revision cycle? The iMac changes its spec sheet more often than Windows NT 5 (er, make that Windows 2000) changes release dates. The new iMacs will reportedly include some new features in addition to the faster processor, though they won't be the "mega-iMacs" with the new enclosures that were expected at the end of the summer. Our guess is that Apple may include Rage 128 chips in next month's rev. D, and they might increase the disk space and/or RAM amount. Of course, any or all of those changes might necessitate a price increase, and we doubt that Apple would spoil the iMac's momentum by raising the price, so the rev. D feature set is very much a "wait and see" thing right now.

Historically, even though its overall market share has never been higher than perhaps 10%, Apple has dominated two important markets: graphics creation and education. During Apple's "bad patch" a few years back, both of those markets started to shift towards Windows; some graphics professionals wanted the "stability" of Windows NT, and many schools simply couldn't afford Macs. And everybody was nervous about buying a computer made by a "dying company." Now that Apple's mostly back on its feet, it's had to try to stem the defection of those two markets. Perhaps the biggest single move to retain creative users was the release of the Power Mac G3, which delivered unprecedented performance for a reasonable price. We haven't seen anything very exciting to keep the educational customers, though. But that's changing.

First of all, the iMac may be a consumer desktop machine, but it's pretty well suited to educational lab use as well, and its low cost is a big factor when schools go shopping for new computers. According to an Apple press release coinciding with this week's Florida Educational Technology Conference, the Mac still reigns supreme in major school districts in Texas, New York, and Wisconsin, who have all just purchased large numbers of Mac systems, including iMacs. Stephen Brown, the coordinator of New York's Project Smart Schools, is quoted as saying that not only are iMacs easy to use and maintain, but "also, iMac colors are powerful and creative and the students are excited about having these great-looking computers in their classrooms." That's a big issue. If you're a third-graders, which would you rather use: a beige box, or a purple egg that you can see through? Thought so. Throw in a $5000 Mac OS X Server with its NetBoot capabilities and you've got a network administrator's dream come true.

Then there's the P1, Apple's much-awaited consumer portable that will also be very much an educational portable. Remember the eMate? That brightly-colored, translucent clamshell Newton was light, shock-proof, and cool enough so that kids wanted to use them. And at about $800 apiece, schools could afford them. Unfortunately, Apple nixed the whole Newton project and there's still nothing to fill the eMate's void. But when the low-cost, iMac-styled, G3-powered P1 is announced (hopefully within the next month), that may change quickly-- especially if rumors of battery life that last for an entire school day without a recharge are true. And how much do you want to bet that the P1 will also support NetBoot from Mac OS X Server? That could be very neat.