Apple's Touch Bar can technically play 'Doom'

[Shawn Knight]

Few games have been as groundbreaking for their time as id Software’s smash hit Doom. Rapidly approaching its 25^th anniversary, the iconic first-person shooter has refused to go quietly into the night with installments now available across a number of different platforms.

I’m not referring to the franchise in general but rather, the 1993 original.

Nostalgia-chasers and retro gamers alike have dedicated a significant amount of time and effort over the years to bring Doom to all sorts of wacky platforms. Printer? Check. Calculator? Yep. iPod? No problem. NES Classic? You bet.

Heck, you can even play other games inside of Doom… like No Man’s Sky and yes, Doom itself.

The latest unlikely platform to gain support for Doom is Apple’s new MacBook Pro… not the OS, mind you, but the Touch Bar that replaces the function keys across the top of the keyboard. With its ultra-wide resolution, the Touch Bar is without a doubt one of the least practical platforms for playing Doom but again, the fact that Facebook engineer Adam Bell was able to do it is what's important here.

As for the Touch Bar itself, the jury is still out on whether or not it’ll fall into the category of useful feature or gimmick addition. I personally think it’s the latter but I digress.

P.S. - If you're interested in tinkering around with the Touch Bar but don't have a new MacBook Pro, you can use this handy app to simulate the OLED strip on your screen.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/67126-apple-touch-bar-can-technically-play-doom.html

 

[OneSpeed]

Next it will be Pong.

 

[Bao Nguyen]

Does this mean soon you'll be able to load Windows 95 on the touch bar?

 

[OneSpeed]

Does this mean soon you'll be able to load Windows 95 on the touch bar?

I don't think anyone cares about a game that is over 25 years old, except those who would own a machine that can do something like this. If this is news, it's digging at the bottom of the steamy pile...

 

[Bao Nguyen]

I don't think anyone cares about a game that is over 25 years old, except those who would own a machine that can do something like this. If this is news, it's digging at the bottom of the steamy pile...

Did you even read the article or watch the video? The game is played inside the touch bar which is quite amazing (and amusing) that they could even do something like that.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

A $1500+ computer that can play a 23-year-old game in 2170x60p...


Sounds brilliant to me...

But can it run Crysis?

 

[bmw95]

**yawn**

 

[CortyDK]

Just use DOSBox and run the original pc version of Doom on any current hardware (pc/mac/linux) available. Hell, you can even run it with pc-speaker sound if you go ultimate oldschool.

 

[MonsterZero]

Oh cool, they actually found a use for the new Mac book.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

I think the most amazing thing about DOOM is how well it's held up over the years.

The maps are perfectly designed, the enemies are perfectly balanced and the music is completely memorable.

100 years from now this game will still have the impact it had 23 years ago.

Part of that, I think is because of the whole occult theme which is pretty-much universal.

 

[Camikazi]

I don't think anyone cares about a game that is over 25 years old, except those who would own a machine that can do something like this. If this is news, it's digging at the bottom of the steamy pile...

Did you even read the article or watch the video? The game is played inside the touch bar which is quite amazing (and amusing) that they could even do something like that.

It's running a modified iOS so why would it not be able to run it? I mean, iOS already runs it and DOOM is not the hardest game to run.

 

[Bao Nguyen]

It's running a modified iOS so why would it not be able to run it? I mean, iOS already runs it and DOOM is not the hardest game to run.

It's suddenly clear as day after someone's done it isn't it? I mean if you already know the fact that the touch bar has a SoC in it plus running a "version" of iOS before, why didn't you do it and got covered by many tech sites now?

 

[Camikazi]

It's suddenly clear as day after someone's done it isn't it? I mean if you already know the fact that the touch bar has a SoC in it plus running a "version" of iOS before, why didn't you do it and got covered by many tech sites now?

Because I'm not rich enough to own something like this. As for SoC EVERYONE knew it was an SoC and EVERYONE knew it was based on iOS so all it took was someone wanting to do it. I wasn't a huge DOOM fan so something wouldn't interest me even if I had the money to buy this machine. Many people probably got the idea to run games on it the second they saw the specs but, HUGE newsflash, not everyone has the time, inclination or talent to do it but that doesn't mean it is a huge thing that is revolutionary.

 

[Bao Nguyen]

Because I'm not rich enough to own something like this. As for SoC EVERYONE knew it was an SoC and EVERYONE knew it was based on iOS so all it took was someone wanting to do it. I wasn't a huge DOOM fan so something wouldn't interest me even if I had the money to buy this machine. Many people probably got the idea to run games on it the second they saw the specs but, HUGE newsflash, not everyone has the time, inclination or talent to do it but that doesn't mean it is a huge thing that is revolutionary.

So, someone's done it first and someone else (like me) found it amusing, and the fact that it was covered by tech sites make you unhappy because?