For years, the Mac game market has been dependent on the conversion of existing PC and console titles to the Macintosh platform. As a result, the limited supply of game titles has been one of the platform's traditional weaknesses, luring gaming enthusiasts into using Windows machines.

Last June, at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, Electronic Arts promised it would be "coming back to the Mac in a big way," with simultaneous launches for their blockbuster titles on both Windows and OS X platforms. However, two months after the announcement, Mac users are still waiting.

They specifically mentioned the launch of Madden NFL 08. But as the game went on sale on Tuesday, no OS X version was to be found. [Tuesday's] launch did see the introduction of versions for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 2, Xbox, PSP, GameCube and Windows.
Other delayed EA titles include Battlefield 2142 and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which had been slated for a July release. EA, the largest game publisher in the world, will make use of technology licensed from TransGaming called Cider that allows Windows games to be run on Intel Macs without any modifications to the original game source code. It remains to be seen whether playing a game under Cider technology versus a native version will have a significant impact on performance.