Creative announces Sound card for Macintosh

[bonkers325]

According to Maccentral.com, Creative is Creative's card will introduce Mac users to four-channel audio and EAX (Environmental Effects) technology. Four-channel audio provides surround-sound in games, movies and applications, and games such as Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament already support four-channel audio on the Mac. However, the Mac cannot take advantage of the feature because the Mac OS is limited to supporting two-channel audio. When the Sound Blaster card ships, games will be able to use four-channel audio on the Mac, but because DVD movies rely on the Mac OS Sound Manager, Creative won't be able to support surround-sound in DVD movies. Heiden said that Mac OS X will support multi-channel audio, but Creative is waiting for finalized Mac OS X Software Development Kits before announcing OS X compatibility.

EAX technology allows developers to simulate the effects that different environments have on audio, so you can make a weapon sound like it's blasting in a carpeted room or an open cavern. Blizzard is considering an EAX patch for Diablo II that would provide for more-realistic audio effects in caves, wilderness and cathedrals.

Creative is also promoting a complementary audio standard called OpenAL that allows developers to control the movement of sound in a 3D space. Loki Software is also backing OpenAL, but MacSoft, Mac Play and Aspyr have all expressed interest, Creative said.

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[mindiris]

Damn, never thought about Apple not being up to PC standards in the audio department. Then again, I always remembered the Mac doing "yeeps" while the PC still beeped. Times have changed 🙂

 

[StrangeRanger]

This is just another example of CL's greedy money hungry philosophy. First they kill an excellent company like Aureal, and instead of coming out with a new card for the PC, they're bread and butter, they come out with a Mac card. WTF?! Money grubbers. They just want more market share and more cash. Screw the consumer, let them keep buying the same sh!t with new packaging year after year. Thank god for Philips and hopefully soon Nvidia.
j

 

[Mem]

The thing with the Mac,it does not have the games suppport like the PC has,so does it really need a new Creative soundcard?

🙂

 

[Imaginer]

"This is just another example of CL's greedy money hungry philosophy. First they kill an excellent company like Aureal, and instead of coming out with a new card for the PC, they're bread and butter, they come out with a Mac card. WTF?! Money grubbers. They just want more market share and more cash. Screw the consumer, let them keep buying the same sh!t with new packaging year after year. Thank god for Philips and hopefully soon Nvidia.
j"

That's business for you.