Hype around Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion got me searching for reports of how well the PC version runs on an Intel Mac with Windows and Boot Camp. This 1UP.com article published back in April inspired me to go ahead and buy a copy.

Damn, this is a good game. I've never owned computer hardware that could make a game look so nice and a game that could take advantage of it at the same time. Oblivion on a 17" MacBook Pro is gorgeous, and worth the combined cost of the game and a Windows XP license. I'm aware that the game would look even better on even better hardware, but what I see on my MacBook still looks far better than any game I've played in my own home.

I've intentionally avoided World of Warcraft in fear of what it could do to my family, and I may have accidentally fallen into that trap with Oblivion. At least I can tell myself I'm not missing anything by not playing it for a day.

Only now that I've seen a great modern PC game running with Boot Camp am I starting to take Mac lovers' concerns with Boot Camp seriously. Does Bethesda have any motivation to engineer, release and support a Mac version of their hit game, or their world building tools? Will gaming make Windows standard issue for all new Intel Macs? Even considering the extra $100+ Mac users will need to shell out for a Windows license to play Windows games, and the inconvenience of rebooting into Boot Camp to play, does it matter?