<s>
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
is	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
application	B-Application
programming	I-Application
interfaces	I-Application
(	O
APIs	B-Application
)	O
supporting	O
gaming	O
on	O
the	O
classic	B-Application
Mac	I-Application
OS	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
SpeechSprocket	O
was	O
a	O
relabelled	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
Speech	B-Application
Recognition	I-Application
Manager	O
that	O
provided	O
speech	B-Application
recognition	I-Application
support	O
,	O
and	O
QuickDraw	B-Operating_System
3D	I-Operating_System
RAVE	I-Operating_System
provided	O
3D	O
hardware	O
acceleration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
was	O
first	O
released	O
in	O
1996	O
,	O
and	O
saw	O
only	O
minor	O
use	O
before	O
development	O
was	O
cancelled	O
in	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OS	B-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
included	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
features	O
in	O
the	O
built-in	O
libraries	O
,	O
while	O
OpenGL	B-Application
replaced	O
RAVE	O
as	O
the	O
3D	O
acceleration	O
layer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NetSprocket	O
lives	O
on	O
as	O
OpenPlay	B-Operating_System
,	O
although	O
adoption	O
is	O
limited	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Early	O
in	O
its	O
history	O
,	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Device
computer	I-Device
was	O
a	O
strong	O
gaming	O
platform	O
due	O
to	O
its	O
high-resolution	O
screen	O
,	O
digital	O
sound	O
hardware	O
and	O
the	O
fact	O
that	O
every	O
Mac	B-Device
came	O
equipped	O
with	O
a	O
reasonable	O
gaming	O
controller	O
,	O
the	O
mouse	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
the	O
1990s	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
platform	O
had	O
greatly	O
increased	O
in	O
complexity	O
through	O
a	O
profusion	O
of	O
models	O
with	O
different	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
move	O
from	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
to	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
several	O
Microsoft	O
staffers	O
noticed	O
that	O
game	O
developers	O
were	O
generally	O
ignoring	O
Windows	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
better	O
performance	O
available	O
under	O
DOS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
result	O
was	O
the	O
introduction	O
of	O
the	O
DirectX	B-Application
libraries	O
,	O
which	O
greatly	O
reduced	O
complexity	O
and	O
addressed	O
many	O
of	O
the	O
performance	O
concerns	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
3D	O
games	O
became	O
widespread	O
,	O
the	O
library	O
's	O
Direct3D	B-Application
became	O
a	O
decisive	O
advantage	O
,	O
and	O
DirectX	B-Application
grew	O
to	O
become	O
almost	O
universal	O
for	O
PC	O
gaming	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
the	O
mid-90s	O
,	O
gaming	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
was	O
largely	O
dead	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
combination	O
of	O
high	O
prices	O
,	O
stagnating	O
sales	O
,	O
poor	O
performance	O
and	O
a	O
lack	O
of	O
a	O
DirectX-like	O
system	O
all	O
resulted	O
in	O
the	O
game	O
developers	O
leaving	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
field	O
in	O
droves	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
result	O
was	O
a	O
two-pronged	O
effort	O
;	O
on	O
one	O
side	O
was	O
the	O
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
libraries	O
(	O
along	O
with	O
RAVE	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
on	O
the	O
other	O
was	O
a	O
single	O
target	O
gaming	O
platform	O
,	O
the	O
Pippin	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
was	O
released	O
on	O
29	O
March	O
1996	O
,	O
just	O
before	O
that	O
year	O
's	O
WWDC	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
was	O
one	O
of	O
many	O
Apple	O
technologies	O
that	O
ended	O
development	O
after	O
the	O
return	O
of	O
Steve	O
Jobs	O
to	O
the	O
CEO	O
position	O
at	O
Apple	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
death	O
was	O
announced	O
in	O
a	O
March	O
1997	O
press	O
release	O
,	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
a	O
wide	O
series	O
of	O
layoffs	O
and	O
restructuring	O
as	O
the	O
company	O
moved	O
to	O
a	O
Mac	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
X	I-Operating_System
based	O
future	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
the	O
pre-Windows	O
PC	O
system	O
,	O
displaying	O
high-resolution	O
color	O
images	O
had	O
always	O
been	O
easy	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
Macs	B-Device
included	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
page	O
flip	O
in	O
hardware	O
,	O
while	O
others	O
did	O
not	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
DrawSprocket	O
provided	O
a	O
single	O
API	B-Application
that	O
worked	O
on	O
any	O
machine	O
,	O
using	O
the	O
hardware	O
if	O
it	O
was	O
available	O
,	O
or	O
falling	O
back	O
to	O
custom-tuned	O
software	O
blitters	O
if	O
it	O
did	O
not	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Related	O
code	O
allowed	O
developers	O
to	O
easily	O
create	O
multiple	O
framebuffers	B-Algorithm
to	O
draw	O
into	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
use	O
the	O
page	O
flipping	O
calls	O
to	O
quickly	O
display	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Mac	B-Device
had	O
always	O
shipped	O
with	O
an	O
input	O
device	O
suitable	O
for	O
gaming	O
,	O
the	O
mouse	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Even	O
in	O
cases	O
where	O
other	O
devices	O
were	O
better	O
suited	O
to	O
gaming	O
,	O
like	O
joysticks	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
relatively	O
easy	O
to	O
make	O
the	O
devices	O
emulate	O
mouse	B-Device
or	O
keyboard	O
input	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
New	O
models	O
had	O
several	O
axies	O
controlled	O
by	O
potentiometers	B-Device
with	O
linear	O
input	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
these	O
cases	O
mouse	B-Device
emulation	O
simply	O
did	O
n't	O
work	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
InputSprocket	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
most	O
widely	O
used	O
of	O
the	O
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
drivers	O
were	O
supplied	O
for	O
many	O
devices	O
that	O
worked	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
greatly	O
expanded	O
by	O
mapping	O
InputSprocket	O
onto	O
the	O
similar	O
Human	B-General_Concept
Interface	I-General_Concept
Device	I-General_Concept
system	O
that	O
is	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
USB	B-Protocol
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
meant	O
that	O
almost	O
any	O
USB	B-Protocol
input	O
device	O
would	O
work	O
to	O
at	O
least	O
some	O
level	O
with	O
InputSprocket	O
without	O
any	O
effort	O
on	O
the	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
developer	O
or	O
the	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Macintosh	B-Device
's	O
Sound	B-Operating_System
Manager	I-Operating_System
supported	O
digital	O
sound	O
from	O
the	O
earliest	O
versions	O
,	O
and	O
stereo	O
for	O
much	O
of	O
its	O
evolution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NetSprocket	O
supported	O
either	O
AppleTalk	B-Application
or	O
TCP/IP	B-Protocol
,	O
and	O
supported	O
naming	O
of	O
games	O
,	O
player	O
and	O
providing	O
passwords	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
NetSprocket	O
was	O
the	O
one	O
portion	O
of	O
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
that	O
lived	O
on	O
after	O
the	O
project	O
as	O
a	O
whole	O
was	O
downsized	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
code	O
was	O
released	O
into	O
open	B-License
source	I-License
by	O
Apple	O
and	O
further	O
developed	O
with	O
new	O
functionality	O
and	O
multiple	O
platform	O
support	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
latest	O
versions	O
support	O
Mac	B-Application
OS	I-Application
,	O
</s>
<s>
SpeechSprocket	O
was	O
included	O
in	O
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
,	O
but	O
consisted	O
of	O
nothing	O
more	O
than	O
a	O
re-badged	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
existing	O
Speech	B-Application
Recognition	I-Application
Manager	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
SpeechSprocket	O
,	O
QuickDraw	B-Operating_System
3D	I-Operating_System
RAVE	I-Operating_System
was	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
overall	O
Game	B-Operating_System
Sprockets	I-Operating_System
technology	O
,	O
although	O
it	O
was	O
developed	O
and	O
supported	O
separately	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RAVE	O
was	O
a	O
thin	O
hardware	B-Operating_System
abstraction	I-Operating_System
layer	I-Operating_System
similar	O
to	O
DirectX	B-Application
's	O
Direct3D	B-Application
.	O
</s>
