Can I play Windows games if I run virtual box?

[Shere Khan]

Hi,

I'm really keen to try some of the Windows games I'm seeing on Steam - particularly IL2 Sturmovik.
I have an old Macbook that runs virtual box - unsure of what version of Windows is on it (it's a work machine and I use it for one thing, once a year - rest of the time I'm in Yosemite).
It's a 2010 model, with the maximum (4gb) of RAM.
The other part of this is that I use a Logitech F710 wireless gamepad - which works fine when I play the Lego games in Mac OS).
Does anyone know if I would be able to boot into Windows, using Virtual Box, log into Steam from there, and purchase the Sturmovik (Windows) game and play it? Including setting up my Logitech gamepad?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Wrangler]

You can, but your limited spec combined with the performance of virtual box will make for if not impossible gameplay. You may have better luck with Parrallels: the best would be bootcamp since you have to use or purchase a Windows OS. If you rarely use the Macintosh OS, then use bootcamp.

[The Peepee Poopoo Man]

What is virtual box?

[samsamuel]

Originally posted by Sam:

What is virtual box?

Virutal Boxes are bascially running different operating systems in a window on your Mac (or Linux.) They are very cool, and a nice alternitive to Bootcamp.
https://www.virtualbox.org


Although I recommend BootCamp.

[Sanjamal]

I second Chicken Soup's comment. If you're playing current games, then you definitely want to stay away from using a Virtual Machine. With my Mac, I have bootcamp configured and I boot into Windows just for gaming. The GPU on the Mac is getting a little long in the tooth, though. The other option that I've started using now is to build a PC gaming rig and use Steam Streaming, the bonus being it doesn't matter which computer I use, what the specs are, or which OS it's running, I can play the game perfectly. I've played several games through streaming and it's been a flawless experience for me; your experience may vary. Good luck!

[Shere Khan]

Thanks for the responses - I've been dissuaded from attempting the setup for the moment - as people have said - I doubt the machine is up to the workload...

[Conduct.Summary]

not recomended playgame in virtualbox, try crossover for alternative

[Wren]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.