Steam coming to Mac

Elessar

So after the recent leaks, it looks certain that Steam (and the Source engine) are coming to the Mac.

What do you make of this?

I think it's fantastic news. It could be the biggest catalyst Mac gaming has ever had. If successful, it could tempt developers to port their own games to Mac. And considering the success of iPhone games, I doubt Apple would just ignore gaming on OSX like they once did. I hope this is the start of something great.

PeakOutput

does this automatically mean that all the games available on steam will be available on the mac version?

battlefield bad company 2 for example?

Elessar

PeakOutput wrote: »

does this automatically mean that all the games available on steam will be available on the mac version?

battlefield bad company 2 for example?

No, other developers used DirectX and other Windows only technologies creating their games. OSX games would have to be ported over to the OpenGL library.

Assuming however, that the Source engine is indeed ported, all of Valve's own games will be available, Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead, etc.

PeakOutput

Elessar wrote: »

No, other developers used DirectX and other Windows only technologies creating their games. OSX games would have to be ported over to the OpenGL library.

Assuming however, that the Source engine is indeed ported, all of Valve's own games will be available, Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead, etc.

ah ok gotcha

This is awesome if true. I've lots of games on my steam account but since I got my mac (about 2 years ago) I never get to play them.

Sad Professor

It's official:

Steam and Valve's library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April.

"As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients," said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. "The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services."
...
Also included in the announcement is the addition of a new "Steam Play" feature for Steam, allowing purchasers of either the Mac or PC versions of Valve's games to play on the other system free of charge. Third-party game developers distributing through Steam are also widely expected to take advantage of the feature.

Dorsanty

Sweet. I wouldn't say I've been praying for this but I may have wished a bit.

Now get me some blu-ray in a mac mini and I'm sorted for a HTPC which does DTT, DVD/BluRay, Internet Media (Boxee), Local media Video/Music/Photo frontrow with some shared library stuff.

I've been trying to hook up my Elgato Hybrid tv tuner through Linux on my current PC but it's not been a great success and in Vista I can only get the analog tuner working. But DTT is working great on my MBP, then DVI-HDMI into my TV.

Will also provide a good excuse to upgrade my now 3yr old MBP for the up and coming latest models when ever apple get off their iArse and give them to us.

Creamy Goodness

jizzes his pants a little*


now for the MBP's to get updated and i'm sorted.



* ok i lied...a lot

Blazer

Started using a Snow Leopard VM recently and I have to say I'm very impressed with it.
My pc will still be my main system but I'm tempted to splash out on a MacBook pro.
Steaming coming to Mac now is another sway

Here's the full link for steam coming to mac

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/03/steam-mac/

projectmayhem

Posted it here too.

Fantastic news. It means I can legitimately consider getting rid of my bulky, fat, noisy PC and stick with the iMac/MBP as all I play are Valve games on PC really...

Creamy Goodness

same, i have a load of games on steam, but it's mainly the valve games i want to play.

does anyone know will the old half-life engined games be ported? TFC/CS/HL?

projectmayhem

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

same, i have a load of games on steam, but it's mainly the valve games i want to play.

does anyone know will the old half-life engined games be ported? TFC/CS/HL?

I was wondering the same. The press release says "Source" specifically, which alludes to the notion that classic titles aren't coming. Except HL: Source, I assume...

Creamy Goodness

crap, cs:source is pants.

projectmayhem

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

crap, cs:source is pants.

It's better then not having any CS at all though!

Kinetic^

It's a good move that will benefit Apple a lot. Would be nice to see them offering more games after the source title though.

J-blk

I can definitely see it working with Source games but not so sure about third party titles... Not only would developers have to consciously move away from DirectX reliance but also, Mac graphics hardware would be outdated very fast, even with the top-of-the-line iMacs, so any engine used would have to be able to scale well to less powerful hardware (just like Source does).

johnny_ultimate

I'm very excited at this news. Really the only thing I miss out on gaming wise with my outdated PC is TF2 and L4D. Will be great to be able to run them on my Mac. I just hope I don't have to buy Team Fortress 2 again, as I've already picked it up twice (once with the 360 Orange Box and once when it was on sale on PC) although I'm pretty sure I will.

Dont be at yourself

It should make developers more likely to release games with OS X support. The biggest hurdle hasn't been reliance on Direct X or market size or anything - it's been that mac games are given little or no shelf space at retail. Steam overcomes that hurdle.

Indie games will no doubt do well, as well as Valve's own Source games. This could lead to an App Store-style gold rush.

PeakOutput

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

it's been that mac games are given little or no shelf space at retail. Steam overcomes that hurdle.

ye i dont see how the cost of making the games compatible and releasing them just on steam(ie no production costs) can be more than the amount made back from the new market

id be so happy with life if games like mw2 or bfbc2 started becoming available on macs:p

tba

Seems that owning the game already means that you can play it on a PC and/or a MAC. No dual purchase

http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3578

Daysha

Any more word on this? All the links I've checked just say "Coming April 2010".

Sad Professor

Daysha wrote: »

Any more word on this? All the links I've checked just say "Coming April 2010".

They are beta testing now, so I assume end of the month.

MacGrrl

This is fantastic news for Mac lovers in the game industry.

Sad Professor

Valve says May 12 is the day.

babypink

choo chooooooo

Awesome

The return of the CS MASTER is inevitable

Daysha

Just a reminder this comes out tomorrow.

Idleater

Daysha wrote: »

Just a reminder this comes out tomorrow.

hmm:

counterstrike + macbook + trackpad = buy a magicmouse

ozt9vdujny3srf

Don't think magic mouse is the way to go for gaming.

aidan_walsh

Its not on the site yet, but the client is available for download.

sup with it telling me the games aren't supported by my current platform?

Dorsanty

Officially out now, and Portal is now a free game until May 24th

aidan_walsh

Which games? There is a limited launch library.

Gay, no CS tonight it seems

Dorsanty

Yeah they announced they would add titles every Wednesday for a few weeks. I suppose this is a good way to try to ensure everyone has a reliable experience with Steam, rather than letting people download their entire catalog of Source games on day one.

Elessar

I'm downloading Portal at a rate of 10KB/s!

I won't be happy until Left 4 Dead 2 is out though!

Dorsanty

Dorsanty wrote: »

Yeah they announced they would add titles every Wednesday for a few weeks. I suppose this is a good way to try to ensure everyone has a reliable experience with Steam, rather than letting people download their entire catalog of Source games on day one.

Good point actually! Still though, CS would have been nice as a launch title seeing as steam was basically launched using 1.6 in the first place.

Dorsanty

So bad experience number one. Seems Steam needs a case insensitive filesystem and mine is case sensitive.

So I had to create a 10Gig disk image which was case insensitive. 3 symlinks later and Steam is downloading Portal (along with a few thousand other people no doubt). Hopefully my SSD will make up for any disk image slowness.

Sad Professor

Downloading Portal now. Love that game.

KeithM89_old

Just finished downloading Portal - runs great on my Macbook Pro
Cant wait for TF2:D

Creamy Goodness

i need a new macbook.

take it nothing will run on the old mac(black)books?

Sad Professor

I'm not liking the Steam app one bit. It seems to have a mind of its own and is playing havoc with Expose.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah app seems a little basic at the moment, and I'm a little disapointed TF2 didn't make the launch, which was the main reason I was anticipating it.

That said, free Portal is a nice bonus (have it on Xbox, but free is nice for this version :pac:) and just running Steam on Mac is a welcome development. However, with this and the recent indie game bundle, I really really need a good mouse. Razer are tempting me right now....

jpfahy

Half Life isn't available. WTF?

Sad Professor

I had forgotten how damn addictive Portal is. I have to stop or I'll be up all night playing it.

aidan_walsh

I defy anyone to see my 3 year old iMac run Portal at native resolution (1680x1050) - a machine that was *never* built with games in mind - and tell me that the Mac cannot be a serious gaming platform.

Anyone.

Anyone?

Ok then.

tba

aidan_walsh wrote: »

I defy anyone to see my 3 year old iMac run Portal at native resolution (1680x1050) - a machine that was *never* built with games in mind - and tell me that the Mac cannot be a serious gaming platform.

Anyone.

Anyone?

Ok then.

Why are you looking for an argument?

aidan_walsh

tba wrote: »

Why are you looking for an argument?

Yeah, I guess that came off a bit(!) aggressive. Mostly genuine shock that the game runs flawlessly on old hardware that didn't have gaming in mind, partly tired of the numpties with their same old arguments that they don't even bother checking.

Sad Professor

Yeah, Portal runs pretty damn good on my almost 4 year old iMac in native res as well.

sprinkles

Thought this was good....

Idleater

sprinkles wrote: »

Thought this was good....

Class! Sentiments on (in)suitability of apple mice for gaming noted.