Mac version of Steam Confirmed

[thatbloke]

All you devoted fanboys rejoice, very soon the number and quality of games that you will be able to play natively on the Mac is going to drastically increase...

(link above shamelessly ripped from slashdot)

 

[VibroAxe]

I'm not bothered about Portal 2 coming to mac, neither am I bothered about TF2 coming to mac. But the steam platform...

Now that an exciting prospect. Hopefully this will give many more of the indie developers the ability to release they're own stuff onto mac in a more easy/profitable way. Valve have a lot of punch in the developer community and I have high hopes that the move of steam to cross pc is the start of something really hopefull!

 

[elDiablo]

Obviously the most awesome part of this is that if you own a windows version of a game on steam, and steam has the mac version o it, you getthe mac version for FREEEEEEEE. which is awesomely nice of Valve...

 

[BiG D]

I believe that is up to the publisher, actually.

 

[Wol]

the ability to release they're own stuff onto mac

....

the ability to release they are own stuff

.... vibs, you shock me

Finally they can stop playing Photoshop! heheh

 

[elDiablo]

I believe that is up to the publisher, actually.

I believe you might be right, but I "believe" Valve will push heavily on them not to be dicks. And my statement is true for all Valve games. It's kind of the ethos of Steam, you have your account, and you can play the games in that account on any machine Steam is installed on.

Now, I'm not saying it's a given or is easy. I'm sure some developers have Mac publishers, and contracts with said publishers, which might mean that releasing on Steam is a lengthy process that leads to who knows where!

 

[Iron_fist]

is this a hint that i'll be able to download mac versions of Darwinia and Uplink for free when April comes around???

 

[elDiablo]

I can't, officially or unofficially, say either way at the moment!

 

[Kasatka]

Well it's all well and good Steam putting pressure on developers to release Mac versions, but ultimately some developers just don't have the Mac experienced workers in order to facilitate this and wouldn't hire in specialists just to do so.

 

[thatbloke]

If you write your code in a portable enough way, there are very few parts of it that need to be specific to one platform.

It's what #ifdef's were made for

 

[T-Bone]

Well it's all well and good Steam putting pressure on developers to release Mac versions, but ultimately some developers just don't have the Mac experienced workers in order to facilitate this and wouldn't hire in specialists just to do so.

Gabe Newell was the one who ported Doom onto windows the first time round. The deal he made with Carmack was that they would do the work to port it if they distributed it, hence PC gaming was born. Perhaps they will do the same for people now? I understand there is a lot more to do now than one game but I have confidence.

 

[RSS Feed Poster]

Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are coming to the Mac!

Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are coming to the Mac!



We like the platform wars in the forums so much that we've decided to add a new platform to the fray. Later this spring, we'll be releasing both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 on the OSX operating system for Mac computers, all through Steam.

Steam on the Mac will behave just like Steam for Windows, but through Steam Play will add cross-platform ownership. That means if you own Left 4 Dead 2 for Windows, then you already own it for the Mac. There's no need to buy it twice! Unless you want to buy it twice, in which case, as long as you're feeling so generous, why not buy it five times?



Plus, Mac and Windows players can go head-to-head, since both Left 4 Deads are cross-platform compatible. Mac owners can even host their own servers, just like Windows users.



The Mac Versions of L4D1 and 2 don't run under emulation software but in native code. That's technical talk for how cool your friends will think you are with your five copies of Left 4 Dead 2 for the Mac.



We'll be releasing the exact system requirements soon. The Mac versions will be updated in sync with the Windows versions, so the platform wars can continue uninterrupted.



Even though Left 4 Dead 2 is the only game you'll ever need on any platform, as a purely academic exercise, you should probably check out the complete catalog of games available on the Mac when the Steam client is released in a few weeks.

More...

 

[SwampFae]

Steam/Games for the Mac

A fun post I found on the RRS Feed





Yesterday, we announced that Steam and all our Source engine games will be coming to the Mac. Sound too good to be true? Well, guess what: It is true! There are no catches! Sometimes life actually works like that. The bad news is that we've just truth bombed your hard-earned lie detector back to the stone age, and you'll probably lose all your money to the next international lottery scam that sneaks through your spam filter. Still, Steam on the Mac!



Since we're getting a lot of email asking the same basic questions, we figured we'd just answer them here:



Q: I own TF2 on the PC. Do I have to buy it again on the Mac?

A: No. If you own TF2 on the PC, you own TF2 on the Mac (and vice versa). You don't have to buy the game twice. In addition, the Steam Cloud will automatically propagate your configuration settings and custom sprays to your Mac for you.



Q: Is it just some crappy emulated version of TF2?

A: No! Also: How dare you! Mac users aren't getting a crappy emulated version of the game. TF2 will run natively on OSX, like an actual big boy game for adults.



Q: Hmm, that all sounds pretty good. But I'll bet I can't play with my friends who own Macs if I'm on my PC.

A: Mac and PC users will all play together, on the same servers. We're not creating two separate universes. We're all going to be one big, happy family with guns locked in a bloody, never-ending struggle for cap points.



More...


-


Also: Both Left4Dead 1 -and- 2 will also be available for the Mac according to the following post:


Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are coming to the Mac!



We like the platform wars in the forums so much that we've decided to add a new platform to the fray. Later this spring, we'll be releasing both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 on the OSX operating system for Mac computers, all through Steam.

Steam on the Mac will behave just like Steam for Windows, but through Steam Play will add cross-platform ownership. That means if you own Left 4 Dead 2 for Windows, then you already own it for the Mac. There's no need to buy it twice! Unless you want to buy it twice, in which case, as long as you're feeling so generous, why not buy it five times?



Plus, Mac and Windows players can go head-to-head, since both Left 4 Deads are cross-platform compatible. Mac owners can even host their own servers, just like Windows users.



The Mac Versions of L4D1 and 2 don't run under emulation software but in native code. That's technical talk for how cool your friends will think you are with your five copies of Left 4 Dead 2 for the Mac.



We'll be releasing the exact system requirements soon. The Mac versions will be updated in sync with the Windows versions, so the platform wars can continue uninterrupted.



Even though Left 4 Dead 2 is the only game you'll ever need on any platform, as a purely academic exercise, you should probably check out the complete catalog of games available on the Mac when the Steam client is released in a few weeks.

More...

So at long last, our Mac gamers will get more stuff available to them, it seems