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Steam Mac Client Coming.

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oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
Didn't see a thread already.


http://www.devicemag.com/2010/03/04/valves-steam-platform-and-half-life-games-coming-to-the-apple-mac-soon/

I assume Valve is going to port all their games, and then open up the service to whatever developers have Mac versions already ready. Which more than anything, should benefit the indies out there since they seem more willing to look beyond the PC audience. Would be curios though if they still allow the full Steam Catalog of the PC games and a non supported link to like Wine or commercial like CrossOver or Cider.


Well.. hopefully sooner than later they will go with a Linux one as well. After all, the big difference between OSX and Linux is Mac uses its own window system and a freebsd base.


Brings up another Q as well. Will this force Epic to possibly open the UDK for Mac porting as well?

145949-valve_teaser_500.jpg

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  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    sounds nice but is there a big target audience for games on mac and linux operating systems? I mean pcs arent even having an easy time lately with a lot of great games being console only so why would they bother putting steam on macs? is steam on consoles yet?
  • Synthesizer
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    Synthesizer polycounter lvl 11
    I'd imagine there could be a fairly large market for casual gamers, macbooks are quite popular, and most people probably aren't dual booting.
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    Ged wrote: »
    sounds nice but is there a big target audience for games on mac and linux operating systems? I mean pcs arent even having an easy time lately with a lot of great games being console only so why would they bother putting steam on macs? is steam on consoles yet?

    Since the consoles have their own clients specific to each platform. You will never see steam on them as the market is currently. Who knows in the far future. Especially if Gabe and such "sell out", and sell the steam network.

    There is more Ged, an untapped market in both. Not nearly as big as the PC. More dedicated I think though. Especially to companies that would choose to support games for them. You've met those die in the wool Mac and/or Linux fanatics?

    Also, what you refer to is more because of large publishers for that console push. And the misconception of the loss of sales to pirating. Creating a catch 22, where they create more and more invasive copy protection putting people off from even using a puter. Perfect personal example to me is I wont be purchasing Assassins Creeds 2 for the PC. Even though steam has perfectly legitimate ways of cloud saving and playing on/offline with a achievement system. Its "not good enough" for Ubisoft, so you have to be online on a already online system.

    Getting OT though.
  • Kraftwerk
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    Kraftwerk polycounter lvl 19
    Ged wrote: »
    sounds nice but is there a big target audience for games on mac and linux operating systems? I mean pcs arent even having an easy time lately with a lot of great games being console only so why would they bother putting steam on macs? is steam on consoles yet?

    Mac and Linux users starve for good games, im useing dual boot since ages and honestly only reason Windows is still allowed on my HDD is the fact i love games, if Valve wants to get serious about alternate platform they can gladly be my guest, besides OSX has a good share in America and if Valve even gets a Linux client ready thats prolly not a bad extra cash.
    Btw Postal 3 is supposed to run on OSX and Linux when it comes out so Valve must work on an native Port of there own engine.
  • kwakkie
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    kwakkie polycounter lvl 12
    Wow thats great!!!

    I hope the games I bought will be usable on my Mac without having to repurchase them(I'd hate to rebuy TF2 just to be able to play it on my mac :().
  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    This is more exciting for the developers than gamers. Having Steam restricted to the PC has limited the potential market, especially for smaller, more casual game developers. This will help developers who use steam to reach out to the WoW crowd. (I've noticed a decent number of WoW enthusiasts playing it on their Macs)
  • Rojo
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    Good riddance Windows partition...

    Has anyone run the Source SDK Tools through something like Fusion or Parallels? Is Hammer tolerable?
  • moose
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    moose polycount sponsor
    saw this the other day. If they go through with it, it will be 10 years in the making! I still remember in 2000 when they cancelled Half Life for Mac :( that was a sad day.
  • KateC
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    KateC polycounter lvl 7
    No more boot camp, thank god. I don't own a PC, and for a long time it was just, "Hey, let's all play Myst! ...again!".

    So looking forward to this.
  • James Edwards
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    James Edwards polycounter lvl 18
    I'd be happy with this. Probably be awhile before other devs jump on, but even if some of my valve games see mac versions initially I'd be happy. Steam is pretty much all I use on my pc for gaming... plus blizzard stuff of course.
  • moose
  • snemmy
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    snemmy polycounter lvl 18
    Would be pretty cool.
    And it would shut up that portion of 'LoL no games on Mac' haters. :p
  • VPrime
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    VPrime polycounter lvl 9
    I am really excited for this.
    I have switched over to macs for a couple years now. Turned my PC into a "hackintosh" and havent booted into windows for months.

    Some times I really feel like playing some CS source, or L4d, but don't feel like restarting. Now I can finally waste time easier! :)
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    This is more exciting for the developers than gamers. Having Steam restricted to the PC has limited the potential market, especially for smaller, more casual game developers.
    This is what I was thinking. You get a Steam client on MacOS/LinuxOS, and reach "that many more" gamers who don't feel alienated. I own a Mac(mini), but don't game on it, but I am annoyed that people don't develop for it more as it's a viable platform for gaming.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    good news! especially since I plan to sell my trusty old thinkpad and get a mbp once they update them
  • beartraps
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    beartraps polycounter lvl 8
    one step towards not having to use bootcamp... next step... a fucking normal map filter for OSX
  • snemmy
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    They are also adding a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge
    Sounds good to me.
  • Calabi
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    Calabi polycounter lvl 12
    Plus full cross platform multiplayer or something, not sure if that means we can bitch slap, mac owners online or not, but would be good.

    You cant hate Valve.
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    Calabi wrote: »
    Plus full cross platform multiplayer or something, not sure if that means we can bitch slap, mac owners online or not, but would be good.

    You cant hate Valve.
    LOL and you know why?

    "HOLY SHIT!!! I need a mouse with TWO buttons!!!! I wanna play Myst!!"
  • Richard Kain
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    Richard Kain polycounter lvl 18
    Yep, its official. I'm actually a little surprised that the announcement was this extensive. Not only is Steam coming to Mac, but the Source Engine has also been ported to the Mac. Portal 2 will be the first Source game to be released on the Mac, but all of Valve's back-catalog of Source-powered titles will also be making the transition.

    Very exciting stuff.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/03/steam-mac/

    April!

    Glad they are going with the native approach. Emulation sucks so bad. Good news for mac gaming.

    Portal2 should make good use of the beef inside this iMac but I'm really hoping that Orange Box will make an appearance quickly. Feel I've really missed out on TF2.
  • Lamont
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    Lamont polycounter lvl 15
    Any BootCampers want to get rid of their Win7 64bit lic, PM me :P.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    kwakkie wrote: »
    Wow thats great!!!

    I hope the games I bought will be usable on my Mac without having to repurchase them(I'd hate to rebuy TF2 just to be able to play it on my mac :().

    This has never been the case with steam. One serial is your's to keep, download the game as much as you like.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    oXYnary wrote: »
    Especially if Gabe and such "sell out", and sell the steam network.

    what are you talking about?

    "Sell out"?

    That's like saying "I hope Apple don't sell the iTunes network".
  • Nysuatro
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    Maybe a stupid question. But will steam still develop there directx engine? Wouldnt that be stupid if they did because opengl works fine on windows?
    It looks to me that now many developers would use opengl just to get a piece of the cake that valve is delivering.
  • Kraftwerk
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    Kraftwerk polycounter lvl 19
    Nysuatro wrote: »
    Maybe a stupid question. But will steam still develop there directx engine? Wouldnt that be stupid if they did because opengl works fine on windows?
    It looks to me that now many developers would use opengl just to get a piece of the cake that valve is delivering.

    Counterquestion what would be against staying with OpenGL from now on ? As far i know the only thing OpenGL cant do right now is tesselation and OIT and thats just a matter of the next update.
  • xvampire
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    xvampire polycounter lvl 14
    good as long as steam stay as steam nothing else :)
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    hawken wrote: »
    what are you talking about?

    "Sell out"?

    That's like saying "I hope Apple don't sell the iTunes network".

    You clipped that from a paragraph. Please read the whole thing. It was said more to imply it wouldn't happen.
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