Steam & Source games comming to Mac - Official Announcement

[PhatFreD]

I would be a bit disappointed if Steam turned into a mega shopping portal. I like it now because it's slick and not cluttered with ads. Just selling the games... But maybe one ot two really good value deals a week would be ok. Selling hardware to millions of people all over the world might be tricky though, unless it goes through local distributors like dell and apple.

[Corwin]

Originally Posted by Mixa...

THE BEST part...all valve games are computer multiplat ie: You own the PC version you can play the Mac version. In combo with Steam Cloud this means you can play Portal 2 at lunch at work on your PC then go home and pick right up at the same spot on your Mac... fairly MAJOR development

Taken from a recent Ars Technica article -

"The Mac compatibility extends beyond Steam Play, however. All future games, beginning with Portal 2, will be available for the Mac the same day as the Windows version. "We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360," Cook said. Players on all platforms will be able to play each other in online multiplayer setups, as well. "We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients."

I do believe I just had a nerdgasm.

[PhatFreD]

Originally Posted by Corwin

Players on all platforms will be able to play each other in online multiplayer setups, as well. "We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients."

So we will be able to play Valve multiplayer games against xbox360 players? That should be interesting.

[Mixa...]

Interesting yes... Likely no. 360 users are still waiting for their first tf2 update whilst we've enjoyed 8 major updates plus numerous mini updates. I'm sure there are some games that could be easily multiplat but they will need to overcome some of the major limitations of the xbox hardware and MS's patching process. Much easier to get that happening on a mac. Nice bonus for the new mac players will be the community already in place for some valve games

[Unknown]

Originally Posted by PhatFreD

So we will be able to play Valve multiplayer games against xbox360 players? That should be interesting.

There's a difference between what Valve supports (as an idea) and what they can actually make happen; Valve don't control XBox360, Microsoft does - so it's unlikely we'll see cross-platform XBox360/PS3/PC/Mac gaming any time soon... but Valve controls Steam and can therefore provide cross-platform PC/Mac gaming (which is really what their statement was all about).

Even if Valve could get Steam (PC/Mac) and XBox360 players together in the same servers, I'm not sure I'd want to play with a lot of that rabble (not that all XBox360 players are rabble, but, you know...).

[Mighty Brush]

Valve have said on numerous occasions that until MS allow them to do updates for free, they won't be doing incremental updates.

I'd expect that once they finish all updates they'll release them on xbox as well, but that's assuming anyone actually plays it (other than a few freaks).

[Ulric]

I think that this will be a great thing.

I am sitting here typing this from my mac, with my gaming rig silent to its left.

The ability to have my games collection available regardless of platform would be insanely good.

Another reason for me to like steam.

[Ven Jance]

this is fantastic news.

Valve also gets that Apple, slowly, but surely is changing the paradigm of how we interact with our PCS and mobile devices. This step is needed in keeping up with the next 10 years where we will see more and more games developed for multi-platforms that use alternative input methods like touch and gesture.

[Drac]

Originally Posted by Ven Jance

Valve also gets that Apple, slowly, but surely is changing the paradigm of how we interact with our PCS and mobile devices.

I wouldn't really say that. I use both OSX and a Windows PCs almost daily at home and work. Apple just offer one of many alternatives ways of computing but there's too many things I still dislike about both that prevent me from saying either is better than the other. It's nice to have choices though.

The biggest aspect of all this is that Steamworks is being offered on Mac which is a massive slap in the face to Impulse and other Digital Games Services.

[Ven Jance]

Originally Posted by Drac

I wouldn't really say that. I use both OSX and a Windows PCs almost daily at home and work. Apple just offer one of many alternatives ways of computing but there's too many things I still dislike about both that prevent me from saying either is better than the other. It's nice to have choices though.

The biggest aspect of all this is that Steamworks is being offered on Mac which is a massive slap in the face to Impulse and other Digital Games Services.

That's cool and I use both platforms daily and a Mac user for 23 years- but I am not talking about OSX. I am talking about the fact that game developers are flocking to develop games for iPhone and iPad- that enable gameplay sans keyboard and mouse- and there are more devices coming that will continue to shift from the locked down keyboard and mouse peripherals.