Valve announced today that it's bringing Steam and Source to Mac. Games like Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life 2 will be made available in April 2010.
"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."
"We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. "The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. 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. Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows."
Proof of Valve's view of Mac as a “tier-1 platform” is that Portal 2 will release simultaneously on both Mac and PC. "Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step," said Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead. "We're always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac."
18 Comments
March 9, 2010
They think the Mac is a more viable system over the PS3? Thats um....interesting.
May 5, 2010
Wait what that was within budget, amazing? digital fax service
May 9, 2010
When you're a game publisher and you threatened not to provide one of the 1 out of the big 5 platforms/publishers games then you should expect someone will have a problem with it.
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May 13, 2010
If I had to guess, between $40 -$45 million was probably their budget goal for the project, which was probably penned in for March 2010 a while ago. It'll make it all back the first week, because the series is that big.online fax
May 16, 2010
I will personally never play a game that uses such deception, mainly because of the intrussive measures to authenticate, and in this case require an active internet connection to play. And the sad part is that I was really hoping to play this one. I guess I'll just rent a console version from my library, or gamefly, becasue I certainly won't be purchasing one. internet fax service reviews
May 17, 2010
This will be Sony's Halo answer to Halo this year. It may even come close to beating it if they push hard enough. And no one has better commercials than Sony. Especially Microsoft. online fax solutions
May 20, 2010
Just the sheer effort for this game is crazy! This will be Sony's Halo answer to Halo this year. It may even come close to beating it if they push hard enough. And no one has better commercials than Sony. Especially Microsoft. online fax
May 20, 2010
It may even come close to beating it if they push hard enough. And no one has better commercials than Sony. Especially Microsoft.
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May 21, 2010
But you have to admit ALL god of war games have OVER the TOP art.Wholesale watches
May 27, 2010
And thus why would the console manufacturers expend the massive resources needed to develop a new console when their capacity to get return on that investment has been drastically curtailed?identity theft fraud alert
May 29, 2010
“We finished up God of War II with roughly 60 people which was more than double God of War I and now we've finished off God of War III with 132 people,” Hight said. “The biggest area that we grew was graphics on the art side.”PowWeb Hosting Review
May 30, 2010
Since then the number of users has topped 6.5 million a feat which Buser described as, “absolutely staggering”.identity theft protection service
June 11, 2010
While it's not in the release list below, Joe Danger on PSN might be worth at least a passing glance this week. Also, PSP gamers get some hot action this week with MGS: Peace Walker and a new Disgaea game, while DS gamers get an intriguing Mega Man collection.best identity theft companies
June 13, 2010
A challenging game is all the more compelling when it's taunting your failures. optin email marketing services
June 20, 2010
There are plenty of mini-games to play within Home, the initiative for which comes mostly from the developers rather than from Sony.email marketing service providers
June 27, 2010
This service provided by Blizzard Entertainment is especially important for Warcraft III for which it features integrated ladders.ecommerce service
June 27, 2010
Level one completed? Here's a prize. Level two completed? Have another! Signpost achievements unlock like clockwork, popping at regular intervals as the player meanders down the breadcrumb trail.
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July 13, 2010
This is definitely a move forward for MACs. Every day it seems like more services are porting their software for the macs. At Florida Phone Systems we try to have complete compatibility.