Thanks to Valve, Mac users can finally claim to own a "gaming rig" without resorting to Boot Camp or causing PC gamers to burst into laughter. Sure, you're still going to be better off
cost-for-pixel-crunching with a mid-range PC desktop than anything Apple offers, but for a MacBook Pro user looking to get in a few frags during lunch, the arrival of
Steam for Mac is probably the best news they've heard this year -- and luckily that Source engine isn't too hard on older hardware. Mostly the same crop of games that were available to beta testers are available in the final product, with
Portal and
Team Fortress 2 standing atop the heap (Portal's even free for a limited time!), while
Half-Life and
Left 4 Dead remain notably absent. Check out
Joystiq if you want a full breakdown of the games, including a few of the highlights, we have... um, some stuff to do. You know, boring work stuff. You probably wouldn't be interested. Hit that source link for the download.
Update: We're not seeing
Team Fortress 2, and we're not getting an option for picking up the Mac version of
Civ IV, even though it's a "Steam Play" title. The free
Portal download isn't working either, but at least we're relatively certain that it will at some point.
posted May 12th 2010 3:47PM
welcome aboard ladies
I can finally pwn that arrogant mac fanboy who keeps telling me his mac is better than my PC. No amount of fancy animations and "amazing" innovations will spare you from my sniper rifle.
@ChairmanMeow They are totally swarming the Steam servers, I can't download any games :(
@2late2die same here, but I added it to my library so hopefully I'll still be able to get it later.
@blitzkrieg We're not on windows anymore... (lol) This sure is a sweet treat for mac users, hopefully the list of games will grow not to mention a price deduction on the premium games. Reactions. http://j.mp/steam-for-mac-released-review
@ChairmanMeow Suck my balls pc lover.
@blitzkrieg :(
You're going to hurt my aluminum friends feelings.
Hooray! Why is this not a top story?
Because Steam is... what, 7 years old now?
@Leindurstit Excellent answer...
@Spiraling Shape
I apologize on behalf of the press. It's a sad day when innovation takes place in OSX and no one talks about it.
SNAP CRACKLE POP!
Oh hi guys, I just came back from an alternate universe where Macs can be called "Gaming rigs.."
How adorable! They have almost one tenth as many games as we have for under 10 dollars!
@collindow
This is launch day. What exactly were you expecting? Valve has already said they will be adding more Mac compatible games every Wednesday. 60 to start with on day one is pretty damn good.
@Jack
I expect that it will be one hell of a long time before the Mac catches up to the PC in the games department.
But only about fifteen minutes until Mac-users are smugly superior about the very few games they have.
@collindow
Sounds like you're the one with the hang ups, not us.
@Jack I agree that it will take a few years to get anywhere near Windows gaming, but as long as the games that are on the Mac are quality it really doesn't matter.
The problem is OS X apparently doesn't run as well as Windows by quite a big margin (in the Open GL benchmark tests) so dropped frame rate might be an issue on Macs.
But hey, it's a work in progress and there is no such thing as a gaming Mac so...
@David Bailey
I'll be able to judge that myself when I get home tonight, assuming everything is working. I've had Portal on Steam for a long time now (Boot Camp) so I can make a pretty direct comparison.
@Jack No need. They've already done it. But I seriously doubt any Mac users are going to say "I don't get a good enough framerate on Portal, I'm buying a Windows PC!" so really it's just up to Valve and Apple to improve the experience.
@David Bailey
Well that's the thing. People who have actually tried it and are playing it now are saying there are absolutely zero framerate issues. Even on iMacs, even at the highest resolution. So I'm not sure where this whole "not getting a good enough framerate" thing is coming from.
@Jack The idea is coming from that story that says Windows can run OpenGL faster than Mac and Linux. That may be so, but Mac and Linux are still running OpenGL very fast. You may not get a billion frames a second, but for most games, especially Valve games, you'll get more than enough.
You just used "Apple" and "Gaming rig" and didn't use a "is not" in the middle.
This is truly a red letter day
@GenericMessage
apple might have to start putting something other than a $150 graphics card in their $3000 desktops
@guroth
You mean $50 card...
More importantly, Valve have pseudo-officially (as in through official communication with a newspaper, not on their own site yet) confirmed Source (and without a doubt Source) for Linux - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7715209/Steam-for-Mac-goes-live.html
@rfdparker2002 Thank you, I heard rumors but was holding my breath. My day has been made. =)
time to pwn some mac users
@shoman24v can't wait til Mac gets TF2. that should be amusing.
@kojo87
You've never heard of Boot Camp, have you?
@Jack
A mac running windows is not a mac at all.
@Proud Japanese
Except it iS a Mac. You can tell by the way it natively supports Windows and OS X.
@Jack Wait, so everyone's a PC? John Hodgman would be proud... ;)
@shoman24v
I thought all Macs were steam driven...
@rederikus
Apple will now come out with the 'revolutionary' 2-button mouse.
It will sell billions.
Yep, will be nice to have everyone to fight. The ones not using their melee attack are probably one of these new guys.
@ssgadget
I doubt it, nobody buys a Mac for gaming, not even if you can get Steam on it.
you can now market a mac like an alienware
overpriced gaming machine?
@shoman24v
Why would anybody buy a Mac for gaming?
@shoman24v
comparing mac to alienware is like comparing UFOs to fruit
@Jack
Because sometimes people want to get work done, too?
@UnixSystemsEngineer
Wouldn't that mean that they were buying it for work then, not for gaming? Because if gaming were the only reason to buy a computer, they would get a PC. You get a Mac because you want it primarily for things other than gaming.
@Jack
I love how when the tables turn around, and the MS-PC becomes the "FUN" computer, somehow Apple fans claim that NOW they do "work" on their Macs... What "work"? The kind you do in Excel, crunching numbers left'n'right? Or the check your email kind? Clicking on links? I thought that's what the "boring" MS-box is for...
Or has editing a vacation video, and organizing your photos into flashy portfolios has become "work" all of the sudden?
"What exactly would you say you do here?" -officespace
@commenter7
I see what you did there.
@Jack And yet many Windows users constantly attack Macs for not being bale to get any real work done. Strange.
@Jack Its not either/or, why not both. The Graphics in the new MacBook Pros is perfectly respectable. I never gamed in Boot Camp because I don't like booting into windows unless I absolutely have to. Gaming isnt about running Crysis at FPS faster than a Hummingbird's wings
Now I want to see the Apple fanboys saying "I bought a Mac cause I don't care about games, anyway." :)
Like they didn't care for multitasking and copy and past in the iPhone until now.
@Verythrax Actually. I didn't care about multi-tasking, or copy and paste on my iPhone. In fact, I still don't care about copy and paste on my iPhone.
@Verythrax
Nobody bought a Mac because of gaming, so why would you expect anybody to claim that? Or that it would be a huge shock to see Mac users saying they didn't buy a Mac for gaming?
Gaming is great, and Steam for Mac is great, but it's not the only reason I use a computer, and it's not why I bought a Mac.
@Verythrax I agree :)
@Verythrax relax buddy, you realize that in mac the graphics drivers aren't in bar with windows? In other words, mac people paid more than us and will get less FPS than their PC fellows. :-)
Anybody else having an issue with games not showing up? All my games are showing up except TF2.