Half-Life 2 on the Mac? Give Valve one million dollars!
So, Orange Box drops this Tuesday on PC and Xbox 360 (the PS3 release isn't until November). Despite being published by EA, who are suddenly excited by the Mac platform, there's no Mac OS release planned. Sure, no one plays games on a Mac, we get it ... but this is Half-Life 2 we're talking about. It's sorta a big deal.
In a recent Kikizo interview, Valve's Gabe Newell plants the blame for the absence of a Mac release of Half-Life 2 – and, indeed, most games – squarely on Apple's shoulders. On the other hand, Inside Mac Games' Tuncer wants you to know that it's never that simple; he explains that while it's true Apple met with Newell and nothing ever came it, it isn't because Apple couldn't stay focused (although we don't doubt that for a minute) but rather because of "Valve's insistence that anyone who wanted to port Half-Life 2 to the Mac had to advance $1 million to Valve." In the scrappy world of Mac OS X porting, a meeeeelyun bucks is understandably hard to come by ... up front.
That said, Apple's lack of focus on gaming remains a fundamental weak spot in their consumer strategy (let's not even talk Apple gaming consoles), but we're hopeful that as companies continue to adopt new technologies like Cider, Mac users will at least be able to enjoy smash hits like Half-Life 2 (if nothing else). Ah well, thank Freeman for Boot Camp.
Read – One Million Reasons Why Half-Life 2 Isn't on the Mac (IMG)
Read – Gabe Newell on the Mac platform and Apple (Kikizo)
