Valve sets public Mac Steam release for May 12, 2010
Valve Software has announced the public release of its new Mac version of the Steam gaming platform will happen May 12, slightly later than its initial goal of April.
Valve is currently operating an invitation only beta program for the Mac edition of Steam. This week, the company released a major new update to Steam for Windows users, which had been in beta for months.
The company first officially announced it would be bringing its Steam gaming service its Source gaming engine to the Mac platform in early March, after clues in late February suggested that a Mac version was imminent.
Valve president Gabe Newell said at the time in a press release, "The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services." Jason Holtman, Valve's Director of Business Development added, "our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac.
"Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added 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."
John Cook, Director of Steam Development said, "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. 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."
Valve announced it would be bringing its games powered by the Source engine to the Mac, including Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress 2. It also said the new Portal 2, due this holiday season, would be the company's first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows.
"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."
Valve is currently operating an invitation only beta program for the Mac edition of Steam. This week, the company released a major new update to Steam for Windows users, which had been in beta for months.
The company first officially announced it would be bringing its Steam gaming service its Source gaming engine to the Mac platform in early March, after clues in late February suggested that a Mac version was imminent.
Valve president Gabe Newell said at the time in a press release, "The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services." Jason Holtman, Valve's Director of Business Development added, "our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac.
"Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added 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."
John Cook, Director of Steam Development said, "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. 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."
Valve announced it would be bringing its games powered by the Source engine to the Mac, including Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress 2. It also said the new Portal 2, due this holiday season, would be the company's first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows.
"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."
Comments
then fuck you up in css
Thanks valve i'm looking forward to playing half life 2 for the first time.
Really?
Can't wait to try out Left 4 Dead 2 on my MBP.
The Sony console - no.
The Microsoft console - no.
The Nintendo console - no.
Microsoft PC + NVidia GTX 480 - double noes.
I am all in favor of this, but let's be honest: the Mac is not a great platform for games, in anything expect potential.
"The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services" Umm... relative to what?
The Sony console - no.
The Microsoft console - no.
The Nintendo console - no.
Microsoft PC + NVidia GTX 480 - double noes.
I am all in favor of this, but let's be honest: the Mac is not a great platform for games, in anything expect potential.
Stop looking at the hardware. The modern macs are perfectly capable of running
all modern 3d-intense games with the exception of the most low-end macs not
being able to run the "benchmark-games" like Crytek-powered games.
He wrote the Mac is a great platform entertainment services.
In contradictory to something like "Macs are computers mainly
used as workstations used in complicated calculations of aerodynamics".
Mac is, and has always been, an entertainment platform, as well as a workspace.
Really?
Yes really. I don't own or want to buy an xbox or a copy of windows.
The best news? If you already own the PC versions of the Source games, you don't have to buy them again.
Can't wait to try out Left 4 Dead 2 on my MBP.
Really? That's what I was wondering! Good news! Now I just have to save up to upgrade from my G4 iMac..LOL!
C
Can we get a link to the source (no pun intended) of this announcement? I've been looking around and can't find where Valve has set the March 12 date.
C
Because it's May 12th, not march.
Stop looking at the hardware. The modern macs are perfectly capable of running
all modern 3d-intense games with the exception of the most low-end macs not
being able to run the "benchmark-games" like Crytek-powered games.
He wrote the Mac is a great platform entertainment services.
In contradictory to something like "Macs are computers mainly
used as workstations used in complicated calculations of aerodynamics".
Mac is, and has always been, an entertainment platform, as well as a workspace.
They're perfectly capable of running them but Apple's history with gaming has been beyond terrible. OpenGL is still not updated to 3.0, let alone 3.2, their relationship with developers is neglectful at best and hostile at worst, input device support and performance is terrible, and they let the platform's biggest chip slip right through their fingers and right into Microsoft's hands. The porting houses can't make enough money and the first tier publishes are skeptical. There's potential but Apple has to follow through.
I am all in favor of this, but let's be honest: the Mac is not a great platform for games
It is now. That's the whole point.
It is now. That's the whole point.
An additional point, Macs may not have the *greatest* hardware, but for the hardware that it does have, it does what it needs to do much better than PCs because of the hardware optimization that can only be done when the user's exact hardware configuration can be known.
Game development for a Mac is similar to developing for a console: the hardware specifications are exact and the same across the entire product line which leads to better programming since you're not trying to make the game run on every possible configuration of hardware.