News Valve announces Steam for Macs

My only worry is that this means more time supporting mac games, and less time creating new hats for tf2 lol

 

It may make the job easier for WINE devs to get Steam titles running on Linux...no DirectX or other Windows-only technologies - time will tell I guess. If people see linux or even PC-BSD as a viable gaming platform, there's always hope that Valve will follow.

It also means you can spend more on hardware and less on operating systems...or service packs more recently.

 

Why do you keep referring to your opinion that Windows 7 is just the same as Vista ? Do you actually know anything about the subject or are you just trolling like you used to do when you were telling Marklar77 and Macpheasto how brainwashed they were for being Apple fanboys, when you, apparently have now become one too ?

What about for example the Core optimisation and Hyperthreading differences in 7 vs Vista SP2, the fact that Win 7 maintains speed and integrity of SSD performance over time (there are articles on this on this very site).

For someone who used to launch gushing tirades against everything Apple who now lauds the company up and keeps mentioning that Windows 7 is in fact just Vista with another name, suggests you are either a troll or suffering from Schizophrenia.

 

Does this mean that Apple gamers will be able play alongside PCs in online games? If so, I welcome out fruity brethren with open arms. Just don't expect anyone easy on you because you only have one mouse button.

 

but that 1 button does 5 things .

 

So using an Apple is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman?

 

Only if she turns out to be an expensive ladyboy! It costs a lot but has compatibility problems some don't mind going for that kind of thing.

 

Steam wants to be as synonymous to games downloads as iTunes is to mp3 downloads.

 

This is great news! One of the cornerstones of windows is gaming and if OSX was able to play catchup it might give MS the kick up the arse it needs to better itself. Consumer choice is never a bad thing.

Could also pave the way for native linux games too! Wee!

 

nice, i was chuffed enough about steam on the mac. Now I don`t even have to buy new games even betterer

 

I think the $1499 iMac would be able to run everything Valve has at High.

 

AVP? I think not.....

 

The iMac struggles with high detail on The Sims 3, and that's the newest 27" Quad core version, thus has the highest GPU spec available, granted HL2's requirement spec is lower than Sims 3, but it does go to show.

Sam

 

The Core i5 iMac 27" which runs at 2560x1440 has a Core i5 for £1635 and you have to add some more £££ to get the i7. The graphics is the HD4850 (M?) and it had 512mb of ram. It won't run Company of Heroes (getting on for a four year old game) at native res on highest, it stutters at under 15fps even with no AA. At 1920x1200, which incidentally looks gash as its not native, it will run all setting maxed with 2xAA and get an average of about 37fps.

So I can't see any iMac being able to run any more graphically intensive games at anything more than moderate settings. You see these vids on Youtube, 'look at me gaming on my iMac you Windows losers' and its usually some stuttery rendition of Crysis or something, Nothing wrong with iMac's but they aren't really gaming machines, the best graphics solution on offer is old, underpowered and doesn't even have the highest buffer option (1GB), I mean even Dell laptops with 4650's get 1GB of DDR3 ram.

 

I think the argument of macs not being powerful enough is missing the point somewhat. I would imagine the reason apple are reluctant to include better graphics systems is wholly down to a lack of games on the platform. This may be what has stopped many devs from bothering, so companies like valve are breaking this catch 22 situation. Apple make it easier for games to be developed, more devs get on board, Apple makes it easier, more devs get on board, etc etc.

I really cannot understand what crazyceo's problem with linux gaming is, linux is waiting in the wings to be the next big thing. It only takes something like this to nudge it into the mainstream.

 

A $500 PC could run everything Valve has at high, Source is easy mode

Methinks you're mistaking Valve for Steam. All the non-Valve games on Steam are still PC only. AVP won't even work on a Mac in the first place.

 

On their work PC? What kind of dream world do you live in Jason Holtman? If I got caught playing HL on my work PC I'd be killed!

 

Surely if the Mac version is coming, then a Linux version can't be far behind. It is much closer to Mac then Windows, if I understand correctly.

Also: SteamPlay = Epic Win.

I wish the industry would look at Steam and either use it as the defacto DRM/Distribution/Content-Management platform or at least use it as a basis when making their own.

(Ubi... you guys come to mind atm.)

This is just pure win. Also, apparently more games run on a Mac then I realized.

I put Win7 on my Vista-Basic Laptop. The footprint of Win7 alone is smaller, I lag less, and its easier on my integrated graphics. I had a few driver issues at first, but it's mostly sorted out now.

Windows 7 is as much of a "Service Pack" to Vista as Windows XP was to Windows ME.

 

Whats all this about Microsoft needing a kick up the arse? Windows 7 is the only complete worldwide OS out there today and has shut up all the vista doomsay'ers wishing for the distruction of Microsoft. It isn't going to happen ladies!

Can you explain to me how if you can't play decent games on a Windows based laptop without sacrificing some quality. How the hell do you expect to play games on an iMac which is just a desktop laptop, at full res and high quality? with potentially the same components?

Think before you jump macboys!

 

Because I can, because I used the RC for long enough to find out and because winding up Marklar77 was fun!

However, Windows 7 was a deal breaker. Minor performance improvements at best, a taskbar that I couldn't get on with and £150 asking price for the Pro version without borked networking.

Clicky
What about it?

Clicky

Our opinions differ. Get used to it. Sure, I hated Apple, I enjoyed mocking mac users - then Windows 7 came out and I realised I'd backed the wrong horse. MS had run out of ideas, they had resorted to tarting up Vista, released a new DX11 API that hardly anybody will use until the consoles are refreshed and they wanted £150 for some minor tweaks to Vista's kernel and a new Explorer. I realised that rather than waste all that money I could put the money towards a whole new computer...so I did.