The Alchemist on 23/4/2010 at 04:56
Honestly just fuck this.
Zerker on 23/4/2010 at 22:20
That thread is pretty much complaining about no Linux support, so I think a separate thread for the Mac client now is probably worthwhile. I signed up for the beta, but I haven't gotten any reply. I guess I need to wait for the release. It's supposed to be this month, but I haven't heard anything since the original announcement.
Fragony on 24/4/2010 at 06:28
what's with all this finally, just install windows for games and use OSX for work. Latest macbooks are pretty fast, basically a pro on budget sweet deal. Shame it's now somwhere in Paris fucking thieves
EvaUnit02 on 24/4/2010 at 07:11
That's not the point, if someone wanted to play PC games on their Macs they'd have already Windows installed via a Boot Camp partition. Those enthusiasts aren't the target consumer.
Quote Posted by EvaUnit02
Because Macs generally aren't aimed at enthusiast consumers who'd have the know how and/or desire to repartition their HDDs and install Windows. Creative types, clueless hipsters and someone's tech illiterate mum have the largest mindshare.
Porting over the Steam platform provides massive opportunity for Valve + the indie and casual market developer. Steam is the market leader of the non-portable digital distribution game on PC, currently that there's no real equivalent in MacOS mind space. Apple foolishly haven't bothered to fill that space with their App Store (which monopolises the portable sector).
EDIT: Oh yeah, not everyone wants to buy an expensive OS license just for a single dedicated task.
Phatose on 24/4/2010 at 07:12
Is there some magical portion of this steam for macs that makes windows games run on macs, or is this just "Oh look, I can play all 12 games available on the mac platform?" As is valve going to adopt the apple pricing model and double the price for the same stuff?
Edit: Oh, I see. This is the gaming platform for people who don't give a shit about gaming. Brilliant.
Zerker on 24/4/2010 at 12:39
I do have a separate Windows license to run games in Windows, but I would be even happier if I could play an assortment without needing to restart at all.
Renzatic on 24/4/2010 at 17:38
I'd love to see more developers make games for Mac. It'd bolster up Apple, which would force MS to work even harder at making a slick 'n smooth OS, which would in turn maybe make Apple drop the price on their fucking hardware so I'd quit playing computer coitus interruptus at the Mac Store.
"It's got a ZZZZEEEEOOOONN. That's like twice as fast as anything you can get for a PC."
"No, it's not. It's about the same damn thing."
"Well, we're still asking $3200 for this nice Mac Pro. I mean comeon, man. it has 4 gig of ram and...like...two Geforce 120's in it. We should be charging...like...$6000 for something this awesome. Want proof? Watch me bring up all these widgets."
"UNK! OH GOD! I GOTTA GO HOME!"
EvaUnit02 on 24/4/2010 at 18:00
LOL, as if Steam on Mac will push developers to release a lot more games that demand higher spec hardware. It'll be business as usual, low scale indie titles, Popcap-esque games, The Sims and Spore. The market is just too niche, it's pretty much just Aspyr and their shitty ports that are usually a year late. A niche that's smaller still than the Wintel platform, which is already dwarfed by consoles.
Even if Mac Pro's came with say affordable upper-mid range components (eg ATI HD4850), Apple would still have the overly inflated rip off prices because they can get away with it, their consumers lap it up in droves.
Renzatic on 24/4/2010 at 20:38
Well, it depends. Percentagewise, Apple only controls about 5% of the PC market. Pathetic at first glance, but when you realize that 5% covers a few million people, you'll see that it's a niche market potentially worth investing in. So if Valve sells more than a healthy handful of games on the Mac, it might inspire other publishers to do the same.
Only problem is if there's one group of people so insulated into a brand, it's your average Mac zealot. Generally they only buy products made by Apple, endorsed by Steve Jobs, and have a little lower cased i in front of the name. It'd be hard for anyone besides Apple to appeal to that crowd.
Case in point, Valve should call Steam Mac "iGame: The Personal Entertainment Platform That Fits Your Modern Lifestyle", and charge $150 for it. I bet they'd have a line a block long for it at release.
