“On Wednesday, Windows users were given the option of downloading a new beta interface, featuring changes like a WebKit-based browser, an improved appearance and customizable game groups,” MacNN reports. “Buried within the Steam/Graphics folder, however, are images for 10 Mac-specific buttons.”
MacNN reports, “Within Steam/Resource/Menus, there is also a new ‘osx.menu’ file… [Steam for Mac OS X] could potentially have a major impact on the Mac gaming industry. The technology is essential for Valve’s own games, which are some of the most popular in the PC world, including Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress 2. It is also an increasingly popular vehicle for third-party sales.”
Read more in the full article here.
Been hoping for this for a looong time now. Crossover just isn’t cutting it for me.
i AM SOOOOO EXCITED FOR STEAM COMING TO THE OSX SYSTEM! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOOOO LONG…
Wow, that could throw some cold water on the Microsoft lock on games. I guess a head of steam is starting to crank up for OSX!
Are the boilers in the SS Microsoft starting to chill or they starting to see an iceberg filled sea?
Does that mean I can play Company of heroes, because it is based on the steam engine, or is steam merely a vehicle for ditribution in CoH’s case?
This land of “PC Gaming” is new and unknown.
BRING IT! Now all we need is a mac that can play 3d games that doesn’t cost $2000!!
Don’t delete your bootcamp partition yet. As they finally get around to saying I’m the last line of the article, you won’t be playing team fortress two anytime soon. The games need to be written
My guess is that the Steam application will work in Mac OS X, but only games that are specifically re-written will be available. I would guess that Valve will port their Source game engine to Mac OS X, so all 1st party Valve games would be on Mac OS X immediately, and then the 3rd party games would be available if they were already ported, or as they were ported.
ABOUT G*****M TIME!
I read this elsewhere today, too, but i think they could only include a mac-like skin for the Windows version of steam. (instead of the only black them they have now)
Why else include mac buttons that are hard coded into the mac system?
Useless weight if they make a mac Port, which they don’t.
Or there is simply some crossplattform stuff in there from the new Webkit Engine.
But people tend to forget the main Reason why Valve doesn’t port steam and it’s games over to the mac: Apple
Apple and Valve have a very hostile History, go google around a bit for this issue if you don’t believe me.
And what luck, the random MDN magic word hits bullseye here:
‘million’
As in Valve wanted a few cool million for bringing over the Half-Live series to the mac. Apple said ‘beat it.’
The magic word is creepily accurate sometimes…
This is a bit surprising considering what a douche and microsoft fanboy Gabe Newell is. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Javbw,
Steam is the engine that runs the games so developers would need to make Mac-specific games. Installing Steam on your Mac won’t help you play any games at all.
Man, that would be HUGE for native mac game development. I hope it is true.
One problem: Steam sucks. I’ve used it quite a lot.
Yeah, baby!! Been unable to play Counter Strike since I left my PC behind 6 years ago… Will be nice to have the option to play some great games on a killer computer.
I’m not thrilled with steam but only because if they vanish 1 day, I wonder if I will still be able to play the games I have paid for and own. Generally speaking, I’m fairly happy with performance especially since I am playing the games on my iMac running Codeweavers Crossover which works surprisingly well.
Marc
‘Steam’ sucks major ass.
Good luck trying to get Valve’s code off your computer if you ever decide you want to be rid of it.
Yeah, this is a mixed blessing. The games you can play through Steam are awesome, but Steam is a major hindrance to LAN-based gaming and if you ever have an Internet-service outage at your house.
So … now, when the PC weenies say “Macs are just toys” there will be supporting evidence? I know, it never worked to turn it back on them (all talk, no thought – good Republicans) so why should they make the connection now?
Oh yes! I have been dreaming about playing Day Of Defeat (original and source) on my Mac Pro for years!
wat happened to unreal tournament 4 or whatever – it seems like it never came to the mac like it was supposed too?
Steam = Spyware