With all the games that Windows it's no wonder the platform has a billion digital download services like Steam. But there's a chance that very same service might hit OSX -- and as a Mac user, I'm stressing chance despite the call from Valve for a few Macintosh and Linux engineers.
Here's the deal: a file dumpster diver on the Steam message board has discovered multiple small OSX branded files inside of Steam's code. The list of stuff includes buttons and even dock icons, which is enough to make us scratch our heads -- it's not like a ton of games that Steam carries have Macintosh ports. Regardless, we're thrilled by prospect. It would be nice to have a service on the level of Steam, even if it's just a tease.
Mac OSX Support! [Steam forums]
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
32 comments | showing # 1 to 32
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
4:00 AM on 02.25.2010 | 
Source titles will be adapted but this is still a while off before Mac users get to fully take advantage of steam. Still it's good news for those users and more revenue for Valve.
None of this Mac crap mind, I'd rather not trade some awful limitations for another set of slightly-more-subtle, but equally awful limitations. Instead I would slap in Linux distro, either Ubuntu or Sabayon, and never look back.
/excited
but really, i thought people only bought macs because they looked nice and didn't want to do things like gaming on them? well more power to you
Well, that would eliminate about 50% of my Bootcamp needs. XD
This would eliminate about 95% of my need for Boot Camp. All I would need it for would be Fallout 2, which I got from that huge sale over Christmas GoG.
Other then that, I have Civ 4 for OSX now, and outside of a large number of Steam games, those were the only games I own for PC. Steam is a kick ass service and I'd love to not have to use bootcamp to get to Counterstrike and the like.
Free Software is for college kids and people with way too much time on their hands. Yeah, yeah, freedom, blah blah. The rest of the world wants to push a button and have it work. When it doesn't work, they want to call someone, or take it somewhere and have it fixed. This is not Linux. This is not Unix. This is not BeOS. The average user doesn't want to need dozens of years of experience to add a new wireless card, or just another piece of software that didn't happen to like the fact that your drivers were six years old. Well, honey, I really want to spend the weekend with you, but I have drivers to update on my computer! Yes, I know all it takes for you is clicking the "Software Update" button when it appears, but I'm a better person because I have freedom over my computer! Linux is the wild west. Choosing to run it exclusively is a hobbyist decision, not a productive one.
Also instead of the 'Software Update' Button, Linux users have a 'Install Updates' button in the update manager. No exactly taxing.
Incidentally, I don't actually use Linux on my computer, due to the lack of gaming support. However I would if it were available.
Perhaps you should actually check out the Linux side for a while, you may be pleasantly surprised and less inclined to make outdated assumptions.
But just because Valve might be developing a Mac Steam Store doesn't mean Steam will 'come to Linux'.
"Linux" is a kernel, not a singular, unified desktop OS designed and maintained by a single company or group. Its ability to basically run on anything is great for people with old or unique configurations, it creates even more compatibility testing and hardware variation for Valve to deal with than it already has to with Windows.
There are now ~30 million Macs in the world according to most estimates. There are nowhere near that many Linux-based systems in use as people's primary home computers and only a portion of the ones that are have decent graphics/processing power.
A Linux Steam Store simply doesn't make any real sense for Valve to bother with and they have every right to keep it closed, just like Google's closed-source Android apps (e.g. Gmail, YouTube, etc.).
A few friends and I recently discussed how many 360s have died on us, and how we wouldn't have ever bothered buying into the failing product line, if not for one or two XBox-only games. If Mac Steam ends up being a reality, it will help push developers from DirectX lock-in (only Windows and XBox) to OpenGL (every OS, non-XBox consoles). For gamers, that means more freedom to play games on their platform of choice.
Someone was supposed to be working on a Mac port of Torchlight, but I've yet to see any word about it for months.