Now Steam is coming to OS X, who's deleting Windows?

[vsp]

Not deleting it because I never installed it. As much as I've been wanting some PC only games, I simply don't have time to play much. So I've been OK with just Blizzard games and a few others. like Out of the Park Baseball.

I'll be getting Half-Life2 at the very least when this goes live. Or Bioshock. One of the two.

 

[DCstewieG]

I'm deleting it Actually Blizzard and Valve's games are the only computer games I'm interested in, rest of gaming I do on consoles. So it's a win-win situation, even if the game performance might not be as good as on XP.

Exactly the same for me. I had a Windows partition for a short time before I needed to delete it for space. I tried HL2 in Crossover a little but it wasn't really worth it. So now I'm looking very forward to finally playing Episode Two!

 

[nigameash]

I'll still keep windows for the few games which will require a full blown copy of windows but yes i am really happy to hear that steam is coming to the mac platform

 

[willcodejavafor]

I'll keep it since performance will probably be better under windows

 

[Winni]

Do the poll.

I am for sure, its all its used for, thank you Valve for freeing up atleast 10Gb

GOD DAMN! FORGOT THE POLL. Mod, a little help?

STALKER doesn't run on the Mac and the Civ IV port for the Mac completely sucks. You can't run Zeus on the Mac either or Stronghold. Or Far Cry. Or Crysis. They all want Windows.

And that was just the gaming side of things. I usually either need a Windows rig or at least working remote access to a Windows server to do my job. You know, Mac OS X is a nice platform for private use, but the bread and butter are in the Windows world.

 

[kainjow]

Mac OS X is a nice platform for private use, but the bread and butter are in the Windows world.

Unless you work for a Mac software company...

I'm not deleting my Boot Camp partition, although I'm tempted. I still enjoy using Windows occasionally, and I like to be able to play random games when they become available (for example, Torchlight, which AFAIK still doesn't have a Mac version yet).

 

[NoNameBrand]

Steam for the Mac means I'll be passing on my Windows VM to dearest beloved to do her Win XP/IE6 only accounting courses. My one non-source engine game is Red Orchestra, so I hope that ends up back on the Mac too.

at least working remote access to a Windows server to do my job

MS's Remote Desktop client works very well for me on my Macs.

 

[dukebound85]

wont steam trip the water sensors?

 

[TheSpaz]

GOD DAMN! FORGOT THE POLL. Mod, a little help?

There's an option to add a poll in the menus at the top of the page I believe.

Click "Thread Tools". I think it's in there.

 

[txa1265]

I actually just deleted my Bootcamp partition ...

... but I also just got a new PC gaming laptop

 

[iomatic]

How does this free up space exactly?

I mean if you have to re-buy the Mac versions, won't that fill up space, or are we talking of running games off a separate partition (for instance, can I buy a bunch of games I use at home, and then bring one or two for travel).

Forgive this newb line of questioning.

Thanks.

 

[kainjow]

How does this free up space exactly?

I mean if you have to re-buy the Mac versions, won't that fill up space, or are we talking of running games off a separate partition (for instance, can I buy a bunch of games I use at home, and then bring one or two for travel).

Forgive this newb line of questioning.

Thanks.

You free up a lot of space simply by removing Windows, which takes up several GBs.

 

[ZazenZach]

Steam coming to OSX doesn't mean anything unless games are actually developed for that OS.

As of yet, the vast majority of games on the market are developed for windows, and OSX is just an after thought

 

[jaysinnva]

How does this free up space exactly?

I mean if you have to re-buy the Mac versions, won't that fill up space, or are we talking of running games off a separate partition (for instance, can I buy a bunch of games I use at home, and then bring one or two for travel).

Forgive this newb line of questioning.

Thanks.

You save the space from not having all the Windows OS and Boot Camp driver files on the drive, and being able to have everything on one partition.

 

[0098386]

Steam coming to OSX doesn't mean anything unless games are actually developed for that OS.

As of yet, the vast majority of games on the market are developed for windows, and OSX is just an after thought

They've mentioned a few times now that Source games are built for OSX and Windows at the same time. They've also said that Portal 2 and any future Source games are going to be released at the same time on Xbox, PC and OSX.

There's nothing to worry about there. It's all native, all simultaneous.

 

[Daymare]

All this talk of games being ported over and finally getting to play that copy of Episode Two from way back when on the mac, and nobody except me is concerned about the SDK? I love Valve too and their games are the best, but whats makes them my favorite is their user created content, which I like to generate some of.

No SDK port? Windows stays.

 

[Mackilroy]

All this talk of games being ported over and finally getting to play that copy of Episode Two from way back when on the mac, and nobody except me is concerned about the SDK? I love Valve too and their games are the best, but whats makes them my favorite is their user created content, which I like to generate some of.

No SDK port? Windows stays.

You probably didn't read this, eh?

 

[mr.thedaniel]

One cool feature Valve was talking about was Steamcloud (I think that's what they're calling it)

Basically, you'f be playing a game like L4D2 on your Windows partition, then later on, log in to steam on your macbook pro under osx, and you can pick up your L4D2 game on osx right where you left off. Sounds like they'll integrate it well. Also, any title you've purchased on windows, you're also entitled to the mac version of that title, so you won't have to repurchase anything.

 

[3rd Doctor]

Hey guys i have a question about steam, do you know if you buy the DVD retail versions of say left 4 dead, will it work when you put the DVD into the mac to install onto steam?

The reason i ask this is because left 4 dead is currently £23 on steam but on amazon uk it is only £15. I do not have access to windows at the moment so i cannot load it onto steam that way. I just want to know whether you only need a CD key or something to load the game onto steam.

 

[GeraldButton]

As much as we all love Valve, since when does Source = PC Gaming?

Ha Ha, for me it does. Im a Wii owner and im happy with it, the only PC game I play is Team Fortress 2, and ever since becoming a father, I don't play it much now, BUT! With a release on OS X I will be able to play it a little more often without the hassle of spliting my hard drive which could be space better kept for photos, music, and work related files.

My windows partition is officially gone for good. Is Torchlights official Mac version out yet? That game was fun.

 

[Sambo110]

Hey guys i have a question about steam, do you know if you buy the DVD retail versions of say left 4 dead, will it work when you put the DVD into the mac to install onto steam?

The reason i ask this is because left 4 dead is currently £23 on steam but on amazon uk it is only £15. I do not have access to windows at the moment so i cannot load it onto steam that way. I just want to know whether you only need a CD key or something to load the game onto steam.

Yes and no. You put the CD Key into Steam, and that gives you the Steam version to download, but you can't install from the disc. So if you do it, you will have to download the whole game. Every Valve games CD key has to be put into Steam to be able to played, which puts the game onto your Steam account the same as buying it from Steam.

 

[Shivetya]

I would have, but every where I read the Mac version of CIV4 is poo.

Worse, it cost 3x as much as the Windows version.


So, no.

 

[3rd Doctor]

Thats good news then, i dont mind downloading the games, just that i didnt want to pay £10 more to buy it direct from steam.

 

[Huntn]

I assume if you have some games registered on Steam (Windows), when you install Steam on your Mac, you'll be able to log into Steam as you always do and download the games that will be able to run on your Mac?

EDIT: I'll take a moment to answer my own question. This from Wired Magazine:

* If players already own the PC versions of Valve games, they’ll get Mac versions at no extra charge through a feature called Steam Play.
* By using the Steam Cloud feature that the company introduced in 2008, players can save in-progress games online, then call up those saved games no matter which version they’re playing. If you’re playing Half-Life 2 on your home PC but then head out on the road with your MacBook, you can continue your game-in-progress.

I noticed in Valve's press release, they said "Half Life series". I assume this would include the original HL. The single greatest benefit of Steam on Mac is being able to play the Half Life series natively on your Mac. I consider HL to be the greatest solo FPS series in computer gaming history. At the Black Mesa Research Facility you are Gordon Freeman, a scientist who is involved with accidetnly tearing a rip in time/space allowing a bunch of aliens to pile in. The goal becomes to escape from Black Mesa by duct, sewer, tunnel, through the bowels of the facility. If you've not been exposed to it, I'd suggest starting with the original which although is a bit dated in appearance, is still a very playable game. And HL2 stands up just as well.

On the Windows side, the last game I installed in Steam was the original Half Life that came out when Windows was Window95/98. I discovered that I could not get it to run in XP so I registered my serial number and discovered my serial number had been hacked, apparently by one of those key generator programs. To get around this, I had to write my serial number on my original CD and then fax a cop of this to Valve. It took a couple of days to sort this out, but in the end I could play the original Half Life again! Now maybe I'll be playing it in OSX.

Two other outstanding coop titles are Left For Dead and Borderlands. Very fun games. I assume the coop feature is available through Steam?

BTW I'm still keeping my Windows partition for now.

 

[Mackilroy]

Do you mean co-op on one machine or co-op over multiple machines?