Pc games on Mac

[Washac]

Hi All


Forgive me if I sound stupid but I thought the idea of Steam on the Mac was so we could play PC games on the Mac ?

If so why can we not just download any of the PC games on Steam and play em, rather than wait for it to appear in the Mac list ?

 

[Huntn]

Because those games must still be compatible to run on the Mac. Valve/Source is redoing their games so they will run natively on your Mac within Mac Steam.

But as been mentioned in many of the threads in this forum, Steam in many cases is just a hosting service. You have to have a PC or the WindowsOS to run a PC game. Depending on your preferences, option 1 is to run Windows on your Mac and play the PC game. Option 2 is to install Steam in Windows on your Mac and play all of the Steam games. Option 3 is to play the Mac compatible games available on Mac Steam if and when they appear.

 

[NGL]

Huntn pretty much said it. Steam, the distribution service, is available in OS X, but that doesn't make the games available. In addition to Steam being ported, each game also has to be ported so it can run on a Mac. So far, only the games under the "Mac" section of Steam have been ported for OS X.

-Nick

 

[mobilehaathi]

^^ all true. That said, Portal and Torchlight are excellent games (if you're into those types of games). Portal is currently free, and Torchlight is on sale for $10. It is enough to keep you busy until some of the other valve games come out (HL2, TF2, etc.).

 

[rasmasyean]

The whole Steam "portal" on OSX idea is pretty stupid. You might as well get a cheap copy of Windows XP and bootcamp it so you can play ALL the games on Steam if you are into that. Maybe you can find some cheap Vista's too if you got the system that can handle it and DX10/11.

 

[One Love 1867]

The whole Steam "portal" on OSX idea is pretty stupid. You might as well get a cheap copy of Windows XP and bootcamp it so you can play ALL the games on Steam if you are into that. Maybe you can find some cheap Vista's too if you got the system that can handle it and DX10/11.

How is it "stupid"?

Not everybody needs to play everything available in Steam and not everybody wants to mess around looking for round about ways to play games.

The amount of "ifs" and "maybe's" in your post with regards to system functionality show why Steam for OS X is anything but "stupid".

 

[TMRaven]

osx also has inferior gaming performance to windows.

 

[Huntn]

The whole Steam "portal" on OSX idea is pretty stupid. You might as well get a cheap copy of Windows XP and bootcamp it so you can play ALL the games on Steam if you are into that. Maybe you can find some cheap Vista's too if you got the system that can handle it and DX10/11.

The amount of "ifs" and "maybe's" in your post with regards to system functionality show why Steam for OS X is anything but "stupid".

Oh come on... There were no "ifs" and only one "maybe" in his post and the maybe was referring to running the latest version of Windows versus an older version.

Yeah I would not call Steam for Mac stupid, just a bit limiting, but better than what was available natively on the Mac before so it is a step forward for those who don't want to play with Windows. Would you be one of those?

 

[HLdan]

osx also has inferior gaming performance to windows.

That's not true at all. It's only the Open GL drivers that need to be worked on for OS X, not the OS itself.

 

[TMRaven]

I'm not trying to compare operating systems here, i'm just stating the obvious-- in that gaming performance is less on OSX than windows. If osx lacks uptodate/ efficient graphics drivers for gaming, then it still doesn't change the fact that one experiences lesser gaming performance in osx compared to windows.

 

[VPrime]

I'm not trying to compare operating systems here, i'm just stating the obvious-- in that gaming performance is less on OSX than windows. If osx lacks uptodate/ efficient graphics drivers for gaming, then it still doesn't change the fact that one experiences lesser gaming performance in osx compared to windows.

This is true, and I am guessing something that is going to change.
Now that a product like steam is available for macs.. Brining games to the masses. Apple will probably update the drivers.
There really was no need to have great graphics drivers until now.

 

[Matthew9559]

I'm not trying to compare operating systems here, i'm just stating the obvious-- in that gaming performance is less on OSX than windows. If osx lacks uptodate/ efficient graphics drivers for gaming, then it still doesn't change the fact that one experiences lesser gaming performance in osx compared to windows.

That still doesn't make sense. There is no real difference. Why would Apple not release graphical updates?

 

[Washac]

Huntn pretty much said it. Steam, the distribution service, is available in OS X, but that doesn't make the games available. In addition to Steam being ported, each game also has to be ported so it can run on a Mac. So far, only the games under the "Mac" section of Steam have been ported for OS X.

-Nick

Hi


So some of the games I can buy anyway and do not need Steam at all...

Just thinking about this because if the Steam company ever goes under then I cannot play any games
I have bought and paid for through Steam.

Also did not like the way there was no mention that Torchlight was going to be half price on Mac launch
otherwise I would not have paid full price the day before

 

[TMRaven]

That still doesn't make sense. There is no real difference. Why would Apple not release graphical updates?

What doesn't make sense? My simple matter of fact?
Prove to me there is no real difference currently.
Apple's infamous for restricting the latest gpu drivers for their operating system.

Cinebench agrees with me:
OSX
Windows

 

[Mackilroy]

Hi


So some of the games I can buy anyway and do not need Steam at all...

Just thinking about this because if the Steam company ever goes under then I cannot play any games
I have bought and paid for through Steam.

Also did not like the way there was no mention that Torchlight was going to be half price on Mac launch
otherwise I would not have paid full price the day before

Valve has stated that if the company went under they'd release a patch to change that.

Well, you'll just have to live with that decision, won't you?

 

[Washac]

Valve has stated that if the company went under they'd release a patch to change that.

Had not read that, thanks for the pointer

Well, you'll just have to live with that decision, won't you?

Yup....

 

[Matthew9559]

What doesn't make sense? My simple matter of fact?
Prove to me there is no real difference currently.
Apple's infamous for restricting the latest gpu drivers for their operating system.

Cinebench agrees with me:
OSX
Windows

That's fine and dandy but I get the exact same fps in Portal/Torchlight in Mac OS X as Windows Vista. It's true Apple may be slow to release graphical updates but when games are performing the exact same from my testing, why do I care?

 

[HLdan]

Hi



Also did not like the way there was no mention that Torchlight was going to be half price on Mac launch
otherwise I would not have paid full price the day before

Okay, look at it this way, say Steam made an announcement at least a month before the launch, then what happens to the poor saps who bought Torchlight before the announcement? Still the same scenario, someone has to take the good with the bad, you just happened to be the one.

I didn't see you sticking up for the people that paid for Portal while you got it for free.

 

[One Love 1867]

Yeah I would not call Steam for Mac stupid, just a bit limiting, but better than what was available natively on the Mac before so it is a step forward for those who don't want to play with Windows. Would you be one of those?

I bought a Mac because of the benefits that using a Mac brings.

Being predominately a console gamer, gaming sits quite far down my list of requirements and needs for any computer, although Steam being available and officially supported for Mac now is certainly alot more convenient. There are a handful of games, notably Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike, that I'm looking forward to playing with some of my friends now that the option is there. It's not something I'd go out of my way to do, such as "Maybe" acquiring a copy of Vista "if" my system was upto it, but now that it's here I intend on using it.

I just find some of the backlash against Steam for Mac quite silly, in some cases. No it doesn't support every game on the service yet and yes the service itself isn't working as well as it should but, hey, it's been out of beta for less than a week now. As has already been mentioned, Steam is only the store front. The future of what content works for Mac is upto the developers, either if porting their existing libraries or developing new software.

As a Mac and Playstation 3 owner, I'm just pleased that at least 1 of my systems is actually being supported by Valve now! Infact, even on my modest setup, Steam has been working fine for me. I've had no problems running Portal to a decent standard with some manipulation of the settings..

 

[NGL]

Just thinking about this because if the Steam company ever goes under then I cannot play any games
I have bought and paid for through Steam.

There's no sign of Valve going under or abandoning Steam at any point in the near future. Even if they did, I'm sure they would submit patches for their products that allowed them to function without Steam.

Also did not like the way there was no mention that Torchlight was going to be half price on Mac launch
otherwise I would not have paid full price the day before

If there's a big Steam event happening on the 12th, why would you buy something on the 11th?

-Nick

 

[Huntn]

I bought a Mac because of the benefits that using a Mac brings.

Being predominately a console gamer, gaming sits quite far down my list of requirements and needs for any computer, although Steam being available and officially supported for Mac now is certainly alot more convenient. There are a handful of games, notably Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike, that I'm looking forward to playing with some of my friends now that the option is there. It's not something I'd go out of my way to do, such as "Maybe" acquiring a copy of Vista "if" my system was upto it, but now that it's here I intend on using it.

I just find some of the backlash against Steam for Mac quite silly, in some cases. No it doesn't support every game on the service yet and yes the service itself isn't working as well as it should but, hey, it's been out of beta for less than a week now. As has already been mentioned, Steam is only the store front. The future of what content works for Mac is upto the developers, either if porting their existing libraries or developing new software.

As a Mac and Playstation 3 owner, I'm just pleased that at least 1 of my systems is actually being supported by Valve now! Infact, even on my modest setup, Steam has been working fine for me. I've had no problems running Portal to a decent standard with some manipulation of the settings..

I don't know if I'd go as far as calling it a backlash. Mostly the complaints are those who would not be satisfied being limited to what would be available in Mac Steam. But I'm glad it's gonna work for you. I suspect it will work for a lot of Mac gamers.

 

[rasmasyean]

That's not true at all. It's only the Open GL drivers that need to be worked on for OS X, not the OS itself.

It's not true at all that the V4 has lower performance than the V6 either. It's just that you have to change the engine.

 

[HLdan]

It's not true at all that the V4 has lower performance than the V6 either. It's just that you have to change the engine.

Sorry, could you explain what a V4 and V6 are?

 

[rasmasyean]

I bought a Mac because of the benefits that using a Mac brings.

Being predominately a console gamer, gaming sits quite far down my list of requirements and needs for any computer, although Steam being available and officially supported for Mac now is certainly alot more convenient. There are a handful of games, notably Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike, that I'm looking forward to playing with some of my friends now that the option is there. It's not something I'd go out of my way to do, such as "Maybe" acquiring a copy of Vista "if" my system was upto it, but now that it's here I intend on using it.

I just find some of the backlash against Steam for Mac quite silly, in some cases. No it doesn't support every game on the service yet and yes the service itself isn't working as well as it should but, hey, it's been out of beta for less than a week now. As has already been mentioned, Steam is only the store front. The future of what content works for Mac is upto the developers, either if porting their existing libraries or developing new software.

As a Mac and Playstation 3 owner, I'm just pleased that at least 1 of my systems is actually being supported by Valve now! Infact, even on my modest setup, Steam has been working fine for me. I've had no problems running Portal to a decent standard with some manipulation of the settings..

I think you bring up a good point about the delay in games. Ideally, it won't be that long, but in reality, who knows. It's not just Apple or Steam, it's the developers too that have to decide it's "worth it" to port.

But you also have to remeber that "your friends" aren't going to play that forever. And if you're the type that wants to catch it while it's hot, well... It's like waiting for a movie to come of cable. You never know when...and by that time perhaps most of your friends have seen it. It's also more social with the internet games too so that's a factor.

If you want to go mountain biking with your friends but you don't have a bike, what are you going to do? Wait a year until the price of the bike you want comes down? By that time all your friends will be burning you or many would have left already. Is that more fun that before? The choice is ultimately yours to make and you have to weight the +/- of course. But just because you "hate windows" due to Apple propaganda is no excuse. You don't have to do anything in it. Just click an icon on the desktop. And now you can type the name into a little box even.

 

[mixel]

By that time all your friends will be burning you or many would have left already. Is that more fun that before? The choice is ultimately yours to make and you have to weight the +/- of course. But just because you "hate windows" due to Apple propaganda is no excuse. You don't have to do anything in it. Just click an icon on the desktop. And now you can type the name into a little box even.

I see your point but he referenced some timeless games there! A lot of my friends play TF2, Killing Floor, both L4Ds and CS:S and none of those are exactly spring chickens. Its never too late.