It's True. Valve Coming to Macs With Steam Games

[fball922]

I don't care either way on this, but people have a point here. Market of computers that are macs? 15-20% at best? Percent of that care to game on them (beyond casual gaming... Half life 2 is not casual like most wii games for example)? And then from there, those that want to game more than casually, but don't already just have boot camp.

Summed up, this is for hardcore gamers using macs that don't already just have bootcamp. Uhhhhh.... That is quite a niche.

Again I don't care, but don't bash someone that says they don't understand where the money in this is, because from a loical standpoint there really cannot be much.

 

[TEAMSWITCHER]

[citation][nom]geminireaper[/nom]until you can buy a mac for under 800 that can actually play the latest games out its a moot point. I can build a pc for under 800 that can play all the latest games.....in order to get good enough hardware for mac you need to get a power mac in the 1500-2k range. no thanks.[/citation]

Far from a moot point...You need to look into building a hackintosh rig. I have successfully hackintoshed my Gaming Rig and now have the best of both worlds, dual booting between Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. Windows 7 for Gaming, Snow Leopard for everything else. Dual-Booting is a pain, but Snow Leopard is so much better than Windows, it's worth the effort.

It's not easy to pull off though, lot's can go wrong. Google your hardware with the word "Hackintosh" to find out what to do. And be sure to use the latest Chameleon Boot loader, it's the best. Also, since hard drives are so cheap, get three of them. One for Windows, One for Snow Leopard and one for Time Machine, it's great backup software.

With Steam coming to the Mac, I may find myself spending even less and less time in Windows.

 

[steiner666]

[citation][nom]brendano257[/nom]None of the current Mac mouses are one button anymore, this is an old outdated stereotype. Besides, there is nothing that stops a serious gamer on a Mac from buying a G500 or other gaming mouse like most of us do.[/citation]

besides maybe the fact that they don't have the money to spare because they've blown it all on overpriced hardware with a apple logo on it.

 

[zachary k]

"I hate macs"-francis

 

[tuannguyen]

[citation][nom]matt87_50[/nom]Oh God... put steam on macs, thats fine, but don't bother porting your awesome games to it valve! needing to convert to openGL from directX is just as bad as porting to the consoles... at least put it on Linux first!!!multi platform ftl. valve's games are so good and polished partly because they exclusively develop for directX on PC. just like Uncharted is the way it is because its done by an exclusive dev that only ever makes games for the PS3[/citation]

I'm not sure where you've been but games like MW2 and such, is powered by id's 3D engines, and id prefers OpenGL over DX. It's a known fact that John Carmack loves OpenGL and advocates it over DX. The reason why developers are coding for DX is because Microsoft includes DX with Windows, thereby making it the easy choice, not necessarily the better choice from a technical standpoint.

 

[tuannguyen]

[citation][nom]smlong[/nom]Really ... A post about the Mac, and tuan is here in the forums to defend Apple/Macs. Go figure. This reminds me of his whiny ass article asking people to stop slamming Tom's Hardware (and him) for being such big Mac fanboys now.[/citation]

The article was about being nice to writers and editors. It wasn't about Macs. But I'm guessing you didn't bother to read it or walk away from it with that simple point I was driving home.

And for the record, I didn't defend Macs here. I pointed out where people made stupid comments about something they really have no clue about and spoke as though they were authorities on the matter.

Where do you see me defending Macs/Apple here? IIRC I defended Valve.

Hypocricy much? Article about Macs and Valve come into play and you're all bothered about it becuase it's not a "PC" thing?

 

[randomizer]

Tuan, you're only unbiased if you're biased against Macs. That's just logical.

 

[fball922]

Tuan, I have been reading here for a LOOOOOONG time, long before I ever actually registered here. I have also read many, many online articles and many, many newspaper articles. I have never cared about the pathetic grammatical errors contained in the majority of articles. I have never cared that there may be bias. I come here for one reason; Toms is a great place to get a compilation of the latest tech news. There are few truly intellectually stimulating articles written here (the article from a few days ago about the future of computing was fantastic was the exception, not the rule).

I just have to say is what you are doing right now, squabbling with the readers of the articles here at Toms, is truly and utterly pathetic.

Welcome to the world of journalism. People are going to agree or disagree with what you write. What do you care? The fact is people are READING. I have never seen anything like this before.

You are pathetic if you can't take criticism, whether it be productive or flaming, from the people that keep this site running. Can't take it? Go write a children's book.

I may have to switch to DailyTech.

 

[randomizer]

It's a matter of opinion really. Some people prefer the authors/editors to be more involved with the readers, others obviously don't (like yourself). Taking criticism doesn't require you to be a doormat. Alot of criticism from people in the comments section of many articles (both news and reviews) is unfounded and sometimes makes me wonder if they've even read the article. An author/editor should be able to refute unfounded claims, or at least provide another point of view, especially for reviews where weeks of work has been put in.

 

[nachowarrior]

screw mac. where's the linux side? they already got all the ser\/ers running for linux. If steam hits linux i'm going all linux machine. screw windoze.

 

[tuannguyen]

[citation][nom]fball922[/nom]Tuan, I have been reading here for a LOOOOOONG time, long before I ever actually registered here. I have also read many, many online articles and many, many newspaper articles. I have never cared about the pathetic grammatical errors contained in the majority of articles. I have never cared that there may be bias. I come here for one reason; Toms is a great place to get a compilation of the latest tech news. There are few truly intellectually stimulating articles written here (the article from a few days ago about the future of computing was fantastic was the exception, not the rule). I just have to say is what you are doing right now, squabbling with the readers of the articles here at Toms, is truly and utterly pathetic.Welcome to the world of journalism. People are going to agree or disagree with what you write. What do you care? The fact is people are READING. I have never seen anything like this before.You are pathetic if you can't take criticism, whether it be productive or flaming, from the people that keep this site running. Can't take it? Go write a children's book.I may have to switch to DailyTech.[/citation]

You really don't get the point do you?

I never talked about criticism done right, and the right kind of criticism actually helps. But insults, flaming, and just general stupidity don't belong here. And I'm sorry but we're in control here, not the idiots that sometimes mouth off.

Got something to say about why an article isn't good and what's needed to improve or have info to add? Great! Got nothing to say except "X Author is stupid/a fanboy/this article sucks"? Then we don't want that kind of reader here anyway.

Capichce?

 

[fball922]

You really don't get the point do you?

I never talked about criticism done right, and the right kind of criticism actually helps. But insults, flaming, and just general stupidity don't belong here. And I'm sorry but we're in control here, not the idiots that sometimes mouth off.

Got something to say about why an article isn't good and what's needed to improve or have info to add? Great! Got nothing to say except "X Author is stupid/a fanboy/this article sucks"? Then we don't want that kind of reader here anyway.

Capichce?

No I get your point, definitely. My point is that this is the wrong way to go about regulating your website. You are in control here, but what are you accomplishing by arguing with the idiots that post stupid comments here?

I don't read those comments, as I am sure most don't, and if I could auto-login here at Toms I would give those comments a negative rating every time I see them. There are enough readers here, I'm sure, that would do the same, but I think most login so they can post a comment, not necessarily negate a terrible one.

In that regard, you do not give your readers enough credit. We can negate bad comments, sometimes its just a bit of a hassle. Just because it doesn't get negative feedback doesn't mean people read it and take it seriously.

Then we don't want that kind of reader here anyway.

This specifically concerns me. Is this the official stance of TomsHardware.com? That they do not want readers here who post stupid comments? I guess I thought even the "bad" readers were exposed to the ads that are everywhere here (as they should be). Last I recalled, most media outlets (especially these days) will do anything to keep readership up. Really, if this is the official stance of the top dogs here at Toms that they don't want the "haters" to come and read all of the other articles that they don't hate on, I would like to know that.

You guys are certainly in charge here, but you are not doing yourselves any favors by regulating by arguing with your readers. Don't like what someone says? Delete their post! You have regulatory abilities and rights! You can delete this post if you like. I may be upset and some in my situation may try posting additional comments saying so, but DELETE DELETE DELETE! Better to censor than to lower yourself to their level (especially as the author!) because, as I said, it simply looks pathetic and honestly makes it more and more difficult to take you seriously. Respond to positive comments or constructive criticism to let your readers know you see it, but just delete the rest if you don't like it that much.

 

[long2know]

[citation][nom]tuannguyen[/nom]The article was about being nice to writers and editors. It wasn't about Macs. But I'm guessing you didn't bother to read it or walk away from it with that simple point I was driving home.And for the record, I didn't defend Macs here. I pointed out where people made stupid comments about something they really have no clue about and spoke as though they were authorities on the matter.Where do you see me defending Macs/Apple here? IIRC I defended Valve. Hypocricy much? Article about Macs and Valve come into play and you're all bothered about it becuase it's not a "PC" thing?[/citation]

What gives? Did you disable my account or something? I had to register a new account just to make a comment on this article and another. If so, that's sad.

Not once did I indicate that I was bothered by this article, so I'm not quite sure what your hypocrite comment is about. You are a fanboy, and you are here to defend Apple/Mac. It's that plain, simple, and obvious.

I don't really care if Valve wants to waste their time and effort with that platform. If they think there is a market, and an ROI, they should go for it. Although I do think it's bad for end-users because it segments their base market. I don't think Mac users will be very happy when they realize that the majority of games are not available for their platform, and I think PC users will be unhappy if there are ever any Mac exclusives. These are competing platforms, not unlike the consoles. I don't think it is equitable, but no one knows if it will pan out. And hey, guess what, I do read the forum posts after I read the article. Just because these posts go off on a tangent doesn't mean that the original article had or didn't have any merit, significance, or impact upon me.

You missed my point entirely, but I did get the point of your previous cry-baby, "please love me" article. See. I just acknowledged it again. Plus, you can deny it all you want, but that article WAS about Apple/Macs. Color it however you want. The article arose from your readers being tired of having Apple/Mac news shoved down their throats over an indeterminate period of time. The funny thing to me is that you walked away from that just ignoring what the majority of your readers want, and here we are in the forums having the same sort of banter.

As for where do I see you defending Macs, the fact that you are posting on this particular article shows you are defending Macs. You can claim it's to refute "stupid" comments if you want. I guess that makes you feel better. It's funny, though, that most of your readers just ignore the stupid comments. I'm not sure if I have ever seen you post comments on any thread/article other than those that are about Apple/Mac. But, you do more than point out stupid comments. You have also advocated various technologies over others. So far, I have seen you advocate OpenGL over DX10/11. Why? Just because it's not on the Mac.

At any rate, I'm not bashing/flaming/whatever you want to call it. If this comes off sounding like an attack on you (cry-baby comment not withstanding), I apologize.

 

[Guest]

They should write with the 2 webcams:
"Apple: 1.3MPix"; "PC: 3MPix", to make clear that Apple still is behind on technology and Computer horsepower..

 

[waffle911]

[citation][nom]smlong426[/nom]You are a fanboy, and you are here to defend Apple/Mac. It's that plain, simple, and obvious...As for where do I see you defending Macs, the fact that you are posting on this particular article shows you are defending Macs. You can claim it's to refute "stupid" comments if you want. I guess that makes you feel better. It's funny, though, that most of your readers just ignore the stupid comments. I'm not sure if I have ever seen you post comments on any thread/article other than those that are about Apple/Mac. But, you do more than point out stupid comments. You have also advocated various technologies over others. So far, I have seen you advocate OpenGL over DX10/11. Why? Just because it's not on the Mac. At any rate, I'm not bashing/flaming/whatever you want to call it. If this comes off sounding like an attack on you (cry-baby comment not withstanding), I apologize.[/citation]

Several assumptions made in this that I can see.
1. the whole thing on Valve and the Mac platform whatever, is making assumptions about what Valve's doing with this. If it's doing what I think it is, it could just end up emulating enough of Windows on a Mac to run most (if not all) of the DirectX games in their library. OpenGL based games are just easier to port because it's cross-platform, and an open standard.
2. He is a proponent of OpenGL not just because DirectX isn't on Mac, but because DirectX isn't on anything that isn't Windows, all flavors of Linux inclusive. Open standards are just better for business and break down monopolies like Adobe with Flash and Microsoft with DirectX.
3. If #2 is your only example, you're failing to make a strong argument on how Tuan is an outright fanboy.
4. So far, all I saw Tuan do was in fact set the actual facts straight for people feeding erroneous information to the all-believing masses. That's just trying to break down ignorance, not trying to promote one product over another.
5. Reading through your posts, the general attitude is pretty contemptuous overall, and the lack of valid supporting evidence for your claims does make it come off as flaming, pure and simple. "Shoving Apple news down the readers' throats" implies that the readers were forced to click on a link to an article with Mac or Apple in the headline and read the article itself. Anyone who doesn't want to read news about Apple-related stuff can simply choose not to click the link. Just like writing an angry letter to the New York Times for including a Sports section in their daily paper when all you're after is the Business section. Don't want it? Don't read it. Simple. No-one's forcing anything down anyone's throats, and people getting butthurt over something just because it has to do with Macs (and for no other reason) is just plain dumb. Because apparently giving Macs any attention of any kind that isn't completely negative is showing fanboyish support for Macs. What, you can't be neutral, like this article here? There is nothing in this article to suggest support for the platform other than acknowledging and reporting news that is related to it.

 

[long2know]

You're kind of late to the party commenting on a news article that's 7+ days old.

Anyhow, yes - you're correct on a few points. I was going to give point/counter-point to your list, but this is just old news now.