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Steam for Mac, Portal, Torchlight out tomorrow

by Mike Schramm May 11th 2010 at 9:00PM

Tomorrow's the big day: Valve's Steam platform is officially coming to the Mac, and it's bringing two of my favorite games along with it. Portal is the first one -- hopefully if you're a gamer you've already played it, but it was my absolute favorite game of 2007 and one of the best games I've played in the last five years. Runic Games' terrific Torchlight is also along for the ride. It's a Diablo-style hack and slash game (created by a few ex-Blizzard guys) that is another must-play. The best part is that both of these are "Steam Play" titles, which means that if you already own them on Steam for Windows, you own them on Steam for Mac as well.

Engadget posted a nice roundup recently of Steam for Mac impressions, but the bottom line is that it's exactly the same as the PC version, so if you've used it on Windows, you'll know what you're in for. And on the eve of the occasion, Wired has a funny little writeup of how these games will differ on Apple's platform. For instance, Portal's GLaDOS voiceover will actually replaced with Steve Jobs, and the portal guns available in the game will only create entrances, not exits. At first, Steve will tell you that exits aren't really necessary, but then they'll later be patched in via software in three to six months. Funny.

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Tomorrow's the big day: Valve's Steam platform is officially coming to the Mac, and it's bringing two of my favorite games along with it....
 

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Jim Lynch

I have a full review of Steam for Mac up on my blog. A big thumbs up to Valve, they did a very good job on it.

Steam for Mac Review
http://jimlynch.com/index.php/2010/05/13/steam-for-mac-review/

May 13 2010 at 5:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Luckolen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_2VW05Cfho

I can't play portal yet

May 12 2010 at 3:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Korpil

If old LucasArts game are your thing, they will have a $9.99 sale for the bundle containing:

Indiana Jones & Last Crusade (oh man, I remember owning the adventure guide and reading the hints with those red colored plastics).
Indiana Jones & Fate of Atlantis (great game)
Loom (one of the earliest games, this one I never played before)
The Dig (a great story and one of my favorite games ever).

May 12 2010 at 1:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mcthedo

It is out right now but still locked in beta
http://store.steampowered.com/public/client/steam.dmg‎

May 12 2010 at 1:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

So wait, only TWO games will be available for launch? Am I missing something?
I thought Half-Life 2, TF2 and other Source games were going to be thrown in there initially.

May 12 2010 at 10:18 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Mark's comment
Korpil

The press release says "among the initial titles", so I'm assuming we will have more than just Portal and Torchlight.

May 12 2010 at 2:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Luckolen

I have a 27" iMac i5 and I am playing the orange box and modern warfare 2 with bootcamp windows 7.

With steam for mac I only have to restart for modern warfare 2, but I am almost sure that game will come to mac-steam soon.

My Razer DeathAdder game mouse already has mac drivers so I am a happy mac user.

BTW:
In holland it is already 12 may 15:12 PM :P

May 12 2010 at 9:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Luckolen's comment
cedsoft

That just make me think about a tweet I've read few days ago :
Cocoia (graphic designer) made an alternative theme for Valve's interface : http://blog.cocoia.com/2010/redesigning-steam-for-mac/

The interface feels more appropriate and native for mac users. If I have the choice, I would definitely prefer this one instead of the default "unfocused" one.

Of course, the compatibility of the games is still the most important point :-)

May 12 2010 at 8:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alessandro

I tried to let work the Win version under a Win emulator just on my Mac, but what I got were two crashes.
So this notice will make me happy, just because I changed from a PC to a MAC after 28 years.

I know they will never convert all the games for Mac platform, but is a good start.

Thanks and goodbye,
Alessandro

May 12 2010 at 7:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Alessandro's comment
artifex

Alessandro, congrats on joining us crazies.
Many of us now run both operating systems, so not sure I can call you (or myself) a switcher :)

May 12 2010 at 4:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
artifex

Sadly, my Macbook's integrated video (GMA950) isn't supported. Yeah, I know, it's 3 years old, but still :)

May 12 2010 at 6:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
roffel

so like, left 4 dead anytime soons?

May 12 2010 at 3:55 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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