mac posts

Yet another PC game on the Steam game download service has been ported over to the Mac OS. Nope it's not Left 4 Dead (that's supposedly coming in October) but Puzzle Dimension, the cool 3D puzzle-platformer from developer Doctor Entertainment. As usual with PC/Mac games on Steam if you already own the PC version you can download the Mac port for free.

Along with the release of the Mac port comes an update for the PC version of the game that offers up a number of graphical and hardware performance improvements and bug fixes. And to top it all off Puzzle Dimension is now on sale for just $6.69, a 33 percent discount from its normal price, until September 1.

Valve made a big move a few months ago when it launched its Mac game download service on Steam. However some people have complained that some of the Mac ports of Valve games such as Half-Life 2 have not been as solid as the PC versions. Now the Steam web site has detailed some of the performance improvements that Valve has made to the Mac versions of its games.

Valve says it has worked with Apple to get the improvements in the Mac ports, saying, "In addition to low-level implementation changes which have improved performance across the board, Apple has also removed some implementation inefficiencies which allow us to improve visual quality, most notably in the area of GPU occlusion queries." So not only should Valve's Mac ports run better they should also look better. On newer Mac products Valve states, "Depending on the game, video settings and the hardware, we have measured frame rate improvements from 15 percent to 120 percent on these systems." There's a ton of technical stuff on how Valve manage to get more performance out of its Mac games in the post.

It's a few months since Valve began adding Mac games to its Steam PC game download service. Many in the industry had considered the Mac platform to be a dead end for making native games. However in a chat with Valve's Jason Holtman and Doug Lombardi at Gamesindustry.biz (free registration required) it sounds like Mac gaming is alive and well, thank you.

While Valve, as usual, isn't giving out specifics on Mac game sales via Steam, Holtman feels that there is an overall surge of interest for gaming on the Mac in the past few months since Steam's Mac support launched. He states, "The reaction that we've got from the development community is that this could be a big ingredient towards that renaissance. People have both a business motivation as well as a personal motivation to see games on the Mac. They want to play them themselves." He added that this reaction has come from both indie game developers as well as " the big guys."

Valve continues to add to the number of its games that can be playable on a Mac. We have seen Mac versions of Portal, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike Source. Now comes word that one of Valve lesser known games, Day of Defeat Source, is also now available to play natively on Apple's machines.

Like most of the rest of the Mac games on Steam, players who already own the PC version of Day of Defeat Source can download the Mac version for free and both Mac and PC owners can play each other online. The WWII themed shooter began as a Half-Life 1 mod in 2000. The mod was later purchased by Valve and turned into a stand alone retail product in 2003. The Source Engine version was released in 2005. While the game has had a number of bug updates, this is the first major update for Day of Defeat Source since 2008 when new achievements and a new map were added to the game.

The strong hints given out by Valve on Wednesday turned out to be (shocker) true. As promised, Valve has finally given Mac gamers a way to play a native version of Valve's 2007 multiplayer shooter Team Fortress 2. The Mac version is free if you have already paid for the PC version (and vice-verse) and both Mac and PC gamers can blow, stab and shoot each other (virtually of course.

Valve is giving folks a chance to purchase the full game for just $9.99 this weekend only (a 50 percent savings) and if that's not enough you can play the full version for free all weekend long. Finally if you purchase the Mac version of the game by June 14 you get a set of in-game earbuds for your character. Oh, did we mention both Mac and PC versions now have a new single player training mode as well as an offline mode for the Dustbowl map and all King of the Hill maps?

Update: The official Team Fortress 2 web site has a new makeover which includes a terrific new comic strip.

As promised on Tuesday Valve has now released the long awaited Mac port of their 2004 first person shooter classic Half-Life 2 via their Steam client In addition Half-Life 2 Episodes 1 and 2 have also been released for the Mac. Also, both the PC and Mac ports of Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 finally include Steam achievements for the first time and sport some graphical improvements based on the latest Source Engine (which Episode 2 already has). Finally all three games now support Steam Cloud which allows players to save games online and use them on any PC with a Steam client.

To celebrate all three games get a big 30 percent off sale for a limited time. Half-Life 2 is now priced at just $6.99 while Episodes 1 and 2 are on sale for $5.59 each. Finally The Orange Box which has Half-Life 2, Episodes 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2 (coming to the Mac "soon) is priced at $20.99

Unless you're a total Mac and Apple buff, you'll need to remember the 80s to recognize the commercial that inspired this parody featuring Half-Life 2. The game is almost six years old now, but it's still kicking, and it's ready to make its debut on Mac Steam tomorrow, May 26th.

PC users who want to take a flash back in time can download the original Half-Life 2 demo here. Be aware that this version of demo installs an old version of Steam.

Download HD Half-Life 2 'Free Yourself' Trailer (67 MB)
Download the Half-Life 2 PC Demo (751 MB)
Check out all Half-Life 2 Downloads

Valve's lauded games download service, Steam, has finally arrived for the Mac, having launched last week on the 12th. Touting a ready library of over 60 titles, with the inclusion of Portal for free until the 28th, the future would appear to finally be a bright one for Mac gamers.

However, at this early stage of the platform's existence, there are only a few titles to grab, and the much-hyped Steamplay feature falls short of its advertising. Out of the gate, Steam for the Mac is hard to recommend, and we'll tell you why after the jump.

The world of Mac gaming may change quite a bit on May 12. That's the day that Valve has just announced will be the time they will launch the native Mac version of their Steam PC game download service. Previously Valve announced that the Mac port for Steam would be released in April.

No other info about the Mac Steam launch was announced in the brief email press release. We do know that Valve's own games (Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2) will also be ported to run natively on Apple's machines. There's no word yet on what third party games will be included in the Steam Mac launch.

While we are still waiting for Valve to release their games and the Steam platform for the Mac as they promised a month ago, other game developers feel Apple isn't all that excited about bringing high end graphical games to the Mac platform. One of them is Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli who actually owns a Mac.

However, as he told Kotaku, getting his studio to port their upcoming first person shooter Crysis 2 to the Mac is not likely to happen. He states, "If Apple would really push then we would probably think about it." He adds, "Any time we talk to Apple, they're like 'Yeah we're excited' but then they pull back. I just [sense] a lack of enthusiasm about Apple for this.' Perhaps if the Mac Steam port is successful we could see Apple changing their tune.