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Posts Tagged ‘Macintosh’

Valve bringing Portal 2 cross platform co-op for PS3, PC and Mac

June 18th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

It’s something many companies have talked about doing. The original concept for Games for Windows Live was to allow play vs. Xbox gamers using Xbox Live. And the latest to step up to the plate and give console/PC/Mac cross-platform gaming a try are Valve.

With the announcement at E3 that Valve was bringing Portal 2 with Steamworks integration to the PS3, the rumours immediately started appearing on gaming sites that this meant cross-platform play would be part of the game as well. According to gaming site TheKartel, Valve has confirmed those rumours.

While co-op gameplay wasn’t shown, Valve developer Erik Johnson did reveal one new bit of info. Valve is planning to allow PS3 players play with PC/Mac players.

When questioned on the cross-compatibility between Steamworks and Steam, specifically playing co-op on a computer with someone on a PS3, he said it was "something the team is gunning for." We also confirmed with Valve developer Mike Dunkle who said "The plan is you will be able to play between console and PC."

If this first step ends with good results, it increases the chance that Valve (and perhaps other developers) will be more open to cross-platform options in the future.

For Xbox 360 owners, we did inquire whether this was a possibility as well. Johnson commented that there are no current plans to bring Steamworks over to the Xbox 360, as ultimately the ball is in Microsoft’s court.

Again, success here will probably increase Microsoft’s willingness to reconsider their position at a later date.

Posted in Games

Tags: cross platform play, Macintosh, PC, Portal 2, PS3, Steamworks, Valve

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Mac version of Steam launching May 12th Update : NOW LIVE

April 29th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

UPDATE : Well, it’s the 12th, and Steam is live for the Mac. Many games available use the SteamPlay service, a set up that allows PC and Mac gamers to inhabit the same servers. a full slate of non-Valve offerings are available for Mac users, with new Valve titles coming out every Wednesday. The first one up is Portal…as an added bonus, Portal is absolutely free for anyone on Mac or PC (or both) to add to their game library permanently, so long as you add it before May 24th.

With Counter Strike Source suddenly seeing a major influx of new material, I would guess that might be the next first party game Valve releases on SteamPlay.

ORIGINAL : The porting of Steam to the Mac platform had already been announced, but now the date of release is known…May 12th.

For anyone owning a PC who already has a Steam account, that account will be transferrable between the two platforms, as will all Valve developed titles (it’s expected that the Mac versions of those games will also be out on the 12th). All future Valve purchases will include PC and Mac versions of the game regardless of which platform you purchase it for.

As well, PC and Mac gamers will be able to play on the same servers, and in the same matches, in Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, or any of the other Valve multiplayer titles out there.

Good. That Heavy pictured above came to do two things…eat his sandvich and kick some ass. And he’s almost out of sandvich. More meat for the grinder!

(Thanks to Shacknews).

Posted in Games

Tags: Apple, Mac version of Steam launching May 12, Macintosh, Steam, Valve

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Steam coming to Mac in April

March 8th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

After several ads were launched last week hinting at Valve bringing its Steam application to the Mac platform (my personal favourite is the above image), the actual official announcement is almost a foregone conclusion at this point. Yes, Steam is coming to the Mac platform. And Valve is also bringing their first party catalogue (the Half Life series, Counter-Strike, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2, Portal and the upcoming Portal 2) with them.

All future Valve releases will get a simultaneous release, with PC and Mac versions being bundled. Also, Steam Cloud saves and the like will be transferrable between Mac and PC versions, and multiplayer Valve titles will share servers and allow Mac and PC players to play together. Finally, it seems that the Source engine itself is easily used for Mac development alongside working up titles for the PC.

From the news release :

"We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. "The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360. Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows."

Portal 2 will be Valve’s first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows. "Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step," said Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead. "We’re always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac."

Posted in Games

Tags: Apple, Macintosh, Steam, Valve

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