ameratsu said: greenmedic88 said: WoW is the only Blizzard game I know of that does this. Considering that the game is essentially free and that their revenue comes from subscription fees, it makes plenty of sense for Blizzard to have one retail installation package for distribution among cross platforms.   Wasn't The Sims 3 the same as well? The same version could be installed on either Windows or OSX. here, look Going by the pictures that Valve released, source engine games are going to work with OSX. What isn't clear is if any re-purchasing will be required or how well they will run. Hopefully it'll be one common list across both platforms, but only games you own that are compatible will show up in OSX. If Valve finds success here it may encourage some other developers on steam to make their games available for both windows and osx.

Valve would be kind of crazy not to offer OSX ports of their games if they open up Steam for Mac.

While they generate more revenue by distributing other publishers' games, it just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if they said something nutty like "the Mac OS is a waste of our time and we have no intention of developing ports for the platform."

Still not holding my breath for free Mac ports of games I already own through PC Steam.

greenmedic88 said: ameratsu said: greenmedic88 said: WoW is the only Blizzard game I know of that does this. Considering that the game is essentially free and that their revenue comes from subscription fees, it makes plenty of sense for Blizzard to have one retail installation package for distribution among cross platforms.   Wasn't The Sims 3 the same as well? The same version could be installed on either Windows or OSX. here, look Going by the pictures that Valve released, source engine games are going to work with OSX. What isn't clear is if any re-purchasing will be required or how well they will run. Hopefully it'll be one common list across both platforms, but only games you own that are compatible will show up in OSX. If Valve finds success here it may encourage some other developers on steam to make their games available for both windows and osx. Valve would be kind of crazy not to offer OSX ports of their games if they open up Steam for Mac. While they generate more revenue by distributing other publishers' games, it just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if they said something nutty like "the Mac OS is a waste of our time and we have no intention of developing ports for the platform." Still not holding my breath for free Mac ports of games I already own through PC Steam.

Valve games were really the only ones I was mentioning. 

I think it'd drive DD sales if Valve offered cross platform ownership for free, and let your items transfer via steam cloud... just from a PR statement even for people who don't have Apple computers.

Maybe other companies would follow suit.. who knows?

 

I'm a bit curious as to how many Mac users also own current Windows machines.

Among those who owned a current Mac and a current PC, it would surprise me if many used the Mac for gaming.

While I can totally understand the allure of seeing more ports available for OSX through Steam for Mac only users, the whole dual license thing is less of a carrot that some seem to think it is IMO. While I'm sure there are those people out there who will cheer once they can play the same games on their Mac that they've already been playing on their PC, I would imagine most wouldn't particularly care since they presumably didn't buy that Mac to play games.

It boggles my mind when someone buys a Mac for gaming, given the extra cost in addition to the additional premium charged for better video card options, which are never the best/newest available. The best video card currently offered for games is only available for the Mac Pro which starts t $2499 which is a HD4870 512MB for an additional $200. I don't know what happened to the workstation cards they used to have in the options for Mac Pros.

There are plenty of good reasons to buy a Mac, but gaming has not been one of them in a long time.

greenmedic88 said: I'm a bit curious as to how many Mac users also own current Windows machines. Among those who owned a current Mac and a current PC, it would surprise me if many used the Mac for gaming. While I can totally understand the allure of seeing more ports available for OSX through Steam for Mac only users, the whole dual license thing is less of a carrot that some seem to think it is IMO. While I'm sure there are those people out there who will cheer once they can play the same games on their Mac that they've already been playing on their PC, I would imagine most wouldn't particularly care since they presumably didn't buy that Mac to play games. It boggles my mind when someone buys a Mac for gaming, given the extra cost in addition to the additional premium charged for better video card options, which are never the best/newest available. The best video card currently offered for games is only available for the Mac Pro which starts t $2499 which is a HD4870 512MB for an additional $200. I don't know what happened to the workstation cards they used to have in the options for Mac Pros. There are plenty of good reasons to buy a Mac, but gaming has not been one of them in a long time.

Valve games COULD be a big exception to that... what with their minimal specs. I wouldn't be surprised if tere was a decent number of people with windows PCs but Mac labtops. Or people who dual boot windows and mac because Mac alone just doesn't offer everything you need in alot of cases. It would also be something that may be of value to apple since it would alleviate some of the problems of switching over... that is.. all of your software being useless instead of some.

It seems like the question that comes up a lot is what non-casual games are on the Mac. Beyond the ports of AAA games that came to the Mac much later than their Windows counterparts, there have been some companies who do support Mac and PC right out of the box natively, Blizzard being one of the more notable.

Utilizing the power of the Unity game engine, you can quite easily port a game to both platforms without much “tweaking” at all. With Unity gaining popularity (http://unity3d.com/gallery/game-list/) you’re likely to see more cross platform titles being developed. For example, we are and indie developer, but we are making what we consider to be a AAA quality game that will be for Mac and PC right out of the box. You can check it out at www.ascensionwar.com or look us up on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ascensionwar

Now i have even fewer reasons to put macs down! Oh well!

greenmedic88 said: ameratsu said: greenmedic88 said: WoW is the only Blizzard game I know of that does this. Considering that the game is essentially free and that their revenue comes from subscription fees, it makes plenty of sense for Blizzard to have one retail installation package for distribution among cross platforms.   Wasn't The Sims 3 the same as well? The same version could be installed on either Windows or OSX. here, look Going by the pictures that Valve released, source engine games are going to work with OSX. What isn't clear is if any re-purchasing will be required or how well they will run. Hopefully it'll be one common list across both platforms, but only games you own that are compatible will show up in OSX. If Valve finds success here it may encourage some other developers on steam to make their games available for both windows and osx. Valve would be kind of crazy not to offer OSX ports of their games if they open up Steam for Mac. While they generate more revenue by distributing other publishers' games, it just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if they said something nutty like "the Mac OS is a waste of our time and we have no intention of developing ports for the platform." Still not holding my breath for free Mac ports of games I already own through PC Steam.

Even if you did hold your breath... it looks like it wouldn't of been for too long.

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=103319&page=1&str=1127868834#

Every once in a while believing in valve does good things.

“Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge."

 

Kasz216 was right! And I love Valve for doing this :D

But I still want my Episode 3!

Kasz216 said: greenmedic88 said: ameratsu said: greenmedic88 said: WoW is the only Blizzard game I know of that does this. Considering that the game is essentially free and that their revenue comes from subscription fees, it makes plenty of sense for Blizzard to have one retail installation package for distribution among cross platforms.   Wasn't The Sims 3 the same as well? The same version could be installed on either Windows or OSX. here, look Going by the pictures that Valve released, source engine games are going to work with OSX. What isn't clear is if any re-purchasing will be required or how well they will run. Hopefully it'll be one common list across both platforms, but only games you own that are compatible will show up in OSX. If Valve finds success here it may encourage some other developers on steam to make their games available for both windows and osx. Valve would be kind of crazy not to offer OSX ports of their games if they open up Steam for Mac. While they generate more revenue by distributing other publishers' games, it just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if they said something nutty like "the Mac OS is a waste of our time and we have no intention of developing ports for the platform." Still not holding my breath for free Mac ports of games I already own through PC Steam. Even if you did hold your breath... it looks like it wouldn't of been for too long. http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=103319&page=1&str=1127868834# Every once in a while believing in valve does good things. “Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge."

"Now if Valve wants to be very generous and give its customers free licenses for the Mac counterparts of games they already have in their PC lists; great. All Hail Valve."

All Hail Valve.

Even if free dual licensing is only for Valve games, I currently own most of their catalog on Steam so I consider this a very generous gift from them.

The last game I played on OSX was WoW back in 2007.

greenmedic88 said: Kasz216 said: greenmedic88 said: ameratsu said: greenmedic88 said: WoW is the only Blizzard game I know of that does this. Considering that the game is essentially free and that their revenue comes from subscription fees, it makes plenty of sense for Blizzard to have one retail installation package for distribution among cross platforms.   Wasn't The Sims 3 the same as well? The same version could be installed on either Windows or OSX. here, look Going by the pictures that Valve released, source engine games are going to work with OSX. What isn't clear is if any re-purchasing will be required or how well they will run. Hopefully it'll be one common list across both platforms, but only games you own that are compatible will show up in OSX. If Valve finds success here it may encourage some other developers on steam to make their games available for both windows and osx. Valve would be kind of crazy not to offer OSX ports of their games if they open up Steam for Mac. While they generate more revenue by distributing other publishers' games, it just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if they said something nutty like "the Mac OS is a waste of our time and we have no intention of developing ports for the platform." Still not holding my breath for free Mac ports of games I already own through PC Steam. Even if you did hold your breath... it looks like it wouldn't of been for too long. http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=103319&page=1&str=1127868834# Every once in a while believing in valve does good things. “Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge."   "Now if Valve wants to be very generous and give its customers free licenses for the Mac counterparts of games they already have in their PC lists; great. All Hail Valve." All Hail Valve. Even if free dual licensing is only for Valve games, I currently own most of their catalog on Steam so I consider this a very generous gift from them. The last game I played on OSX was WoW back in 2007.

I'm sure it is just valve games... and anyone who decides to follow suit, but it's an awesome thing for them to do.  Really makes buying steam have some added value with little real cost.