Mac Users Rejoice!

The news broke earlier this week but I've been so busy I haven't had the chance to post about it yet.

The popular software distribution system Steam is finally coming to the Mac. Of course this news comes with tons of questions and I'm sure the first one most of you are asking is of course why. Apparently Mac as gone in the past 2 years from a 10% market share to a strong 30%. Who knows what this can be accredited to but facts are facts and either way it means good things especially for those of us who now have macs.

Steam on the mac leads to many other questions that are far more pertinent. Like, "Will there be any games for it on launch day?" or "Will people actually develop games for the mac then?" The answer is yes and yes! On launch day some time in April steam will be launching with ports to Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, the complete Half-Life 2 series and several other soon to be named titles. Of course any game that already works on the mac can be brought into steam the same way you do it on the PC and all of these games will be available for purchase on launch day including Battlefield 2142. Which brings me to the next big news, Dice along with several other popular developers have already started work on a Bad Company 2 port for the mac and it's rumored that their next title Battlefield 3 will launch simultaneously on both platforms. Apparently lots of developers have expressed interest in developing for both platforms especially as it is becoming increasingly easier to do so. The best news still comes from valve who has promised simultaneous releases on all future titles starting with their next big title, Portal 2.

Many have been wondering, will I have to re-purchase my games to play them on the mac? That question is answered with another question that many have been asking as of late which is, "What the hell is the Steam Cloud really for." Countless silent updates have come to this seemingly simple feature. The Steam Cloud allows you to transfer your game profiles including keybinds and other information between computers that you use. The same idea will apply to the new mac platform. All of the games that you've purchased from valve will be available for use on the mac at no additional charge. By forging the way with this idea valve hopes that others will adopt the same system which goes by a similar name and is heralded as a feature that developed out of the Steam Cloud's interesting feature set. Many developers have in fact adopted this ideology and have begun porting some of their older games but for the most part this should be a feature that is used going forward.

I for one am very excited to hear this since I have a mac now myself. It's not that I wouldn't have played games on it, it just means I can play my favorites with very little hassle now. While 90% of the programers out there use PCs, 95% of the designers out there use Macs. The two have been interfacing in Video game studios for years now and it's about time that the other half of the office can play at home without a double investment. If you have further questions about these features feel free to check out the full article at Kotaku or the official statement from valve at Steampowered.com.