Steam Comming to OSX!

[ClayMeow]

I just feel bad for anyone who has to rebuy their games years later when ninteendo already got their money.

 

How I think steam could be improved is I wish I could add my physical copies of games to my steam account instead of having a cache of their isos on my storage drive.

Again, you have the problem of proving it. I believe there ARE some games where you can enter a serial key of the physical copy and get it added to Steam (UT3 is one of them, I believe). Whether you're then able to download/install directly from Steam in the future, I don't know, as I haven't done that.

[psycho_terror]

i'm pretty shocked that slick is the only person to have even mentioned directx in this thread.

 

for mac to be anything like as good a gaming platform as windows, apple are going to have to put in a phenomenal amount of work, and i can't see them doing it. that combined with apple's INSANE pricing for capable machines pretty much makes this idea a massive loser.

[tkrow21]

Whether you're then able to download/install directly from Steam in the future

 

Yes, you can.

[IVIYTH0S]

Again, you have the problem of proving it. I believe there ARE some games where you can enter a serial key of the physical copy and get it added to Steam (UT3 is one of them, I believe). Whether you're then able to download/install directly from Steam in the future, I don't know, as I haven't done that.

Oh yeah, I don't mean Steam representatives getting involved. I just wish all (not just some) of my games could just have their serials entered so that they are part of my Steam account.

Likewise I don't like the physical games that require you to install steam anyway

[ClayMeow]

Oh yeah, I don't mean Steam representatives getting involved. I just wish all (not just some) of my games could just have their serials entered so that they are part of my Steam account.

Likewise I don't like the physical games that require you to install steam anyway

I definitely understand and it's definitely a huge convenience having your purchased games right at your fingertips whenever you want (especially if you have a good Internet connection). When Blizzard created the new B.Net and allowed registering of games, I was so happy when I registered my Starcraft Serial and it gave me the Anthology because I didn't know where my Brood War CD was. I definitely didn't own the Anthology, Brood War was separate, but hey, if they want to upgrade me, I'm not going to argue!

 

My main point is that deathmineral is saying this is one of the greatest things to come to gaming ever. That's not even close to true. This is what Steam has done for the past 7 years. Steam is what's great, not anything to do with Mac support.

[Deathmineral]

Steam itself was one of the greatest things to ever happen to gaming. This is possible because of Steam, it's not one of the greatest things on its own.

My point wasn't about steam, what I'm getting at is being able to share a single purchase over multiple platforms, this is something I think she be done anyway, I don't think it's right that you have to spend $60 on a game to play it on a console and then another $50 if you want to play it on PC as well. There is no good reason to have to pay for a game twice just because it's on different platforms and I think that is what this movement to mac is showing as well. I understand it's easier for steam to do this because it's all done based on an account and a lot of console games have to done by physical copies.

 

The reason I think this particular thing is a great thing to come into gaming is because it has the potential to catch on, and I think that's especially true right now of all times because all developers out there are in this area where they want to follow trends, some examples would be DRM, Prices, and DLC, and while I hate all three of those things, they are trends that all developers are following and I think this has the potential to catch on as well.

[ClayMeow]

My point wasn't about steam, what I'm getting at is being able to share a single purchase over multiple platforms, this is something I think she be done anyway, I don't think it's right that you have to spend $60 on a game to play it on a console and then another $50 if you want to play it on PC as well. There is no good reason to have to pay for a game twice just because it's on different platforms and I think that is what this movement to mac is showing as well. I understand it's easier for steam to do this because it's all done based on an account and a lot of console games have to done by physical copies.

 

The reason I think this particular thing is a great thing to come into gaming is because it has the potential to catch on, and I think that's especially true right now of all times because all developers out there are in this area where they want to follow trends, some examples would be DRM, Prices, and DLC, and while I hate all three of those things, they are trends that all developers are following and I think this has the potential to catch on as well.

First off, this isn't something new. Blizzard games could be installed on Windows & Mac with the same CD(s).

 

Sorry, but this will have next to no impact on purchasing a single package for all platforms. That would never happen without a substantial increase in price, and even then, there's little to no chance. Why are (most) console games priced higher than PC games? Because the console manufacturers (Sony, MS, Nintendo) take a cut. This is where they're making their money and there's no way they will give it up, especially not to "help" their competitors.

[IVIYTH0S]

[Deathmineral]

First off, this isn't something new. Blizzard games could be installed on Windows & Mac with the same CD(s).

 

Sorry, but this will have next to no impact on purchasing a single package for all platforms. That would never happen without a substantial increase in price, and even then, there's little to no chance. Why are (most) console games priced higher than PC games? Because the console manufacturers (Sony, MS, Nintendo) take a cut. This is where they're making their money and there's no way they will give it up, especially not to "help" their competitors.

Well if a higher price were needed for this then I would say okay, I mean it's not like we don't already have a ton of retards out there paying for terrible games like MW2 and AC2 at a higher price for absolutely no reason, you really can't say console gamers are paying a higher price for their games anymore just because of that one reason, pc gamers are paying this price now and I don't see that same reason fitting in.

 

I think to say that these companies don't have any interest in developing a way to make games more multiplatform is pretty nonsensical, If I buy a game for PC then it should be clear to sony that I'm not going to be buying that game on their platform, and is that really any different from piracy in the idea that when you pirate a game then that takes away from their revenue, that same idea applies to buying on certain platforms, I take away from sony if I don't buy it on their system because just like piracy, you will never buy that game for their platform, I'm sure the developer of the game doesn't care but maybe the console manufacturers should because it provides the same concept. If nintendo, sony, and microsoft think they are losing out on money by making these games playable on all their systems through a single purchase then they obviously don't understand that they are making no profit when someone buys a game on the competitor. I understand that because they are competitors that this entire idea of them sharing a network is not likely but I think it is definitely a possibility, I think that is sony were to work with nintendo on such a thing and implement it well enough, it could show more money coming into their pockets and at the same time, taking money out of microsoft's pockets.

 

Now, here is what I honestly think about all of this, totally ridiculous, it will probably never happen, but it's a good idea as far as your own personal convenience goes. Whenever people discuss console vs pc, one thing I notice is always brought up in this argument is that consoles are more convenient and I believe that statement to be total crap, convenience shouldn't be something like popping in a cd, it should be what gives you the most for your money, and I would say steam is a lot more convenient than any console ever will be, keeping the customer in mind when you do stuff is what creates success and convenience and I think that's where consoles are really failing, especially the 360 and the Wii, I think the PS3 succeeds at this to a point though.

 

That's all I really trying to say, I think it would be in the customers best interest if consoles used this same idea, and any platform that thinks it is a bad idea or not in their interest to support the customer... well they probably aren't the ones people should be supporting, but unfortunately that is the case, because the wii and 360 are the most supported platforms.

[Andrewr05]

I don't know which "chan" the FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUU meme originated from... I don't even care... All I know is that it is incredible and I .ing love it!

 

 

Out of all the ignorant crap on the internet some of those FFFFFFFFFFUUUUU posts are some of the truest things I have ever seen or read on the internet.

 

 

I picture myself when I'm pissed off making that face...

[d3bruts1d]

i'm pretty shocked that slick is the only person to have even mentioned directx in this thread.

 

for mac to be anything like as good a gaming platform as windows, apple are going to have to put in a phenomenal amount of work, and i can't see them doing it. that combined with apple's INSANE pricing for capable machines pretty much makes this idea a massive loser.

DirectX is a Microsoft proprietary technology. Apple uses OpenGL, which is a cross-platform competitor to DirectX/Direct3D.

 

In theory, Valve and other developers that do cross-platform games could drop DirectX and switch over to OpenGL entirely, which would simplify development on Windows, Mac, and even Linux.

 

As far as "apple are going to have to put in a phenomenal amount of work", that is one thing the company is known for... putting a lot of work, time, and money into their products. But it really isn't up to Apple, it is more up to the game developers.

[IVIYTH0S]

DirectX is a Microsoft proprietary technology. Apple uses OpenGL, which is a cross-platform competitor to DirectX/Direct3D.

In theory, Valve and other developers that do cross-platform games could drop DirectX and switch over to OpenGL entirely, which would simplify development on Windows, Mac, and even Linux.

As far as "apple are going to have to put in a phenomenal amount of work", that is one thing the company is known for... putting a lot of work, time, and money into their products. But it really isn't up to Apple, it is more up to the game developers.

that'd be sweet, I want anything proprietary to die