Before anything else, Portal is now out for the Macintosh via Steam. Yes folks, after more than six years, the gaming industry has finally recognized OS X as a viable gaming platform. Even if it’s just for Plants vs Zombies.
I’ve been on Steam since 2004 and only because that was the easiest way I could download Half Life 2 without ever leaving the house. As Internet got better through the years, the discless distribution method became a pillar of PC gaming. For a select few who owned Macs though, it presented a slight inconvenience. I feel a bit duped knowing that I own Plants vs. Zombies for the Mac, PC and iPhone platforms, yet it would have been easier to do a Blizzard and make games cross-platform compatible.
Above is the new Steam application made especially for the Macintosh. Steam had barely changed throughout the years and this up to date Web 2.0 look for the Mac is refreshing. A short walkthrough: on the left side of the window is the scrolling menu of all your games whether or not you have them for a specific platform. In my case, these are ALL PC games. The surprise is that a lot of indie game developers have already made some of their titles Mac compatible outside Steam. Some games will contain a download link to the Macintosh version. In my case I was able to download the OS X versions of World of Goo and Braid, both of which I bought last year. As of late, other titles that are dual OS compatible are Torchlight, Zuma Deluxe and well .. you get the picture. Casual games.
Although the changes are mostly aesthetic, it does make the catalog browsing experience a lot easier to manage. When purchasing a game, it shows you who else in your friends list owns it. Scroll down and you get patch and community updates, and your achievements list. All Steam did really was rearrange everything and skin each game in accordance to a background splash poster.
This update is all about Mac compatibility. The aesthetic bells and whistles on the Steam site and the desktop client hitched a ride aboard the long delayed revamp bus. Not revolutionary, but damn about time!
That’s it. If you’re on a Mac, download Portal for free now!