Steam for Mac

Valve truly are masters of mystery.

Not only has Valve quietly, sneakily been updating Portal in preparation for something cool, they’ve all but announced Steam for Mac and looking at their wonderfully clever teaser images, also announced the Half Life series, Team Fortress 2, Portal and Left4Dead for Mac, too (if the images are representative of Mac ports and not just cool adverts)! All of Valve’s games are based on their own Source engine that’s been modified heavily over the years to accommodate newer games like Left4Dead. As a result, porting one game means it’s worthwhile porting the lot. I guess if you port the most recent Source engine, the rest of Valve’s games are just content.

This is the best news for Mac gamers, ever. I can’t think of any other announcement or release that’s had me as excited as I am now! Half Life has defined the single-player FPS genre. Left 4 Dead, while infuriating in so many ways, is a highly original multiplayer title, and one that I’ve sunk countless hours into.

I know a few developers who are going to be hugely excited about this announcement. The Mac has for a long time needed a community hub both for gamers (we’re going to see a lot more Mac gaming clans) and for developers to sell their titles.

It’s going to be an exciting couple of weeks!