Although Apple Macintosh computers have been pretty popular among consumers, they have only supported select OpenGL-based games and have never been considered a platform for gaming. However, as Valve Software releases its Steam client for Macs, the situation may change.
“The Mac is a great platform for developers. And it's also great that we now have the ability to connect with Mac gamers via Steam. This is the beginning of a groundswell of games coming out for and fully utilizing the openness and power of the Mac,” said Gabe Newell, president of Valve.
On Wednesday Valve Software finally released Steam service for Apple Macintosh platforms. The software allows to acquire and download video games from various publishers, including Valve itself. Initially, there are 57 video games available at Steam for Macs, whereas users of Windows-based PCs can enjoy hundreds titles. Valve promises to add more games going forward.
Unfortunately for gamers, who use Macintosh systems, currently Steam for Mac does not offer award-winning titles like Battlefield-, Call of Duty-, Half-Life 2, Need for Speed-series and so on.
Moreover, fairly speaking, Macintosh systems are hardly designed for games or gamers. The most powerful graphics card that can be installed into premium Mac Pro system is ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5, which is almost two years old. Popular iMac systems feature ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 in maximum configuration and ATI Radeon HD 4670 256MB in mainstream setups. Performance of such graphics solutions is hardly sufficient for modern games.
Tags: Apple, Valve, Steam
Comments currently:
4
Discussion started: 05/13/10 01:03:06 PM
Latest comment: 05/17/10 12:36:45 AM
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1.
The most powerful graphics card that can be installed into premium Mac Pro system is ATI Radeon HD 4870. Performance of such graphics solutions is hardly sufficient for modern games.
I am using this card and find it far more than sufficient. Maybe my eyes too old to see the benefit of 200+ FPS you get from the new cards?
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Posted by: Zimanodenea
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Date: 05/13/10 01:03:07 PM]
2.
I had a Radeon HD 4830 and played those games without a problem at highest detail settings at 1680x1050. I got my Radeon HD 5850 purely for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
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Posted by: JonMCC33
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Date: 05/13/10 01:55:19 PM]
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Just because the 48** series is ~ two years old does not mean its not capable of playing the latest games, if that was the case then the 5770 would also be 'too old and weak' to play the latest games
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Posted by: alpha0ne
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Date: 05/16/10 09:44:03 PM]
4.
also, crysis came out 3 years ago...
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Posted by: sanity
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Date: 05/17/10 12:36:45 AM]
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