# Steam now for Mac - Portal free till 24th May!



## bmd (Mar 4, 2010)

It looks as though Macs are gonna get Steam, the Valve gaming network/distribution app. 

Anyone here wished for more gaming on their Mac or do you have a PC or console for that?


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## bmd (Mar 4, 2010)

From another forum -



> Good afternoon General! We're going to spend a little while getting you to grips with the basics of moving your troops around the battlefield, entrenchment, and deployment of squad heavy weapons! Now select your three Rangers using the left button to draw a square around them! That's it, nicely done General! Now with your squad selected, click on the grassy knoll to the north! It's highlighted for you in strobing yellow! Your troops are away! Now that they've arrive at the grassy knoll, you want to entrench them to provide them with extra protection from the enemy, and then deploy the squad's SAW heavy machine gun! Now right click the Ranger squad and select 'Entrench Here'! Come on General, time's a-wastin'! Just hit the right mouse button and select 'Entrench Here' from the context menu! It's getting mighty cold out here General and your Rangers have no protection from the elements or from enemy fire! Just hit the right mouse button, that's all I ask! I know I'm technically your subordinate but I know these controls better than anyone and I'm telling you you need to right-click! You know something, General? You are fucking useless! How'd you get here? Is your daddy responsible? I resign as your NCO! Fight for your own god-damned Tiberium or whatever the fuck!


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## Vintage Paw (Mar 4, 2010)

lol. I love the right-click myth that's still out there


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## Buddy Bradley (Mar 5, 2010)

Bob Marley's Dad said:


> It looks as though Macs are gonna get Steam, the Valve gaming network/distribution app.
> 
> Anyone here wished for more gaming on their Mac or do you have a PC or console for that?


Depends what games are actually going to be available I suppose. My Mac gaming is currently pretty much confined to World of Warcraft and a little CoD4, but I guess I could be tempted by some decent Mac ports of Valve titles.

Or I may just buy a PS3 instead...


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## fen_boy (Mar 5, 2010)

Buddy Bradley said:


> Depends what games are actually going to be available I suppose. My Mac gaming is currently pretty much confined to World of Warcraft and a little CoD4, but I guess I could be tempted by some decent Mac ports of Valve titles.
> 
> Or I may just buy a PS3 instead...




Don't get a PS3 for Valve stuff, the selection is lmited and the ports are terrible. There's obviously lots of great non-valve games though.


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## Kanda (Mar 5, 2010)

Makes sense in one respect... it's like developing a game for a console, pretty standardised hardware compared to developing for the PC where there could be any of 50 different GFX cards or hardware variables to take into account.


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## elbows (May 12, 2010)

Steam for Mac is due out today. Not too many games to start with, but new ones due out on Wednesdays going forwards.


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## FridgeMagnet (May 12, 2010)

Just downloaded it.

Portal is free for Mac users until 24 May. Hint: You want that.

Also there is apparently a Mac version of Torchlight, which I already bought... oh dear, there goes my productivity.


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## elbows (May 12, 2010)

Yeah Im currently downloading Portal.

I look forward to the various HL2 games being available on the mac at some point as I already bought them for the PC ages ago, think I still have most of Episode 2 to play through for the first time.


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## Kid_Eternity (May 12, 2010)

*Steamed Mac anyone?*

Wow this just made getting a Mac a little more tempting...


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## Buddy Bradley (May 13, 2010)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Just downloaded it.
> 
> Portal is free for Mac users until 24 May. Hint: You want that.
> 
> Also there is apparently a Mac version of Torchlight, which I already bought... oh dear, there goes my productivity.


Left Portal downloading this morning, looking forward to giving it a play tonight.

What's Torchlight like? I watched the demo video this morning and was pretty underwhelmed - graphics look distinctly kiddy.


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## Crispy (May 13, 2010)

It's like Diablo. ie. kill things, pick up loot, kill bigger things, pick up loot, kill even bigger things etc etc etc until your wife leaves you.


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## Ax^ (May 13, 2010)

This thread makes me 
not for the mac thing 

just portal is free for both until the 24th and i'm getting the internet installed on the 21 well the phone line sorted and won't have the modem till the following week

screw you sky


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## elbows (May 13, 2010)

Oh dear Portal is rather addictive, and fairly amusing. Luckily Im easily frustrated so I probably wont waste too many more hours on it now that Im getting to trickier levels.


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## Crispy (May 13, 2010)

elbows said:


> Oh dear Portal is rather addictive, and fairly amusing. Luckily Im easily frustrated so I probably wont waste too many more hours on it now that Im getting to trickier levels.


DO NOT read anything about Portal, or let anyone talk to you about it until you have finished  And you MUST finish it, it has one of the best endgames EVER.


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## elbows (May 13, 2010)

Crispy said:


> DO NOT read anything about Portal, or let anyone talk to you about it until you have finished  And you MUST finish it, it has one of the best endgames EVER.



OK then, just tell me how many levels there are.


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## Crispy (May 13, 2010)

elbows said:


> OK then, just tell me how many levels there are.


There are about 20 test chambers, IIRC


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## elbows (May 13, 2010)

Cheers, in that case I shall stick with it for a while as I am more than half-way through already.


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## strung out (May 13, 2010)

steam doesn't work on tiger


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## Crispy (May 13, 2010)

strung_out said:


> steam doesn't work on tiger


why haven't you upgraded?


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## strung out (May 13, 2010)

because i can't afford to buy it, and when i put up a wanted thread in the recycle forum, everyone just told me to stop being such a cheapskate


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## Crispy (May 13, 2010)

just pirate it, there's no product key or anything


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## strung out (May 13, 2010)

hmmm, i shall investigate. i'm a lameo though and wouldn't know the first place to look.


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## stupid dogbot (May 13, 2010)

strung_out said:


> because i can't afford to buy it, and when i put up a wanted thread in the recycle forum, everyone just told me to stop being such a cheapskate



I was supposed to be checking for a MacBook Leopard disc for you, wasn't I?



I will dig it out tonight.


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## strung out (May 13, 2010)

oh, that would be very kind, ta!


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## Kid_Eternity (May 13, 2010)

Portal bored the hell out of me, would rather play all Resident Evil games back to back than play it again...


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## Crispy (May 13, 2010)

burn him! burn him!


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## Kid_Eternity (May 13, 2010)

Ain't nice being told the world ain't flat is it?


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## Crispy (May 13, 2010)

it still breathes! burn him now! buuurrrrrn!


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## Shippou-Sensei (May 13, 2010)

you have no soul

although i did get  frustrated with it (or should i say  with my  own  crappyness)  it  still is  one of the most interesting games of recent years    with  good humor too

it's  a must play once   even just  to   experiance a new sort of game play


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## fen_boy (May 13, 2010)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Portal bored the hell out of me, would rather play all Resident Evil games back to back than play it again...


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## Kid_Eternity (May 13, 2010)

fen_boy said:
			
		

>



Exactly that's a good image to describe all you games who follow the crowd about what's popular.


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## Shippou-Sensei (May 13, 2010)

if  we  were  talking  about  a dull  beige on beige  fps  i would  understand where your comming from  but   is it  really hard to understand  why people like portal?


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## elbows (May 13, 2010)

Shippou-Chan said:


> if  we  were  talking  about  a dull  beige on beige  fps  i would  understand where your comming from  but   is it  really hard to understand  why people like portal?



People like solving puzzles and twisting their melons in new ways, along with a certain sort of humour.


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## FridgeMagnet (May 13, 2010)

Portal though. _Portal_.


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## Crispy (May 13, 2010)

elbows said:


> People like solving puzzles and twisting their melons in new ways, along with a certain sort of humour.


got to the end yet? the end is very good  play to the end


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## elbows (May 14, 2010)

I've been avoiding it tonight, if I want to escape the worst that frustration may bring then I must not play it every day.


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## Kid_Eternity (May 14, 2010)

Shippou-Chan said:
			
		

> if  we  were  talking  about  a dull  beige on beige  fps  i would  understand where your comming from  but   is it  really hard to understand  why people like portal?



Hey people like trainspotting and darts too. It's a crazy world out there!


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## treelover (May 14, 2010)

Another one for the stake then, just not my thing, and i have cognitive problems so it would be too hard anyway, had to pack in Dracula adventure game as the puzzles were too abstract. Heck, even the pipe mini-games in Bioshock were too much for me!


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## Structaural (May 16, 2010)

It's quite weird playing top quality games in OS X (I normally use Bootcamp). Very glad for an excuse to play Portal from the beginning again. 

Is anything else worth getting on Steam for Mac? - doesn't look like it.


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## LDR (May 16, 2010)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Portal bored the hell out of me, would rather play all Resident Evil games back to back than play it again...


I agree.  I just found it really dull and had no sense of achievement when completing levels.


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## FridgeMagnet (May 16, 2010)

Well, I quite like Torchlight; not hugely sophisticated but fills a hole. I've not really looked at what else is actually available for the mac at all.

There are a fair number of indie game devs for the mac though, and Steam could be handy in promoting their work.


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## Shippou-Sensei (May 16, 2010)

been playing torchlight today

it's a good laugh..  it's not  a epic RPG  but  a fun way to while away some time... 

however
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1385-Torchlight
i know know what he meant  by it being somewhat easy.. i'm playing on easy  and  it's like  have  the cheats on ...  though  personally i like  this


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## Structaural (May 16, 2010)

Not a big RPG fan (except Borderlands/Fallout 3), I'll give it a look, though. 

The Steam client seems a bit buggy, often clicks on wrong game or ignores clicks (in the browser/store part). 

Still... Portal!

urban thread on it here (warning contains spoilers): http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=226263


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## Shippou-Sensei (May 16, 2010)

i got it when it was £4ish  i'm not sure i'd  pay more than a tenner on  it   given what i've experianced so far ... it could get veeeery samey  after a while


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## Structaural (May 16, 2010)

I got it with the Orange Box, now that was a bargain.


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## elbows (May 27, 2010)

Yay Half-life 2 & episodes are on it for mac now.


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