10 Early Steam For Mac Games To Download

Once upon a time a dude with a PC rig laughed at a Cupertino enthusiast. His sleek and beautiful Apple iMac could do a lot of things quickly; but none of that power amounted to a hill of beans when it came to games. Simple fact was that publishers didn't have a powerhouse digital delivery pipeline... Until now, that is.

Valve put on a big show Wednesday afternoon with the launch of its Steam platform for the Macintosh, revealing a staggering 63 games that Mac owners could buy on the first day of its release. That's a lot stuff to sift through. No worries, though. I did all the hard work and plucked out ten games that you simply must have among the impressive list of launch titles.

'And Yet it Moves' ($9.99)

"And Yet it Moves" might have a protagonist ripped straight out of that one A-Ha music video, but that's sort of the point. The game's art style draws inspiration from ripped and crumpled paper. Yet, "And Yet it Moves" is more than its visuals, as it offers a deep, unique, and non-linear puzzle-platforming experience courtesy of its physics-bending "tilt" mechanic.

'Loom' ($4.99)

"Loom" is an old LucasFilm Games' (now LucasArts) adventure title that merges adventure mechanics with exploration and discovery. What makes "Loom" special is its dismissal of traditional "verb" mechanics and its focus on tone (in more than one respect, interestingly). Instead of picking at a list of verbs, you'll play music to activate the uses of objects. Some call this odd and frustrating, but I think it's glorious and different.

'Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis' ($4.99)

The second entry in a LucasFilm Games adventure series starring Indiana Jones, "Fate of Atlantis" is a wonderful romp. It's as complex and challenging as it is witty and charming. Consider it the mechanical antithesis of "Loom," but a shining example of the entertainment a traditional Lucas pick-the-verb game can provide.

'Tales of Monkey Island' Series ($29.99 bundled)

You may be sensing a pattern, but I assure you it stops here with Telltale Games faithful continuation of the LucasArts "Monkey Island" series. All five episodes of "Tales of Monkey Island" are rife with quirky narrative, characters, and places. And the games' puzzles are more than rewarding. Expect numerous callbacks to the source material as well as tons of fresh content to explore. You can't go wrong with this series.

'Peggle Nights' ($9.99)

It doesn't get much simpler than PopCap Games’ "Peggle Nights," a stand-alone expansion to the original "Peggle." This specific title ushers in new faces and powers, but most importantly, “Nights” serves up dozens and dozens of new cocaine-laced peg boards to smash with metal balls. Call me a simple man, but I can spend hours with this every afternoon.

'Portal' (free until May 24th)

Valve's first-person puzzle title "Portal" is straight quality. The core puzzle mechanic -- the inter-dimensional portals that you can throw at will -- is the definition of compelling and unique play. And while the cruel AI GLaDOS might steal the show, there's something to be said about the way Valve designed each level to be challenging, yet never frustrating. Plus, it's free. Go get it.

'World of Goo' ($19.99)

2D Boy's "World of Goo" is a delightful, low-impact physics-based puzzle game that has you assembling little balls of goo into wiggly skyscrapers. The goal is to use as little goo as possible and funnel unused goo balls into a pipe at the end of every level. Each of the game's five worlds has a different art style, but the charm and easy-to-grasp mechanics remains the same between.

'Braid' ($9.99)

"Braid" is the little indie title that could. Its innovative twist on game narrative and fascinating time mechanics have thrilled critics and users alike, amassing the game serious cred across all of its available platforms. If you're in to getting your mind blown while having a good time, this is definitely up your alley.

'Machinarium' ($19.99, pictured above)

Amanita Design's point-and-click adventure title "Machinarium" is kind of like a modern day "Loom." It features an experiential no-dialogue story and nearly zero puzzle backtracking. It also constricts you to one zone at a time, thereby dodging most adventure game pitfalls. Oh, and the art looks fabulous on top of the game being rad.

'Torchlight' ($9.95, usually $19.99)

Runic Games channeled the original "Diablo" with "Torchlight," and I've always been fine with that. This point-and-click dungeon crawler is an experience almost solely focused on the loot, quest, and experience grind. It's unapologetic about it, offering little in the way of narrative. But don't let that get you down: if you want a game that will consume you in an instant, don't even think about passing "Torchlight" up.

Steam on Mac Gaming

A lot of gamers have been waiting for this. It has definitely become one of the most talked about things of the Mac since the debut of the iPhone back in ’07 and the only thing talked about the Mac nowadays. A software that has gotten plenty of praise from the press, users of the software and hard-nosed critics. Finally, on May 12th, 2010, Valve Corporation’s venture onto the Mac platform will take another step forward with the Steam for Mac public release.

Valve over the past few months has hinted and teased the masses with some screenshots of development of the software for the Mac. Later, the company officially revealed that they were working on a version of the software for the Mac that would be released within this year’s time. The group even decided to tickle people’s fancy who have been waiting for the software to come on Apple branded machines by giving them several of games that would be ported to the Mac OS X platform on launch. Several reports of the product have already been reported from testers who have been using a beta version of the software, including Brad Nicholson of MacRumors who states that people who have used the software on Windows via a Windows or an Apple logo machine with Boot Camp will “feel at home” with its Mac counterpart. Currently on the beta there are two games: Portal and Team Fortress 2.

The interface of software has been distinguished as recognizable from the Windows version. At the top of the software’s window, Steam for Mac provides menus for some of the applications main functions such as the “Store” for buying digital content, the “Library” selection that categorizes all of the games in your catalog, “News” for information on software updates that include patches to the software and new features being added and the “Community” option of interacting with other users on the app. Invitations from friends on the product still appear snappy with the format of the Growl notification feature. Advertisement for new games and content appear to exhibit that same performance as well. The entire Steam software performance is fluid and fast, presenting no hiccups in the experience, most importantly.

The application even presents cross-platform features. Through the ability of “Steam Play,” users can access content they have already purchased from the Windows version of the software that has been ported to the Mac and re-obtain them for free. As of right now, the only games that present this feature is the two games that is available on the beta, Portal and Team Fortress 2. However, more games are more than likely to incorporate this feature.

Based on the observation for individuals who are testing the software, Valve seems to be taking the cross-platform functionality very serious as users of the Mac version thats currently in testing have been playing Portal and Team Fortress 2 with users who are playing from Windows, indicating that games and users on both platforms can interact with one another on the same server. Steam can also keep information in order amongst the different software versions. Elements such as the Library, Friends and profile of a subject are all shared between both forms of Steam. However, it has been brought to attention that some features will be displayed on the Mac issue of the software specifically, such as a function to help Mac OS users know what content can be played on the platform. This features is not in the beta, though.

OpenGL is what both of the games on the beta are running on right now. They are still experienced like their Windows builds, but they might not look the same as they do on the Windows version. For instance, Brad of MacRumors had to alter the rendering of the game a little to achieve a smoother gameplay, However, he does not forget to mention to his readers that he is running a MacBook that is using a NVIDIA 9400M integrated graphics hardware, with no dedicated graphic chip whatsoever, which most users on the software have and use discrete GPUs where integrated graphics are not built to utilized gaming of the stature. In spite of that, he also doesn’t fail to mention that in the other game, Team Fortress 2, even though he had to turn down the graphics volume to almost it’s lowest value, the integrated graphics of his MacBook still rendered the content surprisingly good.
The games on the beta are older titles and wouldn’t necessarily be the best indicator of what Valve has up their sleeve. The group is speculated to bring some of its bigger titles including Left 4 Dead 2, Half-Life and Counter-Strike, games in which will really show how good the work Valve has done in committing to the platform.

Some things are missing and expecting to be supported soon after the launch. One in particular would be Gamepad support. Valve has mentioned that this is something that’s on their to-do list.

There hasn’t been anything drool-worthy per se with the beta, but from the looks of it, it definitely seems like it is turning out to be a great job done by Valve. We here at MacApper viewed the beta from a acquaintance who has obtained it on their 13-inch MacBook and we must say, even with the detail of graphics turned down to a minimum, the integrated graphics of NVIDIA delivered eyebrow-raising results. This only indicated to use how powerful the Mac’s hardware configuration is and, more importantly, how optimized Mac OS X is. Steam is gearing up to be available for the public on May 12th

Mac Gaming Evolution: Steam For Mac

The easiest jab that PC fanatics have had to make at Mac fanatics has been the relative dearth of games for Macs compared to Windows machines. It's a trend that's been slowly changing over the past few years, with companies such as EA dipping its toes into the Mac world with simultaneous releases of titles such as Spore, but progress towards heavy duty Mac gaming has been slow, to put it kindly. It's possible a tipping point's just been reached, however, with Valve software officially announcing that Steam, its online gaming service and Source, the gaming engine behind most of its titles is coming to the Mac platform in April.

Titles that Valve will launch for the Mac via Steam include the Half-Life series ,Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and Left 4 Dead 2. In the latter case, presumably in its cut-down-where-did-those-vanishing-zombies-go-no-gore-for-you-Australia version.From the sounds of the official release, it won't just be Valve's own titles coming to Steam, but potentially titles from other publishers. "Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac," said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve.

Steam's a massively successful client platform for Valve on the PC, and this news might seem a little drab if you're primarily on the PC side of the fence, but even there Valve's promising quite big things. For a start, cross-platform play is promised via Steam (which makes a certain amount of sense), as well as a single point of purchase. Own a PC game on Steam? You can download it free of charge for the Mac as well. The release quotes Holtman stating that "we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play."

Unlike Mac gaming efforts of the past, this isn't a matter of a slow emulation layer, but instead native code running on Mac OS itself. "We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. "The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360."

The first title that Valve will release for the Mac will be Portal 2, a sequel hinted at last week via a complex online AR game that confirmed the existence of the sequel to the popular first person puzzler.