Depois de vários rumores e várias pistas, a Valve confirma a presença do seu serviço e os seus jogos, assim como o próximo Portal 2, no Mac.

Já algumas semanas que a Valve tem andado a enviar pistas sobre um possivel aparecimento nos computadores da Apple, tanto o aparecimento de umas imagens escondidas nas pastas na versão beta do programa Steam (a receber um novo visual) como ainda imagens publicitárias em vários sites (imagens em baixo), mas hoje finalmente confirmou a sua presença. Tanto o Steam como o seu motor Source (que equivale praticamente o seu catálogo todo: Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike, saga Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress…) estarão disponiveis apartir já este Abril.

O melhor deste anúncio vem um novo sistema ao Steam, o Steam Play, que irá permitir aos jogadores de poderem comprar e jogar os jogos independentemente da plataforma que estiver – ou seja, poderá jogar tanto no PC como no Mac o mesmo jogo usando o Steam Cloud, o modo que “grava” os jogos online. E se já tiverem a versão para PC, poderão adquirir a versão Mac gratuitamente. Esta adição corresponde apenas aos jogos da Valve mas é possivel que as outras companhias também aderirem a este sistema.

Esta confirmação já tinha sido revelada (recentemente oficializada) através do anúncio da existência do Portal 2 quando a revista Game Informer preparou um especial sobre o próprio na sua mais recente edição ao colocar Mac nas plataformas a sair. Ainda sobre o jogo, Portal 2 continuará a história vários anos depois do primeiro com o regresso da GlaDOS como antagonista (nota: a versão PC do Portal recebeu à pouco tempo uma actualização em que o final do jogo foi alterado). Esta sequela ainda terá um modo cooperativo na campanha, tanto online como offline, e estará disponivel neste Outono para Xbox 360, PC e claro, Mac.

Valve to Deliver Steam & Source on the Mac

Leading Gaming Service Expands to Mac Platform

Valve announced today it will bring Steam, Valve’s gaming service, and Source, Valve’s gaming engine, to the Mac. Steam and Valve’s library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April. “As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients,” said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. “The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services.” “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. “Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and 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.” “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. Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows.” Portal 2 will be Valve’s first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows. “Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step,” said Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead. “We’re always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac.” Support for the Mac in Source and Steamworks is available to third parties immediately. Interested developers should contact Jason Holtman at jasonh@valvesoftware.com.