Give Me Steam

May 10, 2010 by john

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Steam from Valve comes to Mac with the promise of delivering more top games.

Steam Store
Steam on Mac
Steamworks PDF

download and play Portal for Free (until May 24th).

Jordan Crair and Dave Chartier appear with Chris and John.

[more links and words go here. look for them on Tuesday]

4 comments on ‘Give Me Steam’

Half Life 2 :: Know Tech — 06 June 2010 20:29: [...] be sure to listen to Give Me Steam. [...]
T.J. Lahey — 14 May 2010 19:53: I've discovered that Portal runs reasonably well (at low settings) on my mid-2008 MacBook (with X3100 graphics). Since so many games these days have minimum requirements of the newer laptops, I'm quite happy that Steam has arrived. Thanks to the iPad, I think my next computer will be an iMac. When I had a PC, I didn't do much upgrading other than RAM and the hard drive, so it's doubtful I need the expansion capabilities. I'm guessing most people are the same. Sure, there's a hard-core gamer crowd who does, but how many are really going to buy Macs? Already on Reddit I see a post complaining about the Portal performance on OS X. The audience isn't there for the game developers to optimize things to the extent of Windows. I'd like to be proven wrong, though because I'd like a mid-range Mac, but Apple's answer at the moment is the iMac.
Mike — 11 May 2010 13:24: Would you recommend I buy a PowerMac 7600 or a 7500? The 8-thousand series is nice, but the 9600 has that cool roll-out case design. Maybe I should go for a Performa. But which one? My father still argues that all he needs is his HP Pavilion. He's thinking of upgrading his RAM to 48 MB. Maybe I should get a Packard Bell... Sorry, but I think that the home-built/upgraded computer is a niche market today where the overall computer market has increased dramatically (Bill's dream of a computer on every desk, in every home). Plus, as gamers age, they tend to have less expendable cash (marriages, families, etc) and so they resort to console gaming with is far larger than PC gaming. Sure, they may speak about their "dream PC" with a core i7 and dual graphics cards, etc. But out of an IT staff that I work with, only 1 speaks about custom hardware builds on a regular basis as a hobby. And then again, he's a Linux guy.
Joseph Sukhbir — 11 May 2010 03:55: Just listened to your show and recalled this article from back in March: http://blogs.computerworld.com/15722/i_want_a_mac_mini_on_steroids I share Seth's sentiments here. I too beleive there IS a market for a high end Mac Mini. I have been re-examining my computing needs and was, in fact, near the point of pulling the trigger on new hardware. I have specific needs, as a photographer I need a machine capable of running Aperture and Photoshop. I have been a laptop user for more than 7 years and my current laptop is 2.5 years old and starting to show it's age. Initially, my instinct was to upgrade to a new 15 inch MacBook Pro. Then the iPad came out. I was initially sceptical as to the utility of this device, firmly believing that it was a consumption device. Then I used one. I can do most of my portable computing with an iPad, and my family will have a machine that they can easily move around the house. Even though I have a laptop now, it is (permanently) connected to an external monitor, Drobo, printer, Wacom tablet and printer; it is not portable. What do I need? A Mac than can run Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5. The more RAM the better, and an iPad for portable/family computing. I don't need an expensive laptop. I don't have the space for ANOTHER big screen a la the iMac. A Mac Pro is too expensive and really just overkill for my needs. I want a Mac Mini on steroids.