Impression: Steam for Mac OS X

Possibly the biggest gaming news so far this year has been that uber popular gaming client, Steam, was being worked on for Mac OS X. Flash forward (I’m so glad this show got cancelled!) to May 2010 and Steam is up and running, and fully functional, …well maybe not fully.

Why Steam is revolutionary on Mac OS X
I would argue that the most crucial aspect of Steam is not the fact that it brings along heap loads of games to a system that was severely lacking in that area, but rather the community that springs from having such games. If you look at every gaming platform throughout time the one thing they all have in common is a strong community with dedicated users. Despite what the media wants you to believe, gamers are social beings. Sure, some of us may not get enough outdoor time and more than a few of us are socially awkward in public, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t active in our own social circles.

Steam is revolutionary (boy, us Mac users really like that word) for Mac OS X because of the community that comes along with it. Mac gamers finally have a home where they can track their friends’ online stats, compare achievements, chat with gamers of like minds, and of course, play quality games.

What still needs work
Bugs can be found all throughout the Steam client and in many of their offered games. Personally, the only problem I had was when I went to purchase games through the program itself, the transaction would never follow through to the end, leaving me to finish it up via Safari. But bugs are bound to happen and Valve will squash them sooner or later, this is not a big deal at all.

The real problem is the system requirements. Currently gamers must be running OS X 10.5.8 or 10.6.3+ on a Mac with an Intel processor. To twist the knife even more, integrated graphics cards are not supported (with the exception of NVIDIA 9400M and GT320 cards). That means that most Macbook and Mac Mini users running the latest OS on an Intel based machine are out of luck.

This is a huge problem because it severely limits those who can run Steam and you can’t exactly have a strong community when over half of your user base are unable to run the software. While I understand that Steam and the games they offer need all the power they can get, I believe that Valve could and should have gone the extra mile (like they usually do) and gotten the client to run on some looser requirements in order for a much larger user base to join their community.

Go download Steam
If you are capable of running Steam on your Mac and are even remotely interested in gaming (casual gamers are welcome too, Steam isn’t just for the hardcore gamer) then you should already have Steam installed on you’re system. If you don’t, then go ahead and grab it now and be sure to pick up your free copy of Portal while you can (offer ends May 24). Steam is a little buggy right now, but it seems like I can’t even purchase a DVD anymore without updating some sort of firmware, so its something we all should be used to by now. The important thing is that we (Mac gamers) need to support Steam and help our gaming community grow.

Steam can be downloaded for free from here.