Steam for Mac finally available for download

The wait has been long, but finally the Mac version of Steam , the largest online distribution platform for videogames, is available, landing with a catalogue of 58 titles among which stand out titles such as Portal, Braid or Torchlight as well as a good number of LucasArts classics such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Dig or Loom.

Interestingly, the most notable absences of this first batch are precisely some of the main Valve games like Half Life, Left 4 Dead, Counter Strike or

Steam for Mac finally available for download

Team Fortress although to compensate, and as a celebration of the arrival of Steam to Mac, the company has decided to offer Free Portal until the next day 24 .

Valve has promised to add new Mac-compatible titles every week, every Wednesday, so we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed that, apart from the catalogue of independent games, we’ll soon be able to beat up online with, for example, Team Fortress 2.

For developers, Valve has also published a set of Steamworks tools with which they can easily include different features in their games such as authentication system, copy protection, automatic update, score rankings or social networks among others. These features and services are free for those who have joined the platform and can be used both in the electronic version of the games and in the version sold in the box.

In addition, with the arrival of Portal, the first title based on the development environment and graphic engine Source, Valve has also begun to license its version with native support for Mac OS X so that other companies can begin to use it in their own games and greatly facilitating that they begin to consider the Mac as a platform more than viable in their future projects.

Finally, remind yourself that you need an Intel-based Mac and Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 or Snow Leopard 10.6.3 to enjoy Steam, and that you don’t have to pay for games you’ve already bought on Windows. Look at all those with the “Steam Play” label, basically: “pay once and play wherever you want, whether it’s Mac or PC”. Cool, right?