Steam beta signup for OS X

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Serpico

[H]F Junkie
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Do you play games on Steam, own a Mac, and are excited about Steam coming out on OS X next month? Well, a page for beta signup just went up.

http://store.steampowered.com/macbeta/

You will need to log in, fill out a short survey, and submit a hardware profile file that you generate on your Mac, instructions are all there. I have no idea when the beta starts but I'm really looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to seeing which other developers are going to be offering both Windows and OS X games with the same SKU just like Valve and Blizzard do.
 
Thanks for letting us know, I've been excited about this since the announcement. Steam has been the only reason I've kept Windows on this machine for so long.
 
Lovely, absolutely no way for OSx86 users to sign up without filling out the form incorrectly.
 
SIgned up for it as well. Thanks for sharing it.

Does anyone have an idea of when we will hear back from them if at all?
 
thanks for sharing... excited to play tf2 and the half life series without crossover.
 
AVT said:
Lovely, absolutely no way for OSx86 users to sign up without filling out the form incorrectly.
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So, you violate the EULA and force-install with hacks and expect everything to work correctly?

Also, no OSX86 talk on the [H].
 
ryan_975 said:
As for steam on OS X, does that mean the GAMES will be playable too?
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Yes. That's the point. Source games will run natively through OpenGL. Third party games... who knows, but Valve is encouraging them to do native ports.
 
Terpfen said:
Yes. That's the point. Source games will run natively through OpenGL. Third party games... who knows, but Valve is encouraging them to do native ports.
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Third party games are what I was referring to. I would hope Valve's own games would work. But I own very few actual Valve games.
 
AVT said:
Lovely, absolutely no way for OSx86 users to sign up without filling out the form incorrectly.
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what, a company doesn't want to show any support for an unsupported computer running OSX? GASP ;)
 
ryan_975 said:
Third party games are what I was referring to. I would hope Valve's own games would work. But I own very few actual Valve games.
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It depends. Many of the publishers on Steam already have OS X ports of their games, both native and via Cider: http://www.apple.com/games/articles/

I see no reason why EA, id, PopCap, Telltale, Epic, etc, shouldn't also sell their OS X catalogs on Steam, its a hell of a lot simpler and more public than doing it through tiny retail shelf space. Its bad enough finding Windows games in stores, damn near impossible with OS X.
 
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This is awesome, i hope i make it into the beta. I've been dieing to play TF2 on the PC platform since they started announcing the extra content, just never felt like going into bootcamp to buy it and play it. If they do it right, this is going to rock!
 
The Steam Hardware Survey is now going to get a lot more 9400m units!
 
Back on my Mac and signed up just now.

Thanks for the link Serpico!

I hope I get in...
 
Terpfen said:
So, you violate the EULA and force-install with hacks and expect everything to work correctly?

Also, no OSX86 talk on the [H].
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No, I don't - what's your point? My expectations themselves have nothing to do with my ability to complain when something does not work.

And yes, telling people how to install OSx86 is against the [H] rules. Nowhere in this thread will you find me doing that.

mHubs said:
what, a company doesn't want to show any support for an unsupported computer running OSX? GASP ;)
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Actually, I'm sure Valve itself would be interested in seeing whether Steam for Mac works on my system or not, given that fixing bugs that appear on exotic configurations makes the program as a whole more stable for everyone.
 
I haven't heard back from them. In the latest issue of gameinformer there was a small blurb about it launching in may. this seems pretty late for a beta test of everything.

Anyone else heard back?
 
Missed this when it was announced, signed up this evening. Thanks OP for heads up.
 
Anyone in, yet? I haven't a Mac, but am interested in hearing the experiences. :)
 
rflcptr said:
Anyone in, yet? I haven't a Mac, but am interested in hearing the experiences. :)
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Nope, beta is supposed to be up in April (which is as soon as can be). I will definitely post about it once I'm in. I have TF2 and L4D2 already on my MBP's Windows partition, both of which run great, so I'll also report any differences in performance in OS X. I'm not installing Windows on my 27" iMac so performance on my 2008 MBP is all I'll be talking about.

On a side note, Earlier today installed the Starcaft 2 beta on my Macbook Pro on the Windows 7 partition, just out of curiosity. It looks and runs great, and this is on two year old hardware.

Yeah, I know, Blizzard game so it isn't super impressive, but its fun and that's all that matters! :)
 
rflcptr said:
Awesome. Doesn't Blizzard produce Mac versions?
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They do and as always it will release simultaneously on both operating systems, but the beta is currently Windows only. An OS X client is "supposed" to be out in April but we'll see. I'm not going to sweat it. If an OS X beta client comes out, great, if not, no big deal, I'm going to keep playing it on Windows. That said, I'd love to see it running at 2560x1440 on my iMac.

I'll get to see that sooner or later, so no big deal. :)
 
Great resolution for RTS (or strategy in general, now that I think), no doubt. I really want that Dell 2711 for some epic CoH conquests. :p
 
rflcptr said:
Great resolution for RTS (or strategy in general, now that I think), no doubt. I really want that Dell 2711 for some epic CoH conquests. :p
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I am really telling myself to stick with the 24" on my PC, partly because it is still one of the best 24" LCDs ever made (NEC is NOT putting the same polarizer in their upcoming high end displays), and partly because increasing my pixel count from 1920x1200 to 2560x1440 will create a serious hit on games like Bad Company 2.

Maybe in two years when cards are way more powerful than my GTX 285. :)
 
AVT said:
No, I don't - what's your point? My expectations themselves have nothing to do with my ability to complain when something does not work.
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If you want it to work, do it the right way and buy Apple hardware.

And yes, telling people how to install OSx86 is against the [H] rules. Nowhere in this thread will you find me doing that.
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Discussing OSX86 in general is off-limits AFAIK. This includes complaining that you can't sign up for the Steam Mac beta on your Hackintosh.
 
They haven't said anything. I'm sure it'll be a surprise when it happens.
 
Yeah, Valve are historically tight-lipped about their releases. Not that it's a bad thing.
 
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