Steam Sales

[Farmer_BOB]

I finally have time to try Portal on my Mac and their servers are hammered. Oh well!

It's still a great deal for anyone that hasn't bought it. Portal's free right now.

[Timman_24]

Wow, steam is now supporting mac. If you buy a game on Windows, you also get the mac version and vice versa. Very nice!

[ImaNihilist]

Wow, steam is now supporting mac. If you buy a game on Windows, you also get the mac version and vice versa. Very nice!

I just gave Portal a spin on a new 13" MacBook Pro (NVIDIA 320M integrated chip). It runs pretty damn well. I was incredibly surprised. It's completely playable at mostly high settings and even a little AA and AF. I didn't entirely believe Valve when they said they were going to make the Mac a first rate platform.

I'm not sure I understand why unless Valve knows something everyone else doesn't. The Mac audience is so small, and it must be incredibly expensive to maintain an OpenGL branch and a DirectX branch of source and Steam.

[Timman_24]

I don't know, maybe Mac has something to do with it such as supporting Valve's development or at least offsetting some of the costs. I think for quite a few people, games make them stick to the PC. If Valve starts a trend with this the Mac audience could grow rather fast.

[James]

I just gave Portal a spin on a new 13" MacBook Pro (NVIDIA 320M integrated chip). It runs pretty damn well. I was incredibly surprised. It's completely playable at mostly high settings and even a little AA and AF. I didn't entirely believe Valve when they said they were going to make the Mac a first rate platform.

I'm not sure I understand why unless Valve knows something everyone else doesn't. The Mac audience is so small, and it must be incredibly expensive to maintain an OpenGL branch and a DirectX branch of source and Steam.

I thought all native Valve properties were native OpenGL?

Or is that Id? I can never remember.

[Geforce255]

I thought all native Valve properties were native OpenGL?

Or is that Id? I can never remember.

That's Id. Valve pushed the envelope with DX9 development when they released HL2, placing them at the top of the DirectX heap for years.

OpenGL is years behind DirectX in features, I can't imagine serious developers selecting it at this time.

[ImaNihilist]

OpenGL is years behind DirectX in features, I can't imagine serious developers selecting it at this time.

Not true. OpenGL is pretty much lock-step with DirectX in terms of features. OpenGL is seriously behind in documentation, particularly with respect to gaming.

You can get Crysis-level graphics with OpenGL, no problem. Just look at RAGE. You're just going to have a lot harder time finding the people who can do it.

[Farmer_BOB]

I think this will be good for the PS3. I'm pretty sure that all the games made for it uses OpenGL, so this will hopefully make more games available to port over.

I did get to try it on the same similar setup. I haven't tried Portal on my 9400m yet, but I played it on my brother's 320m macbook pro and it ran perfectly fine. I'm starting to wish I bought Civ 4 now, that would have been fun to play on a macbook pro while on a road trip or something.

[Geforce255]

Not true. OpenGL is pretty much lock-step with DirectX in terms of features. OpenGL is seriously behind in documentation, particularly with respect to gaming.

From what I've read, OpenGL remains at the DX9 level.

You can get Crysis-level graphics with OpenGL, no problem. Just look at RAGE.

Rage is still vapor ware.

[ImaNihilist]

From what I've read, OpenGL remains at the DX9 level.



Rage is still vapor ware.

What have you read? The wiki is quite good in explaining the actual differences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...L_and_Direct3D

DirectX is just more programmer friendly for game developers. It's not necessarily "better."

And RAGE isn't vaporware. It's not really supposed to be a game. ID makes both games AND engines. They license the engines, and make buckets of money. The games they make are more demos these days than anything else. Their B2B model is much stronger than their B2C model.

And having just played the OpenGL of Portal on a Mac, I'd have to say that there is really no distinguishable difference at all between the two.

[Geforce255]

DirectX is just more programmer friendly for game developers. It's not necessarily "better."

I'm talking about features in DX11 which are not there in OGL.

Tessellation is one of the more important ones. Per Sample shaders, a whole list of advancements not found in the OpenGL API.

Yes, I know that the upcoming 4.0 is supposed to close the gap some, but the reality is that OGL is sliding more into the CAD only world, a slide that is bound to continue.

And RAGE isn't vaporware.

Announced in what, 2006? Now they're saying 2011.

Seems like vapor to me. Don't get me wrong, I hope they release it, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's not really supposed to be a game. ID makes both games AND engines. They license the engines, and make buckets of money.

Do you know of any games based on the engine?

And having just played the OpenGL of Portal on a Mac, I'd have to say that there is really no distinguishable difference at all between the two.

Portal is a DX9 game.

[Zoma]

I finally have time to try Portal on my Mac and their servers are hammered. Oh well!

It's still a great deal for anyone that hasn't bought it. Portal's free right now.

Thanks for mentioning this.

[ImaNihilist]

Do you know of any games based on the engine?

On the new engine? No. But do you have any idea how many games were based on the Quake 3 engine (before it was OSS)? A lot. They still bring in $$ because of that.

[taggart6]

Wow...seems like the thread has de-railed big time.

[Kamakazie]

Announced in what, 2006? Now they're saying 2011.

Seems like vapor to me. Don't get me wrong, I hope they release it, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm pretty sure they've been showing new stuff for it every year since the announcement. I'll bet they even have it playable at QuakeCon this year.