I feel like an out-of-touch old man. (Getting there, perhaps?)
Both the article and the comments assume a baseline level of understanding ("Steam Mac OS X client"; "Linux support"; suitably vague nouns). Searching helps me resolve these words, to some degree; but I still don't know what this thing is (that is not a quotidian HN topic).
I'm sure Lisp implementation articles are similarly opaque to non-initiates. But, um, a little help, please? :)
Steam is sort of like an app-store for games which only ran on Windows for a long time. You buy games on Steam and can then download the games on any computer you install Steam on. There's a bunch of other stuff such as being able to talk to your friends, multiplayer, and keeping track of achievements. Valve (the creators of Steam) are porting it to Mac and Linux. This is not, however, sufficient to play all games on Steam, since games from many companies are on Steam and not all of them are interested in making their games cross-platform. So, in addition, Valve is porting their Source engine, which powers games such as Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and Portal to Mac and Linux so that those players will able to play them. They will of course be able to play any other games on Steam that are class-platform.
What the previous two answers did not mention is that Steam requires online verification and that it can lock you out from being able to play the games you played for (DRM).
Steam is a digital content distribution platform for games. It wraps up the online store, purchasing, user accounts, multiplayer gaming functionality (with features similar to xbox live), and actually downloading and running games on a user's machine.
It is Valve Software's creation that they use as a channel to distribute their own games (Half-Life, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Portal, etc.) It is one of the best platforms of its kind and a huge number of other game developers have been using it as a release channel for their games as well.
Porting it to Mac OS X and Linux is a big deal because it means those platforms now have a first-class digital content distribution platform for games as well. So, for example, all of those game makers who are already using multi-platform game engines and releasing their games on Mac as well as PC will be able to do so through Steam, rather than through Steam for the PC and some other channel for the Mac.
Additionally, Valve is porting several of their big (multi-million sales) games to the Mac, shoring up the Mac as a legitimate gaming platform. All of this helps spur a self-reinforcing feedback cycle boosting game development on the OS X (more sales, more games, more development of multi-platform game engines, all of which feeds back on itself).
In short, with this one move Valve has pushed OS X (and soon make Linux) from 2nd class citizen to nearly a full peer with Windows as a gaming platform.
Comments
I feel like an out-of-touch old man. (Getting there, perhaps?)
Both the article and the comments assume a baseline level of understanding ("Steam Mac OS X client"; "Linux support"; suitably vague nouns). Searching helps me resolve these words, to some degree; but I still don't know what this thing is (that is not a quotidian HN topic).
I'm sure Lisp implementation articles are similarly opaque to non-initiates. But, um, a little help, please? :)
Steam is sort of like an app-store for games which only ran on Windows for a long time. You buy games on Steam and can then download the games on any computer you install Steam on. There's a bunch of other stuff such as being able to talk to your friends, multiplayer, and keeping track of achievements. Valve (the creators of Steam) are porting it to Mac and Linux. This is not, however, sufficient to play all games on Steam, since games from many companies are on Steam and not all of them are interested in making their games cross-platform. So, in addition, Valve is porting their Source engine, which powers games such as Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and Portal to Mac and Linux so that those players will able to play them. They will of course be able to play any other games on Steam that are class-platform.
What the previous two answers did not mention is that Steam requires online verification and that it can lock you out from being able to play the games you played for (DRM).
See for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(content_delivery)#System...
Steam is a digital content distribution platform for games. It wraps up the online store, purchasing, user accounts, multiplayer gaming functionality (with features similar to xbox live), and actually downloading and running games on a user's machine.
It is Valve Software's creation that they use as a channel to distribute their own games (Half-Life, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, Portal, etc.) It is one of the best platforms of its kind and a huge number of other game developers have been using it as a release channel for their games as well.
Porting it to Mac OS X and Linux is a big deal because it means those platforms now have a first-class digital content distribution platform for games as well. So, for example, all of those game makers who are already using multi-platform game engines and releasing their games on Mac as well as PC will be able to do so through Steam, rather than through Steam for the PC and some other channel for the Mac.
Additionally, Valve is porting several of their big (multi-million sales) games to the Mac, shoring up the Mac as a legitimate gaming platform. All of this helps spur a self-reinforcing feedback cycle boosting game development on the OS X (more sales, more games, more development of multi-platform game engines, all of which feeds back on itself).
In short, with this one move Valve has pushed OS X (and soon make Linux) from 2nd class citizen to nearly a full peer with Windows as a gaming platform.