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Steam for Mac (with virtualization)?
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Moderator  Join Date: Oct 2001
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The main page mentions clues to Steam for Mac in the new Beta. It says that PC games would have to be ported (as usual). But what if Steam for Mac included virtualization features like Crossover Games? Then it could essentially play any Mac or PC game in Steam's catalog. Obviously, performance could be an issue, but for older PC games (Half-Life 2, say), this would be pretty cool.
Steve
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Celebrating 10 years and 4000 posts on MacNN!
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Posting Junkie
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I doubt Valve wants to take on all the headaches of supporting games with Crossover. It's Crossover's business expertise to do so, not Valve's.
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Clinically Insane
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Crossover/WINE is technically not virtualization, nor are there generally significant performance issues with WINE games, providing they are compatible. In fact, you might even find that some games run *faster* under WINE than under Windows, in some circumstances.
Is this the game you are referring to?
WineHQ - Steam Official Release
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Moderator Join Date: Oct 2001
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No. What I'm saying is if a Mac version of Steam is created, it would be cool if it was an actual implementation of WINE, like Crossover Games already does, but free, supported by the purchase of games in the Steam store.
I did not think that a WINE implementation would run that fast. I've tried running Half-Life 2 through Steam in Crossover Games, and it did not work very well for me. Maybe it's my older machine (2.33 GHz, late 2006).
Steve
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Celebrating 10 years and 4000 posts on MacNN!
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Clinically Insane
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Originally Posted by ibook_steve 
No. What I'm saying is if a Mac version of Steam is created, it would be cool if it was an actual implementation of WINE, like Crossover Games already does, but free, supported by the purchase of games in the Steam store.
I did not think that a WINE implementation would run that fast. I've tried running Half-Life 2 through Steam in Crossover Games, and it did not work very well for me. Maybe it's my older machine (2.33 GHz, late 2006).
Steve
There are a number of variables. Under OS X running a game competes with the resources being consumed by OS X, and OS X consumes a lot of them. WINE runs in 32 bit, so games that utilize a lot of RAM will probably run better under a native 64 bit OS.
I've found that Ubuntu in 64 bit runs some games faster than 64 bit Windows XP, such as the Dolphin Nintendo Gamecube/Wii emulator.
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Originally Posted by besson3c
Crossover/WINE is technically not virtualization, nor are there generally significant performance issues with WINE games, providing they are compatible. In fact, you might even find that some games run *faster* under WINE than under Windows, in some circumstances.
No significant performance issues? For older games perhaps.
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Clinically Insane
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Originally Posted by lpkmckenna
No significant performance issues? For older games perhaps.
It depends on the game, the version of WINE, lots of things, but Dolphin is actually pretty bleeding edge in terms of the performance it demands to play most games under any OS (It is available for Windows, Linux, and OS X).
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