Changing the rendering engine is one thing. Rewriting the entire code base to work on 7 cores is quite another.
On Sun, Mar 14, 2010 at 01:07, Allan Button <abut...@netaccess.ca> wrote: > Maybe the Mac is a good test platform for OpenGL, then they are going to > springboard off this, and jump into PS3 development. > > Also, I'd buy a dozen copies of TF2 for the iPhone, so I could play with > the people I work with. ;) > > Allan > > -----Original Message----- > From: hlcoders-boun...@list.valvesoftware.com [mailto: > hlcoders-boun...@list.valvesoftware.com] On Behalf Of Kyle Jansen > Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 11:42 PM > To: hlcoders@list.valvesoftware.com > Subject: Re: [hlcoders] Steam 2010 mod support and Source for the Mac > > Two things: > > First, I completely agree with Adam's analysis. From what I see, Valve > makes most of it's money from Steam, not games. I wouldn't be surprised if > some of their games actually failed to make a profit, given how long their > dev times are. Further, the Mac has nothing to compete with Steam, while the > PC has several dozen competitors. > > What I'm hoping is that this Mac port signals a Linux port as well. > The systems are sufficiently similar that it wouldn't be difficult, and > Linux has absolutely no competition. Even Mac!Steam has to deal with retail. > > Second, I don't think moving into general movie sales would work for Valve. > They don't really have first-hand experience making and selling movies, so > they won't be able to be as developer- (or the film > equivalent) and consumer-friendly as they are with games. Besides the fact > that they would be up against some fierce competition, and don't have nearly > the brand recognition many of the movie-digital-distribution players have. > > Steam is for gamers. Gamers know about it. Most gamers like it, or at least > consider it the least evil DRM available. What could work, then, is selling > game-related media. Put the Source modding tutorial DVDs on. Put game > soundtracks on. Heck, I'd buy Advent Children if it was on Steam. > > Of course, watch all my predictions turn out wrong. I'm guessing a Team > Fortress feature film, and a port of Steam to the iPhone, just to make my > predictions look stupid. > > > Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:36:33 -0600 > > From: Nathan Voge <hl2fr...@msn.com> > > Subject: Re: [hlcoders] Steam 2010 mod support and Source for the Mac > > To: hlcoders <hlcoders@list.valvesoftware.com> > > Message-ID: <col116-w380923eee8badc081a07588...@phx.gbl> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > > > > Don't forget that Steam not only works for digital distribution of games. > Sure that is mostly what they have now, but I'm guessing that somewhere at > Valve they are thinking about digital distribution of other things. Movies > (There was/is that one Zombie Movie. BTW the site www.2chums.com is now > for sale), songs, professional software... > > > > > Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:51:58 +0000 > > > From: harry101jeff...@googlemail.com > > > To: hlcoders@list.valvesoftware.com > > > Subject: Re: [hlcoders] Steam 2010 mod support and Source for the > > > Mac > > > > > > It also re-asserts Steams position as the best digital distribution > > > system available. Stopping other new platforms such as impulse that > > > support mac from taking control is a wise move. > > > > > > On 11 March 2010 19:08, Kerry Dorsey <kdor...@dorseyinc.com> wrote: > > > > Adam, you're absolutely right...as I see it. This is much less about > platform game support than it is about platform distribution support. But > the latter is useless without the former. You accurately described the Mac > dev food-chain so I won't be redundant, but the other key aspect of current > ports to the Mac involves the code itself...native versus virtualization. > The latest Sims 3 port for Mac is emulated. It's PC code thrown on top of a > resource hungry virt environment (that's an over simplification, so don't > get too upset) that runs horribly on all but the latest and strongest > machines. So while some see "support for the Mac" means that it will run on > all Macs, that ain't so. In fact, I'm venturing a guess that EA's support > costs for the average Mac release is INSANE, all because of performance > issues. If said code were native, most of the problems probably wouldn't > exist. So I see Valve's decision to port, natively, their OB engine product > to the Mac to be an effort to a.) throw more sand in Activision's > distribution eyes, (go Steam!!) , develop a previously untapped market > segment (Mac), and head off support nightmares with a little preventative > research and development. > > > > > > > > It shows how Valve's business model and management have matured in a > very short time. Good job! > > > > > > > > -Kerry > > > > > > > > > > > > On 3/11/10 10:43 AM, "Adam Buckland" <adamjbuckl...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > > > > > My $0.02: > > > > > > > > I think a lot of people are missing the point here. Valve only > > > > ported the games because they had to. The real motive here is Steam. > > > > > > > > Selling Mac software is very different to selling PC software. For > > > > PC games, it makes perfect sense to put a boxed copy on a shelf > > > > where people can go to a shop and buy it. > > > > For the Mac, however, their users are much more spread out, and > > > > therefore putting a boxed copy on a shelf isn't such a good idea. > > > > Most Mac software houses realised this a long time ago and sell > > > > their software via digital distribution instead. Most don't even > > > > make boxed copies. Mac games however have never quite got there > > > > and still sell mainly boxed copies. > > > > > > > > The current state of Mac ports of games (with a few exceptions) is > > > > that a developer will develop a game for Windows, release it, and > > > > then pass their code to a third-party developer (Aspyr is an > > > > example), who will then port the game to OS X and sell it. The > > > > problem here is that it can take a team such as the one at Aspyr a > > > > year to port a game to OS X, by which time the game's hype is > > > > almost non-existant, and because the porter, the original > > > > developer, and the publisher all need to make a profit, the game > > > > is sold at full-price, while the prices of the other platforms is > > > > significantly reduced, making the OS X port very unattractive. > > > > > > > > While it make take a third-party porting company a year to port > > > > the game to another platform, the original developer could port > > > > the game much faster and for a much lower cost, especially if the > > > > Mac is a release platform. Problem is, they don't bother because > > > > they don't want to have to deal with trying desperately to > > > > distribute it digitally themselves. > > > > > > > > Valve have spotted an opportunity here. What they're doing is > > > > they're bringing a digital distribution platform that is mature > > > > and one that many developers already have experience using to the > > > > Mac. By doing this, they will (hopefully) entice many other > > > > developers to move their games to the Mac themselves because a > > > > distribution method that still gives them a higher-than-normal > > > > (compared to boxed copies) profit margin is available. > > > > > > > > So, why have Valve moved their games to OS X and not just Steam? > > > > Well, there's a number of reasons > > > > 1) They need something to launch Steam on the Mac with!! > > > > 2) If they didn't, other developers would have no reason to have > > > > any confidence in Steam for Mac. > > > > 3) Valve now have some valuable knowledge and experience in > > > > porting to OS X that they can use to help other developers in > > > > porting their games to OS X. This is useful because while Valve > > > > are giving away techniques that they've spent considerable money > > > > trying to develop, more Mac games on Steam = more profit! > > > > > > > > So, to sum up, the people who are looking at existing market > > > > figures shouldn't be. Valve aren't trying to move in on the existing > market. > > > > They're trying to create one. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > > _______________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, > please visit: > http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders > > _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, edit your list preferences, or view the list archives, please visit: http://list.valvesoftware.com/mailman/listinfo/hlcoders
