Mac Game Store Launches Steam-Like Digital Download App

[SchuettS]

MGS.com Servers down...

I have a MGS account and it's nice to be able to buy these games online, but hey... why not use the Mac App Store? Guaranteed store and lots of exposure.

Yeah, not working for me either.

 

[runebinder]

Could be good, would like to see the client being location aware and offer me the prices in my local currency (£), rather than US Dollars. Can't see an option to change this either.

 

[ScottishDuck]

I doubt valve will be too worried.

 

[BMNB1tch]

biggest waste of time ever

go outside and get some sunlight

start a company or something

I really dont see why people waste their lives like this

 

[iMacFarlane]

stop being stupid and get bootcamp and use steam

It's not a matter of "getting" bootcamp. We all HAVE bootcamp, it's part of the OS X installation. I don't want to "get" Windows.

 

[gotluck]

So much Steam hate...

I'm on windows, but I haven't had issues with Steam since its early days - as referenced by others.

Good luck with this, but it'll be hard to beat Steam since you get both Mac & Windows versions when you purchase a game on steam.

Good luck beating Steam sale event prices too.

 

[7709876]

Er....Aspyr isn't a studio.

 

[mazz0]

A Native UI is one up on Steam, but I'll stick to Windows for games and OS X for everything else. BigPicture means I barely have to see the Windows UI anymore!

 

[guzhogi]

I like the concept of it checking your system to see if it meets requirements. Hopefully you can turn this off for all the paranoid types out there.

 

[shurcooL]

but you might like the effects of more competition.

No, this is just fragmentation at this point.

I can buy something on Steam, OnLive, gog.com, Mac App Store, HumbleBundle.com, Origin, etc., and now Mac Game Store? Thanks a lot. Now it's even harder to remember where you bought something, and you have to keep more clients installed, running, up to date.

It'd be hilarious if I had to download the Mac Game Store from the Mac App Store.

 

[50548]

Sounds really good and one to keep

Seems like a great thing to happen for TRUE Mac gamers (i.e., those who do NOT talk about Mac gaming unless it is natively supported by OS X).

I am tired of visiting MR gaming threads and reading some bombastic headline about the latest and greatest games, just to find out that you need Winblows to run them...no, thanks.

 

[Kranchammer]

This has to be the stupidest facial expression I've ever seen. It's probably a great idea to advertise a game with it.

Image

It's quite obvious he's belting out the opening line of 'Carmina Burana'.

 

[0098386]

The more competition for Steam the better. The requirements comparison sounds cool, not sure why Steam doesn't support that yet.

I only buy games from Steam. Everything in one place, nice and tidy like.

 

[Gemütlichkeit]

Is there any reaosn I should go this route? Steam already has a ton of my Mac games.

 

[NoIdeasOriginal]

Uninstalled as soon as I seen their notification popup. That stuff does not belong on a desktop.

 

[stukick]

Hope this is better than Steam. The Mac section on Steam always seemed like an afterthought compared to the Windows section.

 

[cerote]

Still prefer steam because you get both windows and osx versions for if you ever get windows box

 

[CylonGlitch]

Why I'll use Steam over MGS

Defense Grid : Release Date December 8, 2008
- MGS : $16.95
- Steam : $9.99

Assassin's Creed II
- MGS : $19.99
- Steam : $19.99 for the deluxe version (regular no longer available)

Batman Arkham Asylum
- MGS : $39.99
- Steam : $19.99 for GOY edition

Generally the games on MGS are more expensive, not all, but many. About 25% of the random ones I selected came up at the same price. ZERO on MGS were cheaper.

The real question, does MGS have the same type of sales that Steam has. 75% off twice a year is awesome and when I do 90% of my purchasing.

 

[faroZ06]

I don't know what system you are using but Steam has never crashed on me since the dark days of it's launch years. It runs fine on OSX, Windows 7 and in Parallels.

This game client would be a solid addition if it was modeled after GOG and distributed DRM-free games, but as another client that shares almost exactly the same content as Steam it's throwing a pebble against a mountain.

Now if Apple reconfigured the almost-useless Game Center to be something like this ...

Steam crashes all the time for my cousin and me. They also take forever to send an activation email. It just adds unnecessary annoyance to playing games.

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No, this is just fragmentation at this point.

I can buy something on Steam, OnLive, gog.com, Mac App Store, HumbleBundle.com, Origin, etc., and now Mac Game Store? Thanks a lot. Now it's even harder to remember where you bought something, and you have to keep more clients installed, running, up to date.

It'd be hilarious if I had to download the Mac Game Store from the Mac App Store.

Yeah, there are so many things out there that just using Steam or something limits you, so you end up having to just use all of them. All that does is makes it so you have to make a new account on some gaming site every time you want to buy a game, and it usually complicates the online play.

I'd rather buy the game on Steam then pirate the same game so that I don't have to use Steam.

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Edit: Steam on OS X often crashes when quit using CMD + Q but even more often, the source games crash - also often when quit using the short key.

I played Team Fortress 2 on my Mac, and it was really unstable and took a long time to load. And I have a very fast Mac. After all that annoyance, the game was just a bad version of CoD...

 

[Dorfdad]

Unless it auto updates the games for me I have zero use for this. Steam is much better IMHO.

 

[Aeolius]

It's quite obvious he's belting out the opening line of 'Carmina Burana'.

GOPHER TUNA!!!

Though, to be fair, I run a weekly D&D game via IRC (soon to switch to roll20) and that satisfies my gaming needs.

 

[Michael Belisle]

How long until The Motheship sends a cease and desist for using "Mac" in the name? It's confusingly similar to Mac App Store, they'll say.

 

[Eric5h5]

No, this is just fragmentation at this point.

I can buy something on Steam, OnLive, gog.com, Mac App Store, HumbleBundle.com, Origin, etc., and now Mac Game Store?

What do you mean "and now Mac Game Store"? It's been around for years. (And why on earth would you use Origin....)

The real question, does MGS have the same type of sales that Steam has. 75% off twice a year is awesome and when I do 90% of my purchasing.

Yes, they have sales. I generally prefer Mac Game Store purchases over Steam because you're not tied to a particular app (that you have to wait for seemingly ages while it starts up and connects to a server) in order to run games.

--Eric

 

[Michael Belisle]

What do you mean "and now Mac Game Store"? It's been around for years. (And why on earth would you use Origin....)

Some of us had never heard of it until this announcement. If this post on Macrumors crashed the servers, we're probably not alone.

But I see now that Tyler Durden--err, I mean Tuncer Dinez has operated some form of a "Mac Game Store" since like 2001. Curious, because I still hold that it's confusingly similar to the "Mac App Store" now. It took me a second to figure out that this wasn't a new section of the official App Store.

 

[a0me]

One particularly useful feature is a "Game Compatibility Checker" that compares the user's Mac to the game's requirements in real time, making life easier for users with slightly older machines.

Seriously, why every digital store out there doesn't have this feature?
I'd argue that most people don't keep track of the detailed hardware specs of their Mac, and it would make things easier if the site had clear requirements such as "MacBook (Early 2009)" or "iMac (20-inch Mid 2007)" instead of "Core 2 Duo," "AMD Radeon HD 6750M."