Steam Client and Source Games Porting to OSX

So the devil called me this afternoon and said they where having a snowstorm in hell.

In other news Valve announced that their revolutionary "content delivery service" known as "Steam" is being ported to OSX and will be available as early as April 2010. No really its true, straight from the horse's mouth. In addition the actual client and "Steam-works" being brought to Apple's operating system Valve also plans to port all of the Source Engine games, these include:

• Half Life 2 Series
• Counter Strike: Source
• Team Fortress 2
• Left 4 Dead Series
• Day of Defeat: Source

All I have to say is: Microsoft has to quaking in their boots. For some time Microsoft's Windows operating system has been the standard for gaming on the PC. With Valve making the push into OSX this means more than just trouble for Microsoft's operating system. It also means their famed DirectX API that is Windows only may be in jeopardy. I say this because as stated in Valve's official announcement in order to port their engine/games to OSX they will be reimplementing them in OpenGL. After the porting of these past released source games Valve plans to treat OSX as a "first tier" operating system. Meaning that all future releases of source games will occur simultaneously for OSX, Windows, and Xbox 360.

Not a fan of Valve's flag-ship gaming engine? Not a problem, take a peak at these other titles already for sale on Steam that have a native OSX client:

• Aliens versus Predator (original)
• Altitude
• And Yet It Moves
• Ankh: Battle of the Gods
• Ankh: Heart of Osiris
• Aquaria
• BioShock
• Braid
• Brainpipe
• Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
• Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror
• Call of Duty
• Call of Duty: United Offensive
• Call of Duty 2
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Championship Manager 2007
• Championship Manager 2008
• Championship Manager 2010
• Civilization IV
• Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
• Civilization IV: Colonization
• Civilization IV: Warlords
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
• Darwinia
• DEFCON
• Delta Force: Black Hawk Down
• Deus Ex
• Doom
• Doom 3
• Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
• Doom II: Hell on Earth
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Elven Legacy
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• Eschalon: Book I
• Europa Universalis III
• Europa Universalis: Rome
• FlatOut 2
• Final Doom
• Football Manager 2009
• Football Manager 2010
• Football Manager Live
• Freedom Force
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
• Harvest: Massive Encounter
• Hearts of Iron II
• Hearts of Iron III
• Heretic
• Heroes of Might and Magic V
• Hexen
• Hexen II
• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Jade Empire
• LEGO Batman: The Videogame
• LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
• LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues
• LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
• Loom
• Luxor
• Luxor 2
• Luxor 3
• Machinarium
• Multiwinia
• Osmos
• Peggle
• Peggle Nights
• Penguins Arena
• Penumbra: Black Plague
• Penumbra: Overture
• Penumbra: Requiem
• Plants vs. Zombies
• Prey
• Prince of Persia (2008)
• Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
• Quake
• Quake II
• Quake III Arena
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein
• Rome: Total War
• Samorost 2
• Shaun White Snowboarding
• Sid Meier’s Pirates
• SiN
• Spore
• Star Wars: Force Unleashed
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
• Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
• Star Wars: Dark Forces
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Tales of Monkey Island
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
• The Dig
• The Graveyard
• The Path
• TOCA Race Driver 3
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary
• Torchlight
• Unreal
• Unreal Tournament
• Unreal Tournament 2004
• Uplink
• Virtual Families
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
• World of Goo
• X²: The Threat
• X³: Reunion
• X³: Terran Conflict

Phew! Who was it that said you couldn't game on a non-Windows operating system? Well truth be told thanks to wonderful software like CXGames some of us have been enjoying source games on the operating system of our choice for some time now. (Food for thought and maybe a future topic: What do you think this announcement is going to do to Codeweaver's bottom line?)

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Bordeaux 2.0.0 Beta 2 for Mac Released

The Bordeaux Technology Group released Bordeaux 2.0.0 Beta 2 for Mac today. Bordeaux 2.0.0 Beta 2 marks major progress over the older Beta 1 release. With this release we now support Leopard and Snow Leopard. We have improved support for Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and preliminary support for Internet Explorer 7 in this release, there has also been many small bug fixes and tweaks on the back-end.

The cost of Bordeaux 2.0.0 Beta 2 is $20.00. Mac customers who pre order this Beta will save $5.00 once the final release ships the cost will be $25.00 pre order customers can also join our Beta testing group. Anyone who has purchased Bordeaux in the past six months is entitled to a free upgrade. Bordeaux comes with six months of upgrades and support and of course a 30-day money back guarantee.

Please read our Mac Beta 2 readme file before you use Bordeaux.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Intel Apple Mac (Mac Pro, Mac Mini, iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air)
• Mac OS X Leopard OS-X 10.5.7 or later is required to install this package.
• Updated X11.app from http://xquartz.macosforge.org (At least version 2.3.3.2)
• Gtk-Framework-2.14 2.14 Download For more information see : http://www.gtk-osx.org/

Benefits of pre-odering Bordeaux for Mac OS X

• The pre-oder price will only be $20.00 so you will save $5.00
• You will have access to all beta builds.
• You can join our beta testing group and give feedback.
• Users who give useful beta reports will get a extra six months of free upgrades.

Beta 2 application support :

• Microsoft Office 2007 Applications (Word, Excel, Powerpnt)
• Microsoft Office 2003 Applications (Word, Excel, Powerpnt)
• Microsoft Visio 2003
• Microsoft Project 2003
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
• Microsoft Office 2000 Applications (Word, Excel, Powerpnt)
• IrfanView 4.25

Final Release todo :

• Sane scanners support
• Steam support depending on customer demand
• Fix the known Icon Bugs
• Bug fixes and performance tweaks

Beta 2 New Features :

• Bordeaux now runs on Snow Leopard
• Updated to Wine version 1.1.36
• Added support for IE 7
• Added support for Irfanview 4.25
• Many fixes to .app Bundle support
• Fixes to Icon support
• libpng and libjpg fixes
• Fixed a couple bugs in the Bordeaux UI
• Fixed a couple bugs in the Cellar Manager
• Synced to newest winetricks release
• Many other small bug fixes

Beta 2 Screenshots :

Bordeaux User Interface on OS-X Snow Leopard.

Bordeax Starting the Internet Explorer 7 Install.

Internet Explorer 7 running on OS-X Snow Leopard.

Microsoft Office 2003 Install.

Microsoft Office 2003 Install has Completed.

Microsoft Word 2003 on OS-X Snow Leopard.

Microsoft Excel 2003 on OS-X Snow Leopard.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Howto Install CrossOver Linux Standard 9.0 on Ubuntu

Currently CrossOver Linux standard already reached version 9.0. Many improvements including a brand new user interface was applied to this release. Based on the official change log, this CrossOver 9.0 Linux is more applicable to Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office. This version is based on Wine version 1.1.34.
In order to install the CrossOver Linux Standard 9.0, please follow these guide:

1. Download the trial version of CrossOver Linux Standard 9.0.0, or you can buy this software if you want.

2. On the download section, choose the installer type. You can download the installer in .deb, .rpm or .sh extension. In this tutorial I am using the .sh installer file. This installer is more applicable to many Linux distribution.

3. Now its time to install.
Open terminal and move to your downloaded directory. And then type this command to install
sh install-crossover-standard-demo-9.0.0.download

4. Then the graphical installation wizard will be opened.



Press OK to accept the license agreement.

To start install the CrossOver Linux Standard, click Begin Install. Then system will install this software. When finished you will be notified.

The installation is now finished. You can start using this program via Applications | CrossOver | Install Windows Software.



Softpedia released comment:
CodeWeavers’ CEO, Jeremy White, announced a few minutes ago the availability of the CrossOver 9.0 application for both Linux and Macintosh operating systems. Dubbed Snow Mallard, the new CrossOver 9.0.0 release has a brand-new user interface for Linux users! This new GTK2-compatible graphical user interface is a dream come true, expected by all CrossOver Linux users (take a look at the image for details).

Moreover, CrossOver 9.0.0 brings various improvements to Microsoft applications, such as Internet Explorer 7 or the Microsoft Office suite. CodeWeavers distributes the CrossOver 9.0.0 binaries for the Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat, Fedora, Mandriva and openSUSE operating systems, as well as an universal installer for other Linux flavors.

CodeWeavers 9.0 For Mac and Linux Released With New Interface

CodeWeavers, the popular commercial version of Wine, sees a new update this week with the release of version 9.0 for CrossOver Mac and CrossOver Linux. Users are treated to an overhauled user interface for Mac and a completely redesigned interface for Linux, which developers say makes both apps run more quickly and intuitively.

The release also includes more than 7,500 patches and a bunch of fixes and improvements to the overall application. CrossOver 9.0 now supports macros in Excel, improved Outlook stability, and limited support for Quicken 2010.

CrossOver now also has the ability to download installation files -- or "recipes" -- directly from the project's online database "If another CrossOver user has figured out how to use CrossOver to install a Windows application, they can upload that installation recipe to our database," explains company CEO Jeremy White on the CodeWeavers Web site.

"As we go forward, and build this online storehouse," says White, "CrossOver will begin to automatically install that same application for other users. This enables us to move closer to a world where CrossOver will begin to run the majority of Windows apps, and not just an officially supported subset. In other words, our diabolical plot for world domination is going exactly as planned."

Putty for Mac

$15.00