Half-Life 2 On Mac: What’s The Big Deal?

Over at Inside Mac Games, you can read this entry on Tuncer’s Blog tossing around the pros and cons of a Mac-native version of Half-Life 2. His post is in response to this tirade by Gabe Newell on Kikizo, explaining why HL2 will never see the light of day on Apple’s platform. Essentially, Gabe blames Apple’s lethargy when it comes to gaming on Mac, while Tuncer admits the Mac isn’t a great gaming platform, but also drops the bomb that Gabe wanted a sweet $US 1 million to do the port.

In the end, if you really want to play HL2 on your Mac, there are ways to do it that don’t involve bludgeoning Steve Jobs or finding the moolah to pay off Newell.Fact: Apple’s platform is, well, that same as a PC. It’s been like that since Apple switched to Intel hardware.

True, Macs by default run the BSD-based Mac OS X. But it’s just that – an OS. Anyone can grab themselves a copy of BootCamp and Windows XP, and dual-boot into a perfectly functional Microsoft operating system, where the speed of your CPU and video card is going to be a bigger barrier than anything Apple or Gabe has done.

If you’re not willing to do that, then you could always get CrossOver, and emulate the damn thing [thanks to Kane for the video link].

Of course, native support would be excellent, but unless you can convince Gabe of the benefits, the above options are the next best (actually, the best) thing.

One Million Reasons Why Half-Life 2 Isn’t On The Mac [Inside Mac Games, Tuncer's Blog]

Gabe Newell Valve Interview – Orange Box [Kikizo]