Yesterday, Valve’s newly OS X compatible Steam platform finally got a Mac native version of one of it’s most popular titles. Half-Life 2, originally released for Windows in 2004, was released on Steam yesterday be means of a weekly update. Valve has also released OS X native versions all three Half-Life 2 expansions (Lost Coast, Episode 1, and Episode 2.)
Half-Life 2 takes advantage of Valve’s new cross-platform “Steam Cloud” technology. This allows players to purchase any “Steam Cloud” compatible game on any supported OS, and then play continuously through even if they change operating systems. Game progress as well as unlocked achievements are saved in the “Cloud” allowing players to run the game on multiple machines without loosing any progress. Valve plans to release new “Steam Cloud” compatible games every Wednesday. To celebrate the release of Half-Life 2 for Mac, Valve has temporarily shaved off 30% of the price making it only $6.99. For a title dubbed “The Best Game Ever Made” by PC Gamer, the sale price is certainly worth it. Make sure to grab it while it lasts.
As a fun side note, leading up to its release, Valve teased a Mac compatible Half-Life 2 by recreating Apple’s famous “1984” Ad using the in game engine and characters. The video can be found here.