I think everyone saw this coming at some point. When you have a game series with such wide appeal as the Left 4 Dead series, the need to push it out to other platforms becomes fairly obvious. Though I suspect that at some point we will see this game make its way to handhelds in some form or another, this announcement deals with Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 shuffling its zombie feet to the Mac OSX through the glory of Steam for the Mac. For those who are curious, the L4D Team discuss what exactly this means for you:
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"Steam on the Mac will behave just like Steam for Windows, but through Steam Play will add cross-platform ownership. That means if you own Left 4 Dead 2 for Windows, then you already own it for the Mac. There's no need to buy it twice! Unless you want to buy it twice, in which case, as long as you're feeling so generous, why not buy it five times? Plus, Mac and Windows players can go head-to-head, since both Left 4 Deads are cross-platform compatible. Mac owners can even host their own servers, just like Windows users." |
Let's pause right there for a moment. If you own the game for Windows, you then already own it for the Mac. Truly a wonderful and commendable choice on Valve's part. The fact that these versions also are in native code, offering the best possible experience on the Mac is just another beautiful element to this entire announcement. If for some reason you were looking for another way to fight off the legions of the undead with your friends, Valve is determined to give it to you. Additionally, they are announcing in the blog that the Steam client for the Mac will be available in the upcoming weeks.
Image courtesy of Valve's Blog, and Apple... and Zombies.
