$1 mil wanted Half-Life 2

Half-Life 2 might not have been ported to Mac OS X because Valve Software, whose co-founder Gabe Newell last week said that Apple isn't serious about gaming, demanded a $1 million advance from any firm that wanted to port the game. A new report from IMG claims that Apple met with Valve regarding a port, and the developer insisted that that anyone who wanted to port Half-Life 2 to the Mac had to pay the hefty sum (for a small Mac developer, anyway) up front. Half-Life 2 never made it to Mac OS X, though users have had success running the title on Intel-based Macs under Windows in Boot Camp and without Windows using CrossOver.

In an interview last week, Newell detailed the process of speaking to Apples, explaining the drawn out process.

"We tried to have a conversation with Apple for several years, and they never seemed to... Well, we have this pattern with Apple, where we meet with them, people there go 'wow, gaming is incredibly important, we should do something with gaming.' And then we'll say, 'Okay, here are three things you could do to make that better,' and then they say 'Okay,' and then we never see them again," Newell explained, adding "I just don't think they've ever taken gaming seriously. And none of the things developers ask them to do are done," "

Valve's debut title Half-Life has won more than 50 Game of the Year awards and was named "Best PC Game Ever" on three separate occasions by PC Gamer magazine. Valve is also responsible for relesing Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, and Portal.

by MacNN Staff