We gave the Eddy to Steam based on several factors. As a Steam user for the last five years, I appreciate how important it is to have a centralized place to preview, download, and interact with games. Steam, when it is at its best, is one-stop shopping for gaming: you can hop on an online game, watch previews, add friends, and become part of a larger gamer community. The potential on the Mac is vast: Steam could possibly be "iTunes for gamers" and the initial slate of Valve titles (Half-Life 2, Portal, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, and Counterstrike: Source) was impressive.

But since the initial launch, Steam for Mac has, well, lost steam. At first, I thought that Valve would bring that slate of games to the Mac when Steam first launched in May. Instead, it took several months to get the games out. Moreover, the promise of other developers porting games to the Mac (and selling them on Steam) still hasn't really materialized. Most of the indie titles already had native Mac versions already, and aside from Civilization V, I can't think of too many marquee titles that simultaneously launched with another platform on Steam.

Mac users have also complained about the speed of viewing videos on Steam (which require Flash) and how accessible the interface is compared to the Windows version.

Steam has generated considerable enthusiasm in the Mac gaming space, though, something that hasn't happened in a while. That said, the reality hasn't met with expectations yet. A small library, an interface that one Macworld forum reader derisively called "duct-taped," and little sign that other publishers and developers are jumping on board have all tempered some of that initial enthusiasm. As a product, Steam is still a work in progress, and while the potential for Steam is still there, it hasn't been realized yet.