Valve's Steam service is perhaps the most iconic digital distribution platform out there. With over 54 million active users and 1500 games (on the PC side, at least), Steam has been top dog for a while. But those who pay attention to Mac gaming know that Steam hasn't quite lived up to its billing for Mac gamers. After slowly releasing many Valve games, Steam on the Mac has stagnated, with few titles that are exclusive to the platform. Sure, you can play and (soon) through Steam on the Mac, but recent blockbusters such as Max Payne 3 are nowhere to be found. Instead, people go to Steam for its vibrant community, intuitive interface and social controls, and its growing list of indie hits like and .
Years ago, was seen as the future of gaming. OnLive is a streaming game client that you download onto your Mac. But instead of downloading the game content or having your Mac do any of the game processing, everything is done in the cloud on OnLive's servers. More than any of its competitors, OnLive is dependent on your Internet connection--if you have a fast one you can play dozens of recently-released games on virtually any machine. If you don't, the service is practically useless. OnLive has robust social media integration and the ability to create "brag clips" of your favorite gaming moments and share them with your friends. You can also easily hop in on other peoples' games and observe them. OnLive's initial library was lacking, but now you can find a surprising number of recent/new high-end releases on the platform, including and the upcoming . If you want to play console hits on your Mac, OnLive remains your best bet.
Asypr's is a digital distribution platform from a traditional porter of Mac games. The company and the Mac-port industry have fallen on hard times, and the games list at GameAgent reflects this. Aside from , most of the marquee titles are 3 to 4 years old and not exclusive to the service. GameAgent lacks the social media functionality to compete with Steam, Origin, or OnLive.
The has the benefit of being an easy-to-use digital distribution service that is already built into OS X. It has plenty of casual games and titles that appear on the iOS, such as and . But aside from , , and , you won't find many high-end games on the service. In its current form, Apple seems content to let the Mac App Store play host to desktop versions of its iOS games. The Mac App Store doesn't have social functions; that role is filled by in Mountain Lion. So far, Game Center's community doesn't compare to services like Steam and OnLive that understand and cater to the gaming community.
Remember when people thought the Mac App Store would herald a new era where people actively developed games for the Mac? .