Gaming service for Mac unveiled

The online gaming megaservice and gamers' community Steam has introduced Mac support, as it promised on Tuesday, says The Register.

The eponymous, and free, access app is now available for download from the Steam Web site. That's the good news. The bad news is that owners of older Macs need not apply.

Steam will only be released on Intel-based Macs running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, or later.

Sales of video game hardware and software plunged 26% in April, according to an industry tracker NPD, which says this is one of the largest declines over the past decade, states Reuters.

Nintendo's Wii was the top-selling home console in April, although sales fell from a year ago. Microsoft's Xbox 360 was no 2 in the month and Sony's PlayStation 3 was no 3, although both consoles posted year-over-year increases in units.

Software sales dropped 22%, while hardware sales tumbled 37%.

British Telecom has signed a deal with OnLive of the US to stream video games as part of BT's high-end domestic broadband package, reports Times Online.

OnLive was unveiled with great fanfare last year, amid claims it could spell the end of the video games console. The service offers a library of titles from leading games publishers, including Ubisoft and Electronic Arts. The games are played in real-time over the Internet.

BT will acquire the exclusive rights to OnLive's service within the UK, and as part of the deal has taken a 2.6% shareholding in OnLive.