The Guild Wars series is expanding outside of the Windows platform for the first time with today's release of an official Guild Wars 2 beta client for OS X Lion and Mountain Lion.

Those who purchased the Windows version of the game now have free access to the beta Mac client through their account management page. The Mac client connects to the same servers as the PC version, and has all the same features as its PC cousin, with all future updates hitting both versions simultaneously, ArenaNet said. The client is still a beta product, however, and ArenaNet asks players to "understand that your overall experience will be better when we release the final version," which will be available at retail and for download after sufficient beta testing.

"Bringing Guild Wars 2 to the Mac is huge for us, because it introduces the game to an entire group of players who are often ignored by game developers," ArenaNet said in a statement. "The ability to play together with your friends is one of the underlying principles of Guild Wars 2, and providing a Mac client means that friends and guildmates can play together regardless of what operating system they favor."

The Mac port of Guild Wars 2 comes through a partnership with Transgaming, whose Cider technology has powered Mac ports for dozens of PC games ranging from Eve Online to Psychonauts. The quality of those ports has received decidedly mixed reviews from Mac gamers, but Cider titles currently represent a significant chunk of the Mac's big-name gaming support.

Here are the hardware specs ArenaNet says you'll need to run the Mac client, as well as a few Mac configurations that the company says can run the client "well."