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SteamOS

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Re: SteamOS

#51

Post by NotOscarWilde »

jcastro wrote: post #39
NotOscarWilde wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thoughts exactly. Currently, gaming on Linux was fairly on the rise, since Steam supported Linux as one target platform and advertised it fairly substantially. If Steam renames all "Linux" entries as "SteamOS" and pushes general Linux to the sidelines, all that progress is lost.

"Linux" isn't a platform, "SteamOS" is though. Having an undefined "general Linux" is impossible for them to support, especially since there's no real definition of a platform, just a kernel.

On Steam, the games are labelled as "supporting Linux", by which they usually mean some version of Ubuntu, which Steam runs on now. Other distributions often work too, usually with some small tweaks that can be googled.

If "SteamOS" becomes a target in the Steam app, this general "Linux" label may be pushed to the sidelines, and since SteamOS may contain more proprietary parts than general Ubuntu does, we may find it much more difficult to run the games on any distribution other than SteamOS itself. That was my point.

Re: SteamOS

#53

Post by stormbrew »

redthrowaway wrote: post #46
Glyptodon wrote: post #22

The streaming of other OS games from your other OS systems seems like a pretty compelling and surprising feature. I wonder if it will work with all games.

I can't see how they'd manage to get twitch games like online FPSes to be playable with the addition of another layer of latency between the player and the game. A 100ms delay between input and response is death for games like that.

If you have 100ms latency on your LAN you have some serious problems.

Re: SteamOS

#54

Post by [deleted] »

rkalla wrote: post #26

This is effectively the software-only equivalent of a console launch. Is anyone else skeptical that they can motivate publishers to spend time/money porting their games to the Linux platform? Valve certainly has a better chance than most at pulling this off (and likely enough user/market data to make this seem like a valid investment) I am still super skeptical that these publishers are going to spend the time portin…

[deleted]

Re: SteamOS

#55

Post by aahls »

xSwag wrote: post #45

So what is the chance that Gaben will make everything proprietary? Releasing games for the SteamOS with license restrictions to make them unplayable on other Linux distros? What if he makes a deal with AMD/NVidia to make drivers only for SteamOS which won't be available to normal Linux users? I don't want linux to go towards that direction.

What reason does he have to do any of this?

Valve makes money if you buy games on Steam on other distros too.

Re: SteamOS

#56

Post by estel »

jaredmcateer wrote: post #44
rkalla wrote: post #26

This is effectively the software-only equivalent of a console launch. Is anyone else skeptical that they can motivate publishers to spend time/money porting their games to the Linux platform? Valve certainly has a better chance than most at pulling this off (and likely enough user/market data to make this seem like a valid investment) I am still super skeptical that these publishers are going to spend the time portin…

The announcement page claims all 3000 titles are available via streaming, similar to the OnLive service but only for your internal network, I'm guessing. Effectively working around the porting issue.

The streaming works if you have a beefy Windows machine in your house already, it's not a solution for people wanting a dedicated "Steam" console.

Re: SteamOS

#57

Post by sbarre »

Robadob wrote: post #49
rkalla wrote: post #26

This is effectively the software-only equivalent of a console launch. Is anyone else skeptical that they can motivate publishers to spend time/money porting their games to the Linux platform? Valve certainly has a better chance than most at pulling this off (and likely enough user/market data to make this seem like a valid investment) I am still super skeptical that these publishers are going to spend the time portin…

A large part of it may be covered by this functionality; "You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too. Just turn on your existing computer and run Steam as you always have - then your SteamOS machine can stream those games over your home network straight to your TV!"

Exactly. Gigabit ethernet in the home (or really fast wireless) should make this pretty feasible even with twitch-based action games (we can hope!)

Re: SteamOS

#58

Post by xentronium »

Robadob wrote: post #49
rkalla wrote: post #26

This is effectively the software-only equivalent of a console launch. Is anyone else skeptical that they can motivate publishers to spend time/money porting their games to the Linux platform? Valve certainly has a better chance than most at pulling this off (and likely enough user/market data to make this seem like a valid investment) I am still super skeptical that these publishers are going to spend the time portin…

A large part of it may be covered by this functionality; "You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too. Just turn on your existing computer and run Steam as you always have - then your SteamOS machine can stream those games over your home network straight to your TV!"

It's a dual-edged sword, as being able to stream windows titles doesn't give much incentive for game devs to fully support linux, does it?

Re: SteamOS

#59

Post by siphr »

The success and effectiveness of the console, I believe, is dictated by the following statement:

"Watch for announcements in the coming weeks about all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014. Access the full Steam catalog of over nearly 3000 games and desktop software titles via in-home streaming."

To me this suggests that they are actively trying to get developers to port and they have had some success. Also I believe that a lot of developers will not port and to handle those cases they've introduced the home streaming functionality so that you could stream your windows game to the steam box via a windows steam client running somewhere.

Re: SteamOS

#60

Post by Arelius »

antsar wrote: post #21
sixdimensional wrote: post #5

Open ecosystem (Linux, hardware) + gaming = well done Valve, sounds good, I like it!

Not open source, however. Not a dealbreaker, but an important distinction to keep in mind.

Do we know it's not open source? Or are you talking specifically about steam and the games?
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