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SteamOS

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Re: SteamOS

#371

Post by rkalla »

geuis wrote: post #359
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 market is already there. Steam already has more users that both Xbox and Playstation combined.

Assuming you meant Xbox 360 and PS3, I think your stats are off:

    * Steam - ~60 million [1]
    * Xbox 360 - ~80 million [2]
    * PS3 - ~80 million [3]
If you literally meant the Xbox and PS2 from 11 years ago, then yes, you are probably correct :)

  [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software)
  [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles#Microsoft
  [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles#Sony

Re: SteamOS

#372

Post by Fuzzwah »

twidlit wrote: post #347
matthew-wegner wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Valve has three announcements this week: http://kotaku.com/looks-like-well-hear-about-valves-new-hard... One of the announcements is widely believe to be the long-rumored Steam Box hardware...

1. Steam 2. Steambox 3a. some VR peripheral (looks like a VR goggle/headset to me) 3b. some special cross-play between Steambox and Windows/Mac/Linux 3c. cross play between steambox and PS4

I hadn't thought about the possibility that day 3 could be about their VR stuff. Abrash has been beavering away on all that stuff for some time now. It has also been a fair while since he posted anything up on his blog (July 26, 2013): http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/

Re: SteamOS

#373

Post by criley2 »

jsnell wrote: post #65
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…

Well, there is some teasing along those lines there: > Watch for announcements in the coming weeks about all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014. But more importantly, control of Steam gives Valve a lot of leverage in this. It's easy to see the reasons for Linux support in indie games. But harder to see why mid-tier developers like Paradox or Eugen started to port their latest games to Linux. It's a goo…

Remember:

The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11, meaning that games for next-gen consoles (read: AAA) will be DirectX by DEFAULT but will certainly not be OpenGL by default.

And OpenGL is a requirement for Linux support of these games.

How Valve is strong arming manufacturers into writing the graphics code for their games in BOTH frameworks is beyond me. I'm not sure the major engines out there support both either.

But Microsoft won a massive coup this generation with all consoles being Win7 developer kits + Visual Studio 2012 + DirectX 11.

With Microsoft providing the major tools for AAA-games, it's going to be harder going forward, not easier, for the Linux proponents to make their case and win.

Re: SteamOS

#374

Post by McGlockenshire »

criley2 wrote: post #373
jsnell wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there is some teasing along those lines there: > Watch for announcements in the coming weeks about all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014. But more importantly, control of Steam gives Valve a lot of leverage in this. It's easy to see the reasons for Linux support in indie games. But harder to see why mid-tier developers like Paradox or Eugen started to port their latest games to Linux. It's a goo…

Remember: The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11, meaning that games for next-gen consoles (read: AAA) will be DirectX by DEFAULT but will certainly not be OpenGL by default. And OpenGL is a requirement for Linux support of these games. How Valve is strong arming manufacturers into writing the graphics code for their games in BOTH frameworks is beyond me. I'm not sure the major engines out the…

> The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11

I'd love to know where Sony said that the PS4 uses DirectX.

Re: SteamOS

#375

Post by ieatdots »

McGlockenshire wrote: post #374
criley2 wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember: The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11, meaning that games for next-gen consoles (read: AAA) will be DirectX by DEFAULT but will certainly not be OpenGL by default. And OpenGL is a requirement for Linux support of these games. How Valve is strong arming manufacturers into writing the graphics code for their games in BOTH frameworks is beyond me. I'm not sure the major engines out the…

> The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11 I'd love to know where Sony said that the PS4 uses DirectX.

They discussed it at length at GDC: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/sony-dives-deep-into-t...

Re: SteamOS

#376

Post by visualphoenix »

McGlockenshire wrote: post #374
criley2 wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember: The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11, meaning that games for next-gen consoles (read: AAA) will be DirectX by DEFAULT but will certainly not be OpenGL by default. And OpenGL is a requirement for Linux support of these games. How Valve is strong arming manufacturers into writing the graphics code for their games in BOTH frameworks is beyond me. I'm not sure the major engines out the…

> The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11 I'd love to know where Sony said that the PS4 uses DirectX.

Both PS4 and Xbox One are now on the X86 architecture. They also share the same GPU (with minor differences).

PS4 runs a BSD derived OS with a Sony-specific graphics library called RSX (very similar to OpenGL, but much lower level).

Xbox 360 and PS3 games threw away the fixed function graphics pipeline. Everything was done with shaders. With Linux graphics drivers nearing OpenGL3 compliance, it is much more feasible to target Linux in addition to Windows and Consoles without needing to re-architect the graphics architecture of your engine.

It will be trivial for next-gen developers to target PC/PS4/Xbox One/SteamBox.

Some clever folks might even be able to compile once and dynamically link against platform-specific graphics/platform libraries. :)

edit: this was directed at criley2 - not McGlockenshire

Re: SteamOS

#377

Post by lotyrin »

icebraining wrote: post #323
machbio wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steam OS needs to be on the Public Domain like an Opensource Project..Which it will most likely be.. In addition to that the Hardware should also be opensourced, like how to build the most optimal gaming console to work on Steam OS... But It will all come down to the gaming pad, how the gaming pad will be designed and how it will integrate with build your own systems

Steam OS needs to be on the Public Domain like an Opensource Project..Which it will most likely be.. Steam is a DRM platform with a few user features on top. Releasing an open source platform would be as uncharacteristic as suicidal.

Have to think about it like android, FOSS linux base that in most cases ships with a non-FOSS storefront application from its primary contributor.

Re: SteamOS

#378

Post by MLR »

criley2 wrote: post #373
jsnell wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there is some teasing along those lines there: > Watch for announcements in the coming weeks about all the AAA titles coming natively to SteamOS in 2014. But more importantly, control of Steam gives Valve a lot of leverage in this. It's easy to see the reasons for Linux support in indie games. But harder to see why mid-tier developers like Paradox or Eugen started to port their latest games to Linux. It's a goo…

Remember: The PS4 and Xbox1 both are literally built on top of DirectX11, meaning that games for next-gen consoles (read: AAA) will be DirectX by DEFAULT but will certainly not be OpenGL by default. And OpenGL is a requirement for Linux support of these games. How Valve is strong arming manufacturers into writing the graphics code for their games in BOTH frameworks is beyond me. I'm not sure the major engines out the…

The PS4 does not use DirextX, they use their own system, people are getting confused because they said it had features equivalent to 'DirectX 11.1+'.

Re: SteamOS

#379

Post by lotyrin »

topbanana wrote: post #120

Most Steam games require keyboard and mouse. I don't see how that can work in the living room

As a male 20-something tech enthusiast that is friends with others of the same, I don't visit many living rooms which don't have a keyboard and mouse as permanent fixtures.

Re: SteamOS

#380

Post by daviding »

skriticos2 wrote: post #225
matthew-wegner wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Valve has three announcements this week: http://kotaku.com/looks-like-well-hear-about-valves-new-hard... One of the announcements is widely believe to be the long-rumored Steam Box hardware...

From the iconography on the main page I'd guess the second announcement will be Steam hardware and the third one will be Half Life 3 (second circle indicates software product again?). Pure speculation on my side here. http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/

As this is as good a place as any to record my guess, I'd go for some sort of virtualization.

O = SteamOS

[O] = Hardware partners Steam box (in tiers inc. an inexpensive stream target box for $99)

[O O] = Being able to run a SteamOS game on your Windows system. Think DOSBox or HyperV.

If they could do this then really it's a case of convenience vs performance, and a few exclusives or two would push people to dual boot rather than VM it.

It could also be the way they plan to stream, i.e. a self-contained mini-OS that runs under Windows but streams out/in visual and inputs. The 'local' version fits ok with that, in that you can run a SteamOS title in Windows by localhost'ing it really.

Just speculating, but it's interesting to think about.

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