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SteamOS

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Re: SteamOS

#451

Post by GalacticDomin8r »

Symmetry wrote: post #302
toblender wrote: post #179

I wonder if history will repeat itself, will Valve be the next Apple? Apple took FreeBSD and makes it into OSX. > Valve takes Linux and makes it into SteamOS. Apple makes iTunes for music, unifying digital music download > Valve makes Steam for games, unifying digital game download Apple make IPOD for digital music playing > Valve make (SteamBox?) for game playing Damn I wish I could own some Valve stock...

The differences in licensing between the BSD license and GPL are designed to prevent them from doing all of what Apple did with FreeBSD.

> what Apple did with FreeBSD

Please tell us what Apple did with FreeBSD.

Re: SteamOS

#452

Post by daviding »

ekianjo wrote: post #449
daviding wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just thinking a dedicated OnLive / ChromeCast like wee box for the LAN, perhaps with a Valve designed controller (i.e. an analog something). All real processing would be on the host SteamOS PC really, with dedicated hardware to help reduce lag on the stream.

I think you didn't read the announcement correctly. Sure the box can do streaming but it is also expected to run "native games". So, for streaming maybe a cheap box is OK, but for actual gaming on the box, you'll need something way more powerful than what you can get for 99 dollars.

That's why I used the word 'tiers' if you read more carefully. The bottom tier may be an inexpensive streaming box, the highest tier may be a high performance dedicated gaming PC running SteamOS.

Re: SteamOS

#453

Post by chii »

ebertx wrote: post #357
rkalla wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dennis, maybe you are right... this is a long-game and they are just getting ahead of the inevitable (engines supporting Linux natively, eventually more and more releases for the platform). I suppose this is the curse of the first-mover, it always seems to be risky/nonsensical until it isn't... then we all see it as an obvious move in hindsight ;)

Yeah, this reminds of the initial launch of Steam back in 2003. At first it seemed like an annoying hoop to jump through. As the years went by and it got more dependable, more games, and more features, it became easier and easier to forget how annoying it was in the beginning. I wonder if the same thing will happen with SteamOS. At best it will initially seem like a novelty, then 10 years from now a huge group of cus…

in fact, microsoft should be scared of this move - because the gaming scene is basically what keeps a whole bunch of machines installed with windows.

Re: SteamOS

#455

Post by kibibu »

visualphoenix wrote: post #376
McGlockenshire wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

Just FYI the PS4 low-level library is called GNM, and their higher-level wrapper is GNMX.

(source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-how-the-cre...)

Re: SteamOS

#456

Post by Al-Khwarizmi »

saraid216 wrote: post #33
xSwag wrote: post #10

Oh my god. This provides a genuine chance for year of the linux desktop in 2014, for gamers at least.

Gaming is one of the last legitimate refuges of Windows dominance. There are a lot of us who wouldn't care about (read: would be willing to switch) their OS if not for PC gaming.

Some years ago I was about to switch my home PC from the terrible Windows Vista to Linux, and the only thing that prevented me from doing so was Team Fortress 2.

Now TF2 runs on Linux, and the perspectives for Linux gaming are very good in general, but I no longer want to switch because I am happy with Windows 7, I hate Unity and Gnome 3 and their dumbed-down UIs that make me want to bang my head against the wall, XFCE is OK but feels like going ten years back in time, and KDE 4... well, that one is not too bad, but I still prefer Windows 7.

It's a pity that all this Linux gaming surge didn't happen back in 2008 or so, when Windows was in its lowest moments with Vista and most Linux distros hadn't yet been ruined by overbearing UI visionaries. I'm sure that desktop Linux market share would have soared in that case.

Re: SteamOS

#457

Post by kibibu »

ekianjo wrote: post #447
bryanlarsen wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which works out to $25 million to get the E.T. license, $100 million to make millions of cartridges to bury in the desert, and $200,000 on actual development.

I think I have read somewhere that the cartridges being buried in the desert is just a hoax.

http://www.snopes.com/business/market/atari.asp

Re: SteamOS

#458

Post by Mikeb85 »

visualphoenix wrote: post #376
McGlockenshire wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

With Nvidia drivers you can use OpenGL 4.3 (the most recent version). It's only the Intel drivers which are limited to OpenGL 3...

Re: SteamOS

#459

Post by mayhew »

marcosdumay wrote: post #438
Avitas wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your last thought is the big point here. It may be part of more of a horizontal strategy that is initially touted as a niche move. When we actually see it, it may be either a desktop-less distro, have Unity/GNOME or some other desktop permutation. My best estimate of what best fits a maximum impact strategy is an OS with a desktop environment pre-installed (even if hidden from casual view) or easily installable. I ha…

My bet is a Debian derivative, running X, with no complete desktop environment, but with all the GTK libs required. Maybe with added Wine.

It'll likely just boot straight into Big Picture.

Re: SteamOS

#460

Post by Mikeb85 »

gcb0 wrote: post #298
makmanalp wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interesting thing is that convincing AAA publishers to port merely requires them to think it'd be profitable. 20 years ago, if someone asked to raise a quarter of a billion into a video game, they'd be laughed out of the building. Now it happens often. Over the years, increasingly big-budget games got funded and created. So, all they need to do is to replicate a similar process. First you move all the indie games…

Not so simple nowadays. Games are not fire and forget anymore. Now it's all about downloadable content and In-Game-Currency (which is basically a way to allow gambling legally) Just being profitable initially doesn't mean jack. I think everyone learned that from the emails from Jobs and the Printing industry (and what i'd give to read the ones with the music industry...)

Not true. Most big AAA games and the higher quality Indie Games you just buy once, and you get the whole version. Examples are Minecraft, Braid, Fez, for indies, and pretty much all AAA titles are buy-once... Even many of the higher quality Android titles are a one-time purchase.
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