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SteamOS

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Re: SteamOS

#471

Post by johnyzee »

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…

> Is anyone else skeptical that they can motivate publishers to spend time/money porting their games to the Linux platform?

All they have to do is heavily subsidize (or give away) the console they are undoubtedly working on. Right from the get-go you can stream your existing PC Steam games to your TV which everyone will jump on. When the installed base is large enough, publishers will follow.

Re: SteamOS

#472

Post by rodgerd »

giovannibajo1 wrote: post #296
Karunamon wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is genius. All you need now is a micro box running windows with appropriate video card that you can stick in the corner next to your router and never have to look at again. Assuming the streaming and UX works half as well as they're playing at, they've just managed to commoditize hardware compatibility. I don't think the importance of this can be understated.

You could do this already for years with Apple TV and Airplay mirror. The real problem is that of controls, mouse and keyboard don't match well with couch

Many, many PC games support a controller these days.

Re: SteamOS

#473

Post by rodgerd »

scarlson wrote: post #184
RyanZAG wrote: post #83

This is basically a similar approach Android took for phones. It leverages off Linux while replacing user facing pieces to give the user a simplified and consistent environment that they expect. However as with Android, that isn't enough to get it to take off. Android had huge traction problems to start with until they managed to get the big device makers to train users and market the devices. SteamOS is going to hav…

EA won't be there. Blizzard won't be there. Steam is increasingly becoming a great indie platform where the only AAA titles we see on it are Valve's.

In what universe are Grand Theft Auto, Borderlands, Bioshock, Skyrim, Call of Duty, and Saints Row indie titles?

Re: SteamOS

#474

Post by ekianjo »

daviding wrote: post #452
ekianjo wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Got it. Then I agree, such tiering is possible.

Re: SteamOS

#475

Post by chii »

sliverstorm wrote: post #342
mladenkovacevic wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is the circle off to one side of the box. Maybe I'm reading too much into it... but perhaps it could be a game controller and not a set-top box?

That could be interesting... but I must say, the Xbox360 controller is fantastic, inexpensive, and easily integrates with a PC. Sort of a solved problem, if you will, so unless they have significant value to add, I'd hope they'd focus elsewhere.

but microsoft can simply make the xbox360 controller difficult to implement in other games (tho i don't know how they'd do that…), and would effectively stop indies from supporting it. Having a proprietary controller, but coded using an open library (akin to what the steam workshop does), might mean that it's easier to have games implement controller support that's not fragmented.

Re: SteamOS

#477

Post by gillianseed »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #470
gillianseed wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you running beta releases of drivers? Anyway the reason NVidia has had strong Linux driver support for such a long time has nothing to do with desktop Linux and certainly not Linux gaming. It's because Linux is huge in 3d and special effects (mainly movie, tv) and of course dominant in hpc. However, Steambox is likely resulting in NVidia improving their Linux video drivers with focus on game performance.

No, I'm running Windows x64, so it's possible that Linux drivers don't have the same problem. I was being somewhat facetious, but the fact is that I can't run any nVidia driver after 314.22 on my system for more than a few days without occasional temporary freezes and some that require a cold restart. This isn't an isolated complaint. They have a bug, somewhere, that's been there for a few months now.

I see, I would point out that for production work you are very unlikely to be running the latest release of any video driver due to it being largely untested in the wild, no matter if you run Linux or Windows.

So the official SteamBox will come with very stable drivers for it's hardware configuration, and the same goes for third-party 'Steamboxes' aswell I'm sure.

For Steam users running on their own machine configurations it's another thing of course, but that's no different from the way PC gaming has always been.

One possible difference is that the official Steambox will likely function as a 'confirmed' hardware configuration so even if you 'build you own machine' or look to buy another offering you can use the hardware setup of of existing Steambox(es) as a hint of what to buy for the best 'Steam-experience'.

Re: SteamOS

#478

Post by shin_lao »

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…

You can stream games from your desktop to Steam OS. That alone is awesome.

Re: SteamOS

#479

Post by chii »

venomsnake wrote: post #84
xentronium wrote: post #18

I'm somewhat disappointed. While perfectly logical for Valve, it might end up being not very beneficial for other distributions. In worst case scenario, hardware manufacturers cherry pick specific devices ("steambox") and software ecosystem to support (SteamOS) while totally neglecting all other linux distributions.

Doubt it - most of the benefits - like sane drivers, optimizations and so on will trickle down. And I think steam box will be set of requirements.

why would, say nvidia or AMD contribute their driver improvements upstream, especially if there isn't anything in it for them? unless there is some GPL clause requiring it of course.

Re: SteamOS

#480

Post by andyhmltn »

mikevm wrote: post #204
saraid216 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also MS Office, Adobe Photoshop and a bunch of other Windows-only or Mac-only tools.

Libreoffice replaces MS office easily for me
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