Steam sharing beta. Exactly what it says on the tin - by Phatose
Phatose on 24/9/2013 at 23:37
Unfortunately, that list of 300 games actually consists of Valve games, indie titles, and pretty much nothing else. If you want to play anything triple A on the thing, you're basically going to be using it as a device to stream from your computer to your living room. Which will mean tying up both the computer, and the living room TV - certainly gonna be great for families.
Sulphur on 25/9/2013 at 03:30
Quote Posted by Dresden
I'm confused. How is SteamOS supposed to run games without DirectX? Isn't it Windows only?
OpenGL. It's how you've been playing Quake and Doom 3 and Rage over the years on Windows.
Fafhrd on 25/9/2013 at 04:32
Quote Posted by Phatose
Unfortunately, that list of 300 games actually consists of Valve games, indie titles, and pretty much nothing else.
Considering that those indie titles include Planetary Annihilation, Sir, You are Being Hunted, the Double Fine back catalog (with the exception of Iron Brigade), the X series, the Introversion catalog, Serious Sam 3, and Red Orchestra I'd say it's a pretty solid selection. Metro: Last Light is also getting a linux version, and I'd be shocked if CD Projekt isn't giving serious thought to bringing the Witcher series to Linux and possibly putting GoG to work on figuring out how to get parts of that catalog working on linux as well.
Oh yeah, and (
http://www.crytek.com/career/offers/overview/frankfurt/programming-engineering/linux-programmer) Crytek is hiring Linux programmers, too. Specifically for porting CryEngine to Linux.
van HellSing on 25/9/2013 at 12:20
Quote Posted by Fafhrd
I'd be shocked if CD Projekt isn't giving serious thought to bringing the Witcher series to Linux and possibly putting GoG to work on figuring out how to get parts of that catalog working on linux as well.
They've been talking about "two big R&D projects" regarding GOG this year.
Yakoob on 25/9/2013 at 19:09
Ah thanks for clarification guys looks like my reading comprehension failed me a bit there (and no i wasn't even drinking wine, get off my back dethtoll hurf durf purple smurf)
So next announcement is up steam boxes. No surprise there tbh except for the plurality and promise of 3rd party manufacturers instead of a single locked down system.
I foreshadowed it earlier but isn't the biggest beef with open hardware and software platforms like droid phones, compared to iPhones, the bitch that developing on it to ensure cross platform compatibility? And variable performance... Some of my friends love their droids, some complain about constant slow downs due to lower specs even tho they are both for all intents and purposes the same platform.
I remain sceptical...
june gloom on 25/9/2013 at 20:17
i didn't say anything :(
Dresden on 25/9/2013 at 22:07
Quote Posted by Fafhrd
There are ~300 Linux capable games on Steam right now, including all of Valve's games. Later this week Valve is going to be announcing a slate of games from various companies coming to Linux next year, and they're going to continue to push companies releasing on Steam to do a Linux port as well. And since the PS4 is all OpenGL, building a Linux version off of the PS4 branch of any multiplatform game should represent roughly the same level of difficulty as porting the Xbox 360 or Xbox One branch to Windows.
Okay thanks. That makes a lot more sense now.
Fafhrd on 25/9/2013 at 23:48
Quote Posted by Yakoob
So next announcement is up steam boxes. No surprise there tbh except for the plurality and promise of 3rd party manufacturers instead of a single locked down system.
I foreshadowed it earlier but isn't the biggest beef with open hardware and software platforms like droid phones, compared to iPhones, the bitch that developing on it to ensure cross platform compatibility? And variable performance... Some of my friends love their droids, some complain about constant slow downs due to lower specs even tho they are both for all intents and purposes the same platform.
I remain sceptical...
You keep looking at this like it's an actual console when it's not. It's a PC. It has all the same development overhead as developing for PC, with the added benefit that there is not now and will never be a certification process to release games on it (apart from Greenlight if you want to get on the Steam Store, but there's no actual requirement to be on the Steam Store to release games for SteamOS. Just plan to be able to market your stuff properly outside of Steam).
Most of this stuff is about end-user benefits: the OS is free and (presumably) easy to use. The Steam Boxes have varying prices and performance profiles, so if all you want to do is play TF2 and Peggle, buy one based off of Valve's reference machines. Later on if you decide you want to play something with some heavier requirements, you can upgrade the components of that machine instead of buying a whole new one.
SubJeff on 26/9/2013 at 00:08
It's a great idea. They're trying to bypass the console competition with multipurpose and multi format hardware. I like it.
My only issue is we don't have a decent mouse and keyboard set up that is really good for using on the sofa.
Renzatic on 26/9/2013 at 00:56
Quote Posted by Phatose
What's the point? Steam's big advantage versus consoles is it's existing library. Unless this thing is going to run current windows games, it's gonna come up real short on reasons to buy it over a PS4.
Depends on how much developer support they get. They'll fall short on legacy games, but if they live up to their promise and drum up AAA Linux support, which apparently they're doing a fairly good job of since every high end SDK out there is suddenly getting a "press here to port to Mac/Linux" button, they'll have enough to at least match them at launch.
I think we're seeing the start of a big sea change here. With Android, iOS, Macs, Linux, WiiU, and the PS4 all being OpenGL based, and all of those save one are using a 'nix based OS, MS' platforms are starting to look like the odd man out. It still has, easily, the largest share among the PC OSes, dwarfing the rest by at least 15 to 1. But considering today's development cycles requires porting to as many platform as you can to hit as wide an audience as possible, and tablets becoming stronger and stronger everyday, things are looking grim for DirectX. And if DirectX goes, then Windows could potentially lose its stranglehold on the PC games market.
It's already starting to loosen up a bit. Valve could rush in and break it up entirely.
...or they could fall flat on their faces, and fail miserably. We'll see.
