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[Fantasmo]

This is unappealing because there's not too much worth announcing yet.
This is appealing because MS dropped the ball on PC, and Steam picked it up and they have a good track record.
This is also appealing because Steam doesn't lock out other stores and has free online.
This is also appealing because even if it fails, MS might have to take a look at PC gaming again, and even if MS gives up in the PC space, SteamOS can pick up the slack.

Its going to be years before anything is clear, but the nice thing is they're not a newcomer, and they have a pretty big vested interest.

So its good news, but not life changing for quite a time.

 

[WhiskeyKnight]

I don't think splitting this announcement up into three parts was a good idea. Wouldn't it be better to make one big announcement instead of three comparatively little ones?

I guess the counterpoint would be that they get continued exposure all week, instead of a single day. But by the time they get around to a hardware announcement at the end of the week, the mainstream press coverage will have either moved on or become confused. It has the potential to become a "didn't we already cover Valve's living room initiative?" type situation.

When Sony launched the PS4, they didn't issue a separate statement saying "Guys, the PS4 is going to have an OS!" It's just understood that modern gaming consoles have an operating system. In fact, I couldn't tell you what either the Playstation of Xbox OS is even called, and I follow this stuff pretty closely. It's part and parcel of the system. Just seems to me they're diluting the potential impact of this announcement by doling it out a teaspoon at a time.

 

[jediyoshi]

I like being able to finish some work in photoshop, then load up hitman absolution. No thanks, valve...

Do you work in Photoshop while you're in the living room sitting on a couch?

 

[Astery]

You can still use your monitor, I'm not sure why people keep bringing up tv in this thread

Well, I already have the steam client on my pc, what's exactly the appeal of a steam OS or steam box? streaming tv?

 

[sqwarlock]

Seems like a cool idea, but it's not really something I'm interested in. I'm one of those oddities that enjoys PC and console gaming equally, and I'm more than happy keeping my PC running Windows.

 

[fizzgigg]

The site keeps making mention to a 'living room machine'. Are they talking about hardware they've designed and is yet to be announced, or a desktop PC hooked up to a TV?

There are 2 more announcements be patient.

 

[Principate]

crappy game card on mine. I didn't look at it, as it wasn't for gaming. Just tried out Dark Souls to play the extra content, but even though it ran, it was at 15 FPS, so... playable but not enjoyable.

You sure it wasn't running on your integrated graphics card (if it a laptop) it tends to do that.

 

[chadskin]

Because it says living room lol

But yes it's a OS it can be used anywhere you want.

It remains to be seen just how open and accessible the SteamOS really is. The OS on the Amazon Kindle Fire tablets is based on Android but you wouldn't know it from looking at it.

 

[Sandfox]

I don't really see the point of this tbqh.

 

[angular graphics]

The site keeps making mention to a 'living room machine'. Are they talking about hardware they've designed and is yet to be announced, or a desktop PC hooked up to a TV?

Both. But that hardware (aka the SteamBox) IS a PC.

 

[NaviLink]

I'm very curious to see what they're gonna do with it, but at the same time I don't see the point of having your own Linux build.

 

[Mutanthands]

The reason Gabe left MS in the first place was he was looking at the numbers of installed programs, and the number one software penetration app was Doom.

Be dismissive of PC gaming all you want, but gaming is the primary activity on most OSes.
I wouldn't think Ms would be particularly happy with many people becoming familiar with using linux on a daily basis either.

I'm pretty sure that Linux is going to be well hidden at the base of SteamOS.

 

[Anteater]

Well, I already have the steam client on my pc, what's exactly the appeal of a steam OS or steam box? streaming tv?

it shouldn't have that much of an advantage other than some performance gain I think, it's just a dedicated os for games, it's free though

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

I'm surprised that people can't figure out what applications this could have.

Just for starters: Samsung is very aggressive about building in new features to its existing TVs. They were early adopters of Android. They seem like a plausible candidate.

Regardless of who does what, the point is that the definition of "living room machine" is purposefully broad. Over time, this could mean a wide variety of devices connecting in a wide variety of ways, and a large number of them can add SteamOS in for free.

Obviously companies like Sony and Microsoft aren't likely to be interested, but other electronics manufacturers without strongly competing business interest might be.

The fact that it's just one more OS to complicate things is enough to outweigh the positives, mundane as they are.

 

[Schweinehund]

Does anyone else think this all but confirms half life 3 on steamOS only?

HL2 forced a steam install, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some incentive or exclusivity for steamOS.

 

[fizzgigg]

I like being able to finish some work in photoshop, then load up hitman absolution. No thanks, valve...

This is for people that like to relax and game. Sitting at my desk gets uncomfortable to game I like to sit on my couch to game.

 

[RedSwirl]

Here's my question though: where are these manufacturers ready to build living room machines?

I think Valve expects other hardware manufacturers (Dell, Alienware, Asus, MSI,etc.) to sell "living room PCs" or even consoles with Steam OS pre-installed, potentially exposing Steam to a lot more people outside of existing PC gamers. How is Valve going to actually convince those manufacturers to do this? HTPCs aren't exactly a big market right now.

From what I see right now, Valve is essentially trying to create a whole new class of computer alongside tablets and smartphones. I even think Gabe has said he's trying to get to that point before iOS makes its big entrance into the living room and saturates living room gaming with cheap, mobile-style games.

 

[Corto]

I don't really see the point of this tbqh.

Future proof. Valve doesn't want to trust the future of their company on a third party that can close the gates and make Windows a walled garden.

 

[Thoraxes]

Neat, I'll be sure to try it on an extra HDD.

 

[Sandfox]

Does anyone else think this all but confirms half life 3 on steamOS only?

HL2 forced a steam install, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some incentive or exclusivity for steamOS.

That would be a good way to piss people off and limit your sales lol.

 

[MrCunningham]

This thread's moving fast. Has this been asked?: Could an OG PS3 running Other OS feasibly install Steam OS and run Steam games through the PS3 using a DualShock 3? Am I a dummy?

Probably not, since the PS3 is PPC based and not x86. But even if it were possible, that performance would be so horrendous because OtherOS doesn't have full access to the PS3 GPU as far as I know.

best to just use that DualShock 3 on a PC with SteamOS installed on it.

 

[DieH@rd]

Valve.... PLEASE release Big Picture Mode app for Vita and VitaTV [Playstation Mobile app even]. If you are already supporting "remote playing" from PC, allow that Vita/VitaTV can grab that feed.

If you do that, I will be forever happy.

 

[Sothpaw]

Never buying a closed system console again. MS, Sony and Nintendo can all get fucked.

 

[syko de4d]

I wonder how EA must be feeling right now and how will they react to this.

Same for Ubisoft.

Just create a Linux version of Origin. I am pretty sure Steam will not stop EA, Blizzard, Ubisoft etc. from creating a program and run it on SteamOS or any other Linux Version. If Valve will stop them, SteamOS would be worse than Windows8 and way less people would use SteamOS if you could only play Steam Games on it.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

I'm pretty sure that Linux is going to be well hidden at the base of SteamOS.

I am as well.

But you don't want people finding a free alternative to your major product is entirely usable on a regular basis by eevryday folks, and not only usable by nerds with PHDs in computer science telnetting into the matrix.

 

[terrisus]

Both. But that hardware (aka the SteamBox) IS a PC.

It's IBM-PC Compatible?

 

[fizzgigg]

It remains to be seen just how open and accessible the SteamOS really is. The OS on the Amazon Kindle Fire tablets is based on Android but you wouldn't know it from looking at it.

Android is Linux based, Android is free, Android is open sourced. It's the same concept but steam build OS. There will be hardware for it of course. They're saying it's free you can put it on your TV or whatever you want.

 

[Tobor]

I don't see how anyone can view this as negative. Anything that helps promote PC game development on non-Windows platforms is a huge win.

I can't wait to see the controller.

 

[Reg]

Always bank on the penguin.

 

[BadAss2961]

Does anyone else think this all but confirms half life 3 on steamOS only?

HL2 forced a steam install, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some incentive or exclusivity for steamOS.

Installing an entire OS to run one game? lol. That would destroy Half Life 3 sales.

 

[Shambles]

Is it? Everything I've heard from everyone is that, if you activate offline mode and are offline, it makes you go back online to check in with them like once every 2 weeks or something.

You are only hearing it from other people who haven't even tried it themselves and don't know what they are talking about. It's funny seeing those posts as it shows how adamant some people are that they know something to be true even though they have no experience with it whatsoever.

 

[Astery]

it shouldn't have that much of an advantage other than some performance gain I think, it's just a dedicated os for games, it's free though

hmmm ok, may be I'll be interested in it one day when most apps I use works well on this OS, not quite seeing the reason to jump in anytime soon unless you have extra machines lying around.

 

[Corto]

The fact that it's just one more OS to complicate things is enough to outweigh the positives, mundane as they are.

For a common end user it will be completely transparent. Our TVs, SmartPhones, DVRs have OSes at their backbone. Most of them are Linux based. The UI abstraction and how intuitive/unobtrusive it is will be the source (or removal) of confusion.

 

[Opiate]

Valve.... PLEASE release Big Picture Mode app for Vita and VitaTV [Playstation Mobile app even]. If you are already supporting "remote playing" from PC, allow that Vita/VitaTV can grab that feed.

If you do that, I will be forever happy.

Does Vita support Linux?

 

[Schweinehund]

That would be a good way to piss people off and limit your sales lol.

People were pretty pissed off in the early days of steam, they got over it though.

The problem is making the installation smooth and user friendly.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

This is awesome. I hope it supports NTFS or ExFAT so I can have all my games on one partitions. I am going to split my SSD into two OSes now.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Does anyone else think this all but confirms half life 3 on steamOS only?

HL2 forced a steam install, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some incentive or exclusivity for steamOS.

I can see that happening ... if HL3 is released 5 years from now.

 

[DieH@rd]

Does Vita support Linux?

No, it would have to be a native Vita app that will just grab Remote Play stream of the Big Picture Mode on PC, or native app that will have full Steam client in it and stream only games from PC. Option #1 is way easier [just a small streaming client on Vita].

 

[Artex]

Microsoft am cry?

 

[Raticus79]

Installing an entire OS to run one game? lol. That would destroy Half Life 3 sales.

Maybe they'll offer HL3 for free under SteamOS to get the install base going.

 

[The Cowboy]

I don't see how anyone can view this as negative. Anything that helps promote PC game development on non-Windows platforms is a huge win.

I can't wait to see the controller.

As long as all game release on Windows like they currently do I agree, there is no real negative. If however this ends up making it so a lot of games are SteamOS exclusive (or to a lesser extend timed exclusive), I'd say that's a pretty big negative.

So if this helps PC game development on non Windows platforms with no effect to current PC gaming, I'll be happy with this happening.

 

[chuckddd]

I'm just hoping that Valve is able to shake up the market. Even if it's just a little bit. Windows has needed a competitor for a long time. I've always felt that linux was the path, but finally, someone has decided to pick up the ball and run with it.

 

[chadskin]

I'm calling it right now: Half-Life 3 comes free with every $500 Steam Box which is a small Kaveri-based AMD A10 machine with 8GB RAM and a 500GB HDD plus a 24GB SSD for the OS.

 

[Grief.exe]

Valve.... PLEASE release Big Picture Mode app for Vita and VitaTV [Playstation Mobile app even]. If you are already supporting "remote playing" from PC, allow that Vita/VitaTV can grab that feed.

If you do that, I will be forever happy.

Vita runs on an ARM processor. Valve, currently, does not have a wrapper to convert x86 to ARM.

That is the eventual goal, but not there yet.

I'm calling it right now: Half-Life 3 comes free with every $500 Steam Box which is a small Kaveri-based AMD A10 machine with 8GB RAM and a 500GB HDD plus a 24GB SSD for the OS.

Steambox probably looking to release relatively soon. HL3 isn't even in development at Valve right now.

You might be correct with L4D3.

 

[Trouble]

The streaming feature has me intrigued. I wonder how well it works.

 

[Dennis]

Does anyone else think this all but confirms half life 3 on steamOS only?

HL2 forced a steam install, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some incentive or exclusivity for steamOS.

 

[terrisus]

You are only hearing it from other people who haven't even tried it themselves and don't know what they are talking about. It's funny seeing those posts as it shows how adamant some people are that they know something to be true even though they have no experience with it whatsoever.

So it's not the case? Once the Steam client and any games are installed, the computer can be permanently offline and never connect to their servers again?

 

[StuBurns]

There's no way HL3 is exclusive to SteamOS. Firstly, it would piss off way too many of their fans, and secondly, they want to sell it, to as many people as humanly possible. It'll be on the consoles too.

 

[RedSwirl]

Just create a Linux version of Origin. I am pretty sure Steam will not stop EA, Blizzard, Ubisoft etc. from creating a program and run it on SteamOS or any other Linux Version. If Valve will stop them, SteamOS would be worse than Windows8 and way less people would use SteamOS if you could only play Steam Games on it.

I'm already wondering if EA and Ubisoft are thinking of creating Big Picture modes for Origin and UPlay respectively. If living room PC gaming becomes big they'll probably have to consider it as part of their market.

 

[cbox]

Do you work in Photoshop while you're in the living room sitting on a couch?

Uh no... My office is my living room.

I've got my ps3, 360 and pc all hooked up via hdmi. Though I prefer playing pc games while sitting at my desk. Guess it depends on the games everyone plays...