Valve announces SteamOS

Status
Not open for further replies.
Holy crap at some of the post in here.

You are not going to get a magical overnight change but just like any new platform over time it will grow and eventually you won't need windows anymore if you so desire.

it's like a console gen change .., the ps4 can not play ps3 games but over time all new games will be made for it.

The big difference is unless something bad happens there will always be games on windows as well so that means *gasp!*. You will have More choices.
 
Grief.exe said:
For one, you aren't the target demographic. Valve is focusing on broadening the market into people who have never been PC gamers before.

If there is enough demand then the other companies will do ports of their clients and games to Linux. Blizzard is porting a game to Linux this year for example.

And of course, you can always dual boot Windows on any Steam Machine if you so desire.
Click to expand...
the problem with this is two fold.

1. These people its targeting are not PC gamers right? So you expect non PC gamers to jump on your train but not all games will work??

2. Dual booting. You really think there is a decent percentage of people willing to go through this inconvenience?

Most possibly you will have the same OEMs who sell steam machines with steamos selling the exact same machine with windows with a big sign saying "THIS ONE PLAYS ALL OF YOUR GAMES"
 
Vestal said:
the problem with this is two fold.

1. These people its targeting are not PC gamers right? So you expect non PC gamers to jump on your train but not all games will work??

2. Dual booting. You really think there is a decent percentage of people willing to go through this inconvenience?

Most possibly you will have the same OEMs who sell steam machines with steamos selling the exact same machine with windows with a big sign saying "THIS ONE PLAYS ALL OF YOUR GAMES"
Click to expand...

The answers to your questions seem pretty straightforward.

1. It won't matter since non PC gamers won't have a backlog.
2. There's no need for dualbooting if they buy a SteamMachine.
 
Not mine

BYNy9F8.gif
 
Vestal said:
the problem with this is two fold.

1. These people its targeting are not PC gamers right? So you expect non PC gamers to jump on your train but not all games will work??
Click to expand...

Why not? They don't have a library to lose. If steammachines ads have focus on real linux games, I can't see the problem.

Vestal said:
2. Dual booting. You really think there is a decent percentage of people willing to go through this inconvenience?
Click to expand...


Only as an option, mainly for pc gamers that want to try SteamOS. They are used to this.


Beaten by Max
 
I think that the issue of the Windows backlog isn't a big deal. Here's why:

If you're a core PC gamer - you have a good PC and can stream to SteamOS.
If you have a weak laptop and some not graphically demanding indie games on Steam - the overwhelming majority of those will be available on SteamOS.
If you are not a PC gamer - you have no Steam backlog, so no problem.

So the only segment of the audience that is affected is gamers with a powerful Windows PC and a sizable backlog that want to wipe Windows off of their PC and go SteamOS-only, a segment that is probably small since SteamOS can't replace Windows for non-gaming functions.
 
Khaz said:
Wow, I would have had expected this thread to advance at a much more rapid pace. I guess this announcement was met with disappointment.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say disappointment, more like apathy or confusion.



Zeta_Enforcer said:
I've been reading the several threads on the new SteamOS and Machine. There are a few people that, for what ever reason, feel threatened by this announcement while others are complaining that it makes no sense for them to use this product.

It's seems like they make it pretty plain and simple that this option for living room gaming will make sense for some, and and it wont work for others.

Steam isn't trying to limit its market, its broadening it.
Click to expand...


I'm much more concerned with Valve fracturing it's market while trying to broaden it. If games start being developed to run in SteamOS will they still run in the Windows Steam client? And by going to a Linux machine to run SteamOS you give up playing non SteamOS games, how many are really willing to do that? Sure you can dual boot but the majority of users don't know how to do that and won't bother.

The news is interesting, but there are so many concerns and questions that it's hard to get real excited yet at this point. At least for me it is.
 
Mengy said:
I wouldn't say disappointment, more like apathy or confusion.

I'm much more concerned with Valve fracturing it's market while trying to broaden it. If games start being developed to run in SteamOS will they still run in the Windows Steam client? And by going to a Linux machine to run SteamOS you give up playing non SteamOS games, how many are really willing to do that? Sure you can dual boot but the majority of users don't know how to do that and won't bother.

The news is interesting, but there are so many concerns and questions that it's hard to get real excited yet at this point. At least for me it is.
Click to expand...

I guess it ultimately depends on the developers but I'd bet on Linux being the main OS and porting to Win and OSX. There's no incentive for developers to not want to port to Windows since this will be a transition period for games.

So this is how I see it working. Developers will make their games with OpenGL (or Mantle if that works out). OpenGL works for everything so the games can be ported out to other operating systems. Since SteamOS is Linux based then if you use another distro with a steam client, you will at least get the benefit of better graphics drivers, more support and now having most games be Linux compatible.

While all of this is going on we'll be using the streaming service as a band-aid to backwards compatibility. Hopefully some wine wrapper will come to steam games so we wont have to stream and worry about Windows anymore.

If you're like me and want to support the move to Linux you'll probably want to Dual boot and have a separate Steam Box too. The other option is to just have a Steam Box. Lastly just wait it out and see what becomes popular. I hope everyone supports this move in some way. I think it's important to move away from Windows. No more dependency on something people don't want.
 
Will Mantle be a shared project between AMD and Nvidia? Or do you think AMD will take it for itself?

I think if they worked together on this they could be in a much better position overall.

scitek said:
The only inconvenience SteamOS presents is having to boot back into Windows when you're done to do anything else.
Click to expand...

It sounds like the version of Linux they are going to use will have quite a variety of application and uses available.
You won't have to boot back into Windows unless you want to use photoshop, video editing, etc.
 
Grief.exe said:
It sounds like the version of Linux they are going to use will have quite a variety of application and uses available.
You won't have to boot back into Windows unless you want to use photoshop, video editing, etc.
Click to expand...

Lightworks has a Linux version, it's free, and it's as good as Premiere. Unfortunately, GIMP is still much worse than Photoshop...
 
Grief.exe said:
It sounds like the version of Linux they are going to use will have quite a variety of application and uses available.
You won't have to boot back into Windows unless you want to use photoshop, video editing, etc.
Click to expand...

If SteamOS takes off, in a couple years I'm bowing out of Windows PC altogether. Mac for editing / work and SteamOS for gaming.
 
Giant Panda said:
So what's the incentive for developers to support steam OS over Windows? Neither OS has software royalties correct?
Click to expand...

Most big games are done using a few engines: Unreal, Source, CryEngine, Frostbite, maybe Unity. As long the the engine supports linux, adding SteamOS support should be pretty straightforward, and a no brainer for publishers.

Source is a given, Unity also, EA may be hard to convert so forget Frostbite for now. Blizzard games are also not gonna be on Steam. So the question is, can valve get Epic and Crytek onboard? If they do, it'll be enough to grow the ecosystem and gradually convert the rest of the industry.

Like someone said, this is a long game. Valve doesn't need console-like launches.
 
Are we under the assumption still that SteamOS will lack a desktop? Game did mention web browsing and netflix. I think they can add an option to logout of SteamOS and load up a full Gnome session. Its not that hard, I do it with XBMC.

Verge:So... Netflix on the Steam Box?

Gabe:Oh absolutely. You can fire up a web browser, you can do whatever you want.
Click to expand...
 
neoanarch said:
Are we under the assumption still that SteamOS will lack a desktop? Game did mention web browsing and netflix. I think they can add an option to logout of SteamOS and load up a full Gnome session. Its not that hard, I do it with XBMC.
Click to expand...

Its going to be a full Linux desktop distro I think, where you can just like Linux install anything you would want to install.

I also think you can only develop for SteamOS without publishing it trough steam.
 
pixlexic said:
Holy crap at some of the post in here.

You are not going to get a magical overnight change but just like any new platform over time it will grow and eventually you won't need windows anymore if you so desire.

it's like a console gen change .., the ps4 can not play ps3 games but over time all new games will be made for it.

The big difference is unless something bad happens there will always be games on windows as well so that means *gasp!*. You will have More choices.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. It's not going to replace overnight what has been the standard for 20+ years.

What makes this exciting is that it is a huge boost for Linux as a viable gaming platform. All it needs now is the big games, which are coming, to legitimize it in the eyes of a lot of PC gamers.
 
neoanarch said:
Are we under the assumption still that SteamOS will lack a desktop? Game did mention web browsing and netflix. I think they can add an option to logout of SteamOS and load up a full Gnome session. Its not that hard, I do it with XBMC.
Click to expand...

Just want I want. To use netflix on my tv through a browser. Ugh.

I had hoped SteamOS was going to be tuned totally as a TV game and streaming system, not a general purpose OS running KDE or whatever else that chews up resources.
 
I just get this feeling they will announce Source 2 engine tomorrow, and release it for developers.

Source 2 will completely annihilate other premium engines like Frostbite, Cryengine, etc.

Valve Software patent on Gamepad controller (modular sockets. you can replace parts of the game controller)

http://www.google.com/patents/US20110105231

A game controller is provided. One or more main control input interfaces on the game controller consist of generalized sockets. A variety of modular input interfaces can be plugged into these sockets. Hardware specific to the input type of the modular input is contained within the modular input itself, and plugged in via an interface. This allows for dual analog sticks, a combination of analog and trackball, or further any combination of touchpad, directional pad, or additional components.
Click to expand...
 
RulkezX said:
Is guess the majority of machines SteamOS is installed on are not going to be sitting under a tv.
Click to expand...

Those people have no right to be angry just because they can't read.

Quasar said:
Just want I want. To use netflix on my tv through a browser. Ugh.

I had hoped SteamOS was going to be tuned totally as a TV game and streaming system, not a general purpose OS running KDE or whatever else that chews up resources.
Click to expand...

If all the Spotify Steam integration stuff is anything to go by, you don't have much to worry about, at least once SteamOS is mostly out of beta...
 
AdmiralPain said:
I think that the issue of the Windows backlog isn't a big deal. Here's why:

(1)If you're a core PC gamer - you have a good PC and can stream to SteamOS.
(2)If you have a weak laptop and some not graphically demanding indie games on Steam - the overwhelming majority of those will be available on SteamOS.
(3)If you are not a PC gamer - you have no Steam backlog, so no problem.

So the only segment of the audience that is affected is gamers with a powerful Windows PC and a sizable backlog that want to wipe Windows off of their PC and go SteamOS-only, a segment that is probably small since SteamOS can't replace Windows for non-gaming functions.
Click to expand...

1) This is only part of SteamOS that even makes sense to me. People who already have a kick ass computer and just want to be able to connect it to one or more TVs. Dunno how big this market is, though, and even the people who are excited about this thing claim we aren't the intended market. This also doesn't grow your market, it's just the same people you already had.

2) Who is going to buy a Steambox to stream indy games from a laptop? No one, that's who. Even if there was this imaginary person, how much fun do you think they'd have playing indy PC games with a controller?

3) If you aren't a PC gamer you might not have a PC backlog, but you sure as hell know what the big PC games are and most of them aren't on SteamOS. Launch Steam and look at the list of titles that work with Linux. It's a shit list, and that list gets MUCH smaller when you take into account of all the M/Kb titles that either don't work or don't work well with a controller. If you don't have a PC, that means you aren't streaming. You are going to be playing on the actual hardware. What console gamer is going to pay $300-1000 for a Steambox with such a limited selection of games to choose from?
 
Quasar said:
Just want I want. To use netflix on my tv through a browser. Ugh.

I had hoped SteamOS was going to be tuned totally as a TV game and streaming system, not a general purpose OS running KDE or whatever else that chews up resources.
Click to expand...

There is no reason you'd have background processes running. Which is why I mentioned XBMC. I can log into Ubuntu with ONLY XBMC running, nothing else; no gnome, kde, xfce or Unity. If I want to run an app like Firefox or Steam I have to logout and start a Gnome Session.
 
sofiabudapest said:
this picture is well known, I use it sometimes to cheer myself up
Click to expand...

I'm pretty darn positive the 3rd announcement will be Source 2 Engine, ready for developers to grab the very same day.

I'm so hyped! I can't sleep. I'm 30 years old and i'm reminiscing the HL2 pre-launch days. (the HL2 leak, tech demo)
 
Rafterman said:
2) Who is going to buy a Steambox to stream indy games from a laptop?
Click to expand...

That's not what I'm saying. There are a lot of people out there who buy indie games through Steam for their laptop but do their AAA gaming on console. This part of the audience could be interested in the Steambox.

Rafterman said:
3) If you aren't a PC gamer you might not have a PC backlog, but you sure as hell know what the big PC games are and most of them aren't on SteamOS.
Click to expand...

I feel confident in saying that they will be, and soon.
 
neoanarch said:
Are we under the assumption still that SteamOS will lack a desktop? Game did mention web browsing and netflix. I think they can add an option to logout of SteamOS and load up a full Gnome session. Its not that hard, I do it with XBMC.
Click to expand...
Start Big Picture, hit the left trigger. There's your browser. Stuff like Netflix doesn't require a desktop, either. What Steam lacks right now are media center capabilities. Pretty much everything else you'd ever want to do on a living room machine is already there.

Sure, you can't run Office or Photoshop on it, but why would you want to use stuff like that on a HTPC in the first place? As an added benefit, Valve doesn't have to care about supporting all kinds of hardware, taking one of the biggest Linux headaches out of the equation. The system simply doesn't have to support printers, video capture equipment and god knows what else.
 
I don't think the third announcement will be the controller. The circle+circle symbol makes me believe that it will be about software, so we might get announcements for major software partners or game engines supporting SteamOS, along with Valve's own Source2.
 
Dreamfact: how to persuade every single pc user to install SOS? To offer it for free is a good start. But it will be perfect as a free bundle with the official third installation of the Half Life series.
If they were in need of making money with Half Life, they wouldn't wait 10 years or more in order to be actually able to gain profit.
 
For the #3rd announcement I am hoping for a "...and it's available now" reveal.

SteamOS beta, Source 2 SDK, Controller, Steam version 2, whatever it is they announce I want to read it's available immediately!

Don't disappoint me Gabe.
 
angular graphics said:
For the #3rd announcement I am hoping for a "...and it's available now" reveal.

SteamOS beta, Source 2 SDK, Controller, Steam version 2, whatever it is they announce I want to read it's available immediately!

Don't disappoint me Gabe.
Click to expand...

I dreamt last night that Steam announced a controller and at the bottom a GTA V symbol with the words saying available on Steam starting tomorrow. It probably will never happen though :(
 
I think they will just show the controller and maybe give more details on the steam machine and Steam OS. Not getting my hopes ups for any game announcements.

HALF LIFE 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

PC Valve announces SteamOS compatibility rating system ahead of the release of Legion Go S.
News Hardware 
11
224
Erebus replied
  • Locked
The return of Steam Machines? Valve rolls out new “Powered by SteamOS” branding.
4
578
Orpheus replied
Valve introducing Steam branding guidelines for 3rd party hardware products with Steam features (SteamOS, SteamVR, Steam Link etc)
2 3
108
6K
Miyazaki’s Slave replied
PCWorld: Microsoft should be terrified of SteamOS.
2 3 4 5
233
13K
kentkouh replied
Arch Linux announces direct collaboration with Valve
2
51
3K
TrebleShot replied
Top Bottom