Steam For Linux Will Launch In 2012 299
An anonymous reader writes "Gabe Newell has responded to an email asking if Steam for Linux will be released this year with the simple answer 'Yes.' That means at some point in the next 7 months anyone running Linux will be able to download Steam and start playing a number of games, including at least one Valve title (most likely Left 4 Dead 2). After that the emphasis will be on game developers to start porting their Steam games over to Linux. 2012 could be a great year for gaming on Linux. The news follows the revelation in April that Valve was indeed working on a Linux port of its digital games service. At the time though, and as with all Valve software, we had no idea when it would get released."
Mac Ports of Source Games (Score:4, Interesting)
Seeing as just about all of the Valve games on the Source engine have been ported to Mac, would I be correct in thinking that it is a vastly reduced job to then bring them to Linux?
Anyway, this is great news.
2012 - Year of the Linux Desktop!!
Re:2012 the year of the Linux desktop (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe this will indeed be the 'tipping point' for Linux. With those games coming to Linux, a gaming machine will become a lot cheaper. And they'll run faster too! (no antivirus or trialware running in the background)
Re:This is great news! (Score:5, Interesting)
Steam is a lesson in how DRM should be done. Ever used it? It's really nice, could storage of saves by default, all your games accessible wherever you are with your steam password. It actually makes your life *easier* than piracy which is practically unheard of for DRM. Valve seem to understand that money, like water, follows the path of least resistance.
Tin foil hat, full engage,.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Considering the direction Microsoft is taking with the desktop (Windows 8) and rumours I've heard about Gabes opinion on Microsofts decisions with 8 (apparently extremely unhappy / disapointed) I suspect Valve is looking towards a future where linux is on significantly more desktops than it is now.
Admitedly, it's highly unlikely but you never know, Microsoft really are making a mess with Windows 8
Re:Tin foil hat, full engage,.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Not only that but if you think on it, Valve can actually create a dedicated gaming platform using Linux (with dedicated hardware or not). Steam on Linux might just be the entry point for it.
Re:Developers, developers, developers (Score:5, Interesting)
I would bet on your last point above all. Valve wants their own console, they are afraid of windows 8 for good reason. Making a linux steam client paves the way for their own steam box.
Only One Reason (Score:5, Interesting)
There is only one reason STEAM is doing this, and it's pretty simple.
When they decide to release their own console (oh and they will), they want to make sure their platform will work on it, and that game developers have already started thinking about porting them over to *nix. Why pay a licensing fee for some OS to put on a console (or a licensing fee to XBOX or Sony to get STEAM on their platform), when they can instead make sure their platform works flawlessly on *nix, and then create a console using *nix.
the desktop *nix community will be like a beta test for their console, without all the demands of "I want a fix yesterday" that you would get from the Windows community.
Long term, they will end up taking a significant chunk of the current consoles market share.
It's hard for Apple to use these (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple opposes you buying and using their OS if your computer isn't a Mac.
If you buy a computer and it has Windows 8 preloaded and you hate it, Mac OS may be available to you as a pirate, but Apple's position is that your computer is a doorstop, not a ludicrously overpowered computer which can be salvaged by installing decent software. They aren't going to try to directly use that machine to increase their OS market share.
They don't hope to get you as a customer until n years later when that machine is finally obsolete (and I think n is getting to be a pretty big number), and they're counting on you remembering how unhappy you were with your previous purchase being non-Apple hardware.
Except that when that day comes, you may have been running Mint for n years and probably don't actually have negative feelings about your hardware purchase. Turns out, the non-Apple hardware was fucking awesome (probably; most of today's shittiest garbage computers are just incredible, or at least in my experience). It's the preload you have bad feelings about.
There are a few angles; maybe you will keep Windows on the machine despite your unhappiness, so the bitterness will last longer. Maybe your otherwise useful machine has something weird for which drivers are hard to get or don't work well (e.g. realtek wifi), so you can't ever upgrade the OS. Maybe you'll recommend Macs to your friends and family, so someone else might get a Mac due to your purchase of a Windows-preloaded box.
There are opportunities for Apple, but most of them seem pretty fringe.
Re:Developers, developers, developers (Score:5, Interesting)
You apparently haven't bought any of them, then.
At least Cortex Command (which is about to get another update by the by...) is Native Code. Why do I know this? Because I'm the gent that actually made the 32 and 64-bit X86 binaries and installers for the HIB #2. Depends on the game, really- some of them are Flash based. Some of them are native.
Re:Developers, developers, developers (Score:4, Interesting)
Heh... Steam's native. The games they're currently porting are native.
I could tell you more, but I'd have to kill you... >:-D
Re:Developers, developers, developers (Score:4, Interesting)
Sadly it'll never happen as long as the CEO is also on the board of directors for Microsoft.