The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

[Cowboy Moment]

With how much influence Valve has over Paradox, one could conjure up the image of a controller interface for EU4 et al...

 

[Name]

Just click that link. The link that titled 305 games.

I have no idea what you're saying, but here's what I see.

Oh my. Just click the block (Games 305). Then you'll see a new number! It's magic!

 

[deuxhero]

Before anyone else wants the XP from the badge so they can get more cards to sell to idiots, the badge doesn't give any XP.

edit: actually it does give XP, the listed is for an incomplete one.

 

[DalekFlay]

They should have been doing "official Steam stamped PCs" a long time ago to rob idiots of money who think it means something.

The SteamOS is the real interesting part. It's a nice backup in case Microsoft ever loses its shit (quite possible), but for now it seems superfluous. Time will tell. I don't see either competing with console gaming though, that's a long hail-mary from Gaben.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

https://twitter.com/ibogost/statuses/382191748535287808

Imagine that, Valve decided that the "environment best suited" to Steam is one it owns and controls fully.

Says it all.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/24/4766874/valve-steam-os-threatens-windows

If this truly is the perfect storm, gaming could simply be the trojan horse that gives Valve control of a genuine post-PC operating system. SteamOS could become the operating system that does for the television what iOS and Android did for the phone, and could eventually cut into Microsoft’s PC share in the process.

 

[crakkie]

Is that the cow clicker guy?

 

[toro]

In other news: Valve is burning money without producing something worthwhile. On creativity level this company is bankrupt, now they just have to reproduce this shit on a financial level.

 

[Name]

They should have been doing "official Steam stamped PCs" a long time ago to rob idiots of money who think it means something.

The SteamOS is the real interesting part. It's a nice backup in case Microsoft ever loses its shit (quite possible), but for now it seems superfluous. Time will tell. I don't see either competing with console gaming though, that's a long hail-mary from Gaben.

+1
This.
I think the whole point is trying to create a platform to retreat to in case of Microsfot and/or Apple gone crazy, which leaves Linux the only option.
It's a good place to burn their money.
In the meantime, why not exploiting the new generation of console war.

 

[Metro]

In other news: Valve is burning money without producing something worthwhile. On creativity level this company is bankrupt, now they just have to reproduce this shit on a financial level.

That's been the case for the last five or so years now. Zero chance of them going bankrupt with the money they make through Steam, DOTA, etc.

 

[Gurkog]

I am ready to jump on board the free OS train! Poor, broke bastards need OSes too!

 

[Spectacle]

An alternative to windows for gaming is good, but more incentive for developers to do straight ports from console to PC with only minimal support for mice and keyboards is not. We'll see how this goes in the long run..

 

[Pika-Cthulhu]

OpenGL support good, Steam locked down OS is just more of the same. If they help promote linux friendly environments and that delivers more linux friendly releases then its a net gain, if they get locked into SteamOS then its the same and people can just stay with windows.

 

[Dexter]

https://twitter.com/ibogost/statuses/382191748535287808

Imagine that, Valve decided that the "environment best suited" to Steam is one it owns and controls fully.

Says it all.

I think that other guy put it well:

@ibogost The oppression of free and open source software will not stand!

OpenGL support good, Steam locked down OS is just more of the same. If they help promote linux friendly environments and that delivers more linux friendly releases then its a net gain, if they get locked into SteamOS then its the same and people can just stay with windows.

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/

With SteamOS, “openness” means that the hardware industry can iterate in the living room at a much faster pace than they’ve been able to. Content creators can connect directly to their customers. Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. SteamOS will continue to evolve, but will remain an environment designed to foster these kinds of innovation.

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamMachines/

Of course, it’s also completely upgradable and open.

Can I hack this box? Run another OS? Change the hardware? Install my own software? Use it to build a robot?
Sure.

Sounds really oppressive of them, also who said that it will be a "Steam locked down OS"? Why would they court the "Linux audience" if that was the case?
As far as I understood it it is just another Linux Distribution and you will be fine playing any other Linux games even from competitors like GoG, Origin etc. if it applies.

Even if it turned out that way further down the line, if games inherently work with Linux at some point (since both Linux and OpenGL are inherently "Open" and not controlled by Valve in any way) it would be a lot easier to get rid of SteamOS than get rid of a Microsoft-controlled market.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

If they wanted to lock it down, they would've forked it off BSD, just like Apple and Sony did. It won't be any more locked down than Android, probably much less because it's going to be x86 and likely using the GNU toolchain amongst other popular utilities. Time will tell how much of an annoyance it will be to make SteamOS boot into a normal desktop environment, or easily switch between that and BPM, but it will be possible.

Just wait, if it's successful down the line, you might even get Lyric Suite claiming it's not really Linux.

 

[CorpseZeb]

Also, we have tools like VirtualBox, so booting per se, it is not necessary after all (I mean, SteamOs as a virtual one, with the direct access to the native os hardware resources etc, that should work pretty well).

 

[Dexter]

http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2013/09/25/steam-rolling-into-your-living-room/
https://developer.nvidia.com/sites/default/files/akamai/gamedev/docs/Porting Source to Linux.pdf
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2049...upport-after-valves-steamos-announcement.html

 

[Space Satan]

http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2013/09/25/steam-rolling-into-your-living-room/
https://developer.nvidia.com/sites/default/files/akamai/gamedev/docs/Porting Source to Linux.pdf
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2049...upport-after-valves-steamos-announcement.html

Where is your god now?

 

[nihil]

Fuck, the Linux kernel having built in input lag is ludicrous. This is the system that 80% of the world's servers run on. You think everyone is fine if 50ms of lag gets added on to each sql query?

You mean the latency over the TCP/IP stack is related to latency on HID input? I don't know Linux enough to know the answer.

There is some truth to this, in the sense that you can have perceived input lag if highly interactive applications (the desktop environment and other shit you're actually using) don't get cpu time with a low enough latency when a user does something. On average, the kernel can have no input lag, but simply not care to give a high enough priority to interactive tasks specifically.

That said, this is a complaint from like 2005, before good multicore cpus and the new cpu scheduler. I personally use Linux for work, have a ton of shit constantly running in the background, and never see sound breaking up or any input lag. In fact, yesterday, this discussion inspired me to test this; so I spawned 32 processes running a distributed cpu-intensive task - cpu use shot to 100% instantly - then fired off a youtube channel with some music videos, and started playing the linux version of Mark of the Ninja. Needless to say, everything worked just fine.

Are you sensetive to input lag, though? Some people play on TVs with 50 or even 100ms of lag without a care. Also, why would it be an open issue in Steam for Linux if wasn't a real concern?

Really, though, I haven't tried it myself and I don't know a lot about Linux so I should probably stop talking. I just really dislike input latency and how it gets close to no attention from TV manufacturers and sometimes even console developers, as proved by Ouya. Anyway, it's a good thing (and not surprising) Valve care about it.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Gabe shall make HL3 SteamOS exclusive and win the market.

 

[DalekFlay]

Gabe shall make HL3 SteamOS exclusive and win the market.

They don't even make their games PC exclusive right now, despite basically running PC gaming. I doubt they would risk a Linux exclusive under any circumstances.

 

[tuluse]

They don't even make their games PC exclusive right now, despite basically running PC gaming. I doubt they would risk a Linux exclusive under any circumstances.

DOTA 2 is PC exclusive

 

[tuluse]

You mean the latency over the TCP/IP stack is related to latency on HID input? I don't know Linux enough to know the answer.

You were talking about the kernel not stuff built on top of the kernel. There is no inherent latency built into the kernel. Which is my point.

Also, sql requests don't have to originate from TCP/IP.

 

[DalekFlay]

They don't even make their games PC exclusive right now, despite basically running PC gaming. I doubt they would risk a Linux exclusive under any circumstances.

DOTA 2 is PC exclusive

Due to necessity. Everything else they have done has been multiplatform, even Half Life.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

They don't even make their games PC exclusive right now, despite basically running PC gaming. I doubt they would risk a Linux exclusive under any circumstances.

Then what about releasing HL3 on SteamOS, PS4 and/or Xbone... with no Windows port?

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Who remembers HL 2 anyway? With delaying the Ep 3 (and right now, a full sequel) Valve just shoot themselves in the foot. That's why series like Halo or Killzone are being made in shorter time periods. Even if you were hooked up, and after cliffhanger wanted more, you can't keep this feeling inside you forever. If it will be released, then ok. But it's not gonna be something revolutionary, just a big post scriptum to HL series.