The thing I struggle with is would you seriously play PC games under a TV, steamed form your actual gaming PC with out a mouse and keyboard? Onlive tried it and failed miserably although i loved the idea (i bought one *sigh*) they had it just doesn't really work in the real world.Do work?
As for "go online" and a media center, it will probably have that as well.
Steam reveal
- Thread starter Angst
- Start date
I dunno - the OS itself might be OK just for gaming, I just don't see the point as there's no games, it locks you into steam and other things do it better. For a PC they'll need the same hardware give or take that you need for Windows games so all you save is ~£50 for a copy of Windows in return you're locked into Steam for games forever. I don't get what they are doing, maybe the later reveals will make it add up.
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I doubt it, i cant see it being more optimised, look at drivers for linux, thats one thing that is still very poor. They wont off magically fixed that. Even if the Os is more optimised, drivers wont be.
We'll wait and see, personally doesnt interest me at all, I have steam on windows, and it does everything I want. Move to steam os and i lose everything apart from gaming, netflix and youtube (im assuming they'll have apps for those two). Then how many games currently run on linux.
Some say dual boot, whats the point, steam runs on win dows great, why go to the hassle of rebooting to switch tasks, even if its an extra few fps, its not worth it, this int 2009 when you need to get every fps you could out of a system.
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Do work?
As for "go online" and a media center, it will probably have that as well.
Yes, amazingly my PC allows me to do work activities as well as engage in pointless arguments on the internet and playing games. It's remarkable what computers can do these days.
If the SteamOS is going to be capable of everything a normal Linux distro is then they've certainly not yet advertised the fact, only that you'll be able to stream 'popular' media services.
I don't like the way they keep mentioning the living room, most PC gamers play from a desk with M+KB.
Not sure what I think about this. Skeptical to say the least, how is a Linux OS going to play their catalog of Windows games. What about driver support? Too many questions come into play when moving away from the Windows environment.
I mean in an ideal world it's a cool idea, but how the hell are they going to make it work for everyone.
Not sure what I think about this. Skeptical to say the least, how is a Linux OS going to play their catalog of Windows games. What about driver support? Too many questions come into play when moving away from the Windows environment.
I mean in an ideal world it's a cool idea, but how the hell are they going to make it work for everyone.
But they already have hundreds of games running natively on SteamOS (or so their marketing says, I've not counted).
I'm a bit confused by this 'locked into steam' thing a few people have mentioned, surely no more than if I buy a game on steam now, or no more than locked into PS3 if I buy a PS3 game?
They're looking for a new market though, they've pretty much got the 'dedicated PC, sat a desk with my Jolt Cola and £250 gaming mouse' market sewn up.
They don't just want to move existing PC gamers to a different room of the house, they're also looking to attract new players who have perhaps previously been more attracted to the 'comfort' console gaming can provide that typically PC hasn't been associated with (even though it's not exactly difficult to just have your PC connected to your TV and plug in an XBox controller).
It isn't aimed at everyone
That is why the Steam client is getting all the features as well. The OS is for peeps who want to play games in their living room on a well powerful machine or even a barebones/micro PC to stream games and media.Steam Client is aimed for the "core" gamers so none of this should be of interest for most peeps on this forum. If they announce hardware it is going to suck compared to the PCs most of us a rocking yet will be great performance for the price. It isn't going to be providing no 1080p, 60 fps at max settings for under £500 or less in a small form factor, low energy and long lasting box.
I'm sure Razor and co will be happy to provide overly expensive small form factor "gaming machines" though
The thing is it's a bit of a fallacy that Windows kernal is bloated and gets in the way of games. Once windows has handed over to a game full screen it's remarkably good at getting out of the apps way (unless you have lots of other stuff running in the background). DX, OpenGL and drivers have been optimized for Windows over years for performance so as much as I like Linux for a lightweight general purpose OS I'm yet to see anything to suggest it inherently will run a game noticeably "faster" on reasonable spec hardware.
True, but a lot of PC gamers also have a console that they use for playing in the living room. There are certainly types of games I have on the PC that I'd rather play in front of my TV.
I don't think its a bad idea, I'm not sure it should be seen as competing directly with consoles. I can understand scepticism, but I think it could be interesting.
Say you want Battlefield 4 (we'll assume this will be Origin only).
Currently you aren't 'locked into' Steam, you could happily buy and play BF4 via Origin. Well, happily is debatable I suppose
On SteamOS what do you think the chances are you could install Origin and buy BF4?
That's the sort of lock in that people won't want.
Looking forward to see how it goes
With valve already having DOTA2, TF2, CSS, HL, HL2, Portal etc on linux, could be really good.
I do use linux most of the time tho
There are 183 linux games listed on the steam store already
With valve already having DOTA2, TF2, CSS, HL, HL2, Portal etc on linux, could be really good.
I do use linux most of the time tho
There are 183 linux games listed on the steam store already
Say you want Battlefield 4 (we'll assume this will be Origin only).
Currently you aren't 'locked into' Steam, you could happily buy and play BF4 via Origin. Well, happily is debatable I suppose
On SteamOS what do you think the chances are you could install Origin and buy BF4?
That's the sort of lock in that people won't want.
Ahh, thanks. Yes I see what you mean.
Though I guess if we are talking consoles then its no different to any others, will x game come out on the PS4 or the Xbox only. The only difference is that we can be pretty sure EA won't support SteamOS.
The thing is it's their OS so the only place to buy games will be through Steam. You're tied to their prices, releases and of course can't even sell them on second hand afterwards.
Look at the fuss over Xbox Ones original DRM plan, and that allowed second hand sales.
If they are serious about taking this Steam OS idea further, how do you think they will deal with games releasing on ps4 / xbox. If it's DirectX doesn't that pose quite a large problem to get a proper following?
Do you think they will be happy settling with only the non DirectX games in the catalogue?
Do you think they will be happy settling with only the non DirectX games in the catalogue?
I guess I don't see it as an issue as I see Steam as cheap, especially compared to consoles (and who doesn't like a good steam sale). Presumably you'd still be able to purchase steam keys from places like GMG so competition should exist.
The Xbox thing is quite funny though, I remember when everyone was yelling about it thinking, wow they should look at steam...
The point being, are people going to want to restrict themselves like that when they could just use Windows and have all the games SteamOS will offer and more?
It'd be like people buying an XBox or a PS4 when there is an XPlayBoxStation which plays all the games from both, they'd just go with that and not needlessly restrict themselves to one or the other.
What will attract people to commit to SteamOS and it's restriction on game selection when there is already an alternative that isn't restricted?
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O = Steam OS
[O ] = Steam OS in a box ([]) = Steam Box, next announcement! (My guess anyway)
[O ] = Steam OS in a box ([]) = Steam Box, next announcement! (My guess anyway
)OpenGL is pretty decent but it's yet another loss of flexibility and compromise which is why I'm confused as to what they're trying to do.I must be missing something so I can only assume it is in a further reveal. Maybe a subscription plan that gives you unlimited "steamOS" games for £10 a month sort of thing? If the hardware is the same all you're saving is £50 tops for a copy of Windows and losing a bunch of flexibility.
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