SteamOS will be available to download tomorrow (13th Dec)

theheyes · 14 Dec 2013 at 14:52

TheVoice said:
So an Xbox, basically.

Well no, not really, since consoles are devices. With SteamOS you're making a conscious decision to turn an otherwise normal PC capable of running the full gamut of PC games, including Steam games, into a box that will only run content from a single delivery system.

SteamOS isn't really for gamers, it's for Valve/Steam fans who would be quite happy to live exclusively in that ecosystem. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, I don't know why your average PC gamer would impose that sort of limitation on themselves. Certainly not for the sake of the nominal cost of a Windows license.

The streaming aspect of SteamOS is by far the most compelling feature for gamers who want beyond-console graphics, and that could have been packaged in an Apple TV-like box bundled with the controller and wouldn't require sacrificing your PC to Valve.

Nikumba · 14 Dec 2013 at 15:00

Hades said:
It's linux so it will be possible to manually install the AMD drivers in some way using the command line. AMD driver performance isn't great on Linux however.

True, but at present out of the box its only nVidia supported, I believe someone said they installed it on a AMD system and just got ablack screen on boot, so not even able to get AMD drivers installed

mark2410 · 14 Dec 2013 at 15:11

thats a shocker, linux with driver issues!!!!!

say it isnt so!!!

Martini1991 · 14 Dec 2013 at 15:15

theheyes said:
Well no, not really, since consoles are devices. With SteamOS you're making a conscious decision to turn an otherwise normal PC capable of running the full gamut of PC games, including Steam games, into a box that will only run content from a single delivery system.

SteamOS isn't really for gamers, it's for Valve/Steam fans who would be quite happy to live exclusively in that ecosystem. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, I don't know why your average PC gamer would impose that sort of limitation on themselves. Certainly not for the sake of the nominal cost of a Windows license.

Don't forget the fact you won't actually be able to play all your Steam games on your SteamOS.

Blackjack Davy · 15 Dec 2013 at 15:52

I would love this to take off, lord knows we need an alternative to W8, but it all comes down to driver support doesn't it? I trialled some of the Source games on Linux and while they worked fine the framerates were abysmal, which I put down to poor driver support. When you find that the open source drivers are actually better than AMD's own, you know theres a problem. :rolleyes:

theheyes said:
With SteamOS you're making a conscious decision to turn an otherwise normal PC capable of running the full gamut of PC games, including Steam games, into a box that will only run content from a single delivery system.

SteamOS isn't really for gamers, it's for Valve/Steam fans who would be quite happy to live exclusively in that ecosystem. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, I don't know why your average PC gamer would impose that sort of limitation on themselves.

So basically every game I've bought in the last 8 years or so then? Seriously, who doesn't buy their games via Steam these days? Even if they come on disc they have to be activated and thats usually via Steam.

bledd · 15 Dec 2013 at 16:14

^Most of your games from Steam will be EXE only, so only work on Windows.

Hopefully this will convince game makers to release multi platform (Windows, Linux and OSX). Only a good thing for gamers.

Deleted member 77746 · 15 Dec 2013 at 17:23

http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/

TheVoice · 16 Dec 2013 at 09:24

theheyes said:
SteamOS isn't really for gamers, it's for Valve/Steam fans who would be quite happy to live exclusively in that ecosystem. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, I don't know why your average PC gamer would impose that sort of limitation on themselves. Certainly not for the sake of the nominal cost of a Windows license.

Surely the whole purpose of SteamOS is for the Steam Box. I can't imagine for a second that Valve would be doing it if they weren't releasing hardware to go with it, which is why I mentioned the Xbox 360. The only reason Steam OS is getting a release now is because it's a good way of getting it out there, tested and encouraging driver/software support to improve ahead of time.