SteamOS

[Musicman247]

So this will be the new ChromeOS?

[the Savage Hippie]

Oh yeah, this... saw a friend post something about this one Facebook earlier or perhaps it was yesterday. Anyway, I can't imagine this to be everything else than stupid.
"You've unlocked and achievement for copying a file!"
and the song goes ever on...
Hah.

[VirtualWeasel]

http://gaben.tv/

[Veck]

Steam's digital downloads (which prevents you from playing without Steam, as well as not being able to play at all if Steam isn't working)

If you're going to argue a point at least make an effort to ensure your facts are correct.

[Avron the S'wit]

Yeah, although she didn't elaborate, you can play Steam games without an internet connection, once they're all set up and ready to go. I do it pretty often, actually.

If I want a physical copy of something, anyway, I just go and buy it. The appeal of the digital download is that I can easily move the game to any computer, anywhere, and all my files with it. I like the simplicity of it.

[Super Mario 16-bit]

So this will be the new ChromeOS?

what

[Lindai]

Gotta hand it to Valve. A free, gaming-optimized OS. This, along with the PS4's use of the OpenGL graphic library instead of DirectX, will finally make gaming a thing on Linux based operating systems. I'm wondering now why Microsoft never made a gaming-optimized desktop OS. If Half Life 3 and other Source 2 games are SteamOS exclusives, there will be chaos in the world of PC gaming. If this takes off, then all Microsoft will have left is their office and development tools.

Too much of a gimmick..

"performance increases". That's not a gimmick. Performance is highly relevant when it comes to gaming.

The OS is a custom build of Linux. Other than that we won't have much to talk about until we can actually see it in action. Linux hasn't ever been the developer platform of choice, so migrating from Windows, Mac or Console development to Linux could be a while for a lot of developers, especially if the tools available for the OS aren't as good as those for the other OSes.

Here's where the incentive finally comes in though. Valve have stated that they are seeing significant performance increases with their OS compared to Windows. Developers will put in the effort to make the tools and Nvidia/ATI will put in effort in making better, or even fully optimized, drivers for Linux. AAA titles are already in development for the SteamOS. The tools are there already.

[Frost Mage]

Which is it for you, Frosty? Just a few posts ago you were begging Gaben for good hardware and now you're saying physical discs are better?

Also, both PS4 and X1 will have day and date digital releases along with physical copies of all games released.

As long as there is an option for both on a future Steam console, I'll be happy. I just like having a physical game collection.

[Musicman247]

Yeah, although she didn't elaborate, you can play Steam games without an internet connection, once they're all set up and ready to go. I do it pretty often, actually.

If I want a physical copy of something, anyway, I just go and buy it. The appeal of the digital download is that I can easily move the game to any computer, anywhere, and all my files with it. I like the simplicity of it.

The problem you run into is if you ever connect to the internet with Steam running and automatic updates turned off. If Steam sees there's an update for a game it won't let you play it until you've updated. If you're never online, then you've got nothing to worry about. If you're online most of the time, then go offline to play some games you may find that part of your library is inaccessible.

Which is it for you, Frosty? Just a few posts ago you were begging Gaben for good hardware and now you're saying physical discs are better?

Also, both PS4 and X1 will have day and date digital releases along with physical copies of all games released.

As long as there is an option for both on a future Steam console, I'll be happy. I just like having a physical game collection.

When has Steam ever sold physical copies of games? Remember, a big part of this is everything being stored in "the cloud". It allows you to pick up where you left off in a game when you go to a different machine.

@Velothi: MS makes tons more money with corporate sales and Office than it does on PC gaming. And they probably make more money with the Xbox than they do with PC Gaming.

[Lindai]

...Nvidia/ATI will put in effort in making better, or even fully optimized, drivers for Linux...

It's happening.

[Taters]

Hmm. So rather than unveiling anything specific, say, Steam Box, Valve has now revealed that there will be a number of SteamOS based systems being built, and that Valve is currently working on their own, which is being beta-tested. Linky link.

[Musicman247]

:

If you guys are delivering an OS to hardware manufacturers, why is Valve also making its own box?
We're conducting a beta of the overall Steam living-room experience, so we needed to build prototype hardware on which to run tests. At Valve we always rely on real-world testing as part of our design process. The specific machine we're testing is designed for users who want the most control possible over their hardware. Other boxes will optimize for size, price, quietness, or other factors.

It sounds like they may not be making their own box for retail, but just for the beta testing. I dunno. Guess it's up in the air for now.

[Frost Mage]

I'm still not sure how far they can take this SteamOS. It'd be great if it worked, but a console is probably out of the picture for now, as they get it running properly on PCs.

[The Tom]

So after thinking about this for 23 seconds, I've decided that since the O symbol represented the OS and the [O ] symbol represented the OS running on dedicated hardware, then the O+O symbol must be the OS paired up with that alternative input device Gabe's been muttering about for a while.

You just watch.

[lmstearn]

The first thing I asked myself on the initial installation of Steam was: Do I really need to cop this?

Steam wants their own OS because it runs sluggish in Win-64, and thinks it's less work then trying to get programs to run fast through interrupt driven services, firewalls, vast APIs & runtime libraries, GUIs, UACs, and other TSR's.

For those on lower bandwidths such as I, the earlier versions of Steam were greedy on bandwidth, cumbersome to setup, somewhat intrusive, not easy on the eye, and, as in the bad old days of Win16, a reboot was required on a program error.
And Steam would never have anything to do with other ES friendly sites like TESNexus, Planet Elder Scrolls, or even our poor old UESP.

OTOH, a fair user-interface, and great support for games and mods. More recent versions run a little better.

But Steam will end up with the same problems as Microsoft if it wants to go its own way. Steam makes for a fair Mr. In-Between, but wants to be the Total Package. Windows is pretty versatile, but will a dual partition shared with either Windows or Mac (even Linux) be actually better for us?

Steam has to get better integration, less bloat, and better tech-orientation for its program, first.
What about Steam benchmarking games for a given system, (for a small fee), before one wastes time and valuable bandwidth in the download and finding they don't work?

What would we have all thought of Micro$loth if it opted to engineer a Steam-like add-on for large games all those years ago?

[Taters]

And the third piece of the puzzle is a new type of gamepad. Nifty, but a bit anti-climactic.

[MARS]

It looks pretty hideous, gotta say.

[Generalno1]

Dunno about it's supposed capabilities in running PC games. I'd prefer a keyboard and mouse for some.

What grabs me most about the OS is probably the fact that it's going to be modded like hell. It's able to download and update software, and is unix. there'll be stuff for it real quick.

[Frost Mage]

Guys. Steam Controller.

Hidden:

[MARS]

Yes, we've been talking about it for a few posts. It looks hideous.

[The Tom]

Called it.

Looks intriguing. Apparently the haptic feedback works really well at giving the trackpads a sense of physical presence, so it's not like trying to play with a touchscreen. Which always sucks.

I doubt I'll buy one though. Not unless I can get a good deal on it.

[lmstearn]

Rather grand to call it an OS. Platform perhaps?

[Linkuya]

Guys. Steam Controller.

Hidden:

Yeah, I saw that, my first thought is that it looked hideous.

[Taters]

Now we know why it looks like that.

[Linkuya]

Creepy as hell, Taters.

Creepy as hell.