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Valve engineer confirms Linux-based Steambox for 2013, could appear at GDC or E3

S

Shion

Member
BigTnaples said:
Which is exactly who I referred to in my post, the sentence following the one you quoted...?
Click to expand...
Oops, sorry, the quote I saw your post from only had that sentence.

BigTnaples said:
So you have hundreds of millions of gamers who are invested in one or several gaming ecosystems already. PC, Playstation, Xbox, and Nintendo. What is one good reason any of them should jump ship for a Steambox that has to start from scratch on its library, has a new controller, and no online community or ecosytsem in place?
Click to expand...
Steam prices on a console environment.

That's the reason I'm jumping ships anyway.
 
B

Brera

Banned
This sounds like a pretty good idea.

As it's linux based, it means lower OS overheads and no license fee?
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
Heavy said:
Is this something their company of 200-300 people, meaning probably like 50-100 on this, could be capable of? It sounds like it would require god-tier programming talent and massive resources, hundreds of super-skilled engineers and such.
Click to expand...
They have some of the best low level coders in the world on board.
And when I say "some of the best" I mean "people who are considered living legends in this field", like Michael Abrash.
 
S

Swifty

Member
Heavy said:
Is this something their company of 200-300 people, meaning probably like 50-100 on this, could be capable of? It sounds like it would require god-tier programming talent and massive resources, hundreds of super-skilled engineers and such.
Click to expand...
Uh, it's really not that hard. There's no secret sauce or recipe that DirectX has that makes in impenetrable.
 
P

Pooya

Member
unless they have partnered with the likes of Google or Samsung I don't think Valve can afford the resources for something which is essentially a new platform and not a PC people are used to for games. It would be huge money sink if they are really looking at it as a competing product and not just another niche hardware with next to no support. There must be more to it than just Valve making a box, maybe they have significant outside investor.
 
C

Camilos

Banned
I use Linux daily at work. Its great. Its stable, efficient and free. It runs our enterprise web apps and never gives us problems.

But to use is it on the new steam box? I'm not sure about that. Two weeks ago I tried using it at home and of course it flipped out because it didn't recognize my wireless keyboard and mouse. I didn't feel like wasting time looking for a wired keyboard so I gave up.

So I hope it does work on the steam box. I really do. I love open source apps & I love that it'll probably bring down the price. But I'm very skeptical. Hopefully I'm proven wrong.
 
S

Sinistral

Member
I think Valve should carve and focus into the Indie niche to slingshot this into a success. Kind of like Ouya but on a more larger scale. Source2 with some amazingly intuitive tools (Source Film Maker, etc) to compete with UDK, CryEngine, etc. Unity can already export to Linux. With generous licensing initiatives to get those who make games from scratch.
 
G

Green Biker Dude

Banned
Swifty said:
Uh, that's patently false. PS3 and PS4 do not use OpenGL. They both use Sony's proprietary graphics API.
Click to expand...

you can only use directx or opengl. only microsoft's systems use directx

there are thousands of opengl variations, so you are right that it's not as simple as flipping a switch. but the point that developers can't use opengl or that it'd be too expensive or anything similar just doesn't hold
 
M

MrNyarlathotep

Banned
BigTnaples said:
Assuming we know this, which we dont.
Click to expand...

There are 41 crossplay titles for Linux steam available right now, and there are no details about the Steambox yet released, and steam for linux is still in beta.

What was the last gaming hardware launch that had 40+ titles available?

What would be the difficulty in getting OSX titles working on Linux?

I'd be very surprised if the Steambox launches with a library of less than 100-150 games, and these are actual 'full fat' games, not cut the rope type minigames at 99c a pop.

BigTnaples said:
Again, what incentive does a PC gamer have to get this then?
What incentive does an Xbox Live member have to get this?

A Playstation player?

What reason is there for them to suddenly want to switch to a Steambox? It NEEDs a reason for people to want it over what they already have. And limited BC with games many PC users already own wont be enough for success.
Click to expand...

As discussed in multiple topics about this;
- A SteamOS would likely be a free distro. You can dualboot your existing PC and get the full Steambox experience. As you're dualbooting, you lose nothing as an existing PC user.
- For people unable or unwilling to PC build themselves, or even unwilling to go parts shopping at a choose your own builder, they can just buy a Steambox and shit just works.
- Valve have already spoken about wanting to keep their Steambox open. You don't think the publishers with their own DD stores aren't going to support this where they get 100% revenue from every sale, versus other platforms where they are paying a middleman (which now includes MS with the Windows 8 marketplace)?
 
A

angelfly

Member
schwupp said:
wine integration into linux stream incoming?
Click to expand...

Native or bust. Using Wine for steam Linux ports (like what Limbo did) is just a lazy solution and you'd end up with all the big publishers doing that rather then actually porting their stuff.
 
H

hardcastlemccormick

Banned
This is amazingly huge.

It's a coincidence that I just fired up Steam on Linux for the first time today. Bright future. I wonder how the software for the Steambox will be set up. I'm seeing a Debian system with a limited desktop environment that launches into Big Picture by default.
 
HoodWinked

HoodWinked

Member
its effectively a console if its linux since linux doesnt have any significant footprint as a gaming platform. thus devs that are crazy enough to build linux games will optimize games for the steambox not unlike gaming consoles.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
I'm sorry, but some of you guys sound ridiculous. '80% of my backlog won't work!'...yes, the same 80% of games you probably haven't touched, and probably will never touch.
 
D

Darknight

Member
If its cheap, id buy it instead of say an OUYA. Save that $100 for the good stuff.

edit: meant to post on the other thread but still is relevant here. I think Steambox/gaming PCs can co-exits with consoles so I think this is awesome.
 
M

MrNyarlathotep

Banned
Conor 419 said:
So which PC exclusive IP's are on par with Mario, Zelda and Pokémon in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success?
Click to expand...

Diablo 2, Starcraft 2, World Of Warcraft, League Of Legends, Dota 2, Quake Live, Trackmania, Football Manager, Total War, Civilization, I can't be bothered list warring
 
S

Saty

Member
Make your game Steambox compatible - keep a greater part of the revenue from the game's sales on Steam.
 
P

Patrick Bateman

Member
ghst said:
jPxuqHg5q0GQJ.png


bringing it back.
Click to expand...


I always chose software like a true OG.
 
C

Concept17

Member
Nirolak said:
I'm hoping they debut Source 2 at the same time to show off what the box can do.
Click to expand...

They have to be. Been saying this for a couple years now. HL3 disappeared due to new engine development (source2) and now new hardware. A reveal/release combining the engine and the new game would be perfect to launch new hardware with, and could give them momentum to compete with the rest.
 
K

KingKong

Member
Conor 419 said:
So which PC exclusive IP's are on par with Mario, Zelda, Pokémon in terms of critical acclaim and/or commercial success?
Click to expand...

PC exclusive doesn't mean much because unlike Nintendo, developers are free to port games to other consoles (Valve, Bethesda, Firaxis, Witcher, Minecraft...), so the biggest thing is probably Blizzard and I'm certain we'll see Diablo/Starcraft/Titan on next gen consoles

And of course every multiplatform game is 10x better on PC
 
S

Swifty

Member
Green Biker Dude said:
you can only use directx or opengl. only microsoft's systems use directx

there are thousands of opengl variations, so you are right that it's not as simple as flipping a switch. but the point that developers can't use opengl or that it'd be too expensive or anything similar just doesn't hold
Click to expand...
Just to make things clear, the entire console graphics API space isn't split between just DirectX and OpenGL. Nintendo and Sony both have their own low level graphics APIs which look nothing like OpenGL. Wii and Wii U provides GX and GX2 respectively. PS3 provides GCM and Orbis will likely be providing an iteration of that.
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
GK86 said:
I'm sorry, but some of you guys sound ridiculous. '80% of my backlog won't work!'...yes, the same 80% of games you probably haven't touched, and probably will never touch.
Click to expand...
I think what's actually ridiculous are those assumptions:

- because few developers dived into Linux so far (at least on the desktop side), few will do it even in a future where this is even remotely successful.
- because there are few games that support Linux today, there will be few of them even in the future.
- because Linux user base in gaming is small today, it will be even in the future.

Those are all examples of "non sequitur". What "it was" isn't necessarily what "it will be".
 
E

emag

Member
MrNyarlathotep said:
As discussed in multiple topics about this;
- A SteamOS would likely be a free distro. You can dualboot your existing PC and get the full Steambox experience. As you're dualbooting, you lose nothing as an existing PC user.
- For people unable or unwilling to PC build themselves, or even unwilling to go parts shopping at a choose your own builder, they can just buy a Steambox and shit just works.
- Valve have already spoken about wanting to keep their Steambox open. You don't think the publishers with their own DD stores aren't going to support this where they get 100% revenue from every sale, versus other platforms where they are paying a middleman (which now includes MS with the Windows 8 marketplace)?
Click to expand...

So a Steambox would be cheaper/better than an Alienware X51? Is Valve going to sell entirely open hardware at a loss?
 
F

fluffydelusions

Member
Conor 419 said:
So which PC exclusive IP's are on par with Mario, Zelda and Pokémon in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success?

I mean, World of Warcraft....arguably? Maybe? Probably not?

and then...?
Click to expand...

That cherry picking...cmon those are probably the most popular games of all time. Pick some more recent games that haven't been around for decades.
 
S

Sendou

Member
Valve now takes something like 30% cut from sold games. What if they would reduce this cut to something like 25-28% if your game is Steambox certified (full controller support, linux version, Steambox optimized -graphical settings). That should more or less cover the expenses of implementing these changes to devs. And while Valve would lose some money short term getting a slice of piece that is the console market could turn out most profitable.

There will always be people who despise PC gaming and Valve would love to offer them some Steam love nevertheless.
 
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