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[FyreWulff]

I can't say I quite understand what appeal a Linux gaming PC would have but OK.

Play games on an operating system you can verify most of the code for and compile from source if you need to, for security or modification purposes.

It benefits existing Linux users in that graphics driver support in Linux will improve

Developers should be getting on multiplat engines or use more OS agnostic stuff like OpenGL or SDL anyway. If you're using Unity for example, you can cheaply release a game on Windows and Linux without much issue.

 

[Dylan]

That would be horrific. Abandoning their PC audience would alienate millions of their current customers.

Well, in this improbable scenario, it would be on Steam too.

I imagine any Steambox games will be on Steam.

 

[TouchMyBox]

Should have shown hardware earlier but I guess it's never too late.

Both Steam for Linux and BPM haven't quite been mature enough. Steam for Linux is pretty stable now, but BPM is still missing a whole lot of functionality. None of the community stuff outside of chat has been implemented yet.

 

[Borgnine]

I think the Steambox should be called Boiler.

 

[QaaQer]

So hope Gabe makes proprietary consoles obsolete.

 

[Guevara]

It still sounds like Valve wants other people to make the hardware. Valve's role was to make big picture mode, convert as many games as possible to Linux, etc. And hope the hardware arrives.

 

[JaseC]

Hey Gabe, you probably could have gotten to this point a year ago if you didn't fire everyone working on it. Just sayin'...

I believe the layoffs were in relation to Jeri Ellsworth's team, who were focused on AR-related projects. Valve pulled the plug as VR was gaining a lot of traction, chiefly thanks to the Oculus Rift, while AR didn't quite move beyond a neat gimmick.

 

[Dylan]

It still sounds like Valve wants other people to make the hardware. Valve's role was to make big picture mode, convert as many games as possible to Linux, etc. And hope the hardware arrives.

Steambox: The Hyperloop of video game consoles.

 

[Momentary]

2017, Volta powered Steamboxes being sold at a loss.... They make their money back up with Dota 2, hats, cards, and HL3 f2p with store items.

 

[pixlexic]

It still sounds like Valve wants other people to make the hardware. Valve's role was to make big picture mode, convert as many games as possible to Linux, etc. And hope the hardware arrives.

If they do want that then I think they should make a steam Linux vavle distro.

 

[aeolist]

If they do want that then I think they should make a steam Linux vavle distro.

this is also something gabe has said they want to do

the box will be open so that you can put whatever software you want on it, and the software will be open so you can load it on any pc you want

 

[TouchMyBox]

It still sounds like Valve wants other people to make the hardware. Valve's role was to make big picture mode, convert as many games as possible to Linux, etc. And hope the hardware arrives.

Ideally they would copy the Nexus program from google.

 

[Caronte]

Valve's "SteamBox" will be Linux-based, but more enterprising users can install Windows if they so desire, and OEMs are also free to use it as the default option in their offerings.

That means you can buy a Steambox and buy games from any PC store, not just Steam? They would have to make money selling the hardware then, and it would end up being a lot more expensive than a normal console.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Imagine if Gabe and Valve was able to make a huge paradigm shift over to Linux as the primary method of gaming on the PC. Way more accessable, more secure and probably a better community. However, the transition from something like a PS4/One to the PC would a bit more difficult... maybe.

 

[pixlexic]

this is also something gabe has said they want to do

the box will be open so that you can put whatever software you want on it, and the software will be open so you can load it on any pc you want

I would easily dual boot a steam distro.. I tried using Ubuntu a while back but it only worked with the 32 bit version and crashed all the time.

 

[JaseC]

That means you can buy a Steambox and buy games from any PC store, not just Steam? They would have to make money selling the hardware then, and it would end up being a lot more expensive than a normal console.

Correct: there'll be nothing to prevent users from purchasing content outside of Steam, even on Valve's own box in its default state. I think the company can afford to take a slight loss on the hardware; no doubt Steam will be pushed as the storefront of choice, and, really, there's a large overlap between users who prefer to chase the best deals and those who prefer to build their own systems.

 

[Bkey]

those people were working on a vr hardware platform which the company decided was inferior to solutions like oculus rift

The reason why was never said and that is a assumption as far as I know? It was also not really anything like Oculus its focus was way more on AR.

 

[Ol No Bones]

If the price is right. I need a new PC.

 

[Gamerloid]

If Gabe wants to push Linux gaming, make Half-Life 3 a Linux Exclusive. That would be a shocker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzn6E2m3otg&feature=player_embedded#t=0

Here's a recording of the presentation he gave. Be aware that this a capture of the stream on somebody's desktop, so its not the best quality (pauses due to buffering, windows popping into view every now and then). Its very interesting.

Thanks for this. Was a really interesting presentation.

 

[pixlexic]

Imagine if Gabe and Valve was able to make a huge paradigm shift over to Linux as the primary method of gaming on the PC. Way more accessable, more secure and probably a better community. However, the transition from something like a PS4/One to the PC would a bit more difficult... maybe.

Pretty sure the Playstation os has been based off unix/Linux

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Pretty sure the Playstation is has been based off unix/Linux

Is the PS4 still Linux? I know the PS3 is, I just don't know, that's all.

 

[Azulsky]

Is the PS4 still Linux? I know the PS3 is, I just don't know, that's all.

A bsd bootloader shot was leaked a while back

 

[Tan]

...in games magazines?

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

A bsd bootloader shot was leaked a while back

Ahh ok, did not know. Thanks.

 

[woober]

So hope Gabe makes proprietary consoles obsolete.

It's interesting because he seems to think that we're approaching that point. He says consoles used to have more proprietary hardware, but are now using more PC derived hardware. Things advance and innovate faster on PC, too (he lists digital distrtribution, social gaming, MMO, trading, workshops, andfree to play games as examples that originate from PC and are transitioning to consoles).

I hope Valve is successful in what they're trying to do and change the gaming environment/community for the better. I'm a big proponent of anyone who agrees that open software is the way to go.

 

[ActionMan]

There are people here that believe a company like Valve can make a competitor to PS4 / XBONE. It can't.

 

[Lesiroth]

I'd love to see how they plan on solving the two issues of price and game availability on Linux. The cost of hardware needed to run high-end games decently at 1080p would certainly have its effect on price (unless they're targeting a lower resolution) and getting major multiplatform releases ported over will be a slow, tedious process.

 

[polyh3dron]

Not happening as long as DirectX is still a thing.

 

[Bulzeeb]

Can you imagine:

Half Life 3 Steam Box exclusive. Launches against XBONE and PS4. Compatible with your entire Steam Library.

Haha, if only.

that would make me buy one but I guess I'll just upgrade my PC

 

[woober]

There are people here that believe a company like Valve can make a competitor to PS4 / XBONE. It can't.

Even if they don't make a competitor to the next gen consoles, he's at least advancing pc gaming, which is still awesome in my eyes.

 

[fluffydelusions]

There are people here that believe a company like Valve can make a competitor to PS4 / XBONE. It can't.

They don't need to but they have enough money to try I bet.

 

[ElFly]

Is the PS4 still Linux? I know the PS3 is, I just don't know, that's all.

Last report was that the PS4 OS was based on FreeBSD. PS3 doesn't run linux AFAIK, it only allowed you to install linux on it until they patched this functionality out.

 

[Trogdor1123]

There are people here that believe a company like Valve can make a competitor to PS4 / XBONE. It can't.

Care to clear up why they cant?

 

[diggmcbadass]

Nothing I would love more than to move 100% to linux gaming, and thereby everything else. I'm just afraid there is too much legacy that leads to extremely slow adoption rates even if Valve went all out. My laptop and server are already running linux. Games are the only thing that ties me to windows, and even MS don't give 2 shits about their 99% market share.

 

[androvsky]

A bsd bootloader shot was leaked a while back

Yeah, that and Mark Cerny has said multiple times that the PS4 os is based on a BSD.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Last report was that the PS4 OS was based on FreeBSD. PS3 doesn't run linux AFAIK, it only allowed you to install linux on it until they patched this functionality out.

Maybe if Gabe is going to push Linux, maybe they would work with Sony and the community to make a lot of games easily swappable between PC (Linux) and PS4.

 

[aeolist]

Not happening as long as DirectX is still a thing.

windows and xbox are the only directx platforms, everything else is some derivative of opengl including nintendo and sony platforms plus everything mobile and os x

this means that pretty much every non-microsoft studios engine out there supports opengl

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

windows and xbox are the only directx platforms, everything else is some derivative of opengl including nintendo and sony platforms plus everything mobile and os x

this means that pretty much every non-microsoft studios engine out there supports opengl

OpenGL is pretty damn sweet too.

 

[fluffydelusions]

Yeah I would love to go back to linux. Used it exclusively for 10 years as a desktop. But when I went back to finish school I needed w7 for office and I got back into pc gaming and haven't touched linux since. Do miss it though.

 

[Draft]

Why would Valve want to compete with PS4 or Xbone? Traditional game consoles lose a bunch of money. The profit margin is razor thin and built on paywalls, DLC and proprietary hardware accessories. Sony is a dinosaur from the AV era and MS is a dinosaur from the desktop era. Let them battle each other over a living room that is rapidly going extinct.

There are blue oceans out there...

 

[Guevara]

There are people here that believe a company like Valve can make a competitor to PS4 / XBONE. It can't.

I agree. I imagine the price would have to be pretty high. Maybe you get a barebones PC-like device and an Xbox 360 controller for $600. I really don't think that's a compelling value proposition.

 

[Lingitiz]

There are people here that believe a company like Valve can make a competitor to PS4 / XBONE. It can't.

This thing doesn't even seem to be targeted at competing with the consoles. Gabe has said in the past that they want to bring the PC to the living room, and hardware manufacturers in that space haven't really been doing anything. This seems like a kick in the ass to get things started on that front before Apple totally dominates that market.

If there was ever a company with enough financial security to experiment with that, it's Valve.

 

[MaximoffZero]

My hope is that Valve's Linux push convinces devs to port older Windows games over and/or convinces more software makers in general to develop for Linux. Let's eliminate Windows once and for all!

 

[Enco]

I'm expecting SteamBox in 2019.

I'm also expecting it to be a bomba. People love Steam but I don't see who they're aiming this at. If I want PC gaming I'll get a real desktop to make proper use of PC gaming. If I want to play on my TV, I'll get a real next gen console.

 

[TouchMyBox]

What it they had something like WINE that allowed Windows games to work on the SteamBox?

They have made their own abstraction layer to easily port directx to opengl. Wine by itself especially in a controlled environment wouldn't be nice.

 

[Corto]

Is the PS4 still Linux? I know the PS3 is, I just don't know, that's all.

BSD.

 

[Cynar]

2014 year of linux on the desktop!!!!!!!! (I remember people saying that in the 90's )

 

[Marvel]

Looking forward to it, Gabe!

 

[vasametropolis]

They have made their own abstraction layer to easily port directx to opengl. Wine by itself especially in a controlled environment wouldn't be nice.

From what I understand it's pretty well-tailored to their own games and not highly portable though. In an ideal world they would just throw this code at all the publishers and say "tadaaaaaa!"

 

[smokeandmirrors]

From what I understand it's pretty well-tailored to their own games and not highly portable though. In an ideal world they would just throw this code at all the publishers and say "tadaaaaaa!"

I would assume that they used it for testing for a 'proof of concept' and are working on a better api for the public to use, cause let's face it, it's pretty huge what they are doing and would accomplish by having that released to the pc market and developers.