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Steam not coming to Linux

S

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=261191?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=CVG-General-RSS

Valve has taken a Left 4 Dead-style shotgun to rumours that it is working on a Linux compatible version of its Steam platform.

The studio is opening Steam up in terms of formats this year - promoting Steamworks on PS3 and transferring the service to Mac.

However, the firm has quashed any suggestion that it may be looking at another windows rival.

When asked if it was working on a Linux version of the digital game sales platform, Valve's Doug Lombardi told GI.biz:

"There's no Linux version that we're working on right now."

It doesn't get much more comprehensive than that, folks.

However, Lombardi was very excited about Steam on Mac - predicting that 2011 will see lots of games released simultaneously on PC and Apple's rival format.

He added: "People are looking at their titles for this holiday and saying 'a Mac version would screw with my schedule or I'd have to ship it late. Neither of those is super-desirable. But the titles that I have in Spring of 2011 or in holiday of 2011, let's have a discussion and let's see those numbers and start to figure it out.'

"So that's when folks can really start to see the advent of simultaneous releases on new Mac releases really start to kick in, now that the foundation has been laid this year if you will. You'll see some new releases coming in 2011 - including our own one, Portal 2."
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"There's no Linux version that we're working on right now."
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So...Linux version later, then?

I mean, Gabe already turned around on the PS3, what would make people think he won't do the same for Linux?
in after LOL Linux gaming
 
How many commercial games were released for linux in 2-3 years?
Because that's the only merit if steam on linux makes sense at all.
 
Didn't Valve also deny the mac version too pre-release? Clearly they were working on a linux client. Perhaps they have zero intention of ever releasing it, but to say they haven't been doing something is a lie. Perhaps they're making a linux client as a stepping stone for something in the android realm? Steam on android tablets could be kinda awesome.
 
GeekyDad said:
When was it ever given life?
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I guess when Epic and id were still relevant. Hell, even bioware released their games for linux at one point.

I guess I'd rather have valve concentrate on Mac and Windows than spread their attention too thin. It's easy enough for linux users to just install OSX now, and while it's not open source, it is unix based and pretty damn comfortable for most linux users.
 
That's bad news. I'm replaying Doom 3 on Linux, and I wish there were more games I could play *ahem* at work *ahem*.
 
Linux game had a halfbreed lifespan when Loki Games gave a shit.
 
Wasn't Gabe quoted recently saying they were looking for the most open platforms? :lol

Steam support on linux is actually the last thing that prevents me from using only linux at home.
 
God damnit! And I was looking forward to this too =(

Do you guys think Microsoft has been moneyhatting Valve not to release the Linux client in fear of loosing the gamer audience? :P
 
synt4x said:
God damnit! And I was looking forward to this too =(

Do you guys think Microsoft has been moneyhatting Valve not to release the Linux client in fear of loosing the gamer audience? :P
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Of course. They want to prevent Valve charging for Tux Racer and Frozen Bobble.
 
synt4x said:
God damnit! And I was looking forward to this too =(

Do you guys think Microsoft has been moneyhatting Valve not to release the Linux client in fear of loosing the gamer audience? :P
Click to expand...

You're a funny guy. :lol
 
Polk said:
Of course. They want to prevent Valve charging for Tux Racer and Frozen Bobble.
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If that humble indie bundle is any indication of audience size, the linux gamer audience could be larger than the OSX gamer audience.
 
TouchMyBox said:
If that humble indie bundle is any indication of audience size, the linux gamer audience could be larger than the OSX gamer audience.
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That would explain all of those games from EA/UBI/Paradox/Take2 for linux I see all over other DD shops. And I thought I'm being delusional.
 
So wait a second, when people actually found the resources/client for Linux, those were fake/not used? :( And as for it being a "compatibility nightmare", yes to an extent, but since they ported the engine to OpenGL I figured they might as well take advantage of getting Linux support. I guess they figure if they advertise it it would be too much trouble to support, though. Ah well.
 
MEANWHILE AT VALVE...
JUZNz.jpg
 
Plenty of the game porting to Steam Mac is done using Wine. Wine is native under Linux. Steam client was created using Adobe's AIR. Adobe also offers AIR for Linux. So the "only" excuse might be the lacking situation for 3D drivers, but that's a pretty massive issue if one intends to sell games with high-end graphics.
 
This is a serious let down. I love Linux and I love Steam. It would be awesome to have one work with the other, even if it only means native support for Source games. Games are the only thing keeping me from switching entirely...
 
Datschge said:
Plenty of the game porting to Steam Mac is done using Wine. Wine is native under Linux. Steam client was created using Adobe's AIR. Adobe also offers AIR for Linux. So the "only" excuse might be the lacking situation for 3D drivers, but that's a pretty massive issue if one intends to sell games with high-end graphics.
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It would be more platforms for them to support, and I can see how they would rather not bother with it.

But the situation of the OS X Steam client and the software sold through it sounds throughly depressing, and if that's what Linux users are missing out on, we're not missing out on much at all.
 
pmj said:
It would be more platforms for them to support, and I can see how they would rather not bother with it.
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Actually AIR and Wine should help with making products platform agnostic. Linux's huge issue currently is consistent driver support for any kind of accelerated graphics. If a rather huge free software project has perpetual problems with even a minimum acceleration not not working but actually working very badly due to bad driver support and implementations, and that backfires in public reception to them instead the driver developer/graphic hardware manufactures, you can bet commercial companies aren't going to try to rely on such for commercial sales on a large scale.
 
For my productivity's sake. It's for the best.

Linux is where I get work done. They've got to be considering the home TV market at some point. They should be working on a TV friendly UI for Steam I feel.
 
Visualante said:
For my productivity's sake. It's for the best.

Linux is where I get work done. They've got to be considering the home TV market at some point. They should be working on a TV friendly UI for Steam I feel.
Click to expand...

That would be really nice. The large icon layout is nice, but it's not ideal.
 
Datschge said:
Actually AIR and Wine should help with making products platform agnostic. Linux's huge issue currently is consistent driver support for any kind of accelerated graphics.
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I'd rather not pay for quick and dirty emulation (I know, I know) jobs. And if that qualifies as being platform agnostic, many games (and Steam!) already were, since they work in Wine at some capacity. I say that's platform agnosticism as much as running Windows software in virtualized Windows on Linux. Which is, not at all. I admit that I may be just a tad irrational. I fucking hate seeing the .exes some Mono apps use too.

I'm not sure what these huge and perpetual problems with graphics acceleration are either, but then again, having heard the ATI horror stories, I always go with Nvidia.
 
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