Steam on Linux

It'll mean I don't have to boot to Ubuntu each time I want to play Trine with my teammate.

That's probably the best information of the day :)
I really hope that it's not fake again...
I'm waiting for native steam on linux for a long long time.

Linux FTW!

Assuming this is true, I think what is more likely is for companies that previously did support us, such as Croteam and the people behind Red Orchestra, will come back on board once again. They have basically already stated their only real issue (though never forget the power to find other excuses...) is the fact there is no Steam for Linux.

Questions whether Steam is a good thing for Linux gaming (or any sort of gaming for that matter) is a rather difficult one to answer. From what I've researched so far, it was stated that they're planning on turning it into a social network akin to Facebook. This could be something extremely good for the gaming community as a whole, yet it still doesn't say anything about fixing the [URL='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kw3AFJmctk']current problems with the service[/URL] (only video I could dig up; too tired to search for the rest). Never forget that Steam is, essentially, a well-branded DRM platform - something that the Linux community has been fending off for quite some time, even more than proprietary software. This move might put a serious dent in the whole open-source campaign in the long run, yet I dare not make assumptions until the first signs of trouble occur. On the other hand, a vast majority of the consumer base has been married to Steam for so long that upon switching to Linux they've either duel-booted or kept used it through Wine. There's no question that this is something they've been eagerly anticipating ever since first mentions of the port were made. One of the things many of them don't seem to understand though is that, by the end of the day, the number of available Linux titles relies solely on the developers, not Steam itself. Though to be perfectly honest, Valve has a huge impact on many things that happen within the gaming industry. I'm certain that as soon as they become available on Linux many publishers (except for EA which now has Origin) will follow in an attempt to make a profit. So to sum it all up, the biggest plus in this whole story is that Source is getting ported; the rest is debatable.

I do wish I had a stronger more subjective feeling about this whole affair, but given the limited amount of information available I just can't care enough to be involved. It's going to happen no matter what I think or say, and not like Newell's going to come by here and indulge my curiosities on the subjects of why, how and where all this is heading. Thus not much more to do except speculate, wait and see. Personally, what really presses my buttons about all of this is the news itself. The fact that so many Linux users will be talking about nothing but Steam until the port is ready means that so much work done by so many people in an effort to get funded (Indies) or accepted by a wider audience (Desura) will once again be overshadowed by the giant marketing grip surrounding this story which, no matter how hyped, shouldn't make the world stop just yet.

Now, if Valve was to announce something like "we're rewriting our licensing agreement" or "we're joining forces with DesuraNET" then I believe I would have a heart attack on the spot... Just sayin' :rolleyes:

Actually a fairly fair assessment by Alex there. I am only really interested in the port of the Source engine and games. I am a bit leery of Steam itself.

And it is true that Valve has (not entirely deliberately) hurt things I care about by overshadowing things in the past. That was one of the reasons that, even when I was stuck on Windows, I never played their games. I was waiting for Valve to do something for me first.

So we will wait and see if that time has come. Sorry if we are getting any of you people down. ;)

What do you think? Will Steam on Linux mean anything for you?

No. I have no interest in using Steam or any other delivery platform. If I want a game, I prefer to buy it from developers directly.

It's DRM, so i really don't like it... i'd rather see more crowd funding pop up.

It's DRM, so i really don't like it... i'd rather see more crowd funding pop up.

That is not entirely correct. In the first place Steam is a distribution, communication and match making software. It is up to the developers themself to tie their game to Steam as copy protection.

Dungeons of Dredmore for example is distributed via Steam similar to Desura but you are not bound to Steam at all. In fact: I run a copy of DoD with expansion pack from my Steam Account over at my Linux box without issues. Similar would be possible for L4D or HL2 as well if Valve decides to remove the Steam bindings in their code.

As for Steam on Linux I am kind of keen but all depends on the games which are available at which prices. For shure a little higher price for Linux is acceptable but should match general pricing of the games. In general Steam is often quite expensive with newer games compared to boxed wares but you can make great deals when buying bundles.

I for one own nearly all Valve games (beside Portal 2) but would be willing to (re)pay for L4D2 under Linux if the price point is not too steep.

The one problem I foresee with Steam on Linux is that now we'll have Desura, Gameolith, Ubuntu Software Center and now Steam for games. Who do we buy from? Would purchasing a game from one service over another benefit the Linux community? Also, how will the Steam client handle games that are not ported to Linux? Would it use its own wine-wrapper or simply gray them out?

So many question, only time will tell.

I know a lot of the true hardcore open-source zealots will essentially bash Steam on Linux, but for gamers and for those of us who don't feel so strongly about certain aspects of GNU/Linux, if this actually happens I think it could only mean good things. Hopefully it will at least motivate hardware manufacturers to write better, more complete drivers.

Also, how will the Steam client handle games that are not ported to Linux? Would it use its own wine-wrapper or simply gray them out?

I would assume it would simply be like the Mac version. Why do people think on Linux you naturally would think about looking at Wine?

I know a lot of the true hardcore open-source zealots will essentially bash Steam on Linux, but for gamers and for those of us who don't feel so strongly about certain aspects of GNU/Linux, if this actually happens I think it could only mean good things. Hopefully it will at least motivate hardware manufacturers to write better, more complete drivers.

Okay, first, opening with such wonderful phrases as "open-source zealots" is part of the reason why the tone on the Phoronix Forums (for instance) often goes down the tubes. You are going to have to accept that when you are on a system that was built on a lot of ideals, for some strange reason people are going to feel strongly about it, and they are often going to have worked with the platform a lot longer than you have. So give them a little respect, okay?

Now, we are not necessarily saying this a bad thing. But for those of us who already love Linux and already do enjoy gaming on Linux, we do not want to lose what we already have just in the name of potential future growth. We are not against the growth, or are ourselves in favour of anything else contained in many of allegations that are often hurled against such sentiments. We simply want to make sure it does not hurt what we care about, and why we became interested in the first place.

I am not trying to be aggressive or aggravating - but I have seen things happen like this before and I want people to know that it could happen here too.

its the same old dribble from Phoronix

"Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Engine", there is not a single quote from Gabe, heck these is not a single picture with even a face of Gabe or anybody else.

" plan to try out Windows 8 simply to see if it's as bad as Gabe states and because he's curious about my opinions of this latest Microsoft operating system.", sure he does........

"From the recommendations I made to Gabe last month for some experienced Linux OpenGL programmers, they already hired one of them for their Linux skills and are still interviewing at least one other from my list. Valve is also hiring more, and it's just not Linux OpenGL -- even if you're just a Linux kernel developer they might be interested in hiring you (I'll be placing some more recommendations to them in the next few days, if you think you might be interested, contact me for possible referral especially if your work has been covered on Phoronix in the past)." this whole part makes me almost puke, why on earth would a company like Valve need a tabloit like Phoronix to get Linux people... and you can be sure that for the next 2 years he will milk this again and again and of course will have to mention that it was because of his recommendation that this all happened...........

sorry but until I see a post FROM Valve this is again just a big article I have little faith in and am glad we have actual things like Desura and Gamolith

As every message (especially from Phoronix) also this one has to be seen with a grain of salt. Valve is a big company and encourages ideas of peoples. So if some Linux enthusiasts in the company are evaluating if it would be possible to port Steam over to Linux as well as the Source engine, then I guess they are free to do so.

I believe (but do not know) that Michael was shown a prototype. Such a prototype / pet project might be used for further decision at Valve, e.g. "yes, this looks valuable enough. Lets do a full port of L4D2 to Linux plus Steam to Linux. Since I do not know the internal structure of Steam I can not comment on how complicate / time-intense it is to port it over to Linux.

In Valve's position I would do a public STFU as well until I have really something to tell, e.g. annoucing Steam for Linux. You can bet that there are a lot of projects going on at Valve and other game companies which neither go public, nor make it to the market. Michael himself might be looking mostly for revenue in order to keep us visiting his website.

What seems to be obvious for me so far (unless Michael want to make himself really looking goofy):
He has been invited to Valve's office and they are currently doing some porting work on L4D2 to Linux. Nothing more, nothing less.
If Steam really comes to Linux has to be seen. Some screenshots about L4D2 running on a Linux box says all or nothing. Since the Source engine sports OpenGL as well as D3D, the porting should be much easier to do than with a D3D-only engine. Since the rating in WINEs appDB is pretty high for L4D2 at least the base technology should not be so hard to port compared to Windows titles which do not work at all with WINE.

Those who question other thing being done / evaluated by Valve (for example the "Steam box") should keep in mind that they embrace ideas from their employees. I guess a lot of people there do interesting projects which we would see no sooner than 3-4 years in the future. Simply check out there patents on a game controller and such things. Its completely natural that a company researches and experiments. If they do not do so in the entertainment field, they are dead meat in the future.

Well, my only comment here is I do not buy the argument that Valve is somehow magically different from every other gaming company. I am not sure which way that points though.

I'm actually more interested in L4D2 for linux than Steam initself, but I can see the benefits of having it native.

Well Valve games tend to be tied to Steam using things like steam cloud, leaderboards, steams matchmaking etc so my guess is it will be easier for them to port steam than rip out steam code from each of their games to port to Linux.

Just my thought.

That said I am still thinking we won't see it this year if it does come at all!

I'd go as far as to say that we'll probably see a Steam for Linux beta(closed probably, but who knows) by the end of the year. Otherwise, I expect everything to be done roughly by this time next year. If we believe everything Larabel has been saying, Gabe is apparently working with the Linux cabal full time, meaning that this is a high priority project. I've even heard on the Steam Users' Forum that someone emailed Gabe and he responded that he's planning on a blog to detail Linux development. It could all be hearsay, but I think the times are a changin'.