So the rumour mill is at it again this time things are looking a bit more solid, but as always I am sceptical.
Michael Larabel of Phoronix is again posting about Steam coming for Linux, this time showing off screenshots showing off Left For Dead 2 running natively on Linux.
Considering Michael actually went to Valve HQ and met with the head of Valve this time it seems a little more solid. He also did note in his most recent article how he jumped the gun a bit on his older posts.
What do you think? Will Steam on Linux mean anything for you?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
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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
"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
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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.
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.
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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.
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I'm actually more interested in L4D2 for linux than Steam initself, but I can see the benefits of having it native.
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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!
Just my thought.
That said I am still thinking we won't see it this year if it does come at all!
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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'.
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