According to a renowned German PC games magazine, Gamestar, the SteamVR device HTC Vive is going to be released only for Windows in the beginning.
Gamestar journalists attended a demonstration of the Vive HTC and spoke to HTC representatives. They found the VR impression very convincing. But I guess there are enough descriptions of that out there on the net. The news for Linux users is hidden in their conclusion: According to HTC "Executive Director Global Marketing" Jeff Gattis, Vive HTC will only work with Windows on release.
Here's the original German text:
QuoteErstaunlich: Auch wenn Steam große Anstrengungen unternimmt, mit SteamOS ein eigenes Linux-Derivat als Gaming-Betriebssystem in den Markt zu drücken, wird die Vive vorerst ausschließlich mit Windows funktionieren. Steam-Boxen wären eh zu langsam für die Vive-VR, schmunzelte Gattis schelmisch, man konzentriere sich lieber auf Windows als Betriebssystem.
My translation:
QuoteSurprisingly, although Steam [Valve] is making great efforts to push its own Linux derivative SteamOS to the market as a gaming operating system, Vive VR will initially work exclusively with Windows. Steam machines are too slow for the Vive VR anyway, Gattis smiled mischievously, so they prefer to concentrate on the Windows operating system.
I tried to find other mentions about this fact on the net, but to no avail. The Gamestar people cannot possibly have been the only journalists going to that event...?
Although they said it will not work, there might be a way to get it running on Linux as well. But to me, SteamVR was one of the major possible attractions of Steam Machines on release, and if this news turns out to be true, it's another rather disappointing one for me.
Full article (German)
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Hololens is going to be a gimmick to gamers, but it's a pretty big stepping stone for developers.
VR could be applied to this, maybe, but it probably is going to be unrealistic expectations due to the ever-growing complexity of the hardware. I don't think it will be a short-term fad (still is one, nonetheless), but I can't see it being useful in the real world (aside from training simulators).
If Origin replace Steam, it would be right, it would be that they managed to become better than Steam. I doubt Microsoft will even consider that approach.
That hurts, I don't care a lot about the market reasons, but to justify it with a technical reason....... I don't know. I hope that's not true, since nvidia performance its suppose to be good.
Seeing the requirements for the Oculus Rift I think this is true. If I remember correctly a gtx970 were the minimum(!) required.
After all, a huge amount of pixels are required to be rendered at a rock steady high pace (we talk about a fps requirement of minimum 90, wasn't it?).
I'm not worried that Valve will ditch Linux. I do however realize that I will have to shell out for a new gaming rig to be able to join the VR revolution. But believe you me, y'all: I sure will! And it SHALL run on Linux.
I imagine, and I don't see it as easy. (not at all)
What makes platforms like Steam or Facebook? Your contacts and all that "social stuff" I don't care about, but many do. It's the same with any other new platform, why should anyone move, if your friends are still at the old platform?
Simply forbidding Steam would be... not easy, from a legal standpoint. (At least not on the desktop)
Would you adopt me? ;)
I'd be happy if somenone's got contradicting information from comparibly reliable sources.
I'd love to be wrong.
That right there makes this sound like either a microsoft fan boy trolling Linux people, or it's just another stupid rumor.
You don't own a Steam Machine. You own a PC running Linux.
I hope not - I've been saying since I was a kid (I'm in my mid-30s now) that virtual reality was the future... And for the first time in all that time, we now have a lot of big companies with a lot of money pushing the concept hard!
I felt that the consumer electronics and entertainment industries moved away from 3D too quickly, but there's a lot of research going into virtual reality and if "they" get it right, there's no reason why it can't or won't take-off and truly become the future of entertainment...
I'm disappointed by this, but I'll still get it (well, unless Razer release their OSVR headset first).
But honestly, any "manufacturer" can cobble together a high end PC (SLI Titans?), label it as a Steam Machine, install SteamOS on it and sell it.
Yeah, I too personally think VR should be a good experience, and hope it's no fad. DK1 pixels were horrible though, would be nice to try consumer version and the Vive to see if I can see the pixel boundary lines, before deciding if I wanna get it.