Ars Technica Benchmarks Show Windows 10 Beating SteamOS Performance

Quoting: subI'm really puzzled about Valve's PR department when it comes to the SteamOS.
I'd say they're doing a terrible job. Am I missing anything?

True, the Valve marketing of SteamOS and Steam Machines is terrible, they are simply doing nothing and hoping for the best. Hopefully, Alienware is really marketing it, and they do believe in SteamOS :

View video on youtube.com

Quoting: reaVerI didn't even read into the article, but if he's a target of gamergate you can pretty much stop taking him seriously right there. I said on the first page that it seemed fishy and now you got 5 pages with people thinking the same. And most of the arguments aren't even gamergate related at that.

I had been meaning to stay out of this, but since you seem to think everyone here shares your opinion, I feel I have to comment.
You want to dismiss the whole article because the author is being targeted by a harassment campaign? I'm more inclined to support anyone targeted by that idiocy. Either way, you should argue the facts, not the character of the author.

Quoting: reaVerNow about the developer who has been hit hard by gamergate, that would be Zoe Quinn. She's known for sleeping with game journalists for promotion of her products or to change their narrative. Just read into the gamergate debacle and you can pretty much leave that to rest. The other integrity lacking person in this debacle would be Anita Sarkeesian who is known for being a manipulative liar.

That stuff about Zoe Quinn was basically made up by her boyfriend and he later redacted it. Even if it were true, it wouldn't justify the harassment and death threads against her.
I don't know what Anita Sarkeesian is supposed to be lying about. She talks about stuff she things is problematic in games. Lots of people do that about lots of media. Take it or leave it. You can discuss the academic merit of her work, but again, no need for death and rape threads or even calling her a liar.

Quoting: reaVerYes and yes.

This has been debunked over and over and over again. There were no articles for Zoe's games while she was together with Nathan. In fact, the only two articles that Nathan wrote was one for Kotaku, before he was in a relationship with her (and that wasn't even a review) and one for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, where the game is shortly mentioned. No full review, nothing while they were dating.

No one ever managed to produce any of the alleged review articles Zoe allegedly received by "sleeping around". This is and always has been a character assassination.

Likewise, no one ever managed to produce anything even close to a proof that Anita Sarkeesian is a "manipulative liar". On the flipside, you can't walk five meter into YouTube or Twitter before you get clobbered by racist, sexist attacks against her.

And, as opposed to clowns from The Sarkeesian Effect "documentary", her videos are actually of high quality, and show skill in writing concise and to the point. I may not agree with every single point she makes, or I may not know about the one game or the other, but I was never disappointed in seeing one of her videos appear in my YouTube feed.

But, like I said, this has been debunked countless times. It is so. damn. tiring.

Quoting: ricki42Either way, you should argue the facts, not the character of the author.

The fact is that benchmark is badly done, with a very old rig that no hardcore gamer who care about performance would have, with nonsense resolutions since SteamOS is dedicated to run on TVs and without giving much informations about the actual SteamOS version used or the methodology. I don't contest the fact that some game, especially AAA games have not as good performances as they have on Windows, I only contest those exaggerated results coming from an (intentionally) unprofessionally done benchmark, the wording and the conclusion obviously.


Last edited by Nyamiou on 14 November 2015 at 4:58 am UTC

It's pretty depressing to see the old Gamergate inaccuracies pop up here. Ms. Sarkeesian's videos don't say anything that isn't true about sexism in video games. The kind of people I've heard making these accusations remind me of (and, in one case has actually been) pimple-faced virgins living in their parents' basements, the kind of people who savaged the excellent Gone Home as "not even being a real game," because (apparently) it took the point of view of a young woman.

Y'know, members of the He-Man Woman Haters Club. Racist, sexist pimply-faced virgins, living in their parents' basements and spreading accusations thet have no basis in fact.

DrMcCoy said it better above, but I had to add my 2 cents' worth.

Quoting: Nyamiou

Quoting: subI'm really puzzled about Valve's PR department when it comes to the SteamOS.
I'd say they're doing a terrible job. Am I missing anything?

True, the Valve marketing of SteamOS and Steam Machines is terrible, they are simply doing nothing and hoping for the best. Hopefully, Alienware is really marketing it, and they do believe in SteamOS

I'll also add that I'm really disappointed in Valve's marketing, or complete lack thereof, of SteamOS. Over in /r/linux_gaming the meme going around is that "Valve is playing the long game, just like the launch of Steam itself, there's nothing to worry about guys!" The launch of Steam and SteamOS are two totally different situations, so I do wonder how well this strategy is going to work out. It really seems like Valve doesn't care if SteamOS totally flops because they're still rolling in dough either way.


Last edited by mulletdeath on 14 November 2015 at 6:04 am UTC

Quoting: Nyamiou

Quoting: ricki42Either way, you should argue the facts, not the character of the author.

The fact is that benchmark is badly done, with a very old rig that no hardcore gamer who care about performance would have, with nonsense resolutions since SteamOS is dedicated to run on TVs and without giving much informations about the actual SteamOS version used or the methodology. I don't contest the fact that some game, especially AAA games have not as good performances as they have on Windows, I only contest those exaggerated results coming from an (intentionally) unprofessionally done benchmark, the wording and the conclusion obviously.

What difference does the hardware make as long as they use it on both sides? Also, older hardware tends to run better on Linux anyway. A Windows apologist might argue that the bias is in favour of Linux.

Me? I just shrug it off and say: Can't win 'em all.

Quoting: reaVerNow about the developer who has been hit hard by gamergate, that would be Zoe Quinn. She's known for sleeping with game journalists for promotion of her products or to change their narrative. Just read into the gamergate debacle and you can pretty much leave that to rest. The other integrity lacking person in this debacle would be Anita Sarkeesian who is known for being a manipulative liar.

Also weighing in here, despite this crap being way off topic. I don't know who Zoe Quinn has sex with, and I don't care because it's none of my business, but this "promotion of her products" you speak of never happened.

First up, there is no "product". The game in question here is Depression Quest, a FREE game intended to raise awareness about depression. I have only ever seen one actual review of it and that was a video analysis by Campster. She had nothing to gain from sleeping with anyone for coverage, except I guess to raise more awareness about depression... in which case, yay - ?

That lie was started by a disgruntled ex, who has since admitted it.

Gamergate is nothing but a small hate group with a larger group of gullible shmucks that are easily manipulated into perpetuating their lies and propaganda. It's not a "movement" that is interested in or will ever accomplish anything positive. If you want to give them credence I feel pity for you.

Quoting: DrMcCoy

Quoting: reaVerYes and yes.

This has been debunked over and over and over again. There were no articles for Zoe's games while she was together with Nathan. In fact, the only two articles that Nathan wrote was one for Kotaku, before he was in a relationship with her (and that wasn't even a review) and one for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, where the game is shortly mentioned. No full review, nothing while they were dating.

No one ever managed to produce any of the alleged review articles Zoe allegedly received by "sleeping around". This is and always has been a character assassination.

You think someone would get targeted like that by thousands of people without actually instigating anything? Gamergate has no leaders and no membership, you have a lot of people acting out on their own.

QuoteLikewise, no one ever managed to produce anything even close to a proof that Anita Sarkeesian is a "manipulative liar". On the flipside, you can't walk five meter into YouTube or Twitter before you get clobbered by racist, sexist attacks against her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWxAljFlb-c&t=102 (and before you begin, this guy is actually really smart, being a researcher and all)

QuoteAnd, as opposed to clowns from The Sarkeesian Effect "documentary", her videos are actually of high quality, and show skill in writing concise and to the point. I may not agree with every single point she makes, or I may not know about the one game or the other, but I was never disappointed in seeing one of her videos appear in my YouTube feed.

But, like I said, this has been debunked countless times. It is so. damn. tiring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MxqSwzFy5w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RVlCvBd21w

One of the most manipulative methods to influence the weakminded is to create a model, state it as truth and then only show evidence from reality that is in line with the model; and if that isn't possible: lie. What it comes down to is that if reality doesn't fit the model, reality in itself is wrong. And in fact, there's already a feminist academic pushing for banning research that goes against political correct opinion.

Anita Sarkeesian is using the same method in her videos and that is why she's considered manipulative. She's suggesting it's normal for people to use violence against objects and that objectifying women allows violence against them. That is just retarded in itself, I'm not allowed to smash my neighbor's car to pieces either now am I? She hates characters like Elphelt in Guilty Gear, she rips on Bayonetta (designed by a woman) and she pretty much says that everything that isn't a flat-chested blank slate is sexist. Again, refer to the video. Even female gamers are disgruntled by this as it removes any variety of women in games, including the more looser types and more shy types. If you just look around, you will see that women in games come in huge varieties already, but Anita completely ignored those women and focused on princess Peach in Super Mario. And when I pointed this out to her on her blog, she just removed the post.

Now, back to important stuff: ricki42: As stated before, the review seems fishy and there are already serious arguments against it. The fact that the author is a target of gamergate means his motivations can be considered questionable at best (as gamergate is about journalistic integrity). And that is why all in all, we should not draw conclusions from the article that we're going to propagate to developers.

We don't like GamersGate debates here, and I won't put up with them.

Shutup about who slept with who (because as DrMcCoy said it's basically horseshit).

If it carries on past this comment right here I will begin deleting them and any that reference them.

Debunk the article, talk about performance and such and don't focus on people directly. After I was harassed by people I simply wont put up with it in my comments, end of.