Today will go down in the history books of Linux gaming that’s for sure. Sadly, this release has been pretty quiet. I was hoping for a much bigger bang like we were given with the original announcement, as this release day is a bit of a let-down. We haven’t seen any major new games released with it today, I was expecting at the very least one of the Saints Row games and Rocket League, or just something with a bit of oomph to it.
However, there has been a vast amount of activity on SteamDB’s page of Linux game hints, so it’s probable that a few developers have sped-up a bit.
It remains to be seen how Steam Machines will affect our market share, while I am sceptical about it all I am remaining excited and positive about it. It’s the only thing that has ever truly pushed Linux gaming, and I will be forever thankful to Valve for their efforts.
We probably won’t see any real activity in the Steam Hardware Survey for our market share moving for a good few months, and we still don’t have a clue how Valve will show it. It will be foolish of them not to show it at all in their survey, so we will just have to wait and see. It is a real concern of mine though, as I've never seen anyone get a survey in Steam's Big Picture Mode (does it even exist there?).
I officially have a Steam Controller in my hands right now (FINALLY), so you can expect some real thoughts from me on it soon. I also have a dedicated Steam Machine I have been testing and playing games on for the last few days, so I will also have some thoughts up on SteamOS soon too.
The weird thing is, they haven't announced an official release of SteamOS. Their news about SteamOS is pretty much non-existent. I would have assumed it would have been given official release status today too, but apparently not. If it is, they are being quiet about it. I'm starting to think they won't ever give SteamOS a "final" release status, but keep it as an ongoing development with small milestones.
You can find the Steam Sale right here. You can buy a Steam Controller here, a Steam Link here or just view their new hardware page here.
How do you feel about today? The best thing to takeaway from it is that hopefully we will have a continuing steady pace of new Linux games. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
However, there has been a vast amount of activity on SteamDB’s page of Linux game hints, so it’s probable that a few developers have sped-up a bit.
It remains to be seen how Steam Machines will affect our market share, while I am sceptical about it all I am remaining excited and positive about it. It’s the only thing that has ever truly pushed Linux gaming, and I will be forever thankful to Valve for their efforts.
We probably won’t see any real activity in the Steam Hardware Survey for our market share moving for a good few months, and we still don’t have a clue how Valve will show it. It will be foolish of them not to show it at all in their survey, so we will just have to wait and see. It is a real concern of mine though, as I've never seen anyone get a survey in Steam's Big Picture Mode (does it even exist there?).
I officially have a Steam Controller in my hands right now (FINALLY), so you can expect some real thoughts from me on it soon. I also have a dedicated Steam Machine I have been testing and playing games on for the last few days, so I will also have some thoughts up on SteamOS soon too.
The weird thing is, they haven't announced an official release of SteamOS. Their news about SteamOS is pretty much non-existent. I would have assumed it would have been given official release status today too, but apparently not. If it is, they are being quiet about it. I'm starting to think they won't ever give SteamOS a "final" release status, but keep it as an ongoing development with small milestones.
You can find the Steam Sale right here. You can buy a Steam Controller here, a Steam Link here or just view their new hardware page here.
How do you feel about today? The best thing to takeaway from it is that hopefully we will have a continuing steady pace of new Linux games. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: melkemindI think we are looking at it from the inside out rather than how the rest of the world sees it. To us, SteamOS launched with now "new" launch titles. To the rest of the world, it had 1500+ launch titles, more than any console ever had at launch. Having said that, Rocket League is the one game that should have been ready since they did promise it during preordering.
On an unrelated note, I'm starting to think the people who complained about Steam Controllers were just whining because they like to whine or were trolls. It didn't have as steep of a learning curve for me as it seems to have for many people. It just took me an hour or so to get the hang of it. My 8-year-old daughter picked it up and knew what to do with it almost instantly. Granted I'm not playing some competitive FPS online, but the controller wasn't really made for those anyway.
I think part of the problem was on the software side but by the time I got mine last Friday things seemed to have been mostly fixed. Besides the initial firmware update, I've already seen another one, which shows Valve are working hard. Also, a month after the early adopters, we have the benefit of existing controller profiles, including some official ones. The fact Fallout 4 was released with a day one official Steam Controller profile from Bethesda, speaks loads about how developers look at it. Granted the Bethesda profile was horrible, the effort is still appreciated :P.
On a more Linux related topic, playing Borderlands is a true pleasure as the game supports simultaneous gamepad/mouse input, which means you get the benefits from the controller layout and easy button navigation + the touch pad aiming.
Wonder if it would work in Wine though. A quick test in Skyrim proved what I already suspected - it's much better than with Xbox controller.
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Quoting: wleoncioI'm starting to think about setting up a Live USB just to boot up once a month, install and log into Steam. Since we know the survey is biased, we should do something to lessen it.
I don't think it's biased. If my theory is correct, it works exactly the same way on Windows in that it checks for changes or new systems.
This is what I think happens: Steam has a list of active hardware+OS configuration for each user. When the user logs in from something different, the survey will come up (not every time, I think they only send surveys at certain times every month probably to avoid annoying people who constantly tinker). Steam will then add the configuration from that survey to your list. If you don't use a setup/PC for some time, Steam will assume you don't have or use it anymore and drops it from your list. Next time you log in from that dropped computer, Steam will notice it as a new setup, give the survey, and add it back.
This way, the Steam survey is representative of pretty much all users, rather than a random sample. It also avoids annoying people if they randomly get the survey several times in a row.
I don't know how in the analysis they handle users with several setups, but I'd guess the easiest way would be simply to split between the configurations. So I'd now count as half a user with an older Fedora laptop, and half a user with a mid-high end Ubuntu PC. If this is the case, then a Linux user who boots into Windows and gets the survey, will for the next couple of months (however long Steam keeps configurations on file) count as half a Linux user and half a Windows user. They may have better methods like actually weighing by how much time you spend on each; I somewhat doubt that though, people may spend a lot of time offline which could skew the result.
I also think the survey results seem reasonable at about 1% Linux. Whenever we do get platform-specific sales data, Linux is usually around 1-5%, occasionally higher, but mostly this is what I remember seeing. If on average Linux users buy the same number of games as Windows users, but we have about 1/4 the games, it makes sense that we have sales numbers of ~4%. I doubt Linux users on average do buy the same number of games though, simply because the games they want may not be available, and they may get them on Windows or console or skip (fewer games to impulse-buy during sales!). But a few % Linux sales makes perfect sense for a 1% user base and about 25% of available games.
Sorry this got so long, I'm just getting a bit tired of this whole 'the survey is rigged' thing every time Linux sales and stats come up. Instead of complaining that the survey comes up every time you (not you personally wleoncio, general you) boot into Windows, just don't boot into Windows and don't buy games that don't have Linux support. That's the best way to improve the numbers and ensure you count as Linux and Linux-only.
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Storminator16 Nov 11, 2015
I'm just going to say this and I'm done with this thread: everyone is entitled to their opinions. Respect it, don't go overboard.
I'm having a fairly frustrating time with the Steam controller. The mouse pad doesn't work from time to time in Big Picture Mode and some games it just isn't working correctly. I'm lacking patience with this.
Last edited by Storminator16 on 11 November 2015 at 7:05 pm UTC
I'm having a fairly frustrating time with the Steam controller. The mouse pad doesn't work from time to time in Big Picture Mode and some games it just isn't working correctly. I'm lacking patience with this.
Last edited by Storminator16 on 11 November 2015 at 7:05 pm UTC
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[quote=maodzedun]
It works! As long as you have steam client running, all configurations and mappings work outside of Steam as well.
I just tested this on Fedora 23 with Morrowind running under Playonlinux... I created simple mapping for it, and it seems to work well.
Quoting: melkemindWonder if it would work in Wine though. A quick test in Skyrim proved what I already suspected - it's much better than with Xbox controller.
It works! As long as you have steam client running, all configurations and mappings work outside of Steam as well.
I just tested this on Fedora 23 with Morrowind running under Playonlinux... I created simple mapping for it, and it seems to work well.
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Quoting: Storminator16I'm having a fairly frustrating time with the Steam controller. The mouse pad doesn't work from time to time in Big Picture Mode and some games it just isn't working correctly. I'm lacking patience with this.
The mouse pad? It isn't even used in Big Picture mode except if you're in the web browser... What you are seeing is intentional behavior. They will let us customize it in the future - the option is there, but not accessible yet.
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Storminator16 Nov 11, 2015
Quoting: adolsonQuoting: Storminator16I'm having a fairly frustrating time with the Steam controller. The mouse pad doesn't work from time to time in Big Picture Mode and some games it just isn't working correctly. I'm lacking patience with this.
The mouse pad? It isn't even used in Big Picture mode except if you're in the web browser... What you are seeing is intentional behavior. They will let us customize it in the future - the option is there, but not accessible yet.
The first time I launched it (pre-hack we all have to do), it partially worked.
So, I figured out my issues. The aforementioned hack we all have to do (at least on Ubuntu; thanks, Canonical), I butchered the changes I needed to make in /lib/udev/rules.d/99-steam-controller-perms.rules.
Yeah, this controller makes couch gaming infinitely more enjoyable. Not that the Xbox 360 pad didn't, but this just rocks.
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OK guys, you can stop the ranting about the bad launch now (Fallout 4 came out on the same day, remember?). Now there is a picture of steam hardware at the top, where Fallout 4 used to be. You happy now?
I wasn't even expecting for Valve to do something special on launch. All their products so far produced most of the hype hype themselves.
I wasn't even expecting for Valve to do something special on launch. All their products so far produced most of the hype hype themselves.
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