Project Stream, the game streaming platform Google is currently building is apparently built on Linux and uses the Vulkan API. While this isn't specifically Linux desktop gaming news, hopefully some of our readers will find it interesting.
For Project Stream, Google has partnered up with Ubisoft to show off Assassin's Creed Odyssey running on it. This is something I touched on, in an editorial I wrote at the start of last month with my thoughts on Valve doing such a service.
The interesting thing here, is that it seems to be part of some wider effort from Google for something code-named Yeti. According to Eurogamer, who had some hands-on time with the system. Here's the relevant text:
Our understanding is that Yeti is a bespoke platform, built on Linux and using Vulkan as the graphics API of choice. We are also told by sources that there will be deep integration with YouTube, not just in terms of infrastructure but also in being able to leap from watching a video into playing a game. Whether these innovative ideas will make it into the final product remains to be seen, but suffice to say, Yeti may well be a major next-gen contender, especially with that kind of backing.
Emphasis mine.
It's interesting, since Project Stream itself already works well on Linux. I've had multiple reports, from people who've also had hands-on with it tell me that it's working just as well on Linux as it does on Windows. Regardless of your feelings towards cloud gaming, including the technical hurdles it faces (which are pretty big) it's going to eventually be a much bigger thing with more developers pushing it.
A lot of questions remain, such as have Ubisoft essentially ported Assassin's Creed Odyssey to Linux with Vulkan, exclusively for use on Project Stream or is it using something more like Valve's Steam Play? Considering the performance it would need, it's likely a native port.
Regardless of either way it's been done, the little point I want to make is that with enough backing, big titles like this can be ported to Linux. Most of us know this already of course, with companies like Feral Interactive, Aspyr Media and Virtual Programming all having ported some bigger titles to Linux.
What do you make of this?
Hat tip to Marc.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
ElectricPrism Dec 2, 2018
After being bullied into buying more Storage, having Google Plus shut down, having Google Photos no longer upload original quality pictures not against your quota, and all of the location tracking on Android mixed with the shitty Apps crammed full of ads and planned obsolescence I am done.
I have moved my entire Photo library, Email library to NextCloud.
What's worse but was an accepted evil in exchange for convenience is knowing the facial recognition AI will use all our data to feed their machine and scan photos for things to sell us. Don't get me wrong, I expect every company to do some level of evil -- but Google has gone too far.
Their Google Express shopping experience is absolute shit. Their support technicians can't even cancel an order 1 hour old.
They shutdown Google Reader and a lot of other amazing projects and have mish-moshed technologies into some post-appocolytic technical era where all your data is owned and located at Google HQ.
I'll be damned if I ever give them money to support a shitty Game Streaming startup that rips off technologies built by Valve. Google has not done Linux right. Android Graphics drivers are blobs, kernels are out-dated, Linux stock user-space is not included by default. The least they could have done is created a state of the art filesystem similar to ZFS and BTRFS.
2001 Google and 2004 Google are dead. 2018 Google is as evil, incompetent, malicious and dumb as they come.
Quoting: devnullThe real reason Twitch still exists is they aren't Google, nor Microsoft, nor some game company. Period. It's not because they're _better_.
How is Amazon any better? They are as nasty as it gets in many ways. They own Twitch.
Last edited by Shmerl on 2 December 2018 at 5:21 pm UTC
Quoting: ShmerlI quite doubt Google would be running Android on the server for gaming purposes. What for? Android can't run existing Linux games (thanks to its completely incompatible Surface Flinger) and normal glibc Linux works much better with Wine.
i dont know how good surface flinger is, but but x.org is outdated, everyone knows that and is trying to replace it with wayland but failing.
google has an bigger install base with android's surface flinger than x.org and wayland ever had, so why should they care?
they probably will make those games streaming only, then port it to chromeOS only and not give a shit about the rest of the linux world.
we are already busy fighting against each other (gnome x kde x etc) we dont have energy to compete against then (as if we could anyway)
Quoting: elmapuli would add:
the end of mods
Not necessarily. Depending on the implementation, there could be something like Steam Workshop, but allowing your own mods to be uploaded to your folder in the cloud.
wintermute Dec 2, 2018
Quoting: GuestJust want to point out that Google already have an OS that uses Linux...
Actually they have two: Android and ChromeOS.
I would just like to add to the speculation in this comment thread the speculation from this slightly older thread and note that Assassin's Creed was one of the guesses on that. If Ubisoft have indeed ported their game to Linux it's possible they brought in some expert help?
Well if it has to run server-side, it has to run on Linux, right? Unless it went through yet *another* layer of streaming (vomit!).
Quoting: PhlebiacFrom the article: "Ubisoft has been able to accurately port one of its most advanced titles from Windows and DX11 across to Linux and Vulkan." Would be nice to see them attempt to recoup some of that development cost by actually making it available outside of streaming.
Please don't forget the part that comes before, it completely changes the meaning:
Quoting: Eurogamer.netwe still have no idea if the Odyssey demo is using the system spec shared with developers working on the Yeti platform. If it is, all we can really take away from this is that Ubisoft has been able to accurately port one of its most advanced titles from Windows and DX11 across to Linux and Vulkan
Quoting: wintermuteAndroid making an interesting sidelight on certain long-running naming discussions; unusually it is I believe Linux but not GNU/Linux. And indeed much of the feeling of it not being really Linux comes precisely from that lack of GNU.Quoting: GuestJust want to point out that Google already have an OS that uses Linux...
Actually they have two: Android and ChromeOS.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyGNU isn't important, just look at the BSDs. The important thing is that it is unix-like.Quoting: wintermuteAndroid making an interesting sidelight on certain long-running naming discussions; unusually it is I believe Linux but not GNU/Linux. And indeed much of the feeling of it not being really Linux comes precisely from that lack of GNU.Quoting: GuestJust want to point out that Google already have an OS that uses Linux...
Actually they have two: Android and ChromeOS.
dirkdierickx Dec 4, 2018
I guess, in the end money talks and those game cloud streaming services probably will be a bigger income for publishers than trying to sell to linux gamers directly.
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