The team behind the retro-inspired and Linux-powered gaming box, the Atari VCS, have put out an "Early Summer Update" of what's going on with the project.
It goes over a bunch of details they've already talked about, including how it was shown off a little at E3 this year. They said it felt like "mission accomplished" after other members of the press and partners got to see a little more of it.
Interestingly, they say they've created (from scratch) an Atari 2600 emulator that comes baked into the entire system, giving you easy access to retro games. Apparently, you will be able to fire it up and play some classic games while other bigger games are loading, that sounds somewhat interesting I will admit, but not many games take long enough to load to make that worthwhile.
Atari are planning to add in more games and other 3rd-party console emulators available on the Atari VCS post-launch. So, they really are betting big on nostalgia here but that's nothing new, the whole thing is supposed to be a nostalgia trip right down to the design of the box and the "Classic Joystick" that hurts your hands like hell.
What I am more surprised by, is how they really do seem firmly committed to keeping the device open, which is why they don't particularly like it being called a "console".
Part of this, is that they actually showed off the VCS Sandbox Mode, which allows you to run a different operating system on it during E3. Visitors got a look at Borderlands 2 on the VCS, using Ubuntu in full 1080p resolution. According to them, it ran "fantastically" but Ars weren't impressed by the performance. They also showed Rocket League, Broforce and more running on Ubuntu.
Basically, the Atari VCS is a small traditional computer that comes with their own UI pre-loaded that's built on top of Linux and an Atari 2600 emulator, with nothing stopping you loading your own operating system on it. Sounds very much like what Valve's whole Steam Machine idea could have been, if they had done the hardware in-house and made it less confusing.
Will the Atari VCS do well? Possibly. A nice little unit for those who don't have a lot of space, those that like to tinker, those that appreciate retro games and later perhaps some game streaming. There's a lot of possible opportunities for it, as long as they don't screw it up. I'm keen to see more from it, so I will take a look once it's properly out unless (hello Atari) they send a unit over.
As a little joke (sorry Atari), this is how Thunderbird decided to show their email to me—ouch.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: elmapulQuoting: PatolaNo middle term? So how is Linux gaming in all of this?
by wich measure 1% of marketshare on the desktop is an middle term?
Well, to whom and by which measure, I would ask.
Linux gaming might not yield Valve as much money as they put into it, dunno.
It might still be a lever for Valve to avoid closing of Microsoft's ecosystem...
Quoting: EikeQuoting: elmapulQuoting: PatolaNo middle term? So how is Linux gaming in all of this?
by wich measure 1% of marketshare on the desktop is an middle term?
Well, to whom and by which measure, I would ask.
Linux gaming might not yield Valve as much money as they put into it, dunno.
It might still be a lever for Valve to avoid closing of Microsoft's ecosystem...
Valve is probably losing money to support us, its a long time investment the same way xbox was (the difference is, xbox at least sold enough and had enough support for thirdy party titles to build confidence in the brand)
other game companies are simply ignoring us (unless you count port houses like feral as game companies, but even they, when was their last annoucement?) and some even droped support for games that used to support.
and the user count didnt changed, i wouldnt call that an sucess, sucess is to expand the marketfrom 0 to tens of millions of units sold (or user count) in a single video game generation.
Quoting: elmapuland the user count didnt changed, i wouldnt call that an sucess, sucess is to expand the marketfrom 0 to tens of millions of units sold (or user count) in a single video game generation.
... but this is absurd. (Financial) success is when you're earning more money than your investing. Or the same, when you're paying yourself a decent wage.
slaapliedje Aug 1, 2019
Quoting: elmapulHate to say this, but I know it to be true. Linux desktop adoption won't happen on a much larger scale until we can get corporations to start utilizing it as workstations more and the IT departments can join them to active directory easily and install all their software on it to match what they have for remote management, like on macOS and Windows. I'm kind of trying to go through that now, and need a way to image Linux machines with full disk encryption so the encryption keys are kept in a database for recovery. Haven't had much chance to look into how it'd be managed, but it's things like that which is holding Linux back from taking more market share.Quoting: EikeQuoting: elmapulQuoting: PatolaNo middle term? So how is Linux gaming in all of this?
by wich measure 1% of marketshare on the desktop is an middle term?
Well, to whom and by which measure, I would ask.
Linux gaming might not yield Valve as much money as they put into it, dunno.
It might still be a lever for Valve to avoid closing of Microsoft's ecosystem...
Valve is probably losing money to support us, its a long time investment the same way xbox was (the difference is, xbox at least sold enough and had enough support for thirdy party titles to build confidence in the brand)
other game companies are simply ignoring us (unless you count port houses like feral as game companies, but even they, when was their last annoucement?) and some even droped support for games that used to support.
and the user count didnt changed, i wouldnt call that an sucess, sucess is to expand the marketfrom 0 to tens of millions of units sold (or user count) in a single video game generation.
It's kind of like why Windows took off in the first place. Back in the day with Commodore and Atari having superior hardware and operating system, the Mac competed somehow with a black and white display, but then the ST and Amiga both got the reputation as games systems, and not serious machines so never really took off in the business sector, and the IBM and compatibles were what all the businesses used, and so many needed one at home to be able to finish up some work.
Getting Linux into the mind of IT as more than just a server OS would be a huge step in getting more market share on the desktop. At least that's my theory.
Quoting: EikeI agree on what you're saying about Valve and Linux gaming...
Quoting: elmapuland the user count didnt changed, i wouldnt call that an sucess, sucess is to expand the marketfrom 0 to tens of millions of units sold (or user count) in a single video game generation.
... but this is absurd. (Financial) success is when you're earning more money than your investing. Or the same, when you're paying yourself a decent wage.
ok, let me try to explain again with other words.
when it came to thirdy parties (aka, games and end user softwares) sucess=earning more money than you are investing.
but when it comes to platforms? (aka console/hardware, operating systems)
you need to make sure that the entire ecosystem is profitable, and that is not the case with linux desktop,and with that, there is no middle term.
of course not all thirdy parties will make profit in any platform, but there is a difference between your target audience being on one platform ( playstation or switch for japanese games) and you not making money on other platform (xbox) due to it or you not being able to make money on it because there arent enough people using it to be profitable for most companies.
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