Valve and Microsoft teamed up to better support the Steam Deck, with Xbox Cloud Gaming now supported through the Edge browser.
"We’re particularly excited about this ourselves as we feel it can open new opportunities in the Linux gaming community." — Missy Quarry, Community Manage for Microsoft Edge
It must be a particularly cold day in hell for Microsoft to move closer to supporting a Linux system, although it already worked on Linux through Chromium-based browsers so they haven't exactly pushed the boat out. Still, it's a pretty big shift from the old Microsoft wouldn't you say?
There's a Reddit Post (with custom artwork you can use) and a Support Article that goes over the steps needed. It's not quick and easy but it's not overly complicated either. In short:
- Load Discover Software Centre from Desktop Mode.
- Install Microsoft Edge (the icon will say "Beta").
- Find Edge in the Application Launcher (bottom left icon), right click it and hit Add to Steam.
- When the Steam list comes up, find Edge and add it.
- Now you'll need to set an override for the Flatpak package of Edge that's installed. You can either do it using Flatseal or this terminal command in the Konsole app:
flatpak --user override --filesystem=/run/udev:ro com.microsoft.Edge. - Now you'll need to edit the shortcut in Steam. Locate Edge in your Steam Library, right click -> Properties.
- Where it says "Launch Options" at the bottom, enter this in after what's already there:
--window-size=1024,640 --force-device-scale-factor=1.25 --device-scale-factor=1.25 --kiosk "https://www.xbox.com/play" - Optional: change the shortcut name to "Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta)".
- You will also need to change Steam Input to "Gamepad with touchpad as Mouse".
Over time, this process will get much easier, as Microsoft's Ben Mathwig confirmed on Twitter they are actively working on it all.
Here's a list of games Xbox Cloud supports.
So far, it seems a little finicky though. Sometimes the game/store pages won't load, it gives a little ping noise and nothing really happens. Same for loading some games, it makes the ping sound and then…nothing. Not entirely sure what the issue is here, and it could be specific to my Deck somewhere but it's certainly not working as expected right now for me overall apart from the first game I tried. It seems entirely random on what game pages load and what games actually work. Update: if you also face the same problem, clear the Edge browser Cache in desktop mode. Fixes it every time for me. I've been chatting to Microsoft about it, and have given them info on it. Update 2: after my feedback, Microsoft have tracked it down and are working on a fix. Update 3 - 23/03/22: I continued testing for MSFT and they fixed the issue, games all load properly now as the modal to tell you about controls, network and such appears correctly now.
Quick video demonstration:
Direct Link
Why is it all needed? Well, Chrome doesn't yet support the Deck controls, which I noted in my original review. So Microsoft have come along to present Edge as your cloud gaming Steam Deck saviour here.
Guess what? It works for Stadia too. I tested it working just fine, you can just change the launch options URL to go to Stadia instead if you wish. Meanwhile, GeForce NOW just complains about an unsupported browser.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
slaapliedje Mar 21, 2022
Quoting: iiari*grumble grumble* Apple... where not only do they have inflated ego over their hardware (sure the M1 is actually impressive, which is why I bought one, but also to eventually put Linux on), but then there is very little sense of trying to better the platform either by Apple or the community.Quoting: slaapliedjeI have a theory; Xbox as a hardware platform is going to be dead.This has been my presumption for quite some time. Unless you have a closed garden monopoly like Apple on which to price gouge for the hardware (and this is what all consoles have been doing as well), you're making money off the service (as Valve is now doing with Steam Deck). As the perpetual console upstart with some good captive IP, it makes all the sense in the world now for MS to have their streaming service run everywhere and on everything. Now it just needs to be better.
There is no need for it, really.
By this I mean that when you look at Linux or Windows, there are so many of the standard utilities that are free and/or Open Source. Not for the mac! Also, Finder is basically an inconsistent piece of trash that has had decades of development, but still is the worse file manager I've ever used... There needs to be a DOpus style program released for it that basically replaces Finder, but unfortunately Apple won't generally allow all of Finder to be kicked out...
Sorry for my off-topic rant!
As far as modern gaming consoles and computers, is it only the PS5 so far that can't do the Xbox cloud gaming?
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