Hi,
On 15/02/13 08:07, Sean Gibbins wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> Coming in on the periphery of the Linux vs. Microsoft desktop debate
> is the news that Steam is now available for Linux:
>
> http://store.steampowered.com/sale/linux_release/
>
>
> Now, my gaming days are long gone but I have just installed the client
> - and will probably uninstall it later if I am honest - and that
> seemed to go very smoothly indeed. It looks like you need to be
> running an nVidia graphics card to get the best out of it, although
> that's what I have gleaned from the install routine that wanted to
> pull in jockey and some nVidia drivers despite me having and on-board
> ATI graphics solution.
>
I also have Steam on 64-bit Ubuntu. It works very well (with one minor
exception that a few games that are already in my library where the
publisher hasn't correctly filled in the metadata say they are available
to install on Linux when they aren't.) I've never seen a game in the
store to buy that said it was available for Linux when it wasn't so
that's not a worry. This is just old stuff with stale metadata.
In fact, they have found Steam on Linux to outperform Win/directx.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/02/valve_games_faster_on_linux/
> I also note that a bunch of games I bought way back while running it
> on Windows don't show up in my Linux catalogue, so I presume that the
> games available to Linux users are somewhat limited at this point, but
> it's a start I guess.
>
> Has anybody out there installed and played anything yet?
>
I have quite a decent catalogue of games, most acquired as part of
Humble Bundles. For those that haven't seen them, Humble Bundles are
collections of games that come out several times a year for a limited
time. They are generally last year's good games. You get to say how much
you want to pay for them and decide what percentage goes to the game
developers, to the Humble team and to charity. If you pay more than the
average for a bundle you receive extra gifts, such as more games or the
soundtrack album.
I think they're great. I'm not a great games player but I can get enough
good games for $10-15 to last me until the next bundle comes out.
> And finally, am I right in thinking there's a bit of a kerfuffle
> kicking off with some of the big game developers and Microsoft
> recently that has led some of them [the developers] to threaten to go
> all Linux on Microsoft's posterior? Maybe this is the thin end of that
> wedge...
I think it goes deeper than that. MS, in a characteristic knife-mugging,
like the one they pulled on Novell in the past, decided that someone was
making a load of money out of their product and they wanted it. If I
understand correctly, not all the Windows 8 goodness and features are
available to developers unless their software is in the Microsoft App
Store. Also titles on other platforms won't show in the store so this
seems to be a reasonably transparent attempt to put Valve out of
business and for MS to take the revenue share for itself.
Also, I believe MS have a policy against adult-rated titles. I
understand that a significant number of the most popular games in Europe
would be excluded because they fall foul of the more restrictive US
definition of what adult is and MS don't want to be the computer filth
store.
Valve seem to be encouraging developers to port to Linux. It turns out
that Valve are working on a game console, dubbed the "Steambox", and
this console will use Linux as its OS. I kind of got the feeling that
there's an element of "if you knife us in the back, we're not going to
buy a seven-digit number of licenses off you..." to it. They've said the
hardware will run Windows and they won't stop you installing it but they
won't give it to you with the console in the price.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/10/valve_chief_confirms_steam_pc/
Interesting times,
Paul.
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