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A Good & Honest Video About The Alienware Steam Machine

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Lon Seidman on youtube posted up a pretty decent video showing off the Alienware Steam Machine, it's worth a watch and has given me some more thoughts.

I think the hidden usb port for the wireless dongle is a fantastic idea, but apparently it can make the signal be a bit iffy which is a shame.

He does mention a few times about the lack of games on SteamOS, and he later clarifies it to be more about the AAA games. We will see a lot of complaints about this, and despite what people think about our still rather large library the bigger AAA games will be a problem for a lot of potential buyers.

It also highlights a major problem, and that is the filtering on SteamOS is quite pants. To show Windows games by default, and having to manually filter them to what is available. That, plus the featured section showing Windows games is a stupid major issue. I sincerely hope Valve have some new filtering up their sleeve for the SteamOS/Steam Machine official launch, otherwise I'm really going to be wondering if they want it to actually succeed. It's a ridiculous issue to not have solved already, and there has been a bug open on github about it for many months. You wouldn't expect to have to filter out Xbox games on a Playstation, so why do Valve think it's a good idea to leave it in for SteamOS? It just doesn't make sense to me right now.

It would work much better if Valve lumped all non-supported games into a category you manually select yourself, as that is what I would personally expect from it. It is the only way that would make sense to me, to only show games I can actually run on my hardware at the forefront.

Every time I log into Steam and view the store, or use Big Picture Mode I'm instantly hooked by the look of a game featured or "recommended for you", only to realise it's a Windows game. It's damned annoying.

This video reviewer isn't the only one who has come across that either, a few of the major PC news websites who did their take on it also noted it was weird.

I obviously want it to succeed for us all, but Valve need to sort this crap out. There's a lot of uncertainty about how anything will be handled, but as usual I'm sure Valve have something up their sleeve. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial, Video
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51 comments
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N30N Nov 3, 2015
Indeed, it seems ridiculous to complain about the number of launch titles when it [dwafts all other consoles combined](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_launch_games). We've all seen (and been surprised by) the big titles already come to the SteamOS/Linux platform in the lead up to the launch. I've no doubt there'll be many more over the following months.


Last edited by N30N on 3 November 2015 at 6:02 am UTC
burnall Nov 3, 2015
I am impressed how many games we have received since the steam machines were first announced, but it still worries me a bit because the number of Linux Steam users is still around or below 1%. Meanwhile if you look at steam hardware survey mac has gained the most growth for previous month 0.31%, but Linux just a small bit 0.04%.

I hope that the steam machines will change this somehow.
Eike Nov 3, 2015
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Quoting: constAll in all, it went way better then anyone of us would have guessed two years back, didn't it?

Thanks for your comment.

Nearly three years ago, I wrote a blog post telling about the first professional game I bought for Linux (Trine 2). There were about 40 games for Linux on Steam and I called it "illusory" and a "dream" that I could delete my Windows partition some day. I did delete it one and a half years ago.


Last edited by Eike on 3 November 2015 at 12:15 pm UTC
Eike Nov 3, 2015
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Quoting: omer666You're talking about Wii U I guess ? Because not only did the Wii get a lot of games (1527 according to Wikipedia), but it also got a lot of big Japanese RPG titles, big platformers, all of the CoD shit and so on.

So SteamOS has a few more titles before launch than Wii has at its end of life...


Last edited by Eike on 3 November 2015 at 12:16 pm UTC
LinuxGamesTV Nov 3, 2015
Quoting: supashang
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: supashangCase in point, how many people bought and played "Witcher 2", "Alien: Isolation" or "Shadow or Mordor" on Windows months/years before they arrived on Linux? I know I did.
Well I am one of those guys who never had such thing as a "Windows partition", as I switched directly from Mac to Linux. So when I buy a Linux game nowadays, it's always the first time I play it. To me the OS is more important than game compatibility. But I know I'm an extraterrestrial :)

....
And this is not just a Linux problem, which is why I had to underscore my point to liamdawe since he seems hell bent on avoiding the truth that there is fun to be had in the indie scene too, whether he likes it or not over his XCOM hardon. He seems more happy arguing for AAA as the saviour of SteamOS/Boxes. Completely not what I am arguing against.

But you don't understand Liam.

Indi Games can made Fun (ETS 2 as exemple).
But you must see this:
The most Gamer don't play Indi games. They play AAA Games.

I do not look the most indie games with my ass on and play rather AAA games.
Alone because of the graphic explosion that I have at most AAA games but decent gameplay is also important, too.

Tomb Raider
GTA III, VC, SA, IV, V (i don't have it, but want it if it have Linux support)
Mad Max
Lara Croft
Project Cars (and all other new Race Sims)
Killing Floor II
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Series
SpellForce Series
Sniper Elite Series
S.T.A.L.K.E.R Series
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad with Rising Storm
Hitman Series
Battlefield Series
All Codemasters Games
All EA Games
All Ubisoft Games

Those are the games that are important for the mass.


Last edited by LinuxGamesTV on 3 November 2015 at 1:47 pm UTC
LinuxGamesTV Nov 3, 2015
Quoting: MayeulC
Quoting: Keizgon...


Maybe Lutris could do the trick for him, I don't know its state as of now.

Hey thx for this :) I will give it a try :)
N30N Nov 3, 2015
Quoting: burnallit still worries me a bit because the number of Linux Steam users is still around or below 1%.
You need to remember that to stay at 1% you have to grow at the same speed as the Steam user base (which has doubled over the time Linux has been supported).
Mblackwell Nov 3, 2015
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: GuestThe Wii doesn't have all those AAA titles either, yet the Wii also lacks the 1500+ games that Linux has, many of which are other AAA titles.
You're talking about Wii U I guess ? Because not only did the Wii get a lot of games (1527 according to Wikipedia), but it also got a lot of big Japanese RPG titles, big platformers, all of the CoD shit and so on.

Wii U, is another matter...

Wii received Call of Duty games much later than every other console. It also never had any mainline Final Fantasy and never got Assassins Creed, Grand Theft Auto, Batman, Fallout, Skyrim, Crysis, Resident Evil (except a re-release of RE4), Tomb Raider 2013, etc.
omer666 Nov 3, 2015
Quoting: Mblackwell
Quoting: omer666
Quoting: GuestThe Wii doesn't have all those AAA titles either, yet the Wii also lacks the 1500+ games that Linux has, many of which are other AAA titles.
You're talking about Wii U I guess ? Because not only did the Wii get a lot of games (1527 according to Wikipedia), but it also got a lot of big Japanese RPG titles, big platformers, all of the CoD shit and so on.

Wii U, is another matter...

Wii received Call of Duty games much later than every other console. It also never had any mainline Final Fantasy and never got Assassins Creed, Grand Theft Auto, Batman, Fallout, Skyrim, Crysis, Resident Evil (except a re-release of RE4), Tomb Raider 2013, etc.

You are right ;)
Though as far as JRPGs are concerned it got much better than a modern-days mainline Final Fantasy, and better platformers than any other console at the time (Rayman Origins - multiplatform, I know - Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Donkey Kong Coutnry Returns, Sonic Colors, Kirby's Adventure, Klonoa, Epic Mickey, and I must forget some others).
I know, those are not really fashionable these days, but still they were really great titles that, apart from Rayman, you couldn't get elsewhere. [Edit] *and that sold very well

Of course we can be very satisfied to have 1500+ games on Steam Machines at launch, but let's make no misconceptions about other consoles. Wii had a strong catalogue, even if it was not the same as its opponents.


Last edited by omer666 on 3 November 2015 at 6:07 pm UTC
ZekThePenguin Nov 3, 2015
I already have more games than I have time to play NOW, and I buy only Linux games. It boggles my mind how many people are stuck on the 'it won't have such-and-so title'. When I got a Genesis I didn't expect it to play Mario games because it was a different platform. True, there were some games that were available on both, but not all of them. In the same way, I'm not expecting every Windows title on Steam OS, but I'm sure there are a LOT of cool games available.
This seems to be tied to the confusion created by the fact that Steam machines are neither Windows PCs nor are they purely consoles. Some are expecting PC top-end performance in a console-sized box (nope), some expect it to have all the same titles (something they wouldn't be surprised by if it was a 'normal console' ), and some expect it to have 'console' versions of games instead of regular PC titles. I look forward to seeing what all Valve will put into Steam OS, but I'm also willing to take it at face-value rather than expecting this hybrid to be fully PC or fully console.


Last edited by ZekThePenguin on 3 November 2015 at 9:37 pm UTC
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