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Today will go down in the history books of Linux gaming that’s for sure. Sadly, this release has been pretty quiet. I was hoping for a much bigger bang like we were given with the original announcement, as this release day is a bit of a let-down. We haven’t seen any major new games released with it today, I was expecting at the very least one of the Saints Row games and Rocket League, or just something with a bit of oomph to it.

However, there has been a vast amount of activity on SteamDB’s page of Linux game hints, so it’s probable that a few developers have sped-up a bit.

It remains to be seen how Steam Machines will affect our market share, while I am sceptical about it all I am remaining excited and positive about it. It’s the only thing that has ever truly pushed Linux gaming, and I will be forever thankful to Valve for their efforts.

We probably won’t see any real activity in the Steam Hardware Survey for our market share moving for a good few months, and we still don’t have a clue how Valve will show it. It will be foolish of them not to show it at all in their survey, so we will just have to wait and see. It is a real concern of mine though, as I've never seen anyone get a survey in Steam's Big Picture Mode (does it even exist there?).

I officially have a Steam Controller in my hands right now (FINALLY), so you can expect some real thoughts from me on it soon. I also have a dedicated Steam Machine I have been testing and playing games on for the last few days, so I will also have some thoughts up on SteamOS soon too.

The weird thing is, they haven't announced an official release of SteamOS. Their news about SteamOS is pretty much non-existent. I would have assumed it would have been given official release status today too, but apparently not. If it is, they are being quiet about it. I'm starting to think they won't ever give SteamOS a "final" release status, but keep it as an ongoing development with small milestones.

You can find the Steam Sale right here. You can buy a Steam Controller here, a Steam Link here or just view their new hardware page here.

How do you feel about today? The best thing to takeaway from it is that hopefully we will have a continuing steady pace of new Linux games. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Segata Sanshiro Nov 10, 2015
Well, there go my extremely unrealistic hopes of a Fallout 4 release :(

EDIT: I was also really expecting at least a couple of new ports today. We'll see what happens in the coming months I guess.


Last edited by Segata Sanshiro on 10 November 2015 at 8:06 pm UTC
Feist Nov 10, 2015
Quoting: Segata SanshiroWell, there go my extremely unrealistic hopes of a Fallout 4 release :(

Heh, I nurtured the exact same fantasy up until the actual (anticlimactic) announcement came. At the very least I felt it was not totally unrealistic to hope for a "Coming to SteamOS spring/summer 2016" message.

I really must admit I had expected more...much, much, *much* more from valve. I guess hope is not lost yet but if Linux/steamOS is to ever become a realistic "Gamers Choice" then a serious driving force is needed. Someone who is really dedicated to *pouring* money and resources into the process of making lots of big, fancy aaa-titles available.
Keyrock Nov 10, 2015
This has been a thoroughly underwhelming launch so far. :(

On the bright side, I can pick up Victor Vran for $13. :)
ricki42 Nov 10, 2015
I wasn't expecting much, but somehow this launch has managed to disappoint so far. I had hoped for some more ports (Saints Row, Rocket League), and a few announcements (Just Cause 3, something definitive about Witcher 3 would've been nice).
The sale is somewhat underwhelming as well, but I guess I only have myself to blame, since I buy a lot of games as soon as they're out on Linux if I'm at all interested. So at least this launch and sale is very backlog-friendly.
lucinos Nov 10, 2015
My view is that valve is not interested in a "premature" success. SteamOS is already a success in its primary purpose, that is being a simple recognizable target OS for developers and giving the "console" experience of installing games with only one button and no need for additional software (also easy to operate from the couch but that is the big picture thing). At this point it does not need to be more than that.

So with SteamOS just being debian with big picture console experience the main focus of valve for the next years should and probably is, steam controller and vulkan.

Debian is upgrading about every two years. Jessie came out this year, next big release will be in 2017 probably. SteamOS seems will continue at a semi-rolling pace, little continuous upgrades and big releases every two years. So I expect valve will have the main focus in 2016 for steam controller and vulkan and at 2017 for the next big release of steamos and will start to really push steamos at the end of 2017. Until then they just want it to be low profile (neither a success or a noted failure) and keep the flow of good games towards linux.
supermonkey77 Nov 10, 2015
Genuinely disappointed by the lack of pomp on behalf of Valve. This should have been a big deal but aside from the sale it is flatter than my last off-the-cuff remark.

Sorry for any offence caused.


Last edited by supermonkey77 on 11 November 2015 at 6:51 am UTC
burnall Nov 10, 2015
Nothing new, they just showed us how serious they are. They could at least made updated press release on their vision of Steam machine, like all serious companies would do.


Last edited by burnall on 10 November 2015 at 8:31 pm UTC
natewardawg Nov 10, 2015
I'm in the same camp of being a tad disappointed/underwhelmed. But, it is interesting to try and figure out what Valve's game plan is.

Valve tends to play the long game with their products unlike many other companies do. So, maybe they want to roll it out gradually to more and more users over time to ensure SteamOS's stability.

Maybe they're testing the waters to see how many people bite even with very little marketing.

Maybe there's already been a big enough response that they don't need much marketing.

I'm really not sure, but would be interested to know why.
Storminator16 Nov 10, 2015
Quoting: burnallNothing new, they just showed us how serious they are. They could at least made updated press release on their vision of Steam machine, like all serious companies would do.

So much this.

And I'm pretty underwhelmed by the Steam controller as well. It's really not a big deal, just like this launch. The writing is on the wall.

With all that said: I like the sale. :D


Last edited by Storminator16 on 10 November 2015 at 8:38 pm UTC
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