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That sums up a lot of what's been going on, all right.
Personally, if I were Valve, and looking at a re-launch of Steam Machines, I would not do it this year. Maybe next year . . . right now, I would work hard on the infrastructure of drivers, Vulkan, game engines, maybe even Wayland to get definitively past X, so that next time around, SteamOS wouldn't be lagging performance-wise. Poorer performance compared to Windows was a major killer in PR terms, and really Linux should be able to win there.
And I'd feel out those multimedia issues quietly, getting things sorted out so that I had working code in-house and contracts with Netflix etc. ready to go.

When the pieces were in position, I'd go for a major launch that Christmas.

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There are no such things as Exclusives!!! As soon as the PC is powerful enough, there will be an emulator for them. :)

At least that's how I look at it. Game consoles are stagnant hardware platforms. And anymore, they literally are chunks of x86 compatible hardware with a specific OS. Virtualize that OS and you can run any of the 'Exclusives' eventually.

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@harfield: I forced "Shadowground Survivor" game to work using 'ldd' (if I remember correctly) command and downloading tons of libraries or so. Of course under Ubuntu, but maybe it helps U.

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Just bought Retribution, for 7,49 it's a great deal.

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posmunk: That is worrying. Can you write a bit more about it? How would you compare it with PoE?

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Updated article: My email to Gabe seems to have done the job, Valve actually suggest you get a refund.

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Quoting: PlintslchoBut playing as a handyman of a tyrannic regime and not having a chance to do better than leaving scorched earth behind, I'm not so sure if I could enjoy that.

Why do you assume that? Considering that this game was kind of hyped for the choices you can make and I quote " far-reaching consequence" saying "fuck that big evil boss" most likely is one of them.

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Shadowground and Shadowground Survivor does not work on Arch / Chakra. I do not remember why, but I tried to make it work three or four months agi without success.

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Thanks! I was wondering because of the 6 GB minimum requirement, but I guess they just wanted to make sure that there's enough RAM available for the OS, background tasks, and the buffers used for display compositing.
(Not that any desktop I know of would use 2 GB, but better be safe than sorry...)

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Quoting: elbuglioneVALVe need to COPY the Google strategy whith Android.
choose ONE third party hardware manufacturer by "generation". then, design and create their own SteamMachine

ie:
Google Nexus One(HTC)---> VALVe SteamBox Alchemist (Dell SteamOS 1)
Google Nexus S (Samsung)---> VALVe SteamBox Brewmaster (ZOTAC SteamOS 2)
Google Nexus 4 (LG)---> VALVe SteamBox ChaosKnight (DRIFT SteamOS 3)
Google Nexus 5 (LG)---> VALVe SteamBox Doom (HP SteamOS 4)
etc..

Industry really needs one point of reference to put things in order... and that order have to make the owner of SteamOS: VALVe.

Except Google gave up on the Nexus strategy and is going for Pixel - Google designed, and HTC is only involved in manufacturing. I think Google wants to rein in the OEMs (they don't like the poor updating and OEM bloat) and has the power - save for Samsung.

Basically, Google thinks a cathedral will work better, over their bazaar.

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VALVe need to COPY the Google strategy whith Android.
choose ONE third party hardware manufacturer by "generation". then, design and create their own SteamMachine

ie:
Google Nexus One(HTC)---> VALVe SteamBox Alchemist (Dell SteamOS 1)
Google Nexus S (Samsung)---> VALVe SteamBox Brewmaster (ZOTAC SteamOS 2)
Google Nexus 4 (LG)---> VALVe SteamBox ChaosKnight (DRIFT SteamOS 3)
Google Nexus 5 (LG)---> VALVe SteamBox Doom (HP SteamOS 4)
etc..

Industry really needs one point of reference to put things in order... and that order have to make the owner of SteamOS: VALVe.

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Quoting: soulsourceI've got a stupid question: Does the Steam version of this game include a 64bit binary?

well I assume is a 32 bit since is using Nvidia 32bit libraries...

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Quoting: briefbanane

Quoting: dubigrasuI wonder if cookies would work for Valve...

Michael Larabel of Phoronix brought them beer once. Soon after that we got the Steam Linux client.

Then we have to get them really drunk to continue the work on SteamOS it seems...

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Quoting: dubigrasuI wonder if cookies would work for Valve...

Michael Larabel of Phoronix brought them beer once. Soon after that we got the Steam Linux client.

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Their SteamOS icon has now been removed.

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It was good to know this. However 2% of 100k is 2k. It's really a considerable user base. ^_^

Quoting: SangreDeReptil

Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: SangreDeReptilOn a related note, by reading all the comments I had an idea (that I'll post here so that you can Like it if you agree): what about giving these communicative developers a special badge, like the "GOL Supporter" and the "Contributing Editor" ones? Not only it would be a gesture of respect for caring about our community, but also it would be easier to find the developers' responses among the huge number of comments in articles like this. It would only take a single mail to verify the identity and that should be enough.

We used to do it, but removed it, can't remember why. I just added it back in and enabled it for them :)

This is nice. Also, potential trolls won't be able to impersonate developers now.

HEEEEEEEYYYY!!! I want a badge too!!! :D

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Tyranny is also available directly on pulisher store: Paradox Plaza

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I've got a stupid question: Does the Steam version of this game include a 64bit binary?

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Quoting: denyasisI am in the same boat with exclusives, I think they are a bad idea, but I seen how they can work to the advantage of the console company.

Anecdotally, my co-workers who are console gamers all own multiple consoles, specifically due to exclusivity. I've actually heard this exact conversation many times:

"Hey bro, you should go get [console X] so we can play [game y] together!"
and usually right after payday, some one comes up and says "Hey I got the console and game, wanna play?"

Now yes, they just dropped several hundred dollars for to play one game, but as calvin pointed out, they now have a system guaranteed to play every game released for that console and they are unlikely to only ever purchase one game over the lifetime of the console ("Hey bro, [games y 2] just came out, are you getting it?).

While it's just my personal experience, I can see how exclusives to work for the console company from a business point of view. I still think they are a bad idea, especially for linux. I think our user-base is too small to make it a sound financial strategy.

Yes, they are good for console companies. They are bad for everyone else though.

The developer/publishers game ends up with a smaller player base (not everyone that wants to play the game is willing to or has the money for multiple consoles) and users either miss out or have to buy a whole additional piece of hardware. You double your console spending budget that would have been better used buying more games. The games are already going to be worthless when the next generation console come out, now not only do your games have a lifespan but you have less of them because you had to buy a whole different console.

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Quoting: skinnyrafOk, half a year with a Steam Machine and SteamOS.

Steam Machines and SteamOS promised the best of both worlds: freedom of a PC (even freer than on Windows) and convenience of a console. So as soon as I got one, I added Debian repositories using awesome SteamOS-Tools, installed Minecraft and Kodi. Sure, I had to take a keyboard from my main PC to do some console magic, but after I installed sshd, I didn't even have to do that - remote administration FTW.

And then issues started: broken upgrades, reboot hell, Minecraft launcher didn't work with a Steam Controller virtual keyboard, so I had to attach an old USB keyboard... Kodi wasn't that accessible, as I had to fire up Steam and then to start Kodi - Chromecast is much friendlier... and cheaper. Installing games from GOG proved troublesome because of additional restrictions that Steam client puts on .desktop files...

So I restored the system partition and use it purely as a PC console: vanilla SteamOS, Steam games only. I use Chromecast for multimedia. RTS (e.g. Dawn of War 2) are barely playable, so I play them on Debian using k/m.

Would I buy one today? Probably yes, or I would get myself PS4 to play AAA games hassle free and upgraded my Debian box for PC only games available on Linux, I don't know.

That said, Train Fever or Cities:Skylines are awesome on 100'' and Shadow of Mordor is much better using a Steam Controller than either k/m or an Xbox controller. And Zotac Nen is sweet: way smaller than a console, dead quiet, fast to boot and fast to shut down.

I don't think I'd ever buy an actual Steam Machine. I'd build my own, not even sure I would trade my customized Fedora for SteamOS. I've seen a lot of these complaints and others. One that seems like a really big issue is that some of the game start up/configuration dialogs are unusable or nearly unusable in SteamOS/big picture mode. Valve really needs to get the interface/useability issues resolved for the Steam Machines to succeed. Netflix and Kodi should work out of the box as they provide the same functions that are standard in consoles and just regular smart TV's.

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Valve really made a shity job with the Steam Machine, they didn't know which market they targeted, they didn't invest in marketing, they didn't control the third parties letting sold the same product without SteamOS wthem hich added even more confusion, they've put up false advertisement, they shoot themselves in the foot with Link, the list go on...

Not being capable to sell the more powerful console on the market with already 2000 of games at launch is a massive failure.

Nintendo learned something from the Wii U, I hope Valve will learn something from the Steam Machines. But I'm not optimistic.

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I am in the same boat with exclusives, I think they are a bad idea, but I seen how they can work to the advantage of the console company.

Anecdotally, my co-workers who are console gamers all own multiple consoles, specifically due to exclusivity. I've actually heard this exact conversation many times:

"Hey bro, you should go get [console X] so we can play [game y] together!"
and usually right after payday, some one comes up and says "Hey I got the console and game, wanna play?"

Now yes, they just dropped several hundred dollars for to play one game, but as calvin pointed out, they now have a system guaranteed to play every game released for that console and they are unlikely to only ever purchase one game over the lifetime of the console ("Hey bro, [games y 2] just came out, are you getting it?).

While it's just my personal experience, I can see how exclusives to work for the console company from a business point of view. I still think they are a bad idea, especially for linux. I think our user-base is too small to make it a sound financial strategy.

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Quoting: calvinThanks for the appreciation. Some quick comments:

On sobriety: I don't have any horses in Linux gaming, amazing as it sounds on this site - I'm more of a neutral observer. (I do use Linux and I do game, though just likely not at the same time.) However, I'm interested in the "meta" business of gaming, myself.

On exclusives: People state this, but I don't really know. You can enjoy the consoles without ever playing an exclusive. You can also see games that are PC, and as such, on Steam Machines, as exclusive to that "console." Timed exclusivity might be the better option as its a bit customer friendlier, and there exists the impatient.

I think outright exclusives are just wrong. I do find timed exclusives to be acceptable, depending on the amount of time. A year seems pretty extreme. Six months I find reasonable. I also wouldn't have a problem with Valve doing timed exclusives for SteamOS/Linux. For now at least, I think the only way they could pull that off is if it was their game and they haven't been making a lot of games lately.

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Ok, half a year with a Steam Machine and SteamOS.

Steam Machines and SteamOS promised the best of both worlds: freedom of a PC (even freer than on Windows) and convenience of a console. So as soon as I got one, I added Debian repositories using awesome SteamOS-Tools, installed Minecraft and Kodi. Sure, I had to take a keyboard from my main PC to do some console magic, but after I installed sshd, I didn't even have to do that - remote administration FTW.

And then issues started: broken upgrades, reboot hell, Minecraft launcher didn't work with a Steam Controller virtual keyboard, so I had to attach an old USB keyboard... Kodi wasn't that accessible, as I had to fire up Steam and then to start Kodi - Chromecast is much friendlier... and cheaper. Installing games from GOG proved troublesome because of additional restrictions that Steam client puts on .desktop files...

So I restored the system partition and use it purely as a PC console: vanilla SteamOS, Steam games only. I use Chromecast for multimedia. RTS (e.g. Dawn of War 2) are barely playable, so I play them on Debian using k/m.

Would I buy one today? Probably yes, or I would get myself PS4 to play AAA games hassle free and upgraded my Debian box for PC only games available on Linux, I don't know.

That said, Train Fever or Cities:Skylines are awesome on 100'' and Shadow of Mordor is much better using a Steam Controller than either k/m or an Xbox controller. And Zotac Nen is sweet: way smaller than a console, dead quiet, fast to boot and fast to shut down.

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People can report abuse with the flag icon on the store page.

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Thanks for the appreciation. Some quick comments:

On sobriety: I don't have any horses in Linux gaming, amazing as it sounds on this site - I'm more of a neutral observer. (I do use Linux and I do game, though just likely not at the same time.) However, I'm interested in the "meta" business of gaming, myself.

On exclusives: People state this, but I don't really know. You can enjoy the consoles without ever playing an exclusive. You can also see games that are PC, and as such, on Steam Machines, as exclusive to that "console." Timed exclusivity might be the better option as its a bit customer friendlier, and there exists the impatient.

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Quoting: AnxiousInfusion

QuoteI'm sure that people will complain about the ""dated graphics"" but they look good enough for me

Alright, somebody mentioned earlier that Planet Explorers has "something" that other games don't and I think the graphics play into this. This game has an atmosphere of circa ~2004 RPGs from back when experimentation and creative freedom still reigned supreme in game making. PE's forests in particular, bring me back to the time I was a kid, drooling over screenshots of the potential adventures MMORPGs at the time would provide me.. 'if only I could afford my way into PC gaming'. Maybe I just have nostalgia glasses on but PE is one of the last few games which truly feels like escapism.

It looks nice indeed...

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Exclusivity I think is the biggest problem for SteamOS. All other platforms support exclusivity, which makes it hard. Consumers may look and think, with this platform I get.... which I can't with others. On this other platform I'll get .... which I can't get with others. With SteamOS I don't get anything I wouldn't get with other platforms. I don't think Valve should support Exclusives as I think they are malicious, that they hurt users and hurt the industry. It is a big hurdle though. Customers should boycott any game in which a platform company (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) paid or pressured a developer/publisher for exclusive rights. If no one bought the games the practice wouldn't happen anymore. Of course developers and publishers should be free to target whatever platforms they want, I just think there should be no pressure or financial incentive given that is intended to restrict players access to content they are willing to pay for.

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Quoting: GuestAs much as I absolutely loved Pillars of Eternity, I find myself having a difficult time finding any interest in this game. I think it's the premise, as the spell concept seems pretty cool. It's the thought of playing as the bad guys that irks me, which I know is a huge shift away from the usual cliché of saving the day as the good guy. It's not just that you're the bad guys, it's that you're part of the bad guy regime that already won and you're trying to keep your jackboot on top of the oppressed peoples.

While I get that there's probably a whole lot more to that, this is sort of the impression I've got of this game.

If I could start the game, right out, fighting this Kyros guy (as a plot option), maybe. It seems like a really well developed/constructed game. I realize I'm in the minority with this viewpoint, but I figured I'd throw my $0.02 in.

Nope, you're absolutely not alone here. That's exactly what put me off this game in the first place. I admit that I like the art style and graphics and after enjoying PoE so much, I assume Tyranny is a good game as well.

But playing as a handyman of a tyrannic regime and not having a chance to do better than leaving scorched earth behind, I'm not so sure if I could enjoy that.

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Quoting: dubigrasuI wonder if cookies would work for Valve...

Cookies cookies and more cookiesXD

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