I bet the only reason for this move is Vulkan - with all its compute stuff that now gets streamlined with the pressure of Valve. Listen to what Gabe Newell says in the video of one of the previous posts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ayB6U3l2g&t=263 [External Link] (4:23)

"We're supporting Vulkan. So, Vulkan is previously known as OpenGL Next. It was... From my POV, you have a lot of interesting things happen in graphics technology right now. But it tends to be restricted to a specific platform or to a specific vendor's hardware products - and Vulkan solves that problem. It is a cross platform - you know it works on Mac, Linux, Windows, SteamOS. It's gonna be supported by Valve, Blizzard, EPIC and Unity and it works with NVidia's graphics hardware and Ati's graphics hardware."

Sounds like the last breath for PhysX from NVidia, trying to keep their API covered in games.
Sure, it won't work...

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I totally love how Valve came up with lots of great stuff at this GDC.
In particular that they didn't tease (better say hype) those things upfront.
Way to go.

I bet it will be similar for HL3.

BTW, that interviewer is amazing. He basically didn't move for almost 6 minutes.
That must be an enormous compression ratio for the left half of the video. :D

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Quoting: r2rX

Quoting: abelthorne

Quoting: r2rXDrivers will also, most likely, be sorted out by November (if not before)....well, at least AMD and NVIDIA's proprietary drivers.

Honestly (and sadly), I wouldn't expect real drivers from AMD by november. Or ever, in fact.

The skepticism is justified and understandable....however, AMD cannot afford to fuck around anymore. :) They'll have to get their act together. I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they'll sort their drivers out....at the very least, proper Vulkan support. :p

Correct me if I'm wrong but with VULKAN it is the first time AMD can get rid of the old cruft and start from scratch without NVidia being ahead. If they fuck up again, THAT would be disappointing. But I'm positive. There is a realtistic chance this will end in a solid driver by AMD.

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Quoting: Segata Sanshiro

Quoting: scotsman9999Just as I feared would happen eventually, on the sale page the icon for Linux is no longer Tux but the generic circled Steam logo. Does "Linux" still scare devs that Valve has to cover it up with 'SteamOS' now? I do worry that eventually this will turn into another Android situation where we don't get much of a benefit.

Yeah I spotted that too... A bit disappointed really.

Luckily though we're already benefiting a lot and will continue to benefit thanks to SteamOS (lots of games, new API, lots of supported game engines, etc.). It's just a shame that it won't be as beneficial as possible, but I would call those things pretty beneficial all in all.

We will see the difference when support is denied because you're not using SteamOS or Ubuntu but any other Distribution.

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Quoting: Segata SanshiroBatman has a tux icon!

Batman has a bat icon...

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Quoting: FeistWonderful! Already bought "Metro2033 Redux" and will buy Batman tomorrow without a doubt (when I've tanked the steam-wallet a little). Would probably purchase Witcher3 as well, but there are still no tux icons on the page so...not official supported yet?

Consider not buying the titles prior to release as it probably won't count as an "Linux-buy" otherwise.
And don't we all want them be counted as just that? :)

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It begins!

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That looks fantastic!

BTW, what about Splot?

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Quoting: FutureSuture"Vulkan" means "Volcano" in German. Will this OpenGL successor erupt upon the masses in a fiery storm of success, pushing gaming on Linux to new heights?

Waiting for the tech-savvy crowd telling you this will only be true if it buries AMD deep under the ashes.

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Meh...

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