Patreon Logo Support us on Patreon to keep GamingOnLinux alive. This ensures all of our main content remains free for everyone. Just good, fresh content! Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal Logo PayPal. You can also buy games using our partner links for GOG and Humble Store.
Latest Comments by const
PlayStation Network requirement on PC will now be optional with in-game rewards
30 Jan 2025 at 2:15 pm UTC Likes: 1

@Eduardo Medina:
The greatest contribution is continued support. If there were any signs of Valve loosing interest, we'd start gradually loosing out on new releases and hardware vendor support.
Pretty much all the strings lead to Valve and they still invest in fixing up edge cases all the time, like finally upstreaming a proper multisync implementation in the kernel and regular proton bugfixes for new titles. We have come far, but we still have not met the threshold to be self sufficient.
I'm pretty confident there are still things happening behind the curtain for Deckard, which is damn important with Meta seeking more and more control of the entire market.

GOG never cared, never will, still it's great we have multiplatform launchers that work in all directions.

The ridiculous Steam Brick just makes me want a proper Steam Machine
28 Jan 2025 at 6:22 pm UTC

@TheRiddick Yeah, after Valves recent comments about SteamMachines, I anticipate foremont will be something like this, just powerful enough to handle VR titles.

Next question would be wearable or wifi7?

Intel and NVIDIA drivers holding back a public SteamOS release, Valve not trying to compete with Windows
18 Jan 2025 at 5:03 pm UTC

So, Valve tells us foremont is not primarily a couch appliance/not a new SteamMachine.

I have long suspected Deckard might not include the computing unit in the headset like Quest/Meta. Maybe Foremont is Deckards (optional?) computing unit and HDMI is there to connect it to a TV as a secondary usecase?
The connection could either be streaming via Wifi7 or maybe the device will be worn like a backpack? Hope we will know soon :D

Valve may be working on a new kind of Steam Machine
16 Dec 2024 at 10:57 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: elmapul
Quoting: constPS5 has 813 games. Foremont + SteamController2 will certainly let you play games you couldn't play on any other console like device, unless you build one yourself. The PC ecosystem has huge advantages over traditional walled garden console ecosystems and console exclusives are less of an issue then ever before.
It could also once again be a device for game developers to target, this time for PCVR performance, which could give PCVR a big boost.
on paper, the steamdeck is better than the switch on every aspect, it could even emulate switch... in pratice, nintendo sell much more than the deck, so no, being a better product is not enough, it never was.

sure its a bit different on home consoles, because they cant afford to make exclusives anymore, they are porting to pc mostly because the cost of production of games is too expensive to keep then locked to a platform, yet i feel that if sony have to chose between help an competitor or not, they will chose not to, they will delay the port to pc or stop it altogheter and valve already comited to not making exclusives.
it may be sound crazy, but taking an cut of 30% of every game sold on playstation is more profitable than porting their games to pc, and pc was a different market, pc gamers were unlikely to move so it didnt affected playstation sales in the past, it will be different with a home console from valve, not to mention that now that pc gamers know sony exclusives, some of then might like it enough to purchase an playstation in case the game sequels stop coming to pc.

Quoting: constWith the SteamDeck, Valve tricked traditional economics of scale by taking the risk of preordering a huge chunk of APUs. That worked damn well for them, so why would they not do it again? My guess is foremont will be a lot cheaper then a Laptop or ready made microPC with similar performance.
pre ordering,sure, but if they cant sell then, this preorder will be a big loss of revenue for valve.
sony can preorder and keep lowering the cost of production over the generation due to the massive sales, then they can cut the price if nescessary and invest tons of money for the next generation.

valve ould compete with the switch in terms of power, but switch was over 7 years old and never bet in power, i doubt valve can do it again against sony and specially microsoft that can do tons of dumping.

as for the steam console having a big library, for microsoft its not a problem, then can flip a switch and allow windows games to run on xbox, they just dont want to accept other stores, but they can do better deals of revenue split to entice more people to "port" their games, and accept every other store but steam.

not to mention, bigger library didnt translated into sales for the deck over the switch so this might repeat against playstation.
As with the Deck, Foremont will not be about market dominance. The SteamDeck was a huge success, even if it doesn't compare to Switch sales. Valves goal will likely be to showcase a SteamOS based console that shows it's enjoyable and comfortable. At the same time it will be an easy upgrade route for those who only own a Deck or Deckard.
Regarding your "XBox could just allow windows games" argument - hard no, they can't. Imagine all XBox users suddenly need to look up Xbox equivalent of ProtonDB to check GameXs compatibility state. SteamDeck has shown there is more to running a game on a console applience then binary compatibility and not even that is guaranteed. OpenGL and Vulkan games exist and we are still talking console hardware and OS. Also MS doesn't care about Windows and if they loose the walled garden on XBox, why would they care for that any more. Doesn't make sense for them. And it would also meen Steam on XBox, so who would have won that fight? :D

Valve may be working on a new kind of Steam Machine
10 Dec 2024 at 9:02 am UTC

Quoting: elmapul
Quoting: ElectricPrismI think they will approach the market with this same modesty and probing it will reveal at least millions of sales if the price is able to be competitive.
i dont think so.
the hardware need to be good, and if they cant have the economics of scale that sony and microsoft have, i doubt they can make a competitive hardware for a competitive price.

not to mention, steamdeck had a lot of games that you couldnt play on the go on switch or anywhere else, the same cant be said about an living room device.
PS5 has 813 games. Foremont + SteamController2 will certainly let you play games you couldn't play on any other console like device, unless you build one yourself. The PC ecosystem has huge advantages over traditional walled garden console ecosystems and console exclusives are less of an issue then ever before.
It could also once again be a device for game developers to target, this time for PCVR performance, which could give PCVR a big boost.
With the SteamDeck, Valve tricked traditional economics of scale by taking the risk of preordering a huge chunk of APUs. That worked damn well for them, so why would they not do it again? My guess is foremont will be a lot cheaper then a Laptop or ready made microPC with similar performance.

Valve may be working on a new kind of Steam Machine
9 Dec 2024 at 10:58 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Pyrate
Quoting: MichelN86
Quoting: PyrateSteamOS public release until then is definitely possible.
If this would be true i might ditch my Pop! OS from my system. I use Pop! OS since the end of 2021
There wouldn't really be anything special about SteamOS if you're already on Linux, you should be able to do everything SteamOS can do in your distro as is.

A public release of SteamOS would be (at least for me) a signal that gaming on Linux is finally at full parity in all kinds of setups and for all kinds of players, as I think Valve wouldn't release SteamOS until the low-hanging fruit are dealt with (perfecting HDR, Nvidia drivers, anticheats...)
Nah, when SteamOS is going public, it just means Valve took some time to make decisions about legal issues, branding, integrate an installer and replace all shortcuts that assumed it will run on specific hardware. SteamOS is what it is - a specialized distro, designed to be gaming first, fully usable without mouse/keyboard, stable, easy to maintain. It's really good at that, but so are many open source clones like bazzite.
Foremeont on the other hand would be a clear signal thinks SteamOS can stand up against Playstation and Xbox, which is awesome. That doesn't mean it must break through the market and suddenly beat Sony in sales. Every person that experienced an open platform might think twice about investing in walled gardens in the future, which essentially is a win for Valve and all of us.
I'd still be glad when it's finally released and agree with you that Linux is great for gaming with the exception of VR and obviously anticheat bs. I'm really hopeful foremont and deckard mean Valve have something up their sleeves on the VR compatibility front.
Anticheat BS might solve itself when behavior based AI solutions roll out or anyone builds an equivalent to the userspace observer Microsoft announced and hopefully our market share grows further.

Valve may be working on a new kind of Steam Machine
8 Dec 2024 at 9:02 pm UTC

Quoting: PyreticSee, there's a lot of conflicting reports on what this 'Steam Machine' could be. Either it's essentially a Steam Deck 2 but plugged in, or it's a VR box that streams wirelessly to a headset.

Both are concerning.

Steam Deck 2 releasing now would be weird, since Steam Deck 1 just got released in Australia, and it has only been 2 years since its release everywhere else.

VR on Linux isn't great either. I would be confident in this approach if I saw any upstream changes in that field, but there hasn't been any so far, and with Steam Link for Quest headsets only working on Windows, there's a high chance that any future headsets from Valve will only work with Windows first and that Linux will be an afterthought.

I'm still cautiously optimistic. I know they are working on something, but I'm going to do my usual strategy of waiting a year before buying.
To be fair, Valve developed a lot of what made the SteamDeck so great in secret, too. Pretty much all of that work is now in the open and can be used by all of us. There is a chance they have secret SteamVR/Proton/SteamLink branches available. Taking all rumors into consideration, it's not unreasonable they will create a whole ecosystem to rival consoles and push VR. Deckard as a standalone equivalent to Quest/Pico, Foremont as a couch appliance and potential streaming backbone for SteamDeck and Deckard. Sure, if you have a powerful PC, Foremont may be not for you, but after the last years of crypto/AI craziness, more people then ever run crappy old machines. Xbox has lost relevance, PS5 Pro is a flop, PSVR2 was killed. This might be the best opportunity ever to bridge PC and console gaming.

Dungeon Clawler will grab hold of your free time now it's in Early Access, plus keys to give away
22 Nov 2024 at 12:52 pm UTC

I think I've never spend that much time with a demo before. Lot's of fun. I'd be happy to win, but for that price, I'll definitely buy it if if I won't. :)

Steam Controller 2 is apparently a thing and being 'tooled for a mass production' plus a new VR controller
20 Nov 2024 at 10:38 am UTC Likes: 3

That's awesome. Agree I basically want the inputs and feel from SteamDeck, but again with rounded touchpads, double gyro and better haptics. :woot:

Then give me Deckard and maybe a SteamMachine2 as the finisher :D

Get a fresh look at Half-Life 2 RTX in a new video plus the Steam page is now live
15 Nov 2024 at 5:22 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: GOL_USERSuch a shame this is limited to nvidia only. Wish tech would be more open and improve things for everyone instead of keeping these silly technologies to themselves as a way to lock down their own brand.

HL is my favorite, be nice to have a better updated version that all can play instead of a limited upgraded version only green team can play.
No chance to run it without path-tracing to enjoy the updated models and textures on AMD?