It's Official: Valve Releasing Steam, Source Engine For Linux!

[JoelFB]

Hi guys, Joel from Frozenbyte here, I just quickly want to cut this short and say that our plans don't have anything to do with Valve, it's a totally separate thing.

Anyhow, from a game developer perspective I'm sure support for Linux will rise in the coming years. The recent distros are becoming very easy to use, and general support for hardware seems quite good nowadays, and many basic apps have Linux versions or good alternatives. Personally I just built a silent Atom D525 computer and installed Ubuntu 10.10 on it as my new primary OS. (And if anyone's interested, the beta version of Trine Linux runs quite fine on the D525 + NVIDIA Ion gen 2, around 20 frames per second which is reasonably impressive to me all things considered.)

So I'm all for a Steam Linux client, I hope it happens soon. That said, we don't have anything to do with that. Sorry to burst the hope bubble.

[M1AU]

Thanks for the update Joel!

[stevenaaus]

This quote from a PC Authority article just sort of empathizes the importance of Steam i think. And microsoft really are a dead man walking imho, so in the bizarre chance Steam and the Source Engine do make their way to Linux... it'd be a huge coup.

Microsoft and Nvidia abandon PC Gaming Alliance
by John Gillooly on Feb 22, 2011
Tags: microsoft | nvidia | pc | gaming | alliance | amd | steam
Industry body grows smaller and weaker as two more major players leave altogether, while AMD reduces involvement

Ever since Microsoft turned its back on Windows gaming in favour of the closed Xbox Ecosystem, the platform has been crying out for a champion. The company occasionally gives nods towards a revived focus upon PC gaming, most recently with yet another relaunch for Games for Windows Live and a trio of upcoming PC games, but when it comes to throwing cash around the Xbox is the beneficiary.

One could argue that Valve software has become a de-facto platform champion both with its Steam marketplace and its relentless innovation when it comes to its own games

[gbudny]

Thanks for the update Joel!

Trine has been released on the Desura

http://www.desura.com/games/trine

http://frozenbyte.com/

[snuwoods]

I guess d2kx knows something we don't?

@michaellarabel well, he sure looks like it (okay, that wasn't very nice, I like him). But I can't believe the delay is a coding issue tbh

that was tweeted by d2kx in reference to steam on linux.

[Hit in the Head]

And here we are, almost a year later. I still have hopes, Michael. I visit your site frequently, hoping to see something.

One thing that I would not have been able to predict last year: The PS3 will have Steam before Linux. Pretty wild, right?

Come on, Steam for Linux!

[snuwoods]

On the steam user forums someone created a script to run through his steam folder and report any mention of linux.

Here's the results:
"linux": http://codepad.org/KPoe9LeI
"wine": http://codepad.org/3BZVrtkn

quite interesting, especially the wine part.

[Kano]

I dont see anything special in that. I remember when i first read about l4d for linux and checked it myself. It was just for the dedicated server. The only thing that was more interesting was the not-working steam client. I am sure that you will find linux references in every game based on an engine which has a dedicated linux server.

[snuwoods]

well otherwise, why would they be keeping tabs on wine usage. that was an interesting revelation.

[Kano]

Ok, they test for the wine build used. At least they count wine users, but did you see wine in official stats yet?