Yes, There Are Portal 2 Linux References

[FireBurn]

I'd like to point out just because there may be an internal Linux client doesn't mean Valve have any intention of releasing it

Apple always had an x86 version of there OS years before they switched away from PPC processors

My point is just because a company has a test / development build doesn't mean it will be released unless there is a business advantage and as OilRush and the Humble Indie Bundle 3 has proven there isn't enough interest in Linux gaming to warrant a large spend on creating a polished Linux release (which is very different from having a development build)

[Armurier]

Well, I have news for all of you.
Steam is not coming to Linux anytime soon.

I have my sources.

-_-'
Seriously, does the author like to deceive us so much that he has to do the same trick every 6 months ?
When Garry Newman said publicly he was a moron for telling everyone "OMG GARRYSMOD COMPILED FOR LINUX STEAM IS COMING", didn't he have enough ?

Mr Larabel doesn't have internal sources.
And about the Linux detection script (if it's real), nothing proves that Valve doesn't develop or test part of its games on a Linux IDE. Which doesn't imply they are planning Linux releases (except for servers, that is).

So, here's what I wanna say :
You're too late, Michael. April Fool was 3 weeks ago. And using the same tricks won't work anymore...

[curaga]

Somebody inform Valve of $ORIGIN. Or better not, we wouldn't get these references then.

[V!NCENT]

The pinguin is a lie!

But seriously: When Valve sais that they are releasing soon, what they actualy mean is "Somewhere in the next few years. Irregardless of a Linux client I have been waiting for Half-Life: Episode 3 for about as much as I've een waiting for the next Harry Potter books and that waiting eventualy made me not interested in it anymore.

This Linux client is probably going to end up just like that.Valve has horrible coders and it shows when you read the comments from Source mod programmers, and not the worst at that. Source is a dissaster and thus it might take another three years to fix the crap...

[Armurier]

Sorry for the double post, but I want to respond to Fireburn's post earlier.

You're right about the internal client which, if it ever exists, wouldn't necessarily be released.
But if you consider that there are few professional Linux game editors, PLUS you look at how much more Linux gamers pay for the Humble Bundles (Windows : $4 / Linux : ~$12), you'd see good opportunities.
Financially speaking, you could open the doors to a brand new ecosystem.
Moreover, you'd push lots of Steam fans towards Linux (maybe using "earbuds" equivalents in TF2).

[FireBurn]

Sorry for the double post, but I want to respond to Fireburn's post earlier.

You're right about the internal client which, if it ever exists, wouldn't necessarily be released.
But if you consider that there are few professional Linux game editors, PLUS you look at how much more Linux gamers pay for the Humble Bundles (Windows : $4 / Linux : ~$12), you'd see good opportunities.
Financially speaking, you could open the doors to a brand new ecosystem.
Moreover, you'd push lots of Steam fans towards Linux (maybe using "earbuds" equivalents in TF2).

$12 is far away form the prices Valve charge for their top tier games

There have been a few games released for Linux like the UT games and Doom games, also LGP & Loki ported a lot of games too. Everyone who has done this has either went bust or have simply stopped releasing for Linux

Linux is a hard platform to target for, we don't have a large user base, we bitch like hell when things aren't perfect (look at the comments from OilRush but is supposed to be a preview) and we simply don't invest enough cash into the games

I'd love for the big companies who used to release A++ titles to come along and tell us how much they spent on making Linux version and how much money they raked in. It would also be interesting to see how many bitchy comments / emails / forum posts they received

[V!NCENT]

Well I can tell you, without knowing the numbers, that Quake 3 had a massive Linux sale, but probably the Windows disk. Seriously it has been so freaking popular; at a certain point in time no Linux desktop screenshot show-offs didn't has that Q3 logo on there.

If Valve were to release Half-Life for Linux then you can bet your ass every gamer will have it. Especially because there are not extra costs involved if you already bought it.

WineHQ and Ubuntu forums are full of Wine+Steam stuff.

[susikala]

There's a reason I don't like people speculating about Windows games being ported over to Linux, it's a bit like trying to port over a mindset. Games which have been created and developed for masses, for a platform where uniformity and (more or less) 'it just works' are the most important values, cannot be easily, if at all, ported to a platform which puts a huge amount of emphasis on individuality, free choice, standards, openness, and so on and so forth.

So in fact I'd really rather people not port Windows games to Linux, or think that companies which traditionally develop Windows games should start developing for Linux. And this journalism, which is already harmful in its speculativeness, is also harmful in trying to cause people believe in the illusion Linux is Windows. It's the same people who use Wine on Linux and try to turn it into something it is not.

I don't understand this pride issue. If you like playing games, then dualboot windows and play the games you love when you want to. If you don't, don't try to force something where it doesn't belong.

This is not to say I'm generally against games on Linux. Games made for Linux, with a FOSS mindset, are welcome.

[FireBurn]

Well I can tell you, without knowing the numbers, that Quake 3 had a massive Linux sale, but probably the Windows disk. Seriously it has been so freaking popular; at a certain point in time no Linux desktop screenshot show-offs didn't has that Q3 logo on there.

If Valve were to release Half-Life for Linux then you can bet your ass every gamer will have it. Especially because there are not extra costs involved if you already bought it.

WineHQ and Ubuntu forums are full of Wine+Steam stuff.

Think about what you just said there "not extra costs involved if you already bought it" ie Valve wouldn't make any money from people already owning it

I would love for Valve or any other games publisher to treat Linux like a tear one platform but I can honestly see why financially they wouldn't

[deanjo]

Well I can tell you, without knowing the numbers, that Quake 3 had a massive Linux sale, but probably the Windows disk. Seriously it has been so freaking popular; at a certain point in time no Linux desktop screenshot show-offs didn't has that Q3 logo on there.

It was also a very popular title to be pirated. In addition to that, when Q3 for linux came out linux's desktop market share was maybe if you are lucky .5 % and even if it sold to every linux desktop user at the time it still wouldn't be what you could really call "massive".