Valve To Launch Native Linux Game In July?

Going back to 2007 we have been talking about Valve Software and Linux games after they were hiring software engineers to port Windows-based games to the Linux platform. Late last year we also got some confirmation of a Steam Linux client through some Linux shared libraries that had mistakenly shipped with the Left 4 Dead game client along with some other information we received through the grapevine. Well, now there may be another sign of impending Linux support by Valve Software. In fact, it's listed right on the Valve Software web-site!

One of the new games coming to Steam is called Dyson, which is described on the Steam product page as:

"Dyson is an ambient game of space exploration and conquest that employs surprising themes of plant growth and bio mechanical evolution.

The game allows the player to explore a beautifully realized universe rendered in a style that is both unique and compelling. Dyson's aesthetics are reminiscent of children's books like "the little prince" and the gameplay is supported by an original ambient soundtrack by Brian Grainger.

Gameplay revolves around conquering asteroids in space and using their resources to literally grow and nurture new semi-organic plants and creatures to do the player's bidding.

The player is pitched again several teams of AI opponents that all vie for the same resources and can offer fierce opposition."

Okay, so it doesn't exactly sound like the next best game or as great as Counter-Strike: Source or Half-Life 2, but there is one important note on that product page and that is the system requirements. Under the system requirements is: "Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP SP2; Windows Vista; Linux " Hey hey, that's Linux! That's one big typo if it's a mistake on the side of Valve Software.

This game, which was born out of a game development competition, does sort of run on Linux as a standalone package. Linux is mentioned right here. There is a Linux archive of Dyson available, but it's simply the Windows version complete with the EXE file and all of the DLLs, but free of having to use any installer. The Dyson developers then just refer the users to running the game with Mono or Wine. It's highly unlikely though that a version of Dyson on Linux that's supported by Steam would depend upon Mono or Wine.

Dyson is set to launch in Steam on the 31st of July. Will we see native Linux support at this time for Dyson? Will a Steam Linux client launch in tandem at that time? On the Steam web-site it's stating that Linux is one of the supported operating systems... We shall wait and see. Postal III is also still on track to launch this year, which uses Valve's game engine, and it too is set to officially offer Linux client support.