Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Engine

[Larian]

John Carmack : there is a native linux client for QuakeLive, but it saw less than 20% of the users the mac got, despite a better version.

I wonder if he means the same QuakeLive client that wouldn't run on my Linux system. I tried it on three different distros (2 Ubuntu and one Mint), and while it installed on 2 of them, neither would let me go in-game. I lost interest. Besides, frag-tag isn't my favorite play style.

[Setlec]

i used to beta test QuakeLive it on linux (mandriva at that time) it worked nicely then as the beta ended, i didn't care much about it. though i wouldn't mind that id updates ETQW.

[susikala]

Despite his abrasive tone, Kivada is more or less right. Phoronix (let's not get personal!) is using the fact it's more or less the only Linux review site out there and does basically whatever it wants. News here is on par with a tabloid, the benchmarks (so far as I can tell from reading the first few replies, I don't actually ever look at the benchmarks themselves) seem useless for most people as they don't ever cover interesting aspects, and the general tone in which most articles are written is populist, devoid of much intelligence, common, and frankly sometimes quite childish and amateur. I mean, the need to quote oneself on any and every occasion and link to past articles all over the place even if they're only remotely related or were posted the day before really comes off as annoying most of the time, the visual image I get from that at best is of a dog licking its own balls.

_That_ all said, the fact no one has broken this monopoly yet by doing an alternative review / news site kind of paints most criticism in shades of grey. This is the Linux world, after all. You don't like it, fork it. That no one has done it before shows that after all, it's not that easy, and that running such a show on one's own for a while is bound to have consequences -- I've been watching this site in the last few years turning into a really messy pile of self-glorification, money greed and baseless journalism.

Regarding the topic concretely at hand: I'd like to believe it, but the article contains nothing new or concrete. People are measured by deeds, not by words, so let's first see something concrete before we believe it. At best from Valve itself, and not from this poodle site.

[smitty3268]

I will say this

Although I have no doubt that Michael is being 100% sincere and honest in this article, the lack of direct quotes does disturb me a bit.

Mostly because in the past, I've thought that Michael sometimes jumps to conclusions and draw the wrong idea from some of the quotes I have seen him comment on - such as posts by bridgman.

So when he's telling me all this wonderful stuff about Valve today I have to wonder if it's really accurate or if he's just being overenthusiastic. Direct quotes would really help out because I'd be able to determine for myself.

But maybe Valve told him everything was supposed to stay off the record, and he could just report back some generalities - that would explain the lack of info here.

[Kamikaze]

But maybe Valve told him everything was supposed to stay off the record, and he could just report back some generalities - that would explain the lack of info here.

That would be understandable - would have been for it to be mentioned in the article though.
@Michael Larabel- if you're reading the comments - could you confirm if this was the case?

Back to the topic (sort of) - re- Gabe's dislike of Win8, I've seen comments in slashdot referring to an MS Store. Does this only relate to mobile versions of Win8 or is there indeed going to be an MS Store on desktop Windows 8 releases too?
Also, a friend of mine just mentioned that if there's a steambox they could easily turn it into a media centre aswell which is something I hadn't actually thought of... Steam as a general content delivery platform in the long term???

[ElderSnake]

I would soooo love to believe this. I'm excited regardless...just to see anything said about it. Sad I know.

But if you really have that video Micheal, please do show us? The pics are certainly nice and don't appear fake (to my untrained eyes anyway) but a video would be very interesting if you have it.

[Kivada]

_That_ all said, the fact no one has broken this monopoly yet by doing an alternative review / news site kind of paints most criticism in shades of grey. This is the Linux world, after all. You don't like it, fork it. That no one has done it before shows that after all, it's not that easy, and that running such a show on one's own for a while is bound to have consequences -- I've been watching this site in the last few years turning into a really messy pile of self-glorification, money greed and baseless journalism.

There is one major difference though compared to a normal open source project, a review site requires allot of money* and time to get off the ground. Some people have the time but not the money, those that have the money usually don't have the time.

*Companies aren't just going to give you things because you are just starting out, you've gotta get a site together and have some readers before they do and likely you'll be very low on the totem pole and only receive bottom end parts sparingly instead of the big review sites that get top end parts a week before they are released.

I'm sympathetic towards this argument, but I don't think your actions are reflecting any better than his.

Well after 2 years of constructive criticism and no improvement it's time to stop beating around the bush and be crystal clear that the site sucks, because even if Larabel is vindicated after all this time by a Linux release of Steam** there will still be tons of problems with the quality of his reviews and lack of reporting actual news.

As before, I still seriously doubt it unless they actually do come out with a console, then I'd expect it to be Steam on BSD or Steam on a custom kernel like Android and some other secret sauce to keep it from being used on standard Linux.

[Kamikaze]

As before, I still seriously doubt it unless they actually do come out with a console, then I'd expect it to be Steam on BSD or Steam on a custom kernel like Android and some other secret sauce to keep it from being used on standard Linux.

You think they'd support Steam on BSD before Steam on Linux? That just seems nuts to me.. they already have an immediate and much larger market for Linux, and in regards to your "other secret sauce" comment - according to various sources Gabe is interested in keeping an open platform. Custom (forked Linux) kernel like Android??? It's possible, but I highly doubt it as existing games would need to be ported to ARM and it's graphics stack.
Pretty sure they'd rather make their life and the life of the hardware manufacturers easier by releasing on a well maintained and supported platform, for example GNU/Linux.

(edited for clarity)

[susikala]

Added to what I said earlier, I have some grievances with the circumstances. Why would Valve choose such an awkward way to introduce its Linux support? Why aren't they posting something official on their website, or commiting themselves to any time schedule? I've seen people on these forums ride on the term 'Valve Time' as they find comfortable and as it fits their arguments. But the fact remains that Valve chose to import their alleged Linux support using this channel, and that says a lot about them.

Given this site's reputation, it basically means they chose to play safe. If it backfires on them and they change their minds, or for whatever reason, we'll all have Phoronix to blame (and rightly so) -- which hasn't been exactly known in the past to deliver reliable information. If they actually do introduce Linux support in whatever form, they'll be the one to be praised (and rightly so), not Phoronix which's been pushing this like mad for so long.

In other words, well played, Valve. You've got yourself covered. But this only means, unfortunately, that their commitment to Linux is probably not so set in stone as Phoronix would like it to be.

[Kivada]

You think they'd support Steam on BSD before Steam on Linux? That just seems nuts to me.. they already have an immediate and much larger market for Linux, and in regards to your "other secret sauce" comment - according to various sources Gabe is interested in keeping an open platform. Custom (forked Linux) kernel like Android??? It's possible, but I highly doubt it as existing games would need to be ported to ARM and it's graphics stack.
Pretty sure they'd rather make their life and the life of the hardware manufacturers easier by releasing on a well maintained and supported platform, for example GNU/Linux.

(edited for clarity)

You must have a poor grasp of English and the BSD license. If Valve makes a game console based on off the shelf x86 hardware instead of custom parts and use BSD+proprietary secret sauce OS they can get a console on store shelves inside of 6 months.

There have been lots of rumors of Valve building a console as there is App store pressure from massive companies like Apple, Microsoft and Electronic Arts as well as from smaller competitors like Desura.

Think if they partnered with AMD, the Pile Driver version of the FX4100+an HD7970 or 2 in a single board running a custom BSD, they'd be able to easily compete with the XBox and Playstation as well as be able to cut costs on console production yearly and offer near infinite backwards compatibility. As for controllers, use standard USB and Bluetooth, have the official ones made by Logitech but allow anyone to get any old controllers or Keyboards and mice.

The only obstacle they would face is getting other game companies to get on board, but if they already have a game on X86 or on PS3 or Wii porting becomes far less of an issue and every indie developer would likely jump right on it due to the low barrier to entry.