Steam Client For Linux Confirmed

[Setlec]

so can we have some info updates on this? it's been a while since we talked about this!

[L33F3R]

well i was one of the fortunate ones who didn't buy UT3

I have learned . Not everyone in the world can be blessed with your wisdom now can they :P.

If steam comes it comes if it doesnt it doesnt. Nevertheless i doubt it would hurt to see a native client.

[Svartalf]

i cry because i believe that with this, you might actually be right.

It's something we were getting flung in our faces regularly with until recent times- and it still sets the stage for many of the discussions with publishers. Nobody did themselves ANY favors when they did that.

I even admit to buying etqw the day it came out, no linux support at that time.

First rule of thumb on anything is to ask yourself, "What do I actually run under?". If the answer is "Linux" (which would be part of why you're here on this forum... ), then the next question should be, "Is there a native Linux client?". If the answer to THAT question is "No", you probably ought not buy it until the answer to the question is "Yes".

Promised support is just that- promised. Until it is there, you don't have it- there's not really a Linux version there for you to "buy". Now, I'll tell you up-front that I am not lilly-white pure on that regard either, but my sin was with NWN and it could have just as easily went the wrong way instead of mostly (no cutscenes, etc...) the right one and I would have been out $40-50 on a title I couldn't run well unless I booted into Windows, which I don't do much and would rather not.

There's a reason I make the comments I make with regards to WINE, promised native versions, etc.

People are/were complaining to epic asking for a refund because they bought the game under the impression that a client was coming .

Because Epic had led people (and apparently is still trying to lead people...) to believe that there would be a client on or soon thereafter release. That didn't happen- it was...heh...a promised thing. All the ire and complaints are for naught- because they bought a WINDOWS SKU for all intents and purposes. No Linux version available at the time of purchase, you can't really be "buying it for Linux", now can you?

[Dragonlord]

The Epic situation is a bit different. People bought the copies to convert it later. A wrong thing to begin with since using conversion there is no way whatsoever to determine how many Linux users there are since on paper all units are Windows units. So Epic never promised a true Linux version to buy just a conversion binary to download ( not that this ever arrived but that's again another story ).

[L33F3R]

It sent a message to Id, Activision, etc. that we're "okay" with playing on Windows (even though we're not...) because we BOUGHT the Windows SKU instead of the provided Linux one. It's part of why Loki went bye-bye, if you want to know the truth of the matter.

i cry because i believe that with this, you might actually be right. I even admit to buying etqw the day it came out, no linux support at that time. People are/were complaining to epic asking for a refund because they bought the game under the impression that a client was coming .

[Svartalf]

well i do hope u have insider knowledge. ur part of LGP XD

Heh... I've been party to a lot more than just that. Before then, I was one of the devs for the Utah-GLX driver set and one of the ISV's that worked with Loki and a few other studios in earlier years. Before that, I was one of the people asking to get a shot at helping them make Linux games happen.

[Svartalf]

ahhh you are right. People dont see the apple for the tree they see the apple for the ochered. This is in fact a severe error in market research that I don't even think ID is picking up too quickly. As it stands, the poll on their ETQW site:

They know this. It's why they keep doing versions for Linux as unofficial things.

if we look at this we can see that for this particular game linux holds a higher share then xbox, ps3 and mac combined. Somone alert the pinheads.

It's a poll. It can be stuffed or not. If not, how many of them bought WINDOWS copies and "converted" them. That IS something iD allows, you know. Moreover, it's part of the source of what happened with Q3:A where the Linux version sold only about 200 official sales before making the rounds in the liquidator space. It was 3-4 weeks delayed because of a botch on production by Loki. People didn't wait- they bought the Windows version and converted it to Linux because they couldn't wait a couple of lousy weeks, they HAD to have it THEN.

It sent a message to Id, Activision, etc. that we're "okay" with playing on Windows (even though we're not...) because we BOUGHT the Windows SKU instead of the provided Linux one. It's part of why Loki went bye-bye, if you want to know the truth of the matter.

The games industry is under the impression that we don't buy games, period. It's not true and World of Goo, Penny Arcade Adventures, and similar are helping. But don't tell me that using WINE is helping us any in the medium-to-long term sense of things. It's helping a few migrations happen, more or less, and little more.

[L33F3R]

Heh... You use Prey as an example. Here's a hint: Prey's been held up for a loooong time. It's existed as a closed off beta for quite some time before it's release (Ryan did their server code...think about that for a bit...) and had the "Works under WINE" had no impact on it either way. iD does what it does because they like Linux- they just can't do official things for us because the Q3:A sales debacle showed them "there's no money in Linux" for the medium-term future of things. World of Goo was going to have a client anyhow.

In each of your examples, WINE being present had no impact either way. Plans were plans and you are not privy to what those would be as a consumer in most cases. Caster's coming to Linux. It works perfectly fine in WINE, but Mike Smith was more interested in an official version of it along with a Pandora version of the same- as much because WINE only works on X86 stuff. How do I know that one? I'm the guy he tapped to make that port happen.

However, when I tell you there've been ports that've been killed because WINE was "good enough", I am not kidding. I've insider knowledge of those sorts of things. It HAS hurt things as much as it's helped things- and in a manner I've indicated.

well i do hope u have insider knowledge. ur part of LGP XD

[Svartalf]

Actions speak louder then words. For example look at prey, it ran just fine under Linux with wine but they pushed a client anyways. ID knows that opengl apps prolly work very well under linux with wine but have traditionally released clients anyways. World of goo windows works great on linux but we see a world of goo client now don't we?

Heh... You use Prey as an example. Here's a hint: Prey's been held up for a loooong time. It's existed as a closed off beta for quite some time before it's release (Ryan did their server code...think about that for a bit...) and had the "Works under WINE" had no impact on it either way. iD does what it does because they like Linux- they just can't do official things for us because the Q3:A sales debacle showed them "there's no money in Linux" for the medium-term future of things. World of Goo was going to have a client anyhow.

In each of your examples, WINE being present had no impact either way. Plans were plans and you are not privy to what those would be as a consumer in most cases. Caster's coming to Linux. It works perfectly fine in WINE, but Mike Smith was more interested in an official version of it along with a Pandora version of the same- as much because WINE only works on X86 stuff. How do I know that one? I'm the guy he tapped to make that port happen.

However, when I tell you there've been ports that've been killed because WINE was "good enough", I am not kidding. I've insider knowledge of those sorts of things. It HAS hurt things as much as it's helped things- and in a manner I've indicated.

[L33F3R]

You are wrong. it DOES send a message. What counts is NOT that you play it under Linux using Wine what counts is that you BOUGHT a Windows copy. The numbers the distributors see is the number of sold copies for a given system. In that case it's only Windows. So if you buy it and run it under Wine it counts in there book as a sold Windows unit and not as a sold Linux unit. Therefore the marketing concludes: "Windows rocks, Linux sucks!". You really want to tell them THAT?

ahhh you are right. People dont see the apple for the tree they see the apple for the ochered. This is in fact a severe error in market research that I don't even think ID is picking up too quickly. As it stands, the poll on their ETQW site:

Which version of ETQW for you?
Windows PC
65%
Mac OSX
4%
Linux
21%
Xbox 360
5%
PlayStation 3
4%
Total votes: 17470

if we look at this we can see that for this particular game linux holds a higher share then xbox, ps3 and mac combined. Somone alert the pinheads.