Here's The First Screenshot Of The Linux Steam Client

[thebwt]

Just registered to say this:

Steam is a form of DRM, yes. But all DRMs are not equal. If I wanted to get a version of my game that doesn't rely on steam, I could get it from valve. But that's not really the point.

The real point is that I as a consumer know what I'm getting into, the same as I know gmail logs my emails and scans them to learn how to advertise to me; I know it. Sure steam will someday be no more, but we will have ample opportunities to free our content from their services when it does happen.

Is DRM bad? I think thats a subjective question. Are some DRM schemes better than others, absolutly! Steam is the best answer so far, content creators need to make money. Since moving to steam, I have personally bought more games than I ever have before, for me, steam adds to the product. In the age of Diablo 2, I went through 3 broken cd's; I'll "never" have to do that again (notice quotes around the never, thats a hypothetical never). I bought Oblivion on release day, and lost the cd a few months later in a move.. I don't have to do that anymore!

Steam may not be the right answer, but it sure seems like the best one to me (a consumer).

also: I think we need a law similar to godwin's about calling your peers 'sheep', I'm tired of it.

--signed
Steam Sheep #76561197997713764

[Przeciwko]

Could steam do the same if they fail? (And I really doubt they will fail)

Nothing is eternal, history proved this more then once in various areas.

I never had problems playing offline, at least with Valve games. However, if you search what you want, you'll find exactly what you want. You can find tons of people having problems with Linux, for example, but this doesn't mean that Linux sucks...

The point was that Steam has nothing to offer that users can do by themselves AND you have less problems with retail games.

First, you can buy plenty of Steam games over the counter to get real DVDs with the files on them. After you install, if just launches Steam to authenticate. So your point about wanting a real CD is nonsense, what matters is the type of DRM present not the way you get the files.

I was sure it's obvious that I meant non-Steam CD releases, but now it should be clear.

2nd, if Earth 2160 doesn't work in SP without a connection in Steam, then you should complain to the makers of that game. Steam absolutely supports this, but they can't fix crappy code that the game developers make for them. It sounds like they just did a bad job of porting the game onto steam.

Retail version works, Steam not. It would be rather weird if the fault was on developers site in such situation.

So while I agree that Steam has the <B>potential</B> to be a bad system, calling it the worst DRM in existence is ridiculous. Nonsense.

It takes away control anyway. I could call it lesser evil but it is still evil.

@prez:
I already gave my arguments a long ago. If only you'd have bothered to read them... But you have also forgot why people are against drm in the first place.

Oh yes, the silly comic you posted is full of them, admirable.

Anyway, even for the purist FLOSS advocates I have a reason to get Steam: where are you going to get the data files for quake, doom, wolfenstein and duke nukem 3D from for which the code is released as GPL? Guess for how much money Steam is offering this without drm and copy protection?

Ever heard about Ebay? you can those games cheaper then on Steam. I know, it's hard to believe.

All I can say... No I am not going to even bother calling you faul names for your complete lack of practical insight and your lack of IQ...

Like every Steam sheep, I have no arguments so I just throw some insult to win. Admirable.

[Svartalf]

Which is odd, really, if that was the case...

Lest one wonders what I meant by "odd" (From the link...):

1. Custom Executable Generation

Custom Executable Generation creates a unique build of your game for each user, making it difficult for any one user to share the game with any other user. Each individual copy of a CEG-protected game is only playable by the Steam account authorized to access it. CEG is transparent, and does not impose limits on users. It lets users access their content from any hardware, and allows unlimited hardware configuration changes without the content becoming unplayable. In fact, no changes are made to a user's computer for CEG to work. Instead, CEG works in tandem with Steam authentication, enabling content access based on user accounts, not arbitrary hardware-based "rights-management" restrictions.

Equally cute is this...

Territory control

Open up new markets. Games can be set to authenticate only in specific regions, allowing you to go day-and-date worldwide without the worry of grey marketing of products intended for specific territories.

No matter how you paint this, it's DRM. It's just "better implemented" and (they hope) possibly more palatable to consumers than the stuff like they fobbed off on Spore users or the new UbiSoft titles...

[Svartalf]

I want to know if a Linux game from steam will work in the windows steam. I like the idea of having a game that works on both platforms.

If the game's a STEAM one and the game's supported under Linux and Windows, I would suppose that it would work just like any other circumstance where you're running on a different computer.

[Svartalf]

We should not forget that valve criticised against DRMs.

Which is odd, really, if that was the case...

http://www.steampowered.com/steamwor...ngservices.php then this is a very, very weird piece on their Steamworks site. While they try to paint it as not being DRM, it's still DRM. It still phones home at some point to authenticate you and still prohibits play if you don't succeed- just like any other DRM scheme. It's just less obnoxious than many of the others if you're one of the lucky ones and your Internet works.

[elect]

The problem with Steam is that you don't really own the game but borrow it, user depend from Steam all the time. They can remove your games without warning, block them or anything. You need to be connected to internet all the time, off-line Steam only sounds good on paper. In reality you still need to connect. What if someone (for some reason) loose access to internet for example a month? such person is basically toasted. Forget about choosing what patch you want (important in case of games like Stalker) or un-problematic mods for some games - they need to be altered to be used with Steam.

When you buy game on CD you own it basically for life, if you take good care of it. You can play whenever you want wherever you want and no company from outside can influence this.

When Steam dies one day, all those game you purchased there will be unplayable, dead. It's rather doubtful that they release no-steam fix, since it would make those game so easily pirated. You can say that Steam games are already pirated (which proves this DRM is pointless) and it's true.But remember, companies do anything to stop piracy (look at ridiculous Ubisoft idea), even by crippling users. Just have this in mind when Steam goes to hell.

I can run the risk without problem

[Nevtus]

I want to know if a Linux game from steam will work in the windows steam. I like the idea of having a game that works on both platforms.

I'd assume that if you bought a game in Steam that supported various OSs you would download the native version for the OS Steam is currently running on whenever you install it.

You don't really buy the game files with Steam, but the right to download the title whenever/wherever you want.

[b15hop]

I want to know if a Linux game from steam will work in the windows steam. I like the idea of having a game that works on both platforms.

[smitty3268]

That by very definition is DRM

Um, yes. That was my point. It doesn't matter if you download the files or get the on a DVD, they can both have the same DRM system.

[deanjo]

After you install, if just launches Steam to authenticate.

That by very definition is DRM