I've made some rather negative comments about Steam in the past concerning DRM, but the fact that a person can access their games anywhere, on any machine, and theoretically on any OS, is a real plus about Steam. One could argue that it respects a consumers purchase by associating their purchase with that person, rather than a specific machine configuration. Those of you who keep an eye on PC gaming and have witnessed the farse surrounding Mass Effect (authenticates to 3 hardware configurations, with no way to revoke previous authentications... byebye PC upgrades) will understand the significance of this. It pains me, because I'm fundamentally against DRM like everyone else is, which is why it's hard to swallow to see DRM actually being used to add functionality for the consumer (access to your games anywhere). I'm torn with this one, and makes me wonder if some people were onto something with the GPL v2/v3 lark. I'm starting University in September, so the significance of being able to redownload my games when required, without having to bring my discs with me, suddenly has significance.
That aside, this could seriously boost gaming on Linux. The Steam crowd make a sizable chunk of the Windows gaming scene, this puts Linux into the position of being a viable alternative to Vista for many gamers, and it may kickstart many developers to create a Linux client (or at the least, something using Cider or whatever) by providing a service that makes it very cost effective to do so.
That aside, this could seriously boost gaming on Linux. The Steam crowd make a sizable chunk of the Windows gaming scene, this puts Linux into the position of being a viable alternative to Vista for many gamers, and it may kickstart many developers to create a Linux client (or at the least, something using Cider or whatever) by providing a service that makes it very cost effective to do so.
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