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I installed Windows specifically to get Steam (and Visual Studio). If Steam works on Linux, I have very little need of Microsoft products outside the office.
by presidentender 14y ago
I installed Windows specifically to get Steam (and Visual Studio). If Steam works on Linux, I have very little need of Microsoft products outside the office.
- envex 14y agoSteam on linux doesn't necessarily mean (all) games on linux. You'll still want to keep a windows computer around if you want to play a wide range of games. It's the same with steam for mac. Only a handful of games worth playing.
- aerique 14y agoOnly two handfuls of games are worth playing on Windows as well.
- aristidb 14y agoEven once Steam is on Linux, most games won't be. Much like Steam is on Mac but the vast majority of games don't support it. However: 1. You should install Steam for Linux anyway! (Once it's public.) 2. I read games in virtual machines actually work reasonably well these days. (Not with VirtualBox though, sadly.) (And I will never understand why people love Visual Studio so much. Oh well.)
- w1ntermute 14y ago> Even once Steam is on Linux, most games won't be. While that's true, it'll lead to the creation of more games for Linux, particularly with a lot of people apprehensive about the big GUI changes in Windows 8. More importantly, 90% of my "regular" gaming takes place in Source-based engines (TF2/L4D2), so I would be more than happy as long as those Source games are available on Linux (and I believe that was Valve's plan all along with Steam for Linux).
- archgrove 14y agoYou'd think that, but I've notice precisely 0 more non-Valve games being released for Mac since Steam came to OS X. The only releases seem to be from companies who already did Mac ports, and indies (who are generally multi-platform).
- arkx 14y agoGood Old Games recently started selling a lot of (old) games for OS X.
- nolok 14y agoThey're emulated, not ported.
- w1ntermute 14y agoThat might be because gamers aren't big on Macs, because they're expensive and difficult to upgrade. A lot of gamers prefer desktops, but the iMac isn't ugpradeable and the Mac Pro uses custom parts and hasn't received significant updates in recent years.
- SG- 14y agoMaybe, but it's much bigger than Linux's game market.
- wtallis 14y agoPsychonauts? Sure, it's from an indie developer, but one with no history of Mac ports (actually, a history of being very Xbox-centric). When they got the publishing rights back, they made and released a Mac/Steam port (and then a Linux port). And Steam has been pretty good at picking up pre-existing Mac ports, notably Civilization IV, Assassin's Creed 2, and several Star Wars games. I think Steam is also largely responsible for the Mac port of Civilization V being a first-class platform instead of the port being outsourced and late (though cross-platform multiplayer support took a while, and so did some of the DLC).
- 14y ago
- hack_edu 14y agoAs long as Team Fortress 2 runs, I'll be happy :)
- OriginalSyn 14y agoWell L4D2 has been ported, so I imagine it won't be long before the other Source engine games follow suit.
- wtallis 14y agoSome of the games available for Mac through Steam are using Mono or a Wine wrapper. Those games should be very easy to port to Linux. And while you can do gaming inside a VM with the right combination of hardware and software, it is very tricky to set up.
- drivebyacct2 14y agoNot to dispute what you're saying, but I can't think of anything likely to cause a shift in momentum as Steam on Linux.
- Zenst 14y agoI expect to see people selling PC's as Linux gamestations of the back of this. Opertunities for a cheap Linux box already setup with steam to pull down games are now alot more tempting that I'd bet you will see kickstarter projects before the year is out. Now the real question is, will this steam distribution system handle non X86 chips, and if so will there be limitation on the games selections above and beyond processing ability to run the game. If they can crack that then, I will be truely impressed and see more momentum than you. But it certainly will add momentum, the indirect effect on stabalising and opening up graphics drivers has been one of the greatest side effects of this port of steam onto linux than steam itself. Be ineteresting how things are a year from now, I smell some roses; But we shall see.
- zanny 14y ago> games in virtual machines actually work reasonably well these days In KVM / Qemu, you need to forward a hardware graphics card to the VM, which means you can't use it in the host OS. It works ok if you have a crossfire or sli setup (since Linux support for either is... lacking) but you still need to have separate displays for the host and guest then. I haven't tried vmware / xen though.
- barbs 14y ago> (And I will never understand why people love Visual Studio so much. Oh well.) Me neither!
- OriginalSyn 14y agoI loved Visual Studio until I learned Vim, now I can't stand any IDEs they are all very cumbersome.
- barbs 14y agoInteresting. I actually really like Vim's input system, but I can't separate myself from IDEs entirely. I use Eclipse and Xcode with vim keybindings :)
- olanmatt 14y agoWait until there is a selection of games that you wish to play available on linux before you go ahead and write off Windows. Also, wait for driver support to be up to snuff for what you want to do.
- seanc722 14y agoIMO if you REALLY want games on linux you should use it for everything possible. If everyone just sits on windows waiting for games on linux then those games are not going to come lol.
- gizmo686 14y agoI recall reading an article here a couple months ago that steam found ported games running faster on linux, after some OS optimization, as compared with the more heavilly optimized windows version.
- ward 14y agoThis would be the article (blog post) in question: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/