Ken Levine: SteamOS "Is Going To Be Awesome"

[Karloff]

Ken Levine: SteamOS "Is Going To Be Awesome"

Nobody ever lost money betting on Valve.

"The message to me is that it's an operating system designed around gaming, and it's pretty open," says Ken Levine of BioShock fame, as he welcomes the SteamOS [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/128065-Valve-Reveals-SteamOS] announcement made earlier this week. Sure, it's Linux, but Linux is a means to an end; besides, if you've developed for Mac, you're already halfway to Linux, so why not go the rest of the way? The key, to Levine, is that this is an open system, and that's "a brave and powerful idea" that gives power to everyone. Put your faith in the audience - something Valve has a lot of experience with - and then, Levine feels, you'll be creating something special.

Imagine being able to play on any screen you want. That's an important part of the future, says Levine, and while there are systems that do something similar already, those systems are linked to a proprietary network. Not so with the SteamOS, which means putting a PC game on any screen you want. Levine's overjoyed at the thought of making every screen into a receiver. Pause in one room, pick up in another. Switch from the big screen in the living room to the tablet in the bedroom. Become the ultimate screen agnostic, no longer caring what device it is, so long as it's there. "Owning the living room could be less interesting than owning every room," Levine feels.

Does all this mean Levine's already developing for the Steam OS? No, he says; Burial At Sea [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/126433-BioShock-Infinites-Burial-at-Sea-Returns-to-Rapture] is his obsession right now, and that's for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. But in the future? Levine's got great confidence in the concept, and in the company. "I don't think anyone ever lost money betting on Valve," says he.

Source: PC Gamer [http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/09/25/ken-levine-steamos-is-a-brave-and-powerful-idea/]


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[Hadesshade]

Well, it seems to me that Valve are getting some heads turning their way in the development department. Now all they need to do is get the rest of the population excited enough to actually support it with their money.

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

Well, it seems to me that Valve are getting some heads turning their way in the development department. Now all they need to do is get the rest of the population excited enough to actually support it with their money.

Yeah, it's kinda interesting that SteamOS can stream games from a Windows PC, but if they can convince these big devs to support linux natively/out-of-the-box then SteamBox will have practical and mainstream significance.

 

[mad825]

Aaand the blind hype machine has started. I'll wait until there's more action and less talk Mr.Levine, you should learn this idiom at some point in your life.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Playing your game in any room of the house without having to move the screen or system? I am not seeing the point of it. Instead of streaming your game of Half Life 3 to every room in the house, can't you just sit in front of your computer and play it there? Some gimmicks have use, but this seems like one of those pointless extravagances.

 

[Jaeger_CDN]

What Valve needs to do is have Half Life 3 (or a new IP that could be comparable) with the release of it. I'm not necessarily saying an exclusive but something that will cause users to start switching their game library over to it, even if they could make a deal with some publishers to translate their games to SteamOS and offer them at a discount to those who own them in Windows as a way to lure them.

 

[Hadesshade]

Okay, the article makes no mention of it so I ask. Who is Ken Levine and why should I care about what he says?

Simply put, he is one of the main writers and designers of Irrational Games, which has created games like Bioshock and System Shock 2.

 

[Deshin]

Playing your game in any room of the house without having to move the screen or system? I am not seeing the point of it. Instead of streaming your game of Half Life 3 to every room in the house, can't you just sit in front of your computer and play it there? Some gimmicks have use, but this seems like one of those pointless extravagances.

What, how can you not see the possibilities? Personally this is a godsend as I've been looking into ways to stream over network for ages. I've got my powerful desktop in my lounge but in order to save my spine and my wrists I prefer gaming sessions in my bedroom, curled up in bed. Only problem is my laptop is nowhere near as powerful as my desktop so I have to be limited in what games I can play. That and save importing/exporting constntly from one to the other sucks. Oh and I'd be less likely to set my bed on fire with an 80C laptop CPU if I'm doing all the processing on another machine.

So I for one am GREATLY looking forward to letting my desktop do its thing and me playing on it from anywhere in the house.

 

[ckam]

Okay, the article makes no mention of it so I ask. Who is Ken Levine and why should I care about what he says?

He's the writer and designer of most of the whatever-Shock games. Anyways, good to see developers getting interested to make games on a new OS.

 

[Pyrian]

"Nobody ever lost money betting on Valve."

Unless you bet on them releasing a game with a three in the title.

 

[Teoes]

Let's hope this stays in the realms of informed optimism and doesn't stray too quickly into mental hyping. I know, I'm naive. I do kinda like the sound of that "screen agnosticism" (snort) though, if it works out as planned.

Okay, the article makes no mention of it so I ask. Who is Ken Levine and why should I care about what he says?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Levine_(game_developer)

There you go. I wasn't mean enough to provide the lmgtfy link or tell you GIYF/JFGI or anything, but you are on the internet and could've found that out, no?

 

[Deathlyphil]

Playing your game in any room of the house without having to move the screen or system? I am not seeing the point of it. Instead of streaming your game of Half Life 3 to every room in the house, can't you just sit in front of your computer and play it there? Some gimmicks have use, but this seems like one of those pointless extravagances.

What, how can you not see the possibilities? Personally this is a godsend as I've been looking into ways to stream over network for ages. I've got my powerful desktop in my lounge but in order to save my spine and my wrists I prefer gaming sessions in my bedroom, curled up in bed. Only problem is my laptop is nowhere near as powerful as my desktop so I have to be limited in what games I can play. That and save importing/exporting constntly from one to the other sucks. Oh and I'd be less likely to set my bed on fire with an 80C laptop CPU if I'm doing all the processing on another machine.

So I for one am GREATLY looking forward to letting my desktop do its thing and me playing on it from anywhere in the house.

Pretty much this.

Also, say you are playing on your big tv and someone else wants to watch tv? No problem. Pause the game, move to another room with another screen, unpause, carry on. Or alternatively, the big tv screen becomes available, and you can shift through without losing anything in the game.

 

[Micalas]

Nobody ever lost money betting on Valve.

I'm sure that's not entirely true. There must've been a drunken bet where someone said, "I bet you $50 that HL3 comes out this year." They lost money betting on Valve.

 

[nickpy]

Playing your game in any room of the house without having to move the screen or system? I am not seeing the point of it. Instead of streaming your game of Half Life 3 to every room in the house, can't you just sit in front of your computer and play it there? Some gimmicks have use, but this seems like one of those pointless extravagances.

What, how can you not see the possibilities? Personally this is a godsend as I've been looking into ways to stream over network for ages. I've got my powerful desktop in my lounge but in order to save my spine and my wrists I prefer gaming sessions in my bedroom, curled up in bed. Only problem is my laptop is nowhere near as powerful as my desktop so I have to be limited in what games I can play. That and save importing/exporting constntly from one to the other sucks. Oh and I'd be less likely to set my bed on fire with an 80C laptop CPU if I'm doing all the processing on another machine.

So I for one am GREATLY looking forward to letting my desktop do its thing and me playing on it from anywhere in the house.

Pretty much this.

Also, say you are playing on your big tv and someone else wants to watch tv? No problem. Pause the game, move to another room with another screen, unpause, carry on. Or alternatively, the big tv screen becomes available, and you can shift through without losing anything in the game.

Though, why should you have to move at all? If you're already occupying the Big TV, why should others push you off? Especially nowadays with things like BBC iPlayer and Netflix, and not forgetting DVDs, there's absolutely no reason why the TV watcher can't get their fix elsewhere. (excepting special circumstances like a live program or social events, I suppose)

 

[medv4380]

Nobody ever lost money betting on Valve.

Short! Short! Short! Short! Short! Short!

Sorry, but that level of optimism is bad.

The Housing Market Can Never go Down. - Next year Crash

2007 Fox News has a joygasim over the Dow breaking 14,000, and keeps running optomistic projections that it will soon break 15,000 - 2013 Dow finally breaks 15,000

Being optimistic on gambling is where it finally decides to eat your entire life savings in one night. Valve is gambling, and it may or may not pay off. Hopefully they didn't bet the house.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

What, how can you not see the possibilities? Personally this is a godsend as I've been looking into ways to stream over network for ages. I've got my powerful desktop in my lounge but in order to save my spine and my wrists I prefer gaming sessions in my bedroom, curled up in bed. Only problem is my laptop is nowhere near as powerful as my desktop so I have to be limited in what games I can play. That and save importing/exporting constntly from one to the other sucks. Oh and I'd be less likely to set my bed on fire with an 80C laptop CPU if I'm doing all the processing on another machine.

So I for one am GREATLY looking forward to letting my desktop do its thing and me playing on it from anywhere in the house.

Why not move your gaming computer to your bedroom and use a wireless keyboard and mouse?

 

[seditary]

What Valve needs to do is have Half Life 3 (or a new IP that could be comparable) with the release of it. I'm not necessarily saying an exclusive but something that will cause users to start switching their game library over to it, even if they could make a deal with some publishers to translate their games to SteamOS and offer them at a discount to those who own them in Windows as a way to lure them.

Why would they have to 'switch' their game library to it? Its just steam, its an extension of your current library.

 

[loc978]

I do like that so many game devs are jumping on this bandwagon. Probably because so many of them work on linux machines to make games. It's a nice thought, simply being able to quickload your other OS in grub to test your work... Still, I'll believe the support when I see it. The biggest problem is going to be convincing publishers that the linux market (SteamOS included) is big enough to warrant ports... or, dare I say, use as a primary/testing platform.

 

[Deshin]

Why not move your gaming computer to your bedroom and use a wireless keyboard and mouse?

Because that's a terrible idea? I use my computer for a lot of things, it's not just a gaming device, currently it's wired up to everything else in my lounge (tv etc) and functions as a pretty decent entertainment centre. Moving it into my bedroom just so it's easier to play games on sounds like something I'd have done when I was 17. Plus I'd end up having to move the TV too so in the end it'd be easier to just put my bed in the lounge at this rate and call it a day. Oh and wireless mouse in bed? Eew. That's the one thing controllers have over kb/m combos, getting to use them at any single angle and it doesn't cause any discomfort.