Steam and Linux Are Now an Item

[The Wooster]

Steam and Linux Are Now an Item

Steam is coming to Ubuntu and it's bringing Left 4 Dead 2 with it.

For years, Linux users looking to do a little gaming have been forced to resort to stop-gap measures like Wine, the popular Windows emulator. Of course, emulators come with a whole mess of bugs, quirks and compatibility issues, and considering that modern PC games aren't exactly the stablest of programs to begin with, frustration tends to be the rule rather than the exception. Enter Valve and project "Steam'd Penguins." [http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/]

A dedicated development team at Valve has been working on a fully-featured version of the Steam client for Ubuntu 12.04 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116943-Steam-Coming-to-Linux-Soon] since 2011. The team already has Left 4 Dead 2 running natively under the popular Linux distribution, and they're currently working on improving the game's performance so it can launch alongside the client. Once that's done, the team is going to start porting additional Valve titles and, should the project turn out successful, look into supporting other Linux distros.

Overall, good news for Linux users, though it remains to be seen if the OS has enough interested gamers to make the venture profitable for Valve.

Source: Valve Linux Blog [http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/]

Permalink

 

[Waaghpowa]

The day I ditch windows is getting closer....

 

[Isalan]

If this was anyone else, I'd say this idea would go down like a granite zepplin, but I can't help shake the feeling that Valve is doing this as a non-commercial venture.

I mean, Ubuntu just doesn't have the user base to support this right?

So the only conclusion can be that Valve are doing this cos they're Valve.

 

[Novaova]

. . .stop-gap measures like Wine, the popular Windows emulator.

facepalm.jpg

I'm guessing the author doesn't know what WINE stands for.

 

[MarlonBlazed]

So long dental plan.... I mean Windows, sorry that's forever burned in my brain.

 

[Spitfire]

If this catches enough momentum, I'll seriously consider switching over to Ubuntu.

 

[grigjd3]

Actually, I think the set of PC gamers has a rather large intersection with the set of linux users. We've all just been waiting for the day when someone wonderful group like Valve would see fit to do it up right.

 

[Al_]

Anyone predicting that the availability of mainstream games on Linux means Windows is doomed doesn't appreciate quite how embedded MS is in business and government.

I do welcome this though. The challenge for Valve will be getting third party publishers to follow. It'll be awesome one day if "released on Steam" would by default mean that you could it buy for your account, and run it on Windows, Mac and Linux.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

. . .stop-gap measures like Wine, the popular Windows emulator.

facepalm.jpg

I'm guessing the author doesn't know what WINE stands for.

WINdows Emulator, or Wine Is Not an Emulator?

Because however you dress it up, semantics-wise, it's still a fucking emulator.

Calling it a "compatibility layer" is just as pretentious as calling a comic book a "graphic novel".

Don't be a douche.

No, it's really a compatibility layer. It doesn't emulate anything, it just ports direct X over to Linux. That's hugely different from emulating the entire operating system.

 

[Jimi Bove]

. . .stop-gap measures like Wine, the popular Windows emulator.

facepalm.jpg

I'm guessing the author doesn't know what WINE stands for.

WINdows Emulator, or Wine Is Not an Emulator?

Because however you dress it up, semantics-wise, it's still a fucking emulator.

Calling it a "compatibility layer" is just as pretentious as calling a comic book a "graphic novel".

Don't be a douche.

Semantics aside, graphic novels are called what they are to avoid the idiocy of people who assume all comics are stupid superhero things, just as WINE is called a compatibility layer to avoid the idiocy of people who assume all emulators recreate the machine/OS using multiple times the power/CPU they need. I'll agree that WINE is literally an emulator according to the dictionary, but the actual in-depth definition of "emulator" in the context of computing does not fit WINE.

 

[Lukeje]

Whoop! A Linux client! Wait... Ubuntu only? Surely further ports would move a lot faster if they open source their client and game-engines (presuming they're native too). Here's hoping that that's what they do...

*snip*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

 

[viranimus]

Well I somewhat doubt this will end up being a major solution. If your lucky you would see, what? 1/3rd the available games on steam, at best? It would certainly be a boon and yes gaming is essentially the only thing keeping me fully on a windows desktop environment.

none the less.. glad to hear it. Seems like most technology companies fear adding support for their products to linux. So to hear more support for a major tech centric company is a positive indeed.

 

[The Wooster]

. . .stop-gap measures like Wine, the popular Windows emulator.

facepalm.jpg

I'm guessing the author doesn't know what WINE stands for.

. . .stop-gap measures like Wine, the popular Windows emulator.

facepalm.jpg

I'm guessing the author doesn't know what WINE stands for.

WINdows Emulator, or Wine Is Not an Emulator?

Because however you dress it up, semantics-wise, it's still a fucking emulator.

Calling it a "compatibility layer" is just as pretentious as calling a comic book a "graphic novel".

Don't be a douche.

No, it's really a compatibility layer. It doesn't emulate anything, it just ports direct X over to Linux. That's hugely different from emulating the entire operating system.

To quote the official FAQ: "Wine is not just an emulator" is more accurate.

 

[Zoe Castillo]

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[Zoe Castillo]

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[Aeshi]

Of course being able to play games on Linux and having games to play on Linux are two different things. I'm willing to be Steams 'Linux' section will have the Source Games and nothing else.