Valve Reveals SteamOS

[Jadak]

Wait, why would I ever want a second machine to stream my games to for my tv? Can't I just stream directly to the tv these days? Or push come to shove, use an HDMI cable and the tv as a monitor?

I'm not saying the OS doesn't have other appealing aspects, but wouldn't mind if someone could explain the point of that particular aspect.

 

[Pinkamena]

I'm surprised. And impressed! If they manage to get the delay down enough for the streaming, this is the kind of product I would buy. Being able to have my PC standing in my room, while also being able to play it on a livingroom TV sounds really tempting.

 

[cricket chirps]

Yea i'm not seeing any benefits that I benefit from.
If one of the best "new features" is streaming your games to our TVs...I have n HDMI cable for a reason, I can already do that.

 

[Vhite]

And as simply as that, Linux graphic driver problem has been solved.

 

[BartyMae]

I'm a little disappointed. Was hoping for a real, standalone Linux distribution...not this sort of "hijack Windows" parasite.

 

[aelreth]

I trust Valve will get most of my games library working in the first version, my primary worry is my steadily expanding GOG library remaining compatible. I know I sound ungrateful for a free OS and complete compatibility perfection in the same package is asking for way too much.

Thus I'll await for some people to post a youtube video on how to do a good Win7 to SteamOS migration.

 

[Something Amyss]

It sounds kinda like a Xbone without the games.

Actually, it sounds more like the PS4's streaming service without the PS4. Which is a little less absurd, but still not my first choice.

But I hope this will work out fine, they might just inspire developers to port to their system and then getting rid of Windows would actually be an option.

It'd be nice to see an option come to rival Windows. Not sure how likely that is, but still.

 

[Dr.Susse]

If this means you can stream Steam to your big screen television, commonly in the living room. This means the Steam lovers will either have to buy a special table to rest their keyboard and mouse on while they sit on the couch or use... *GASP* a controller!

Wait problem solved.

 

[Abomination]

It's a bit putting the cart before the horse here.

If Valve wants PC gaming to shift off Windows and on to Linux then it needs to lead the charge and provide incentives for doing so. It most certainly isn't going to be an overnight ordeal and could take at least an entire generation of gaming to finally see come to light.

The only question is what do developers get out of designing games to be Linux compatible?

 

[loc978]

WTF is a 'living room machine'? The info from Valve is so completely vague it tells you pretty much nothing. It seems like all this really does is stream your PC to the living room TV and they have just re-branded the idea of a 'Steam Box' to call it an OS.

...a living room machine is just a home theater PC. Everyone I know who has a big-screen TV in their living room has one, usually a micro-ATX or mini-ITX tower running a low-end desktop APU... and usually built by me (usually for around $300). They're a lot better for putting internet video on your TV than some locked-architecture PowerPC processor-running POS (they also function as a replacement for a blu-ray player... and they play basic games, store and display photos, et cetera), and this way you don't need to take your dedicated gaming rig out of its traditional desk-borne habitat (also, you don't need to make room for a gigantic PC tower in your entertainment center).

Pretty sure the Steam Box thing is forthcoming. They just announced the OS so we know we can put it on our existing machines.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I fail to see why i'd use this, windows is too critical to everything, and generally innocuous in its operation, so i'm not gonna dual boot just to play games on linux. So that leaves steam os as a htpc os and streaming device for my windows tower.
Again i don't think anyone would run or dualboot a crippled OS on their main tower, so steam os becomes this sort of sideshowthing where its only useful if you have an htpc and want to stream a game to your TV.. it seems very niche. I'd rather they just to an app to mirror my pc on my tv with little latency

 

[dfphetteplace]

I'm excited and hopeful to see where this goes.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

As long as Steam doesn't become exclusive to this, then cool. More options for people is a good thing, not like they have the monopoly on PC and this doesn't change that like some people seem to think, as a PC can whatever OS you want on it etc.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Wait, why would I ever want a second machine to stream my games to for my tv? Can't I just stream directly to the tv these days? Or push come to shove, use an HDMI cable and the tv as a monitor?

I'm not saying the OS doesn't have other appealing aspects, but wouldn't mind if someone could explain the point of that particular aspect.

Because, depending on your setup, doing that can be more trouble than it's worth. For one, I don't think most people have TVs that you can do the direct streaming thing, and trying to move a big desktop over so that I can hook my 5 foot HDMI cable to it is a huge pain in the ass. Plus, from my understanding, most wireless controllers take some finnicking to get working right on PC, and trying to use most wired PC controllers, which generally have fairly short cables, when you're trying to play games on a tv just sucks.

I understand that some people have setups that work really well for playing PC games on a TV, but I would be willing to bet that most people don't.

Anyway, I think that early 2014 would probably be the best time to launch some sort of Steambox thing (which is definitely happening at this point, and the SteamOS announcement is basically a prelude to that) if they want to compete with the console market. Most people aren't going to want to get consoles from this generation for a variety of reasons, so they just have to compete with the next gen consoles. The fact that the PS4 and Xbone are going to be pretty expensive means that pricing themselves out of the competition is going to be less of an issue. And the biggest weakness of new consoles is that they have a very limited library of games, which Valve seems to be addressing (although we don't yet know if it will be enough).

Of course, for this to actually compete with the console market in any serious way, Valve needs to do a lot to market this thing, especially to people that don't pay that much attention to the gaming scene, and they need to have a lot of games running natively on the thing, not just streaming. Both of which are things that we have no idea if they're going to happen or not.

 

[Infernal Lawyer]

People here don't know how to fuckin' read. To all those skeptics asking if they'll be able to run their DirectX games, read this part:

In-home Streaming

You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too. Just turn on your existing computer and run Steam as you always have - then your SteamOS machine can stream those games over your home network straight to your TV!

That sounds pretty straightforward to me.

It still looks to me like a workaround rather than a proper solution to the problem. It's still a great first step, but I really hope the the SteamBox won't need a powerhouse middleman to play the majority of my games forever. Then again, the announcement pretty much admits that they haven't got some details sussed and they're working on it, so hopefully they'll let the Box work standalone in the future.

 

[Laughing Man]

Well, they announced it less than three hours ago. Give them a minute.

Yes you're right, the reality is this won't change a thing. End of the day it will just become another Linux Distro used by a minor number of people who will continue to dual boot with whatever version of Windows they choose to use. You'll have the die hards who will talk it up like it's the best thing they have ever used, you'll have their opposite number who think it's just a pointless waste of time (I guess I sit in that camp) and then you'll have the vast majority who will just want whatever is the easiest thing to use and end of the day that will be the Windows powered system.

As for the Steambox itself, well to be honest having the VP of one company spend several months moaning about a rival and then have them release a piece of hardware that fundamentally requires the services of the company that he has just spent all this time complaining about to work fully, it's not what wins respect.

 

[ReleGamer]

I am very interested to see how the "SteamBox" and "SteamOS" compete with the coming generation of console gaming. The freedom of both the OS and hardware could mean a more flexible and affordable way for you to game in your living room. I know there are already PC builds out there that accomplish this, but having a dedicated OS in place could simplify the process and really compete with Microsoft and Sony.

 

[aattss]

So, basically it's Linux, associated with Steam, and made for public consumption of every-day people?

 

[Erttheking]

Ok, maybe I'm extremely thick, but I'm not following what it's supposed to do. Can anyone explain it?