Linux Left 4 Dead port fuels Steam for Ubuntu talk
Valve picks open source OS for games console?
Valve appears to be launching Steam on the Linux platform, with prototypes in the works and a native version of Left 4 Dead set to accompany the client's release.
Steam for Linux was more or less confirmed after a meeting with Valve top dog, Gabe Newell, at the company HQ in Bellevue, Washington, Phoronix says.
According to the story's author, Michael Larabel, Valve's Linux clients are beyond the experimental stage.
Hold on a second...
OK, so the only solid piece of evidence is that the author witnessed Valve run Left 4 Dead natively on Linux. Everything else seems pure speculation.
Larabel claims Newell is a huge advocate of Linux and displayed a clear dislike for Microsoft's Windows 8. Larabel also says Newell is directly involved with this project, even moving his desk into the current Valve Linux development camp to oversee the process.
"Valve does have some great plans for Linux beyond just shipping the client versions of Steam and their popular games on the Source Engine," says Larabel.
If you couple this with recent rumours of a Valve-produced gaming box, it's easy to conclude the company is working on its own platform and will base it on Linux.
As Linux comes without licensing costs and the ability to alter the system as freely as it likes, the company's interest in the platform makes sense. Whether Valve will roll with it for a "Steambox" remains to be seen.
Either way, the company's clear support of the OS is promising, for both Linux itself, and the future of open-source games development as a whole. ®
COMMENTS
Re: Newell ... advocate of Linux ... dislike for Microsoft's Windows 8
"If so you'd have to have Linux and Windows versions of every single game, and that relies on the developers bothering to do so"
The Mac gaming market isn't a patch on the PC one, but they have support for it, and more games are being made dual-platform (or being ported to Mac if they prove to be successful). I'm in Windows at the minute so I can't check, but I seem to remember at least 30 of my approx 200 games working on Mac. It'll just take time to develop, and I think the Linux market are hungry for it to be honest, whether the purists whine about DRM or not.
"Linux users are stereotyped as not being overly fond of paying for software - whether this is accurate I'll let the Linux users answer, and would be interested to hear."
I believe that this is the exact opposite of the truth, to be honest. Linux users don't just pay for software - they willingly donate to it. Using my Humble Bundle example from further up the thread, they release all their games on all three platforms, with pay-what-you-like donations to charity, and Linux users have topped the donation scales every single time, followed by Mac users and lastly by Windows users. We'll definitely pay, but only for quality.
Re: Steambox? Can't see it happening
"Nobody's going to buy something that can't play the 90% or more of Steam games without a Linux port. Unless HL3 is exclusively released on it... ;-)"
If it comes with Half Life 3, Left 4 Dead 2/3 and Counter Strike:GO then the uptake by Valve fanbois (like me) would cause a fair few games to get a linux port.
Im all for it, they just need to make sure that it's hardware is at least on par with the next reincarnations of the Xbox and Playstation.
Wasn't code referring to a Linux port found in the beta of the Mac client or something? Seem to remember that. Anyway, with regard to Steam on Linux, three words:
About.
Fucking.
Time.
OK, it's a smaller portion of the market, but percentage-wise Mac isn't exactly the majority, and Steam for Android appeared first! And while the major publishers might see all PC gamers, and especially Linux nerds, as freeloaders, the Humble Bundles have proven every single time that Linux nerds pay for quality software, and pay more. That, coupled with the huge increase in the size of the PC indie market (thanks in large part to AAA publisher hate and Steam love) makes me more optimistic that this time it'll actually happen.
Re: Don't know much about Steam but
It will probably work like Steam on Mac. The game selection would have to accommodate. Still, it has to start somewhere.
