SteamOS

Valve announced SteamOS, an open-source, freeware Linux operating system that allows access to the entire Valve library (as well as games on LAN-connected PCs) on TV-connected PCs.

I'm really thinking the main driver is some sort of GPU-driven session virtualization, a la RemoteFX but presumably with client-side processing. I can't imagine they've found a seamless way to get Windows binaries and DirectX working for any and every game using translators, so a pure WINE-type approach seems unlikely. Pure screen-streaming doesn't seem to fully explain it, either, particularly for the local game streaming. It's got to be streaming the screen for some games, I figure, but somehow offloading more of the work to the local hardware than we'd see in Xen or RDSH. It seems to be a lot more than just "streaming" games, though, so I'm sure it mixes native or translated support for local games.

This pure speculation, however. The announcement leaves room for little but guesswork. Clearly, they've made some big technical accomplishments in-house. I don't know if I'll even use this, myself, but I'm extremely curious to know the details of what they've accomplished. Maybe, just maybe it's big enough to excuse turning Half-Life into vaporware.

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Comments

cruwl

I've read a couple other articles on it. Def going to keep an eye on it. Might have to put a copy on my laptop so I can game in the living room even tho I can do it already on the laptop.

bdub

Well they still have yet to announce any games that will be compatible with it. The library being available and the games actually functioning on it seem to be 2 different things from what I gather. Seems to me this will probably only run a few games initially (probably mostly indie titles) and they will be attempting to sway devs to port games to this new platform. It seems interesting for sure, and I would probably use it if the list of compatible games contains games I'd want to play or let my kids play. Right now though it just seems like a big experiment that has had a lot of talk around with very little detail or substance.

ratbuddy

I won't be bothering. I already have the strongest computer in the house hooked up to the TV, and it plays my Steam library just fine.

DevilWAH

Valve will release a console/PC/Media Center hybrid to sit under the TV. Have a proven distribution system and an open platform for developers.

Could (not saying will) be a strong competitor to Sony and Microsoft, in the couch gaming market. If they pull it of it will keep Valve afloat long term. if not due to the fall in PC sales, valve might find them selves just a niche player 3 or 4 years down the line.

MentholMoose

Playing Windows-only Steam games will be done via "In-home Streaming", which I believe will require a Windows machine on the LAN to run the game and stream it to your SteamOS machine. On a local LAN it should be fine. I've seen demos of similar functionality in other products (e.g. Citrix XenDesktop) and it works fine.

Many other Steam games already run on Linux natively (a native Steam client for Linux has been available for a while), so they should work with SteamOS. If SteamOS gains traction, it might encourage more developers to build Linux native games.

tpatt100

Steam has to expand outside the Windows PC market to survive. When Gabe was ranting about Windows 8 it was more than likely due to the Windows App marketplace more than anything. When your "app" marketplace relies on Windows of course you don't like the idea of people buying stuff of their "closed" marketplace and Steam had started offering software besides games.

Gaming has grown but it is spread out all over the place so there is plenty of room for everybody I just think games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto sales really skew our idea of "hit games".

I think it will be nice successful just not mainstream successful but then again I don't really care just that it makes money so game developers have incentive to develop for it. I don't think the "big" name developers will jump on it since console sales are so high compared to PC title sales so I don't think I see the big studios chasing an even smaller niche market.

Small studios would be smart to develop for it though. I will invest money in it to show support though by buying games for it.

bdub

MentholMoose wrote: »

Playing Windows-only Steam games will be done via "In-home Streaming", which I believe will require a Windows machine on the LAN to run the game and stream it to your SteamOS machine. On a local LAN it should be fine. I've seen demos of similar functionality in other products (e.g. Citrix XenDesktop) and it works fine.

Ahh, I hadn't heard about the in home streaming. I guess it makes sense since a lot of us already do this for movies, why not games. Though I'd like to see how well it works especially for multiplayer FPS games where any bit of lag can give you a big disadvantage. I think for casual gaming though it would probably work ok.