Reply With QuoteDunno, I can't say I've ever heard someone say "If only Mac had this feature, I'ld switch over". Even with steam coming to Mac, did anybody change OS? This is a different situation with Linux, there are people waiting to make the switch.
Junior Member
If you look at wikimedia's stats, the amount of linux and mac users seems to be relatively on par. The "1%" commonly quoted is from a paid stat counting company having customers such as microsoft.com.
In any case, my point is that quite a couple of the steam games, e.g. world of goo already have linux ports. If they add a linux client, those that ported their games to linux (which especially amongst indie developers is getting more and more common) will already be available for their steambox.
Yeah, mac doesn't have a ton of games, but it has quite a couple. It just seems like a good idea to have ported and ready games available in addition to the ones they will inevitably get if they do make a console.
Senior Member
Dunno, I can't say I've ever heard someone say "If only Mac had this feature, I'ld switch over". Even with steam coming to Mac, did anybody change OS? This is a different situation with Linux, there are people waiting to make the switch.
Senior Member
Many people I know spend most of their gaming time in 1-3 games (css, wow, dota). Some of them said directly that if those were available they'd switch the same day.Originally Posted by entropy
Extrapolating, I'd say they don't need their entire back catalog. Just the most wanted ones, and that's enough for many to switch.
Senior Member
Maybe... But is it worth the effort for Valve?
I'd really like this to become reality. Steam and Source on Linux would be wonderful.
Additionally, the distribution platform may be an incentive for other publishers to release Linux ports.
On the other hand, this also comes with a very high danger IMHO.
"If" Valve fails with Steam on Linux (for whatever reason), my bet is that this would be the death
blow for AAA gaming on Linux and nothing great like this will ever emerge again in the future.
But ofcourse, someone has to try first...
Let's hope that it'll be a great success!
Phoronix Member
maybe valve can post it on kickstarter.com
Junior Member
Phoronix Member
More and more the rumours point to a console/hardware device being created by Valve. IMHO it makes business sense for the drive for Linux steam and source engine to come from this push. Even though the majority of the games available for Steam are only MS Windows compatible, maybe they'll surprise us with something for the long term.
It almost seems a bit "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"...
Phoronix
Phoronix Member
Nothing to add, but - indeed!
Hope you can get some answers Michael!
Phoronix Member
I'm not sure they'd come right out and say that was their plan though, even if it were. It'd make more sense to release a linux steam, big screen mode, then attempt to persuade other developers to use linux by saying we'll give you a better deal if your game is steamplay.
Then we would see the Linux steambox, though at this point it could well be based on Windows, but that seems a bit silly considering they'd be directly competing with Games for Windows Live and the Xbox.
Who knows though.
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