Valve Announces Steam OS

[NinkobEi]

 

[TheMailMan78]

The only thing we have to worry about is when games start becoming Steam OS exclusive.

Did you just announce Half Life 3?

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Another idea that came to me last night after a few drinks and much discussion with friends, if SteamOS tanks, why not make a dedicated front end for Windows? I'd rather see Steam go in the direction of linux because developers need to get themselves away from DirectX as OpenGL is much more efficent. However, if SteamOS does tank, having a dedicated frontend like XBMC would be a great runner up. I understand that everyone fears that Microsoft is going to lock it down to Windows approved apps. However, you know that someone is going to "Jailbreak" it and that is where this can be really good. In fact, I know this can be good because my main computer is a mid high-end PC dedicated to media and gaming. I use XBMC and Windows Media Center (only for Netflix mind you) and have the Windows 7 shell bipassed. Steam runs in the background but all games are launched within the XBMC gui and works very similarly to Big Picture with the media features desired. However, it took a good 2 or 3 weeks to get everything setup properly and running without hiccups. Having a dedicated piece of software that disables everything about Windows 8 Valve hates while bringing an easy to install and use interface that's dedicated to games and other multimedia would be killer. Hell, they could even write a script to install a SteamOS boot animation over the Windows 8 one. That's basically what I ended up doing.

BTW, anyone who thinks this cannot compete with consoles is wrong and my current system is proof of this. One of my good buddies who I game with on a regular basis loves my media box and actually prefers it over his 360. Sure he can't play Halo Wars, but he can play CoD with an Xbox controller, it looks better, and he can switch over to keyboard and mouse when playing Quake 3. He ended up purchasing nearly the same hardware specs and case, it ended up replacing his 360 in the living room (it's still around but doesn't get turned on much ). His wife loves it as she thinks it's easier to navigate.

The point I am trying to make here is if Valve gets their shit together, whether it is Linux or a Windows front-end replacement, this will be a complete game changer in the market. My feeling is that this will be quite successful even if SteamOS becomes a dedicated stream box ("play your Steam games from your personal cloud").

It's like you haven't even tried big picture mode with an xbox pad

 

[Solaris17]

Did you just announce Half Life 3?

lold

 

[silentbogo]

The next thing we should expect is a valve console.
Except we've already seen what happened to the OnLive boxes.

 

[bpgt64]

Onlive, and what valve is doing are two completely different models. Valve is simply giving gamers an alternative home theater/gaming Operating system in the Debian vein. Which is awesome in my opinion. A platform to deliver Valve games, a platform for streaming gaming from Window's PC to SteamMachine in your living room. Sign me up.

 

[silentbogo]

Onlive, and what valve is doing are two completely different models. Valve is simply giving gamers an alternative home theater/gaming Operating system in the Debian vein. Which is awesome in my opinion. A platform to deliver Valve games, a platform for streaming gaming from Window's PC to SteamMachine in your living room. Sign me up.

And also Steam is pushing their Steamcloud platform. I wasn't saying that this is a bad thing, I was just bringing up an example of how the good idea gets scratched out of existence because of the great competition and consumers being conservative.

I would love to see some kind of SteamBOX or SteamStation on the market. Maybe even trade in my tablet for one of those

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

So ,, anyone else given steam Os a go?? im currently trying to install it, curse my lack of leet lynux skills in fact i have'nt the basics sorted yet either, hello deep end.

 

[Covert_Death]

I will be once AMD APU support is up... I want to give it a shot more for my HTPC / media server rig. windows 7 just sucks for what i want it to do... the occasional game streaming is a nice added bonus but i really want to give the media features a go.

hopefully very soon we will see AMD GPU support or something that says it will work on APUs

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

yeh its a bit poor nvidia only atm and the install could deffinately be easier ive been at it a few hours ,no sign of the Os yet ,ive been close a few times but it screws up putting grub on at the end, last chance this one, well for now.

 

[NinkobEi]

So ,, anyone else given steam Os a go?? im currently trying to install it, curse my lack of leet lynux skills in fact i have'nt the basics sorted yet either, hello deep end.

I think Valve said something like, "Don't try installing SteamOS unless you are a Linux expert." The noob friendly version should be ready by April

 

[TRWOV]

There's a noob friendly version now: http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown

Wiht the "deafult" install you basically make a bootable USB with the SteamOS image and it'll install itself. It requires a 1TB disk though.

The Custom install allows you to install it on any HDD size but it isn't automatic (not much different from installing Windows, really).

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

There's a noob friendly version now: http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown

Wiht the "deafult" install you basically make a bootable USB with the SteamOS image and it'll install itself. It requires a 1TB disk though.

The Custom install allows you to install it on any HDD size but it isn't automatic (not much different from installing Windows, really).

aye , not much different from windows, cough cough splutter ,welll beware if your trying on an old Pc with no UEFI bios for a start ,i believe its the cause of my issue despite lynux noobnes,,, still no Steam Os, and i forgot to unplug the windows drive so its start again time

I restored the windows drive go me ,still no luck on steam os,, 2nd night 2hrs a time not good

 

[a_ump]

What Crap Daddy said above, if i have a friend that wants a pc strictly for gaming and would rather $100 go to a better gpu and/or cpu than windows, why not use Steam? there are very few games out there that are awesome that aren't available on steam. It's a better OS option for gaming than other linux distros.

There's a noob friendly version now: http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown

Wiht the "deafult" install you basically make a bootable USB with the SteamOS image and it'll install itself. It requires a 1TB disk though.

The Custom install allows you to install it on any HDD size but it isn't automatic (not much different from installing Windows, really).

Dam 1tb? i mean that's fairly common for enthusiasts and some avg gamers, but the majority don't have 1tb....esp a "noob" friendly pc gamer.