Recent content by grimallq

"Niche spinoff" nothing. EA was working on a MMO RTS for the Asian pro-gaming market that went nowhere in the end. But they were left over with a mostly finished engine. So they foisted the engine off to the Westwood remnants (EA Los Angeles) to cobble together something under the C&C...

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/648817378243644036/ You'll have to trawl the forums and FAQs for detailed instructions and guides. It's easy to mess up your hard drive if you're not paying attention.

Note: SteamOS is Linux, a customized Debian Wheezy distro. The default BPM session is just a simplified, custom GUI. It's identical to normal Big Picture Mode, with the exception that nothing else is running in the background. Because of that you normally have access only to stuff available from...

Ups, looks like I've sown a bit of confusion. There are two slightly different kinds of BPM. One where the client runs in BPM and one where the whole OS runs in BPM. By default SteamOS launches in Big Picture Mode as it's own custom linux session. there's no real special name for this yet...

I don't see the point. The BPM is SteamOS's "console mode". It's supposed to be optimized for gaming and gaming alone. It has to run one program, a game, and run it well (something which it can't really do yet in all cases, it's a beta), with maybe some extra bits in the overlay. All controlled...

That's pretty much it. The way SteamOS works in Big Picture Mode (it's default setting) is that it can't multitask. You can set up a third party media player to run in BPM on SteamOS but it won't run in the background. Built in Steam media player in the overlay makes a lot of sense. Not so...

I should stop trying to use sarcasm online. I either suck at it badly or people take too seriously, or both. Noted. You though I was talking about Alienware Steam Machines specifically all the time? Fine, maybe a valid assumption, maybe I wasn't clear enough. I'll say it again then. Unless...

While plenty of people might have used 2000 on their home PCs it was never meant as a home OS, so it doesn't really fit into that comparison. If you want to use 2000 you'd also have to fit 2003, 2008 and all the older NT editons into that graphic somehow, or compare them separately.

It's actually not that hard. A whitelist approach, some kind of software certification/licencing system that block all non approved programs. Then Valve could start piling requirements before and/or throwing incentives at potential third-party developers. Basically doing exactly what Microsoft...

So now Alienware is a baseline for all pre-built Steam machines? Why haven't anyone told me? Seriously, personally I consider iBuyPower and Cyber Power PC 500$ models as basic pre-built Steam Machine examples. Incidentally both are upgradable. When talking about people buying Steam...

Plenty of reasons, probably. I personally wouldn't, but I'll bet there will be "PC-savvy" people buying pre-built Steam Machines. You were asking what's the point of giving the pre-built Steam machine buyers the option to modify the hardware, even if the vast majority of them won't ever do...

Judging by the amount of people who are absolutely convinced that Steam Machines will be just like consoles, with tightly controlled hardware and software, I'd say no. News like this isn't really useless, even if the headline is completely misleading.

Yes, Steam machines are devices meant for non PC-savvy people. The point here is, that if a user wants to upgrade their Steambox, they can do it. Even by themselves if they have the skill. You don't need special knowledge to use it, but if you do, you have more options. Alienware cuts that...

You know, the whole point of Gabe's comment/example, mentioned in the article, was to illustrate the point that SteamOS will not be locked down. Aside from some custom bits (Steam client, the overlay, some drivers, some yet unfinished apps) it's just a modified Debian Linux distro and should...

It shows that the possibility exists. Alienware, being stupid greedy pricks they are, demonstrate that some manufacturers may impose hardware limitations of their own. On that note I wonder how are they going to classify and market their machines, sealing a PC is sort of illegal where I live...