Gabe Newell Says Linux Is "The Future Of Gaming"

[Nuxxy]

The Linux kernel is 'the future', and has been for the last 15 years, and has made ground (just look how many things run off it). The Linux UI can go jump into a fiery pit. Even the positive strides made by Ubuntu are not enough - there is still too much of 'the dark place' (the command line).

Maybe if sudo could actually make you a sandwich...

 

[DarkhoIlow]

You are a funny guy Gabe, but how about no.

Windows all the way for me. It isn't going away any time soon.

 

[Nuxxy]

Windows all the way for me. It isn't going away any time soon.

I get why they did Windows 8 - one common interface. What I don't get is why they think one common interface is the right thing when your physical interface differs. You can bring across design elements (like the naming conventions), but how did they not pick up that Windows 8 is clunky without a touch screen (ie: with a keyboard and mouse, like 99% of the Windows user base).

It's like saying "here is a fork; eat all your food with a fork". It's fine until you get served a bowl of soup.

But then these are the same people who think swinging your whole arm around with a Kinect is better than twiddling your thumbs on a controller.

 

[J Tyran]

Most gamers are content with their windows computers.

never has the word "content" been soooo loaded....

Not really.
Even the most PC savvy people don't go out of their way to get a Linux computer. Either through humongous lack of support, or just complete and total indifference.
If they don't like a current Windows software, then they can simply upgrade their computer with the previous one. No problem, seeing as how it takes a while for Microsoft to drop support for other softwares. Hell, they still somewhat support Windows XP.

The only reason XP was supported for this long is because Microsoft rehabilitated XP and released service pack 3 to fight on the netbook market, which first generation product were all running Linux.

Let's just say they have regretted that decision, since the day, that smartphone and tablet have completely destroy netbook market.

Going to direct my comment to both of these posts, I use Linux on a customised netbook. It has an upgraded cooling system so the dual core multithreaded CPU (Atom N570) can have its underclocking disabled, it has upgraded RAM and SSD. It runs really well with the fairly low resources Linux needs, for web browsing its perfect and performance is hardly different to my main PC.

However the Linux was a pain in the arse to setup, many of the problems have to solved by using the terminal and sometimes finding and installing drivers is a pain (sorting the networking card out for example). This is slightly daunting for a first time user, for someone used to fiddling with PC/Windows its not to bad its just learning a new system. I self taught my PC use, watching videos and reading guides for the last 8 years so Linux was a challenge but not impossible. Luckily I do not play games on it so I avoided that problem too, if it was on a proper PC I would have had to deal with that too (sometimes I think about resurrecting one of the older 2007 and 2009 abandoned hulks in my house and running a Linux box with them).

I cannot see many people feeling the same, Windows might confuse some people already and trying to learn a whole new platform that can be obscure and difficult from time to time is a daunting challenge many PC users simply don't want to try.

Until that can be fixed and its made user friendly Linux will never be popular, I have no love for Microsoft and Windows and all though I can sit and fix any issues (eventually) a Linux box would have I do not want to fight my OS when it comes to simple tasks. Others will no doubt feel the same, being able to just install a game and play is a big plus for Windows.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well maybe, but not for a long time. Yes I would appreciate if Valve went in to ruffle some feathers because MS didn't become the OS monopoly by accident, they did it by stuffing everyone full of money, and in a world where cut throat corporations are deemed the pinnacle of society the only way to combat this is with yet more money thrown in the other direction.

But changes will not come over night, MS has a good two decades head start, luckily in that time they also burned any and all good will they had.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

If he makes Half Life 3 a Linux exclusive, the shift in gaming would be so monumental it would knock the Earth's rotation off by a few degrees.

That's all he has to do.

 

[Strazdas]

as soon as linux starts working like user end control station and not programming station and actually... supports things so i wouldnt have to spend 95% of my time in wine to begin with, then we can talk about future of gaming. the way it is now it is completely useless.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I want to believe him, because he's...well Gabe. But frankly I'm not sure even he can wrench gaming away from DirectX. And with XBone being X64 architecture, that means of the 3 major platforms for multi-platform titles (namesly PC, XBone, PS4), 2 of the 3 (XBone & PC) will be fundamentally the same from a developmental point of view. Thus anything not a PS4 exclusive will likely be primarily designed for XBone and ported to the other two.

The future of indie games using OpenGL may be on linux, but I can't see AAA switching to OpenGL. I wish they would TBH (the PS4 uses it) but at the same time, a switch to Linux for me would mean losing support for the overwhelming majority of my current games collection. I use Windows (8) just because that's what games run on...if a linux install could run them I'd change in a heartbeat.

Is it possible, for example, to somehow play Mass Effect 3, Saints Row IV, Far Cry 3, etc on linux? Has anyone managed it?

 

[GoaThief]

Hell, even the fact the 360 controller can't even be recharged unlike playstation pisses me off..

See, I actually think not having the ability to whack in a couple of AA batteries if the power dies a negative. Even more of a negative when kids are involved. I would say that is consumer friendly, same with phone support for Windows which nobody even really attempts using yet is extremely good.

Make Linux as 'dumbass' friendly as the other operating systems, pushed on major devices, show off the advantages of it over the other OS', improve its backwards compatibility, make it work with other programs I use that will not have their developers make a Linux compatible version...

I'm just... I'm done. There are too many reasons why I don't have any interest in Linux. I have no opinion on it, I'm just REALLY not interested and can't be bothered to make the switch when there's not enough reason for an lower average class computer user.

And Linux supporters REPEATEDLY defend its accessibility and again, I'm not shitting on Linux, I'm just saying... There's obviously something lacking in terms of appeal otherwise it would have spread like wildfire long ago.

Make sure I can do everything on your OS I can do on Windows and then we'll talk.

Yes, this is it in a nutshell. I would consider dual booting if the advantages of a Linux gaming system outweighed Windows, but there's no way I could make a complete switch as hardly any of the programs I use work on Linux. No, there aren't any equivalent programs available either.

Regardless of what many claim, Linux is nowhere near up to the standard of Windows. I can't even get Dropbox working on my Ubuntu/W7 dual booted netbook as it just hangs weirdly. I'm not PC illiterate either so god knows what the average person thinks about firing up a shell window and typing in the equivalent of alien gobbledygook. It also runs slower than W7, in short - widespread appeal isn't going to happen for a long time, if ever.

 

[DazZ.]

Is it possible, for example, to somehow play Mass Effect 3, Saints Row IV, Far Cry 3, etc on linux? Has anyone managed it?

Far Cry 3 runs fine in Dx9 with a bit of a framerate hit (10-15fps for me). Saints Row 3 didn't work so I don't think 4 would and I've not tried Mass Effect 3 but the WineHQ [http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=13930] says it runs fine.

Generally newer games don't work, but I find older ones like Planescape: Torment to work better.

It's still completely not worth it if you play a lot of games though and I don't think this era of games will ever run completely happily on Linux even if it did completely take off.

I really, really hope it does though. I want to move away from closed down systems as much as possible as I love tinkering with everything and having things do exactly as I want them to.
That and wobbly windows.

 

[Legion]

Some of the biggest naysayers of Linux I've encountered are one of two people:

1) Someone who has never tried it and is parroting stats and anything else someone has said.
2) Someone who used it several years ago who complains about problem X, Y, Z which was fixed ages ago.

To be fair the same could be said for a lot of things, including how bad Origin is.

Hell, even the fact the 360 controller can't even be recharged unlike playstation pisses me off.

Not quite sure if that was a typo or not, but I have several 360 controllers and all of them can be recharged. What kind of controller are you using?

You have to either replace batteries or buy a charging kit. The PS3 gets a charger with it as standard. I believe that is what they meant anyway.

OT: I am in agreement with several others. Linux would need to become either more user friendly or become an operating system you can simply "buy" with a computer already installed.

That or release Half Life 3 as an exclusive. That'd also be incredibly funny, just for the reaction.

 

[Talvrae]

Linux need to get a lot more user friendly for it to happen, last time i had to work on Linux, you had to learn a lot about informatic to get to make it work... it's not for everyone

 

[iniudan]

Most gamers are content with their windows computers.

never has the word "content" been soooo loaded....

Not really.
Even the most PC savvy people don't go out of their way to get a Linux computer. Either through humongous lack of support, or just complete and total indifference.
If they don't like a current Windows software, then they can simply upgrade their computer with the previous one. No problem, seeing as how it takes a while for Microsoft to drop support for other softwares. Hell, they still somewhat support Windows XP.

The only reason XP was supported for this long is because Microsoft rehabilitated XP and released service pack 3 to fight on the netbook market, which first generation product were all running Linux.

Let's just say they have regretted that decision, since the day, that smartphone and tablet have completely destroy netbook market.

Going to direct my comment to both of these posts, I use Linux on a customised netbook. It has an upgraded cooling system so the dual core multithreaded CPU (Atom N570) can have its underclocking disabled, it has upgraded RAM and SSD. It runs really well with the fairly low resources Linux needs, for web browsing its perfect and performance is hardly different to my main PC.

However the Linux was a pain in the arse to setup, many of the problems have to solved by using the terminal and sometimes finding and installing drivers is a pain (sorting the networking card out for example). This is slightly daunting for a first time user, for someone used to fiddling with PC/Windows its not to bad its just learning a new system. I self taught my PC use, watching videos and reading guides for the last 8 years so Linux was a challenge but not impossible. Luckily I do not play games on it so I avoided that problem too, if it was on a proper PC I would have had to deal with that too (sometimes I think about resurrecting one of the older 2007 and 2009 abandoned hulks in my house and running a Linux box with them).

I cannot see many people feeling the same, Windows might confuse some people already and trying to learn a whole new platform that can be obscure and difficult from time to time is a daunting challenge many PC users simply don't want to try.

Until that can be fixed and its made user friendly Linux will never be popular, I have no love for Microsoft and Windows and all though I can sit and fix any issues (eventually) a Linux box would have I do not want to fight my OS when it comes to simple tasks. Others will no doubt feel the same, being able to just install a game and play is a big plus for Windows.

I never actually had any trouble having any hardware recognized by Linux here, my laptop actually (Lenovo Thinkpad T520) actually work much better with a vanilla install of CentOS 6, which use an old 2.6.32 kernel, but still recognize everything, while a vanilla install of Windows 7, barely recognize any of the hardware, including all the networking, so couldn't even fetch driver without external support, before I could do the basic system imaging.

But I will admit that laptop is a bit unusual has it is the most troublesome Windows install I had since Windows 98, has it was the first Windows install since then that didn't recognize any networking.

 

[Sectan]

Some of the biggest naysayers of Linux I've encountered are one of two people:

1) Someone who has never tried it and is parroting stats and anything else someone has said.
2) Someone who used it several years ago who complains about problem X, Y, Z which was fixed ages ago.

I tried it about a year ago or whenever valve announced their big Linux compatibility thing. It was cool how I just copy pasted some URL I found and fixed steam with it, but doing something as simple as merging files or anything like that was just me being told I don't have access to the files. It's great for security, but I was just sitting there like an idiot. Sudo something or other...No that doesn't work...Fuck it I'll go back to windows. That took about 3 days of tinkering. I couldn't imagine modding games with Linux with my limited knowledge of it. I'm not some computer science dude, but I know my basics around windows : /

 

[deadish]

Why so negative toward Linux?

It's a pretty decent OS. Sure there are some usability problems, but if someone can sort those out, we are as good as gold.

It's fairly clear MS isn't interested in PC gaming anymore - they rather developers make their games for the Xbone. They are in fact using gaming as nothing more than a carrot and stick in effort to push new versions of Windows, denying old versions the latest version of DirectX.

All in all, favors to gamers? 0 Favors to their own pockets? +9000

Apple ... Apple has never been interested in game, so ...

 

[J Tyran]

Most gamers are content with their windows computers.

never has the word "content" been soooo loaded....

Not really.
Even the most PC savvy people don't go out of their way to get a Linux computer. Either through humongous lack of support, or just complete and total indifference.
If they don't like a current Windows software, then they can simply upgrade their computer with the previous one. No problem, seeing as how it takes a while for Microsoft to drop support for other softwares. Hell, they still somewhat support Windows XP.

The only reason XP was supported for this long is because Microsoft rehabilitated XP and released service pack 3 to fight on the netbook market, which first generation product were all running Linux.

Let's just say they have regretted that decision, since the day, that smartphone and tablet have completely destroy netbook market.

Going to direct my comment to both of these posts, I use Linux on a customised netbook. It has an upgraded cooling system so the dual core multithreaded CPU (Atom N570) can have its underclocking disabled, it has upgraded RAM and SSD. It runs really well with the fairly low resources Linux needs, for web browsing its perfect and performance is hardly different to my main PC.

However the Linux was a pain in the arse to setup, many of the problems have to solved by using the terminal and sometimes finding and installing drivers is a pain (sorting the networking card out for example). This is slightly daunting for a first time user, for someone used to fiddling with PC/Windows its not to bad its just learning a new system. I self taught my PC use, watching videos and reading guides for the last 8 years so Linux was a challenge but not impossible. Luckily I do not play games on it so I avoided that problem too, if it was on a proper PC I would have had to deal with that too (sometimes I think about resurrecting one of the older 2007 and 2009 abandoned hulks in my house and running a Linux box with them).

I cannot see many people feeling the same, Windows might confuse some people already and trying to learn a whole new platform that can be obscure and difficult from time to time is a daunting challenge many PC users simply don't want to try.

Until that can be fixed and its made user friendly Linux will never be popular, I have no love for Microsoft and Windows and all though I can sit and fix any issues (eventually) a Linux box would have I do not want to fight my OS when it comes to simple tasks. Others will no doubt feel the same, being able to just install a game and play is a big plus for Windows.

I never actually had any trouble having any hardware recognized by Linux here, my laptop actually (Lenovo Thinkpad T520) actually work much better with a vanilla install of CentOS 6, which use an old 2.6.32 kernel, but still recognize everything, while a vanilla install of Windows 7, barely recognize any of the hardware, including all the networking, so couldn't even fetch driver without external support, before I could do the basic system imaging.

But I will admit that laptop is a bit unusual has it is the most troublesome Windows install I had since Windows 98, has it was the first Windows install since then that didn't recognize any networking.

It wasn't too bad, it just had trouble recognising the internal 3G/Wifi mini PCI E networking card I had and the on chip GPU (GMA3150). The netbook wasn't stock so that might have had something to do with it, I think it comes down to which distro you choose too. I guess if I wasn't so lazy I could install a few distros on my old computers and get used to Linux and learn about it.

From using the netbook I do like Linux, on a low resource machine its brilliant. I think there is a long way to go before it becomes the future though, not unless the next Windows OS locks everyone out in favour of its own store or something drastic.

 

[deadish]

Some of the biggest naysayers of Linux I've encountered are one of two people:

1) Someone who has never tried it and is parroting stats and anything else someone has said.
2) Someone who used it several years ago who complains about problem X, Y, Z which was fixed ages ago.

I tried it about a year ago or whenever valve announced their big Linux compatibility thing. It was cool how I just copy pasted some URL I found and fixed steam with it, but doing something as simple as merging files or anything like that was just me being told I don't have access to the files. It's great for security, but I was just sitting there like an idiot. Sudo something or other...No that doesn't work...Fuck it I'll go back to windows. That took about 3 days of tinkering. I couldn't imagine modding games with Linux with my limited knowledge of it. I'm not some computer science dude, but I know my basics around windows : /

They really need to avoid forcing users to the command line ...

The app repository is nice and all, but it's too different and complicated for the typical user. They need to enable application installation the traditional Windows way, installer + Add/Remove applet.

 

[The Enquirer]

Not if I can't play all my games on it. Linux lacks support for a lot of older titles and it barely supports newer ones. Fix that, and you got yourself a Linux user. I have no love for Microsoft.

Valve seems to be pretty good about that and they have a reputation to keep unlike Microsoft is seems. I can't imagine them releasing a console that has access to the steam store where you can barely play anything. I'd guess that over time we will see more things being added to the Linux section of Steam.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Somehow I don't see the OS that's refined to use pretty much exclusively by a small portion of extremely computer literate users being the future. Especially not with the gigantic money machines Microsoft and Apple snowballing cash like crazy as competition.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

Hell, even the fact the 360 controller can't even be recharged unlike playstation pisses me off.

Not quite sure if that was a typo or not, but I have several 360 controllers and all of them can be recharged. What kind of controller are you using?

OT: I don't think Linux is the future of gaming, gabe. It's open sourced feature is nice and all but it's still lacking compared to other operating systems such as windows and mac(even though mac is also not so popular).

I think this could be good. We've all seen what dedicated mod teams can do for games, can you imagine bringing that talent to Linux? I also feel that perhaps with the higher level of technical know-how required to live with Linux, moving PC gaming that way might help usher us into a more tech-savvy world a few years down the line.