Gabe Newell Says Linux Is "The Future Of Gaming"

[beez]

The main issue with Linux gaming is the fact that the latest stable OpenGL is a lot slower than DirectX, it's even slower than OpenGL on Windows, don't get me wrong, I like Linux as a platform, I like its versatility and I like OSS, I'm still forced to use Microsoft tho. The fact that some key open source devs are the most backwards-ass, wayward people I've ever seen, doesn't help the case either. Take this: NVidia didn't release an Optiumus driver for quite sometimes and was heavily criticized for it, because, if I remember correctly, they didn't want to support the proprietary code NVidia sent to them, just because it wasn't open source, then basically they somehow managed to implement it, and it still doesn't work too well, because there's no support for power management. I tried the open source alternative, just for fun, trying to run a game with Wine, needing to run the binary with both "bumblebee" and "wine" prefixes. One of these complained that it needs elevated access, the other one complained that it must not have. So, I sort of gave up, because I lost all my energy on recompiling the kernel, trying to install nvidia's beta driver, recompiling, beta driver and then trying the OSS alternative. It's just too forced at this point and it is no wonder devs aren't going to bother to make native AAA games on Linux.

The other thing is, writing games for Apple's intel platform is a pain too, because their stuff is just too slow to play anything decent and the new mac pro's workstation-grade AMD graphics is, well... workstation grade, those are optimized for GPGPU work and not games. It's all just a pain.

I get that Gabe Newell is butthurt over MS's pathetic attempt at an OS that tried to push them out (Windows 8), but he should just generally chill out, now that Windows 8 seems to no longer pose a threat, because as much as I would like to believe that their steambox is a viable future, it isn't. A viable idea would've been to partner up with one of the bigger console manufacturers and provide digital distribution via Steam, for example. The company would've saved a lot on cloud services and they could've agreed to a mutually beneficial thing. (I'm mainly thinking Sony here, for obvious reasons -)

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I'd imagine whatever's most popular is the future of gaming due to business. At the moment it's clearly Windows in the lead, but I'd imagine as people get more tech savvy Linux will gain more ground.

Tech savvy isn't a prevalent thing. While someone may know how to run their particular gadget, that doesn't mean they understand the operating system. I've been a computer tech for over 15 years and to this day I've yet to meet enough people to make me think that being tech savvy is an up and coming thing. People are creatures of habit and convenience. 50 years ago owning a car meant you also knew how to do your own maintenance like oil changes and tune-ups. Today people have no idea how to check their own oil or coolant on a large scale. Same with 30 years ago and PCs. Computer nerds (for lack of a better term) knew their PC operating system inside and out and could do a lot of their own tech work. Now people turn to those kids who grew up during that era to fix their computer because its "not working" which amounts to any problem in the book and some you've never seen before. Why? Because as something is made widely available, people don't want to be hassled about learning the ropes. Thats why Windows will continue to beat out Linux for years to come.
Linux just isn't user friendly enough to say its even a close race, and from my experience end-users think they're tech savvy but really are ignorant of how their computer runs. I would like to see some competition to Windows aside from Mac because I feel that there should be a real O/S out there that can contend with the giants.
IF Valve has its head on straight, they'd have a couple people out there developing a strain of Linux that runs their products without a hitch and is userfriendly... that might do it. But I won't hold my breath for the masses to turn to Linux in the near future.

 

[Baldr]

Corporate workstations are not going away from Microsoft Windows in the future, schools follow corporations leads, and consumers follow what they are most comfortable with what they use at work and school.

 

[not_you]

As it's been said many times...
Microsoft either needs to learn how to respect it's consumers, or start losing them...
And Valve (or Gabe in this instance) may be the ones to fix it...

If Linux becomes a mainstream platform then sure, you got another user... Because Microsoft can't understand what "customer service" really is...

So, yeah... Bring on Linux support for the mainstream, and HELL.YES. Let's roll!

 

[Mrkillhappy]

It's like what everyone else on the thread has said Linux needs way, way , way more games to be even considered as a serious competitor to windows on computers. I mean I have likely only seen a hand full of games that even support Linix, though Linux can be the future it can only become the future if they begin to act today.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Gabe, I sure hope you are right as as soon as you release your box and give me a reason to be able to clean my home of microsoft forever I will never look back. There is no company that is as anti consumer as microsoft, doing everything in their power to screw us with cheaply made systems and draconian policies. Hell, even the fact the 360 controller can't even be recharged unlike playstation pisses me off.

Screw windows 8 and the Xbone. By the looks of things the ps4 has done an excellent job of convincing me to not completely break away from console gaming and it seems there will be a 100% chance of me getting one now in a year or so after a new model is released and I'm not stuck with a crappy launch console. But microsoft? their most interesting game is a QTE garbage filled micro transaction mess.

Sony has gone out of their way to impress me, microsoft continues to make me more and more angry at them.

Sounds like you just want an excuse to be angry at them. Oh, and BTW, you can buy rechargeable battery packs for the 360 controller at about, what, a dollar or so a pop? And back then, 360 controllers were much cheaper than the PS3 ones. So yeah.

On topic: Don't think that's gonna happen, sadly.

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-games-dont-get-ported-to-linuxa.html

The problem is that there are such a wide variety of Linux distros, audio and video driver versions, unique window manager interactions with X11, etc., that it's quite hard to build a game that works flawlessly on everyone's machine.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'd imagine whatever's most popular is the future of gaming due to business. At the moment it's clearly Windows in the lead, but I'd imagine as people get more tech savvy Linux will gain more ground.

The problem with that is that people have an overwhelming tendency to want simpler.

In 1995, my electronics instructor made the statement that the gap between the technician and the user would continue to widen. Nearing 20 years later, the average user is waaaaay less computer literate than they were then. All they want is to make something "go."

As computers have become more mainstream, computers have had to become dumber.

On the plus side, Windows 7 was a lot more gaming friendly, so it's not a wash.

But to become mainstream, Linux has two hurdles to overcome. It has to become more user-friendly and people have to get "used to" it. Because right now it's Windows people are accustomed to.

Now, now, I know several people are going to jump me and tell me how user-friendly build X of Linux is and how I just haven't tried it. I have likely tried a good chunk of the ones that will be named. I'm also not the people they need to target if they want it to be mainstream.

Maybe I've just spent too much time babysitting the wrong clientele, but seriously, I don't see the base smartening up enough for this to work. At least not in any foreseeable time frame.

 

[Vigormortis]

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.

And reading through many of the posts it appears that you hit the nail on the head.

Most of the rest are basing their judgments on the article headline and the dismissive quips within, instead of actually watching the keynote speech given by Mr. Newell

I don't buy it either. Linux isn't exactly the most intuitive of Operating Systems. Then again there are so many different distributions of it and the only one I've had any real experience with is an old version of Red Hat and that was quite a few years ago, so maybe they're are more intuitive distributions available now.

There are. Ubuntu, for one.

But also, and again this stems from people just reading the headline and article instead of actually listening to the keynote speech, it seems a lot of people in here think Valve is just sitting around doing nothing. Content to only say, "We want Linux to be the go-to gaming platform."

They're not. They are actively working with Linux devs, a wide range of game developers and other software companies, as well as nVidia and AMD, in an effort to get driver support where it needs to be and to create a streamlined set of development and debugging tools into the hands of those that want it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I swear this has been a trend around here lately. The forum gets stirred up into a frenzy of misinformation, simply because almost no one looks into the news posts beyond the taglines.

 

[Vigormortis]

Maybe I've just spent too much time babysitting the wrong clientele, but seriously, I don't see the base smartening up enough for this to work. At least not in any foreseeable time frame.

Given that the average citizen, at least in the US, is apparently less tech savvy than they were a decade or so ago, I don't see it either. Which is ironic given the reliance on technology we have today.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

So at a Linux event, someone said Linux was important. Wow.

Also in the news, it was hot in Texas today, it snowed somewhere in Canada, and water remains wet.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Corporate workstations are not going away from Microsoft Windows in the future, schools follow corporations leads, and consumers follow what they are most comfortable with what they use at work and school.

I don't know, Windows 8 wasn't been well recieved by companies.

The Uni I work for didn't even bother getting a license for testing, something Vista achieved.

 

[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.

But you can't deny the sheer amount of people who refused to buy Vista due to how the software was complete garbage.

Vista was mostly fine actually, it just that the system requirement increase, compared to what XP demanded, was too sharp, thus came to run like crap on most hardware it was sold on, has OEM didn't have habit of such heavy OS, at the time and the enthusiast saw sharp decrease in performance compared to XP simply due to how thin and minimalist it is versus Vista.

Not that XP wasn't bloated software for its time through, but that basically every Windows OS, has each time Microsoft lose a high ranking developer they are basically forced to deprecate whatever he working on, and create new software, has they usually don't have someone capable of taking their place and continue to merge new feature in already existing software.


And to call software complete garbage, it take me Millennium level of failure.

 

[Xman490]

Can't... resist... urge...
I can see it now: Half-Life 3 coming only to Linux
Okay, I got that out of my system.

I don't see Linux becoming the standard for PC gaming (or hardcore gaming in general, given the limits of emerging-generation consoles), unless most people become familiar with whatever its advantages are. I, for one, don't understand this "open source" business, and I don't care enough to figure it out for myself online, let alone try Linux out myself.

 

[Baldr]

Corporate workstations are not going away from Microsoft Windows in the future, schools follow corporations leads, and consumers follow what they are most comfortable with what they use at work and school.

I don't know, Windows 8 wasn't been well recieved by companies.

The Uni I work for didn't even bother getting a license for testing, something Vista achieved.

It doesn't have to be exactly Windows 8, companies never buy the latest OS anyways. Most corporations still use XP, but even with XP it still translates to consumers buying Windows 8 because of comfort levels.

 

[irok]

Yeah...... nah, sure you can wrap up steam in a pretty package and never show your users the horrifyingly complex OS behind it but I'm not sure people will accept Linux in the pc market, as far as consoles go though go nuts, just by being steam it would probably make a large amount of sales and I like the idea of a steam box just hide the Linux for god sake.

 

[Something Amyss]

Given that the average citizen, at least in the US, is apparently less tech savvy than they were a decade or so ago, I don't see it either. Which is ironic given the reliance on technology we have today.

Yeah, but it's not entirely surprising. We made it so anyone could use computers and smartphones and internets (most of them, anyway>.>) without knowing much if at all about it. People don't want to know, they just want things to work.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't buy it either. Linux isn't exactly the most intuitive of Operating Systems. Then again there are so many different distributions of it and the only one I've had any real experience with is an old version of Red Hat and that was quite a few years ago, so maybe they're are more intuitive distributions available now.

There are. Ubuntu, for one.

But also, and again this stems from people just reading the headline and article instead of actually listening to the keynote speech, it seems a lot of people in here think Valve is just sitting around doing nothing. Content to only say, "We want Linux to be the go-to gaming platform."

They're not. They are actively working with Linux devs, a wide range of game developers and other software companies, as well as nVidia and AMD, in an effort to get driver support where it needs to be and to create a streamlined set of development and debugging tools into the hands of those that want it.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I swear this has been a trend around here lately. The forum gets stirred up into a frenzy of misinformation, simply because almost no one looks into the news posts beyond the taglines.

I've heard of Ubuntu, but I've never used it.
And incidentally I don't have any problems with Linux or Gabe Newel wanting to invest in it as a gaming platform. I do question, however, him saying that it's "the future of gaming."

 

[zumbledum]

Linux and open source are the future of gaming.

All very well but really just how big a game developer ARE Valve any more? Pretty sure that as a game developer they have little to no clout and since it will be THE GAME DEVELOPERS that determine what format their games use chances are that this is nothing more than ground work prep for the when the Steam Box appears and Valve have to justify why everyone now has to convert their Steam library and games to work with a Linux system rather than their 10 year old library of games that all work on Windows.

Here's a question, how long has Steam had it's Linux client, in fact how many people use the linux client, better yet just how many of the games that are out for Steam have Linux versions available? Yeah Linux it's the future the future of a big black hole that Valve are gonna pour a whole lot of cash in to if they push a Linux based Steam Box.

Just as a side note I took a look at the Steam Hardware survey, Windows 8.1 (a beta has a higher percentage than the highest Linux version user base at a massive 0.45% vs 0.40%, the TOTAL Linux user base, lol less than 1%. Whatever Gabe is smoking sure must be good stuff.

Game stop is the most powerful company in gaming , they dont develop or publish , distributors have the most power , publishers are coming in second and developers are eating the crumbs.

just as an example and not a great one, steam might start to cap its windows based sales at 40% and adding extra to its linux sales pushing them all to 80+% as an incentive to get us to move over.

were all fully aware of the problems with moving to linux so its no great stretch to assume valve is to. Gabe has been described as the producer of the first 3 iterations of windows hes certainly got the chops to move into making an OS, just a thought. and valve has the money to make it happen.

Windows 8 is the stuff we have all been smoking and its far from good stuff, sure the operating system is better than 7 but the steps towards an apple style closed environment should have everyone running scared. its not so much a matter of wanting to push linux its a case of having to if we want to carry on with PC gaming.

 

[Snotnarok]

I'm not sure I get the hate for Windows itself as a platform given it's open and is easily the most compatible platform, yes MS is problematic at times and I've no interest in buying their shitty consoles again but Linux the future of gaming? In what bizzarro world? It's free, it's open source, it's a pain in the ass, isn't super user friendly and leaves much to be desired.
So unless Valve is coming out with their own Linux OS that's really overhauled I can't see this amazing golden brick road he sees.

 

[kklawm]

Also devs have become increasingly whiny, and lazy when it comes to making developments on anything. In this day and age, if the port takes even a modicum of creative thinking, and isn't rooted in common PC, they will whine their tits off and not make a game port because it's "Toooo haaaard". Which is funny because if any one group of people said that in any other creative driven medium like gaming said that, they would be laughed out of the room and asked why the hell did they choose this path anyway.

'Too Hard' = 'Too Expensive to be worth it'
Face it: Linux is another entire platform to be optimised for and the amount of users are NOT worth spending the time effort and money to bother with. Also talking baout creative driven medium are you telling me all developers in the movie industry are making alternative 3D 48fps movies now? Oh wait, most movies that even have 3D do some half-assed botch job to say they have it, and that's about it.