Crytek Announces Official Linux Support Ahead Of GDC

yeah ok i get that, but what makes them better than Windows PC? that's what i'm curious about.

I was merely being logical by stating that they are not available for purchase yet, so we can't judge on sales. Going by Valve's actions, however, and actions speak louder than words, Valve is doing everything right thus far.

i trust that Valve is a company that knows what they are doing, but i must say i don't understand who they are selling those Steam boxes to. i mean, are you interested in one as a PC gamer? would you sacrifice Windows' versatility over a SteamOS? i know i wouldn't. i also have hard time believing they could get console gamers to hop on board. anytime soon atleast.

i just want to know who would buy it and why, because i don't understand it.

Eh? Makes sense to have it in the living room? The living PC is a new thing....

i have PC in my workroom, but wired with HDMI to livingroom for gamepad-gaming and movies, so yeah, it's the best thing for everything.

but it's the price that puts off the mainstream. i'm not sure if $500 Steam box is better for gaming than PS4...

No, they are not PC's.... Can I write my CV on a PS4? Can I edit some GoPro footage on a X1? Sure they may have the same parts as a PC but they are not PC's and never will be.

i agree with that 100%. i've been saying the same thing. with a littlebit of planning you could have a superior gaming device and work/study computer all in one cute package and with the same pricetag.

You know it's going badly when you choose to adopt the rhetoric of the person you're quoting...

Valve's use of Linux is meaningless, as is Google's use of Linux. It means nothing for the infinitesimal Linux userbase. It means free OS, that's all. There is no special magic in Linux, it's just free. For end-users, real, actual Linux (Mint, Ubuntu, or even the wee Puppy) users, it's all meaningless.

And why are you asking for links but failing to give them while stating "facts" and telling me to do my own research? Doesn't that make you the hypocrite?

Also, this -- "Again, at the end of the day, overall market share of individual platforms isn't worth dung when sales are so darn close together. Sucks, dunnit?" -- is truly hilarious. I'm literally laughing out loud in my office. What are you even talking about?? lol

So we are back where we started. For those with technical knowledge will already own a kick ass PC..... I don't see this Steambox taking off, its just another expensive pre-built that is restricted by the Linux OS. Will the Steambox be able to run Titanfall? Battlefield 4 or COD Ghosts? Can it run the next Fifa or Madden? That is what console gamers are looking for and the Steambox doesn't have them.

Their PC only titles were all AAA I think. This might actually be good.

Yout wait -- HalfLife 3 will be Steambox exclusive..... (lol)

Its not that hard to run a VM.

I was just teasing. ;)

seriously. a lot of people are ignorant. ignorant about computers, ignorant about operating systems, and so on.

This is good news for every potential gamer across the globe. It's good news for you even if you don't understand why. This is definitely not bad news for anyone.

People don't seem to understand the difference between Microsoft Windows, Steam OS, Linux, Ubuntu, 'PC', and so on. But that's expected.

i'm not sure where you are getting at, but the potential console-buyer knows a difference between $500 and $1000

So hardly anyone out of the total Steam user base? Yep..lollinux it is.

@SEANMCAD: on the whole regarding what i'm talking about, the problem is education. there are certain questions people are asking in this thread which are totally malformed, and based on incorrect assumptions.

but yes i see what you mean, this is kind of similar to xbox one with it's family sharing - the "benefits" were not properly explained.

admittedly steam os benefits are minimal, but as far as i'm concerned here is what makes steam os hugely advantageous

1. runs on standard pc hardware

2. free

so at any time i can built a steam os machine out of spare parts. so could anyone else, whether they want to or not.

i've watched a steam developer day regarding porting games to linux, the information was really good and it sounded like the talk was attended by quite an audience. very interesting watch if you're keen, sean - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd8ie5R4CVE

value?

that's great that potential console buyers understand the concept of value. because steam os is the best value possible, on par with ubuntu.

furthermore, steam boxes are essentially 'PC', therefore they should cost the same as a Windows based PC, but subtract the cost of the Windows licence.

but value can mean different things to different people. for some people, the cost of the windows licence represents good value.

*Thinks Hard*, Yep lollinux ;)

i think gaming PC, although initially more expensive, is better value than console, but console buyer doesn't think so. i have hard time believing they'd change their opinion on Steam OS machine.

@SEANMCAD: ok, i see what you are saying. 'pc' as a buzzword could scare some people away from steam os? yes?

but at the same time, if I thought steam boxes couldn't be upgraded like standard pc hardware, i'd be less interested.

but again playing my devil's advocate, i am well aware of what steamos/steamboxes are. i don't need to be marketed to in order to understand/adopt steam os.

so yeah, i take your point. but i don't know, if steam os is free ... is marketing it a good idea? sounds like an expense with no direct return on investment?

I have trouble understanding what the 0.3% of the people that use linux see in it for home use.

i will gladly become a believer when it becomes a multi-purpose OS where i can run Adobe Suite, 3dsmax, Autocad etc. until then, i can see it only as a high-priced alternative to console gaming.

because, well, currently SteamOS is all about gaming. if it's not, they are doing terrible job explaining it. gaming is all i've heard them talk about.

yeap. i agree with you, that's probably their mindset.

yeah well it's still hard for me too see a casual (not tech-savvy) person opting for a SteamOS machine. it requires a gamer to buy one, and a gamer with enough money. i could see such person going for PC instead.

what is the benefit of gaming Steam box compared to gaming PC? you save about $100 (OEM Windows is cheap) in the free OS. you lose the versatility of Windows PC in that trade. it's just not worth it, imo :/

My thought exactly :)

OSX is NOT custom FreeBSD. That is a very naive perspective on OSX. What OSX does have is a unix emulation layer built into the operating system, which is NOT the same as being unix, or BSD or linux.

I do. Star Citizen, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, and whatever other CryEngine games coming out soon whose developers have expressed interest in Linux. It's a combination of these factors.

Open source is the future and I realized it when in my work we migrated the environment from linux to windows and now most things don't work like they should and aren't as smooth. At the end you'll see that games will play better on linux because of the much lower overheads. On windows you have so much bloat eating your cpu cycles and ram like: UAC, windows security center, smart screen filter, windows defender, the incredibly useless diagnostic services, the slowpoke homegroup, software protective services that you cannot turn off, etc. all running at the same time even when you don't need it.

dude, I don't want to say that you have no idea what you're talking about but you really are talking nothing but nonsense. Even a 30 years old Nes had a CPU, it had a GPU (or how they were called back in the day, PPU, Picture Processing Unit), Ram and an OS. Or else, how the hell do you think the components interact with each other to produce an image? Like seriously... Your technical knowledge is at 0% just based on that horrible argument of yours. =/

So smartphones are PC's too? Because they have ram, cpu and gpu too just like a PC. 0_O

i don't understand.

you're botharguing forconsoles having CPUs, GPUs, RAM and an OS?

OSX's operating system built for object orientation. That makes OSX fundamentally different than freebsd. You shouldn't bother arguing with someone that has developed drivers for OSX. It is more unix and bsd inspired than it is a custom version of FreeBSD.

The Humble Bundles were there before Steam for Linux, were they not? There are also a bunch of FOSS games, but they are tiny in comparison. The Humble Bundles really kicked things off, and Kickstarter helped a whole lot as well. Steam OS and the Steam Machines came after.