Omegus

@TheGorilla said:

Probably the only reason Steam Linux is a thing is because there are a few people at Valve who love it and want to do it. The only Linux games out there are going to be Valve games and a few indies. Most games are not going to be ported. It's not worth it financially.

I don't understand why Linux users seem to always want to believe that Linux is one developer away from world domination.

Steam on Mac is a nice little thing with a few games for it. Steam on Linux is going to be a nice little thing with a few less games for it.

Well thank you for generalizing linux users like that. Thats ignorant. Have you ever had any linux distro on your computer? From the comments you decided to burst out with instead of researching ill go with no. I have been a Linux user since 2010. I don't know how good or bad Linux was before. But when I tried Ubuntu 10.10 when I first started I thought "wow I can customize my whole OS, for free. Oh look more free software, games and great community." I dual booted until I bought my new custom rig from Ibuypower.com. At that point I said "Let's buy a computer with out windows and ill do a fresh install of Ubuntu." I saved almost 200$ on the computer . My computer has at least 60+ games on it.

So what If there are not as many Linux users as windows users. Not all Linux are "Super Nerds, Microsoft Haters and what have you." In fact I don't hate Microsoft I think they are smart for making great money on new technology and sucking people in to keep buying garbage versions of their OS that are riddled with Malware, Spyware, Trojans, Worms, Blue Screens of Death. Heres another Fact for you Windows is the 78% of all computers out Now. Linux is 84% of all servers out now. Next time you play a game with EA or Ubisoft or Squareenix or what have you and your running your mouth about Linux remember what that server runs on. I'm going to play Minecraft and Trine 2 ....you know the Linux versions.

Valve has alot of pull in the PC game market and they are wonderful on listening to not only customers but also Developers on what they want to accomplish. Besides Valve makes great games and they WILL sell on linux . Hmm would Linux gamers rather spend time using Steam Via WINE and buying games to use in WINE? or would they rather have a Native Client and buy Native games?

Linux Gaming Is Gathering Steam.

Back In April of this Year Gabe Newell CEO and Co-Founder of Valve invited Michael Larabel of a Linux news site (known as Phoronix) to express his new love for Linux. There Michael got to see a Native version of Left For Dead 2. There the game ran with no WINE libraries no 3rd party emulation just 2 things Left 4 Dead 2 and Ubuntu 11.10.

Link to original article.

Now to me I was excited, Cannonical to company behind the Popular Linux Distro Ubuntu had made headline all year with stuff like . Ubuntu TV and Ubuntu for Android. Then EA showed up at their convention releasing 2 popular web based games for Linux via Ubuntu Software Center. Plus Desura was making tons of Head way with Linux gamers with their Indie Client.

Some time had passed and no word on Valve everyone even me began to think this was another hoax about Steam for Linux. But on June 6 low and behold a eager fan Joe Davinsone mailed Gabe and asked 2 questions. Is steam coming to linux? Will the Client be released before the end of this year? Gabe Newell responded with this. "Yes".

Now The Linux gaming community was going nuts, I myself was one of those people. My mind brewed with thoughts of possible game that could get ported to Linux and the number of dual booters who have been waiting for this opportunity to finally switch to Linux for good.

Over a little more time I would read about some well know Linux Developers signing on with Valve as part of the Linux Team. People like Timothee Besset who was ID's main "Linux" guy. Sam Lantinga who used to work for Loki and is one of the creators of SDL (Simple Directmedia Layer....you may have heard of it.). Forest Hale the man who made a Linux fork of ID's Quake Engine which is widely used for Nexuiz and Xonotic. And lets not forget David White the creator of my fave Linux open-source Strategy RPG Battle for Wesnoth.

Now the community was still wondering if this is a dream come true or is this still a hoax, alot of the community was high hopes but a number of people did not want to get their hopes up for nothing. Gabe at E3 this year mention to some gents from Norway from a site called DBTV.no quickly asked Gabe about Half-life 3 and what was he doing at E3 this year. "Talking to our Steam partners about our 10" UI and why we are supporting Linux." Again as soon as this hit the Web Linux gamers went Banana's. To top it off as of July 16 2012 The Linux team which stayed very quiet created a valve linux team blog page and the ambitions for Linux. Now I read this blog and felt like the rebels and the Ewoks when the second Death Star blew up. What got me excited was the fact that Valve is not just making a client and saying "Here, now shut up." They are truly genuine on making Linux their new home and want to do open-source material, help fix things on Linux to bring more people . In regular Valve style they want your input about Linux and what we want added, fixed, what have you.

Now for this blogger this means a great deal to me. Ubuntu is working hard to be the face of Linux and the average user so more with switch to Linux Steam is going to help with that in a huge way. With Ubuntu TV coming soon we could see Ubuntu TV and Steam working hand in hand. Valve is quickly taking the spot as "Tip of the Spear" for the new Crusade on Linux Gaming.

Now I also am a Religious user on Desura and I really want Desura to Succeed in the gaming market. Imagine in the near future when more and more companies put games on Linux. The next time you get a new computer you will save almost 300$ by not putting on Windows. That's alot of games. I will Post links to all pages main one being the Linux team Blog. Send a message to the team let them know what they can do for Steam on Linux.

Valve Linux Team Blog:

HERE WE GOOO!!

About damn time they put Geomancer in that game.

@theManUnknown: Agreed on that, And I was just watching a video on Ubuntu Vibes here: Steam and Canonicalthat Canonical and Valve have had talks are Ubuntu will be the main focus for Linux first. And since I upgraded to 12.04 this makes me happy.

Well in a interview with the Verge Gabe mention that they will port their source engine to Linux adapting it to OpenGL. With this their first port they are working to do is Left For Dead 2. I know with alot of games that like @Rattle618 said game companies get lazy with the coding and it becomes a mess to try and sort it out. But in the buissiness end Linux is a "risky" market for now, but because it is growing as seen by Humble Indie Bundle the market is there. Plus with OpenGL they are not paying for licensing cost to use DirectX coding unless they bring a game to Windows.

After so long of rumors and here say. Newell finally took his time to oversea the Linux project and has found a new love and attempt to bring the almost non-exsistent linux gaming to light.

Now as a Linux gamer I am content with Desura, and all the Indie games I can buy or play for free. But it makes me happy that Valve now finally wants to sell thier games to the linux community. Now I am not going to get into a "OS war" because I feel that it is a waste of everyones time. I know alot of my friends will fully switch to Linux because of this.