Valve Has its Own Operating System Now in SteamOS

WAAAaa

And now we wait another 48 hours for the next announcement...

Ballmer vs Newell to the death!

My body is so ready for this. Well that and the OS-less machine that has been hooked up to my TV for a month waiting for me to be not lazy. Laziness prevails again!

Isn't this exciting...

interesting

So, if the endgame for PC gaming is becoming console gaming, the endgame for consoles is to become PCs?

My head hurts.

Awesome news... I guess.

its a streaming client like onlive butt then for you're living room

Someone on Twitter claimed it was backwards-compatible with all Steam titles. As a game developer I have to chime in to say that for a Linux-based OS - that simply can't be true. It would by definition only run games built for or ported to Linux.

For OpenGL-based games porting could be relatively trivial, but there will always be the inertia caused by substandard development and debugging tools on that platform - as has always been the case.

Shit, son!

I mean, yeah, whatever.

It is only "backwards-compatible" in that it can stream any Steam title from a PC to the SteamOS. It can't run all titles natively in the SteamOS.

@sargon: New console out november 1st. Suckit Sony and Microsoft.

Sure, if this means I dont have use Windows anymore.

this is pretty dang cool, I'm jazzed.

Sure, why not. Valve has been pretty good so far, this will probably turn out well. Maybe this means as a console gamer who prefers that to PC's this'll maybe turn me onto it.

Whoa.

Valve pushing things forward, as usual

Microsoft: "If you don't like us so much why don't you go and make your own OS!"

Gabe: "I will!"

And so he did.

Interesting times.....sounds like a game changer ..

brings up a lot of questions....we need a discussion Giantbomb !

It seems like the endgame for all this is if you're really wealthy you can buy a super powerful, constantly upgrading console. Its not really a multi use home computer at that point. If I had boatloads of cash I would be all over it.

If I leave that announcement URL open in another tab, how many trading cards do I get?

Seriously though, Alex didn't really mention what seems to be the biggest news here:

...With SteamOS, “openness” means that the hardware industry can iterate in the living room at a much faster pace than they’ve been able to. Content creators can connect directly to their customers. Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. SteamOS will continue to evolve, but will remain an environment designed to foster these kinds of innovation.

So it seems like rather than the 'we know what's best' attitude that Apple and others have with these streaming services, SteamOS is made to be tinkered with. Almost like... a PC! Could have some pretty powerful ramifications.

I feel like this is Valve banking on making PC more like PC, getting away from the closed MS Windows system and trying to establish Linux as an open alternative for entertainment use. With the caveat that they, of course, run the prime store for that OS, even though they may not shut other stores out (and neither direct sale from the devs), they will still make a mint. I just hope that this is them also embracing DRM-free games to really go together with their openness doctrine.

My steam library is in the hundreds, and all of them are Windows games. Why would I "stream" them to a SteamOS machine when I can just play them on my Windows PC? It's already hooked up to a TV.

Oh this shit is gold. I have every confident Valve will be able to bring this OS up to speed in the future if not right away. Microsoft now faces a 2 prong attack both from Sony on the console side and the potential of losing the before now neutral ground pc gamers. Time for desperate Microsoft is best Microsoft.

So it begins...

@rafaelfc: Remember the synthesis ending of Mass Effect 3? It's basically that.

Well this is super interesting, now if you want to slam together a machine for gaming only you can stick this on it for free instead of spending hundreds on another Windows licence, i'm assuming developers will start to port games to 'SteamOS', the success of this rests entirely on its available library.

@rafaelfc: Remember the synthesis ending of Mass Effect 3? It's basically that.

@besetment: yes i agree ,i have the same set up....

but how will i then take advantage of the 'performance gains' from SteamOS ?

Dota 2 hats

@besetment: yes i agree ,i have the same set up....

but how will i then take advantage of the 'performance gains' from SteamOS ?

I guess its cool for people who want to play PC games in their living room. But i already have a big ass monitor on my desk and don't see a need for this. Besides, all i do is play DOTA anyway which is impossible to play with a controller.

I'm kinda worried about what will happen to all non-Steam games out there.

If Greenlight proved one thing, it is that there's a lot of good or at least interesting games that can't make it on Steam.

I'm curious if the OS will look similar to Big Picture Mode. I'm not a huge fan of how that looks and navigates with a controller. Are there really that many people that don't like using a mouse and keyboard AND have their gaming PC hooked up to a TV? It must be a large amount of people since Valve is going after that market.

I'll be watching from the sidelines with great vengeance and furious anger. I mean interest.

I wish I didn't invest in all those roku boxes last month. If I paid more I could have a steam box (maybe?) that'd stream games to the big screen but can also serve as what the roku box does. I'm completely down with that.

I think the truth is in the middle.

In reality, PC's died about 2003 or so. When the reality that the world had moved pst the point where your PC was supposed to be your central hub of everything you do in your life. It was, for like 4 or 5 years, then then Cell phones came along and upended the whole concept. And then tablets. The truth is people DON'T LIKE COMPUTERS. And never have. NERDS like computers, and always have. There was a weird period when people though that suddenly everyone liked computers, but really people liked what computers could do, but secretly wished they could do all that without computers.

This is what's happening now and Valve gets it.

SteamOS motion controls, duh. Gank dem fools by waving your arms violently in the air.

@jazgalaxy: Answer honestly, did you just write all of that nonsense from a computer?

OS purposely build for games/entertainment might be cool.

Ok? I hope the other announcements make this more exciting.

Consider my brain exploded. I literally can't comprehend what this could mean for computer games, but it feels like PCs might make a comeback?

This makes so much sense, that I'm not surprised no one else thought it was a possibility.

Eh, cool news for those who care I guess.
I couldn't care less about PC in a living room.

Come on, Gabe. When you come out and say you're building a Steam OS, you're saying you're building an x86 architecture-based video game console. They're making a PC console. Honestly, I don't think that's a bad thing. I think there's some necessity in distancing your platform from the volatile PC/ Microsoft gaming ecosystem. Microsoft could cease to be a player in the PC market in the long term, or they could stop supporting anything outside of the confines of their own console hardware when it comes to video games. The move makes sense. But this whole play is essentially just going to mean that there's a third console in the major players, with Nintendo doing their own thing.

@scarabus: The backwards compatibility comes from being a thinclient.

Maybe it is not meant for you, Mr. Center of the Universe.

Of course I did. I'm at work (on lunch break). But I'm writing from a computer where my main tools are Adobe Illustartor and Adobe Photoshop. Two programs from a company that is doing it's best to get off of PCs. I wouldn't be surprised I Adobe gets into the hardware game in a few years and does very much like what Valve is doing right now. In fact, Adobe already IS getting into the hardware game with it's newly announced Ipad accessory hardware. If Adobe moves off the PC, this whole rig goes in the trash.

Not to be a dick, Alex, but saying 'living room' over and over again doesn't really clarify what this is supposed to do.

Yes, yes, YES!