Linux Steam is coming to Linux!

This just in! Valve has confirmed that they are in fact bringing the Steam client and Source engine to Linux!

Read about it here

This is huge! This could mean a huge shift in PC gaming. I may consider a permanent primary OS shift in the future if this does well enough. Thoughts everyone? The only issue I see is OpenGL vs DirectX. OpenGL has been playing catchup for a while now. But Linux!

 

if its gonna run through w.i.n.e. i'll kill a kitten.

 

The article says it runs natively without wine. Does this mean every game on steam will run on linux or just the source engine games?

 

Confirmed to be run as a native program with no Wine involvement at all. Same with Source.

EDIT: At first it will just be Source games but Valve will be lobbying devs that use OpenGL to take advantage. A lot of games that use Unreal Engine have OpenGL versions. (for PS3) and then all the id Tech games are on OpenGL.

 

I'm liking the sound of this, always had issues running steam via wine on various distributions.

 

I'm gonna point out the elephant in the room and say no more paying for windows w0000t!

 

To be honest I never paid for Windows. MSDNAA helps there.

 

Well I'm happy for you Linux guys I suppose?

 

YES!


Since Orange Box is Source Engine Powered, should I be able to play them?



For once, I'm THANKFUL M$ has made a bad product! (sarcasm)















Here's what I'm thinking:

They are releasing HL/P3 with the Linux client.
Just like they released Portal 2 with the MacOS client.

 

its a step in the right direction but im afraid there is alot that needs to be done before linux can truely compete with windows for the average user.

 

Agreed, but personally, Steam is the only reason I keep a windows installation.

 

Same here, but unfortunately I think it will be a long time before I can truly get shot of Windows... Even if Steam & Source Engine games will run natively under Linux, many of the other games I have on Steam are still based on DirectX and will have Windows binaries & libraries. Plus there's also the non-Steam games I have...

Linux may have taken over on my laptop (except for the Win7 partition the missus insisted I leave for her use...grumble...), but I think it'll be a long time before I can do the same for my desktop.

 

Same here.

And First Decade doesn't run properly under Wine...

And AutoDesk software is garbage under Wine...

 

Um, did they? I seem to remember getting my free copy of Portal with the release of the Mac OSX client, and that was certainly before getting Portal 2. In fact, a Wikipedia search confirms this: Portal 2 release - 19 April 2011 | Steam Mac OSX release - 12 May 2010.

To the matter at hand, I for one am certainly overjoyed at the news. At the moment, the two games I play the most are Minecraft and Team Fortress 2. Minecraft is written in Java (a mixed blessing, I know) and can run on Java-enabled platforms, and with this news soon TF2 can be played on a Linux box too! Now if Ubisoft get a Linux port of Anno 2070...