Is it really “worth remembering”? The past is passed. They’re not the same company and the PC space is not the same as it was back then. Who cares?
While we eagerly await the second coming of Steam Machines, it's worth remembering what a gloriously awful mess Valve got itself in over a decade ago
Submitted 15 hours ago by tonytins@pawb.social to games@lemmy.world
Comments
Jmsnwbrd@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
ms_lane@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
PCGamer’s advertisers care.
How will Corsair sell $500 cases and $300 water cooling systems, with $600 of attached fans to people just buying a SteamDeck.
PCGamer’s advertisers need the clueless to think that buying all that is essential.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Why would you spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a PC that used a brand-new operating system and had a gaming library a fraction of the size of that of Windows machines?
I had one of the old Alienware Steam Machines. I know it wasn’t a popular answer, but my answer to this was that Windows was atrocious for the living room just like it’s atrocious for handhelds today, and I had easily and cheaply amassed a large library of Linux-compatible games even back then by way of Steam sales. But this wasn’t even the only problem. We only had OpenGL ports rather than lower level and more performant APIs like Vulkan. Running a marquis Linux title like Shadow of Mordor would come with a sizable performance hit compared to the Windows version, even when run on exactly the same hardware, and that would also require a machine that cost $200 more than a PS4 that could run the same game just as well.
fartsparkles@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
The failure of the Steam Machine is why Valve hosted Khronos group at their office to kick off Vulkan and funded LunarG etc in the early days to get things moving quickly.
Valve took their time but this new hardware range is based on years of learning and solving the problems from their original foray into hardware and Linux for gaming.
And I’m so thankful for it!
deliriousdreams@fedia.io 15 hours ago
As someone who owned the Alienware one with windows 8 (and upgrades it to windows 10, and a 2TB SSD), I'm glad to find anyone else who actually bought one, especially the steam OS variant, and has expert with it, rather than regurgitating what articles say.
KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 13 hours ago
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
So, funny story, I bought it as the Windows variant, because it was $50 cheaper for some reason. Bloatware subsidies, maybe? My roommate and I tried it for a little while, but using Windows from the couch sucked so much that I put SteamOS on it. My roommate only booted back to Windows to play Hearthstone. I just rocked whatever SteamOS would let me play local, since streaming games from my desktop in the other room wasn’t cutting it for me. I played through KOTOR2 on that machine, on SteamOS, and had a great time.
paper_moon@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
I bought from ebay for $150 in 2016 that someone I think tried to pass off the yellow ring of death to me, as the system failed shortly after I bought it, BUT, it was still under original manufacturer warranty. I sent it in to dell with no proof of purchase requested from me, they sent my system back fixed, and accidentally gave me another steam controller in the box back, haha.
After getting it back, I wiped windows and have been running Ubuntu on it since then. Still using it as a HTPC right now, though it is getting long in the tooth for web video like YouTube, etc. Probably gonna be replacing it soon with something else.
kepix@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
lookin at the gpu stats, this is also a mess
artyom@piefed.social 14 hours ago
This is exactly why they SHOULDN’T have named it Steam Machine. The Steam Deck was released and no one talked about Steam Machines. Call it Steam Machine and suddenly everyone is reminded of the colossal flop all those years ago.
UnPassive@lemmy.world 31 minutes ago
I remember the flop, but since Proton and Steam Deck have been waiting for them to try again. In many ways it might be bad marketing and just adding a “2” to the name would probably help. But in other ways, it might just be them being transparent? Same with the controller. Like they’re owning their past and saying “we still want this, and the time is right this time”
Acidbath@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
I’m trying to think of a scenario where someone would think twice about purchasing a steam machine just because a product from 10 years ago bombed in sales.
This would require them to ignore the recent success of the steam deck… which is basically impossible.
Therefore, I have doubts that the name alone would have ANY direct impact on sales.
Acidbath@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
then again i think xbox is doing alright with their crazy similar names.
silverchase@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Really, how many people cared about or even remember the original? The original program was a flop but that hasn’t tainted the name.
Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
I remember it, and that memory is why this one kind of has me hopeful.
artyom@piefed.social 12 hours ago
how many people cared about or even remember the original
The people who wrote this article do. And now so does everyone that came across it.
kratoz29@lemmy.zip 2 hours ago
A friend of mine thinks it is gonna flop (tbh nobody knows), only because of that prior flop, he refuses to acknowledge that they might have learned of their mistakes, and hardly acknowledge that the Steam Deck is a success, only because it is a different market (he truly doesn’t believe in Steam hardware).
I for one am excited as I don’t have any PC gaming at the moment (or Steam Deck lol), I have been a console (and mostly handheld) gamer since the old days, and this bet on Steam makes sense for me in this day and age.
Paradox@lemdro.id 13 hours ago
I kind of wish they’d called em steam engines
ladicius@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
There’s so few people that remember… Nobody cares.
And Steam Machine is going really hard as a brand and as a device name, really. I bet there’s a lot of salivating at this level of brand recognition in a lot of marketing departments.
vic_rattlehead@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
I was holding out for the Steam Engine.
psx_crab@lemmy.zip 12 hours ago
Does it matter though? You can put it as a failure that got so bad Valve eventually cancel it, or you can put it as a product that got good from countless iteration. Its kinda like glass half empty half full kind of situation which eventually doesn’t really matter.
artyom@piefed.social 12 hours ago
Ask anyone who works in marketing is branding is important.
melroy@kbin.melroy.org 13 hours ago
I want Amd to have 4k 120hz support on Linux please? Stupid hdmi forum.
ramius345@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
I switched to a display port monitor because of this.
melroy@kbin.melroy.org 3 hours ago
That isn't an option now with my htpc (home theater pc) connected to my TV.
sanpo@sopuli.xyz 14 hours ago
Yes, it is worth it to remember.
They naively expected publishers and developers to give a shit.
But after that failure they worked hard for years and contributed and donated to open source projects.
That allowed Linux to become a true competitor in gaming space with zero vendor lock-in.
Whatever their reasons were, the results are objectively positive for nearly everyone.
jj4211@lemmy.world 41 minutes ago
Pretty spot on, it was so worth it to remember, that Valve actually seemed to remember.
Their first go at it was “make a viable platform and the developers/publishers will make the effort to come over, and hardware partners will step up with offerings because of Valve’s brand strength and fear of the Microsoft Store screwing everything up”. That didn’t work, and Microsoft Store also didn’t pan out as far as Valve and others feared, but they have been kind of screwing up the platform particularly for games as they chase other things that would be subscription revenue instead of transactional revenue.
Valve learned they needed to work harder to bring the platform to the Windows games, so heavy investment in Proton. They learned that they had to take the hardware platform in their own hands because the OEMs aren’t committed until they see proof it can work for them. They learned that the best way to package their improved efforts was with a “hook” with mass-market appeal, enter the Steam Deck, recognizing the popularity of the Switch form factor and bringing it to the PC market at a time no one else was bothering.
So now they have a non-Android, non-Windows ecosystem that covers handheld, console/desk, and VR with a compelling library of thousands and thousands of games…
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Indeed. I would say the Gabecube is essentially just another PC and a little overhyped already. It‘s SteamOS that deserves a lot of praise. Especially with the upcoming desktop version.
Goodeye8@piefed.social 5 hours ago
I won’t be getting one (because I don’t need one right now) but I’m hyped for 2 reasons.
First is getting a company to come out with an official Linux gaming OS. Not because I want some kind of a corporate OS-s but because bigger game developers have a reason to target Linux as they will see there’s not only a market but a supported market.
And the second is standardized hardware for a Linux platform. It will make game development easier because you can target specific hardware and (together with the previous point) specific OS to make games for Linux. I can’t find the link anymore but a developer once said that the majority of their bug reports came from Linux while Linux was also the smallest platform they supported and most of the probably comes from the fact that you can have so many combinations of hardware and software that offering Linux support costs more than offering Windows support. If that can be reduced to specific hardware and specific OS that would give more of an incentive for developers to try out supporting Linux (even if it’s only SteamOS on a Steam Machine).
I don’t care what Steam Machines and SteamOS can do when they release, I care what they can do 5-10 years down the line. It’s all about getting the ball rolling and once it’s rolling it’ll get to the destination, making gaming on Linux as good as it is on Windows, on its own. I know, I know, gaming on Linux is already pretty good. But gaming on Linux is still dependent on Windows and if MS wants they can screw proton over (for example making UWP mandatory) so getting native games on Linux should still be a goal. And there’s also the lack of official support from other companies in the gaming space. The most obvious is most popular online games not working on Linux due to anti-cheat but there’s also the fact that some more niche peripherals are hard to use due to no official drivers. It took some tinkering to get my Thrustmaster steering wheel to run, which instantly is a no-go for the average gamer. We’re like 90% of the way there to make Linux a great platform for gaming but that last 10% is going to require collective effort to achieve and that’s really difficult to achieve.
marighost@piefed.social 14 hours ago
You think Gabe Newell hates Microsoft so much that he has his company contribute to Linux and open source, simply out of spite?
artyom@piefed.social 2 minutes ago
95% of users are on Windows. If MS one day again decided they’re going to try to limit apps to their own store, much like they did with Windows 8 (which is what kicked this whole thing off) or like Android is suddenly doing right now, Steam will be absolutely fucked without an alternative. So SteamOS exists to give them that parachute. They can keep the freedom of PC without the dedication of creating an entirely new desktop OS.
jj4211@lemmy.world 38 minutes ago
There was no mention of motive, just of the consequences. Microsoft going the Apple/Google path was/is an existential business threat to a company like Valve. Microsoft’s coming up short on MS Store mitigated the risk, but still you have a platform that is geared toward Microsoft subscription revenue.
Just because those business concerns factor in, doesn’t detract from the positive ways that it has gone so far.
sanpo@sopuli.xyz 13 hours ago
Yes, actually.
www.bbc.com/news/technology-18996377
tuckerm@feddit.online 14 hours ago
I don’t think that is true, but I certainly like the idea of it being true.
frongt@lemmy.zip 11 hours ago
I mean he quit working for Microsoft and started Valve because he disagreed with their direction.
XiberKernel@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Considering he helped create Windows while working at Microsoft, and allegedly left due to the direction it was going, yes.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 9 hours ago
He has stated as much, so, yeah.
BigTrout75@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
On the Windows platform, Valve has to do what Microsoft decides. If Microsoft decides all apps are required to go through the Microsoft store app then Valve would be toast.
stupidcasey@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Yes, but also money.