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I never hear the fan on my my macbook. It's quiet as a mouse and it's one of the things I love about it. The fan fires up only when I play War Thunder or another graphics intense game to play and then sometimes I don't hear it because I put on headphones to immerse myself. My guess is that Apple doesn't put high-end overclocked GPUs in Mac's to keep the heat and noise levels down. It's just a guess though.

1% of 10 million users on Steam - that's 100,000 people. Sounds like an important set of potential customers. (Source: peak of 11 million concurrent users logged in over the past 48 hours).

What will really make Steam on Linux take off is if they ever get Steam OS to the same level of reliability as Android. Once they get there they can hope to do to the game console market with Steam OS what Google did to the Mobile Phone market with Android, i.e. make lower the bar on entry into the game console market to a point where relatively small startups can compete. The question that remains is: do they have the resources, the will and the vision to do that?

1% of 10 million users on Steam - that's 100,000 people. Sounds like an important set of potential customers. (Source: peak of 11 million concurrent users logged in over the past 48 hours).

Seems to me like the Steam Machines are exactly aimed at your situation.
As an alternative, you could try running Ubuntu + Steam. This is what I do and I must say that I am never short of good games to play and Linux is working very well on the desktop these days. By the way, it's 100% free of cost and most of the software I run is free as in freedom too.

Judging by your aggravation over Sony jerking you around and now your frustration at getting the same treatment from Windows it seems like freedom might be the thing you're after.

Have you tried the taste of freedom?

Also browser statistics show that Linux slowly but surely makes gains on the desktop. Windows 10 will drive quite a lot of people to Linux.

Wasn't Vista also supposed to drive people from Windows to Linux in droves? According to the Steam hardware survey, Windows has 95.39% of the market, while Linux is at 0.95% (I'm sure that used to be higher). It seems that the combined forces of Vista, Windows 10, SteamOS and greater number of Linux games still haven't provided that platform with a boost in usage.

Even if Linux managed to double the number of users, the corresponding drop would barely register on the Windows side of things. And given that a third of Steam's users are on Windows 10 (and is just about to surpass Windows 7 64bit as the most used OS on Steam), it seems that once again reality doesn't match the hopeful proclamations of the Linux supporters.

The biggest problem is getting people to move from Windows not with Steam, but with the two largest publishers having their own distribution platform (Uplay and Origin), and neither of those support Linux. The reason why Linux gaming has grown so much on Steam is because Valve foresaw the loss of the AAA market to the publishers' own services and turned it's attention to the small, indie market that used to be at home on the likes of Desura and ShinyLoot. It is much easier to convert the tiny games (often made with cross-platform development systems) to Linux and Mac OS X than it is to do the same with the AAA titles.

And if the AAA games make such a mess of their ports to Windows (eg. Batman: Arkham Knight), how bad do you think the Linux versions of those games would be?

Looking through the recent releases for Linux, there are certainly some ambitious games there. I've heard good things about SUPERHOT, Factorio, Firewatch, XCOM2.

Overall, there is enough to play on Linux, but if you must play one particular game, chances are it's not there.

This should make it easier for developers to write and optimize games for SteamOS

It's difficult to get solid numbers on Steam Machine sales. But they don't appear to be setting the world on fire:

Alienware Steam Machine ASM100-6980BLK Desktop Console (Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD) NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU 3.1 Stars. #3,293 in Computers & Accessories #237 in Computers & Accessories > Desktops

The Steam Hardware & Software Survey: January 2016 doesn't offer much to feed on:

Windows 95%
Win 10 64 Bit 33% and Trending upward.

OSX 4% No change.

Linux 1% No change.
Ubuntu 0.4%. Mint 0.2%

Windows only means VR games will only be available on Windows? Seeing as how Valves own OS is Ubuntu based, one would think they'd support that as well.

Steam Hardware & Software Survey: January 2016

Windows --- All Flavors 95.4% [No change]

Win 7 64 bit 34.3%
Win 10 64 bit 32.8% [Up 1.5%]
Win 8.1 64 bit 14.0%

OSX --- All Flavors 3.55% [No change]

Linux --- All Flavors 0.95% [No change]

Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS 64 bit 0.2%
Ubuntu 15.10 64 bit 0.2%
Linux 64 bit 0.1%
Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa 64 bit 0.1%

It would be mean to remind folks here how often Linux Mint has been suggested as a plausible migration path away from Windows.

What I find more interesting and unexpected are the stats for Language. The US has 41 million native Spanish speakers and only Mexico has more.

English 46%
Russian 18%
Simplified Chinese 6%
Spanish 5%

Here's the link to the application on steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/...

Min

Hey, congratulations on your system that's completely useless for gaming or real work, and probably leaking information to Canonical (you are running Ubuntu, I'm guessing).

Steam runs on Linux, did you knew that? And Steam OS is Debian based... * Do The Evolution or stay with the past of gaming...

Eh?

If you've ever been to the KotakuInAction subreddit, you can see easily enough that freedom of expression and speech, creative freedom in general, is held up as paramount for video games (though for all media, really).

If someone wants to make an Intersectional Feminist video game, that's fine. Most people only care if the game is good or not, but the moment you try to ban things, or cultivate a hostile environment in the media that scares away Japanese developers... You're in the wrong.

I've only heard bad things about "Gone Home", but I've never played it. But all I see is walking in the videos so I'm not interested.

A game I'd recommend instead, if you are into "metroidvania" style games, is Aerannis. Main character is a male-to-female transgender woman whom was made so at birth because it is a Feminist dystopia where men have either been wiped out, or forcibly made into women via gender reassignment surgery+hormone therapy and some sci-fi shit I'm sure given it's in the future.

The main character isn't a perfect goody-goody two shoes or awesome at everything either, they're quite crass and crude (don't wanna reveal their little backstory though).

Funnily enough, a few "Feminists" (in quotations because they were more of the fainting couch variety rather than equity Feminism) lambasted the creator of the game because you can kill women in it - but there are no men left in this world, you're either killing women, trans women, or robots. So of course most of your enemies would be female.

I loved the game, worth the $4.99 imo http://store.steampowered.com/...

0.95% of gamers, according to the steam survey. I'm running steam on a debian system with the open source AMD drivers. There are enough games that work at a usable framerate to keep me entertained.

My point was Steam has done a lot of work to bring the Steam Machine to being, and it is a production Linux machine with nVidia graphics.

http://store.steampowered.com/...

Yes, there are many PCs that are intentionally crippled for Linux, as well as many manufacturers that just don't care about Linux. nVidia isn't one of those, and AMD seems to try just as hard as for Windows, as their drivers suck for both. If you want a Linux computer, you are better off buying a machine that is advertised compatible with Linux, which you won't get at Best Buy (I don't think...never seen one there).

Failure? Might want to have a look at this. For every Windows version since 98, there's been at least one troll on Slashdot declaring it a failure. How are you any different?

It depends on whether people are likewise stupid enough to spend $1000 over the course of two years on replacing their current phone with an Apple or Google phone just to be able to trade items in a timely fashion.

I've gathered from the instructions page and the FAQ page that the authenticator requires an iPhone with a valid cellular subscription or an Android Phone with Google Play with a valid cellular subscription. As far as I can tell based on these pages, the authenticator cannot* be obtained on Android devices without Google Play, such as devices running Amazon Fire OS or Replicant OS. The authenticator does not work on devices running Windows Phone, on feature phones, or on landlines. Based on repeated references to phone numbers, it is unclear whether the authenticator works on tablets or on phones with an expired cellular subscription. How many people are willing to buy an iPhone or an Android phone with Google Play just to confirm item trades?

* Lawfully.

It depends on whether people are likewise stupid enough to spend $1000 over the course of two years on replacing their current phone with an Apple or Google phone just to be able to trade items in a timely fashion.

I've gathered from the instructions page and the FAQ page that the authenticator requires an iPhone with a valid cellular subscription or an Android Phone with Google Play with a valid cellular subscription. As far as I can tell based on these pages, the authenticator cannot* be obtained on Android devices without Google Play, such as devices running Amazon Fire OS or Replicant OS. The authenticator does not work on devices running Windows Phone, on feature phones, or on landlines. Based on repeated references to phone numbers, it is unclear whether the authenticator works on tablets or on phones with an expired cellular subscription. How many people are willing to buy an iPhone or an Android phone with Google Play just to confirm item trades?

* Lawfully.

My son plays TF2 and doesn't have a cellphone yet (11 years old).

Then how should he call you for a ride home, especially now that payphone operators have been removing payphones? Besides, Team Fortress 2 is rated M. It's not intended for 11-year-olds. Nor is online play intended for anyone under 13 anyway because of COPPA. In any case, the FAQ states that you can put multiple accounts on one phone. The one downside to putting your son's TF2 account on your phone is that it links the identity associated with your Steam account to his.

It's way way way overkill, with no way to opt out.

Then opt out of Team Fortress 2 in the first place.

Personally I consider the demands for free software an annoyance. But we're all different.

I've hated Linux distributions who doesn't use the superior Nvidia graphics drivers or codecs for videos and audio and flash because I kinda "needed" that for a decent usage of the machine.

I understand the point of demanding that is to force development to go that way and that likely work to some extent but .. I don't really want to live with the consequences =P

I don't see why one should be a fan of Steam in the first place if one want free software. Humble bundle often sell games without copy protection so why not use that version instead? Personally I think it's somewhat fun to be able to share images and write reviews and such on Steam even if that mean it cost more money.. So I kinda don't like it in one way.

I think there's a free Command & conquer clone, there's also free Quake-like games.

I don't see the beauty in Nethack either.

I got another copy of this: http://store.steampowered.com/...
And the one kinda IS beautiful. I guess I should play it.
This image is funny: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic....

However I can only imagine that playing a MUD would be so much more fun than playing a single-player adventure though.

Even know if they got like 10-15 friends to join them in playing MUD on the school don't you think they would start to enjoy it a lot? Some would likely drop out but some would likely drop in.

I have never really sank my fingers into a MUD but multi-player is always beyond single-player.

Also one can still use free software, it cost nothing, one can still be social (headset and Skype while playing?), it cost nothing and so on.

Gran Turismo? Ahem http://store.steampowered.com/...

It exists. You just happen to be commenting on a story about a game that is designed to be exactly what you don't want.

Duck Game is a good example of what you'd like.

Modern games are DRM'd to hell. Nevertheless most of them aren't actually copy protected by strong encryption. That is the only reason most of them will still be around in 30 years. Some games are too old to sell but too young to even be in a state of quasi-public-domain. Steam DRM is adding volumes to that list. With most games now sold as DRM'd downloads the future of this data is very much in doubt.

If Steam is sold who will still have the unencrypted programs and game assets? Who will bother to re-assemble games from loose files? Society could lose hundreds of games forever. If I were king I would insist that copies of all source code be kept in an archive somewhere, to be released when the copyright term expires.I think bitrot is one of the most evil forces on the internet. Are there any more practical ways to stop it?

You know, until recently I never considered using Linux as a general purpose desktop OS and I didn't like Steam. That was until Microsoft released the malware and adware ridden Windows 10 and tried to cram it down everyone's throat.

---- while only 0.95% of Steam users run any flavor of the Linux OS.

Three years and 1600 Linux games hasn't budged the needle in a way that you could see even with a magnifying glass. Steam Hardware and Software Survey: October 2015

Before breaking out the champagne, it might be wise to look at the numbers:

OS Version

Windows 95%

Windows 7 64 Bit 26%
Windows 10 64 bit 26%
Windows 8.1 64 Bit 17%

OSX 3%

Mac OS 10.10.5 64 Bit 1%
Mac OS 10.11.0 64 Bit 1%

Linux 1% [0.95%]

Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS 64 Bit 0.23%
Ubuntu 15.04 64 Bit 0.17%
Linux Mint Rafaela 64 Bit 0.11%

What you see is a very small and very fragmented Linux market. Steam Hardware & Software Survey: October 2015

and to look at the Steam Survey, only 14% of PCs have 12+ gig. 20% don't even have 4Gb.

Please tell me that this plot is a video game in the making!

Sure is!

You can pre-order it on Steam right now!

... so unbe-fucking-leviably wrong I don't know where to start with you.

1. Lego worlds
http://store.steampowered.com/...

2. Lego star wars
http://store.steampowered.com/...

3. Lego batman
http://store.steampowered.com/...

4. lego marvel
http://store.steampowered.com/...

5. Lego hobbit
http://store.steampowered.com/...

And if you want to talk about "toys to life" series where some toy company releases a toy that is supposed to interact with the a video game directly... we have those too:

Disney's infinity series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

It is also a really niche product that we're seeing only from Lego, Disney, pokenmon... and I think that is literally it. Frankly the concept looks like vaporware and I don't take it seriously. We'll let the future decide which of us is full of beans.

If you like paying more for less... get a console.
If you like paying less to get more... get a PC.

This is not rocket science. I would NEVER buy my child a console. On top of it being a dumb choice it is also in my interests as a parent to introduce computers to my child... not merely as a toy but as a tool.

Gaining expertise with xbox offers nothing to a child's ability to master basic OS operation. But being a PC gamer will literally mean my child is more educated than console twits.

If you buy a console for your child in the 21st century... you're probably stupid... or you are a bad parent.

Sound harsh?... have a tissue and be a better person.

... so unbe-fucking-leviably wrong I don't know where to start with you.

1. Lego worlds
http://store.steampowered.com/...

2. Lego star wars
http://store.steampowered.com/...

3. Lego batman
http://store.steampowered.com/...

4. lego marvel
http://store.steampowered.com/...

5. Lego hobbit
http://store.steampowered.com/...

And if you want to talk about "toys to life" series where some toy company releases a toy that is supposed to interact with the a video game directly... we have those too:

Disney's infinity series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

It is also a really niche product that we're seeing only from Lego, Disney, pokenmon... and I think that is literally it. Frankly the concept looks like vaporware and I don't take it seriously. We'll let the future decide which of us is full of beans.

If you like paying more for less... get a console.
If you like paying less to get more... get a PC.

This is not rocket science. I would NEVER buy my child a console. On top of it being a dumb choice it is also in my interests as a parent to introduce computers to my child... not merely as a toy but as a tool.

Gaining expertise with xbox offers nothing to a child's ability to master basic OS operation. But being a PC gamer will literally mean my child is more educated than console twits.

If you buy a console for your child in the 21st century... you're probably stupid... or you are a bad parent.

Sound harsh?... have a tissue and be a better person.

... so unbe-fucking-leviably wrong I don't know where to start with you.

1. Lego worlds
http://store.steampowered.com/...

2. Lego star wars
http://store.steampowered.com/...

3. Lego batman
http://store.steampowered.com/...

4. lego marvel
http://store.steampowered.com/...

5. Lego hobbit
http://store.steampowered.com/...

And if you want to talk about "toys to life" series where some toy company releases a toy that is supposed to interact with the a video game directly... we have those too:

Disney's infinity series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

It is also a really niche product that we're seeing only from Lego, Disney, pokenmon... and I think that is literally it. Frankly the concept looks like vaporware and I don't take it seriously. We'll let the future decide which of us is full of beans.

If you like paying more for less... get a console.
If you like paying less to get more... get a PC.

This is not rocket science. I would NEVER buy my child a console. On top of it being a dumb choice it is also in my interests as a parent to introduce computers to my child... not merely as a toy but as a tool.

Gaining expertise with xbox offers nothing to a child's ability to master basic OS operation. But being a PC gamer will literally mean my child is more educated than console twits.

If you buy a console for your child in the 21st century... you're probably stupid... or you are a bad parent.

Sound harsh?... have a tissue and be a better person.

... so unbe-fucking-leviably wrong I don't know where to start with you.

1. Lego worlds
http://store.steampowered.com/...

2. Lego star wars
http://store.steampowered.com/...

3. Lego batman
http://store.steampowered.com/...

4. lego marvel
http://store.steampowered.com/...

5. Lego hobbit
http://store.steampowered.com/...

And if you want to talk about "toys to life" series where some toy company releases a toy that is supposed to interact with the a video game directly... we have those too:

Disney's infinity series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

It is also a really niche product that we're seeing only from Lego, Disney, pokenmon... and I think that is literally it. Frankly the concept looks like vaporware and I don't take it seriously. We'll let the future decide which of us is full of beans.

If you like paying more for less... get a console.
If you like paying less to get more... get a PC.

This is not rocket science. I would NEVER buy my child a console. On top of it being a dumb choice it is also in my interests as a parent to introduce computers to my child... not merely as a toy but as a tool.

Gaining expertise with xbox offers nothing to a child's ability to master basic OS operation. But being a PC gamer will literally mean my child is more educated than console twits.

If you buy a console for your child in the 21st century... you're probably stupid... or you are a bad parent.

Sound harsh?... have a tissue and be a better person.

... so unbe-fucking-leviably wrong I don't know where to start with you.

1. Lego worlds
http://store.steampowered.com/...

2. Lego star wars
http://store.steampowered.com/...

3. Lego batman
http://store.steampowered.com/...

4. lego marvel
http://store.steampowered.com/...

5. Lego hobbit
http://store.steampowered.com/...

And if you want to talk about "toys to life" series where some toy company releases a toy that is supposed to interact with the a video game directly... we have those too:

Disney's infinity series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

It is also a really niche product that we're seeing only from Lego, Disney, pokenmon... and I think that is literally it. Frankly the concept looks like vaporware and I don't take it seriously. We'll let the future decide which of us is full of beans.

If you like paying more for less... get a console.
If you like paying less to get more... get a PC.

This is not rocket science. I would NEVER buy my child a console. On top of it being a dumb choice it is also in my interests as a parent to introduce computers to my child... not merely as a toy but as a tool.

Gaining expertise with xbox offers nothing to a child's ability to master basic OS operation. But being a PC gamer will literally mean my child is more educated than console twits.

If you buy a console for your child in the 21st century... you're probably stupid... or you are a bad parent.

Sound harsh?... have a tissue and be a better person.

Why not just use the traditional "open-platform" vs. "closed platform/walled garden" terminology.

Because it confuses iOS (closed) with the big three (closeder). With iOS, any individual developer or home-based business can get started for only $1000 to buy a Mac mini and iPad mini, and then another $99 per year to distribute non-free apps or distribute apps to iOS users who aren't also Mac owners. There's a continuum between open and closed platforms, and some people think iOS and the big three are on opposite sides of the line. Some Slashdot users, for example, draw the line between Apple's policy since Xcode 7 (install self-compiled apps on your device without charge) and Apple's prior policy ($99 per year fee to do so).

I'd tentatively draw the continuum of flexibility as follows:

1. Free operating systems
2. Windows and OS X
3. Android with Gapps
4. OS X with Gatekeeper turned on
5. Windows Phone 8
6. Windows and OS X if you choose to install apps only from Steam or Windows Store/Mac App Store
7. Android with "Unknown sources" off
8. iOS today
9. Windows Phone 7, Xbox Live Indie Games, and iOS prior to Xcode 7
10. PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo today
11. PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo prior to the eighth generation

Different people will draw lines between "clearly open" (with shorthand "master"), "gray area", and "clearly closed" ("peasant") in different places. Free Software Foundation, for example, thinks anything below "free operating systems" is in clearly closed territory. But I'd imagine the majority would call Windows clearly open and PlayStation clearly closed.

Though on the PC, Steam itself is a form of "walled garden." in certain ways.

Steam is no more walled than Google Play, as both Windows and Android officially support installation of applications from unknown sources. In fact, in practice, Steam is a bit less walled because many Steam games have official mod hooks. It's possible to make mod hooks in a Google Play game through Android's intent and service system, but I'm not aware of any notable game whose developers have bothered.

I would however say that "walled gardens" and "open gardens" BOTH have a place in the modern gaming universe.

I can understand this point of view. Both PlayStation Vita and JXD's Android-powered gaming tablets currently have a place in mobile. But do both closed and open have a place in the living room? You've been trying to convince people for years that open platforms have no place in the living room, but I can cite plenty of Slashdot users who think they do. And so does Valve, which isn't Tivoizing its Debian-powered Steam Machines.

Toy Soldiers: War Chest - $19.99 on PC, $25.75 on Xbox One.

Actually the game is the same price on all platforms. If you double check, you will see that the more expensive version you saw is the "Hall of fame edition" (which probably was on sale at the time, it was on sale on PSN), Which is $29.99 on Steam, Xbox store AND PSN.

https://store.playstation.com/...

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

http://store.steampowered.com/...

The base "war chest" version is $14.99 on Steam, PSN and the Xbox store.

http://store.steampowered.com/...

https://store.playstation.com/...

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

Toy Soldiers: War Chest - $19.99 on PC, $25.75 on Xbox One.

Actually the game is the same price on all platforms. If you double check, you will see that the more expensive version you saw is the "Hall of fame edition" (which probably was on sale at the time, it was on sale on PSN), Which is $29.99 on Steam, Xbox store AND PSN.

https://store.playstation.com/...

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

http://store.steampowered.com/...

The base "war chest" version is $14.99 on Steam, PSN and the Xbox store.

http://store.steampowered.com/...

https://store.playstation.com/...

https://store.xbox.com/en-US/X...

What do they think moving to Win 10 will be like?

A piece of cake?

In Steam's August Hardware and Software Survey,16% of Steam gamers were running 64 Bit Win 10, a bare 0.92% Linux. Steam Hardware and Software Survey: August 2015

Worldwide usage of Windows 10 in its first calendar month (August) was 4.9% compared to 1% for Windows 8 and 4.1% for Windows 7 after their first complete month.

Windows 10 first month worldwide usage well ahead of that recorded by Windows 8

The easiest way is just don't install this craptastic pile of shit in the first place.

Steam Hardware and Software Survey August 2015

Linux, All Flavors 0.92%
Windows 10 64 Bit 16%

I've yet to see a single stat which suggests that Linux as a desktop OS is gaining any traction whatsoever. Which tells me that its competitors are doing most things right.

http://store.steampowered.com/...

Two down, one to go.

Company of Heroes 2 is also available for Linux.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/231430/

It's like you deliberately picked mostly Linux-supported titles.
Or maybe you really have no idea what's available for Linux...

Saints Row IV is coming to Linux later this year. http://store.steampowered.com/...

Have you looked at steam? You might be surprised at the number of proprietary games available for Linux.

Also, you should look be looking at this site as well.

I don't know about bad recent graphical support. I can tell you that I've been happy with the FOSS OpenGL support by Intel and AMD for the past 11 years. The only consistent issue I ever had was with NVidia's proprietary drivers that chained me to a specific linux kernel and even then would still cause kernel panics. I threw out my last NVidia card 6 years ago and never looked back.

People change. Markets change. Sometimes one needs to stop and look at the big picture.

First, you do crowdfunding and maybe even some crowdsourcing. At some point, you may want to do some early access. Put as much or as little DRM as you want, but it shouldn't be illegal to crack it. Spyro 3 had notable DRM. [1][2] Get your game on GamersGate, GOG, and/or Steam. Steam has some early access features, and puts reviews right on the software's store page. Also, there are many websites that resell Steam keys. There are software bundle sites for when sales are lagging. Not that popular, but product placement, like a racing game having actual ads on billboard can happen. Then there are the free-to-play, pay to unlock shiny objects, MMOs. Skylanders and amiibo and Disney Infinity show another way to earn money. When trademarks actually involve a confusion of source the confusion of source should be prosecuted, but putting a large swish that looks like Nike's logo as a decoration on a shirt should not be prosecuted, but on a tag that is designed to prove source should. I was reviewing my philosophy of key generators, but if you go to the company's website, like Steam or Playstation Network to redeem a key, that should be prosecutable as you are misrepresenting your situation to those sites. Now that may sound like EULA's but you are usually presented with a EULA after you already bought the software, and there is some room to argue that the person who clicks on accept might be liable, but the people he enabled to use a copy of it without seeing the EULA didn't agree to it, so are not liable. Now that can be gotten around by cracking the installer too, but that means that there's more time to sell your product without the pressure of unauthorized copies.

Thumb drives are so cheap in blu-ray capacities

They're still not as cheap as stamped discs are.

the hardware is uinderpowered / gets outdated very quickly,

Compared to what? Have you seen the steam hardware survey?

http://store.steampowered.com/...

The most common CPU is a dual core with quad-cores slightly behind, the most common GPU is intel HD4000

A PS4 or Xbox one are easily better machines than those (I suspect they're budget laptops)

backwards compatibility is a challenge,

Of course it's a challenge, unlike the PC, console makers have switched CPU architectures. Sony has jumped from MIPS, to PowerPC, to X86_64.

and the games are FAR more expensive.

Let me guess, with a name like "Graham Triggs" you must be in the UK. Let me tell you that in the US, PC and console versions of games are the exact same price at launch. The only reason they aren't in the UK is that the UK still has the traditional UK/EU anti-console mindset going on so retailers charge a premium for console games thinking that PC gamers in the UK/EU will just do the modern equivalent of "copy the tapes" like they did in the Speccy days if they don't kowtow to the "master race" with underpriced PC games.

The next generation needs to change significantly, otherwise it will be utterly irrelevant in the face of Steam / SteamOS.

SteamOS is irrelevant. The vast majority of developers don't want yet another platform to develop for, let alone one whose users are well known for NOT wanting to pay for software. Need I remind you that the the top 3 games played on steam, dwarfing the numbers of others, are F2P games?

Not only that, the consoles already do Big Picture Mode, 10ft UI, and ease of use, better than Steam does. Sure a few "indies" might do Linux ports, but otherwise, SteamOS is a non-starter.

Linux Mint is probably the best, it doesn't worry about patent stuff and so will play back more movies etc.

But if games is your thing then Ubuntu is the one to go for, but AFAIK Mint is based on Ubuntu so maybe steam works with it too.

Note: KDE is more like windows UI-wise.

Linux Distributions Supported by Steam - Linux Issues - Knowledge Base - Steam Support

Also games like Drawful use a shared screen while each player uses their own device/screen. I see potential for more games like this, fun at family gatherings.

Vulcan (sic), maybe. It's open platform.

OpenGL has existed, and has been open, for longer than Direct3D itself has. Direct3D still exists. Direct3D isn't even the current most popular graphics API if you consider mobile devices, but if you're just looking at high-end PC games, it still hasn't been dethroned and doesn't show any particular signs of being dethroned anytime soon.

DirectX 12, as if!!! Microsoft screwed up terribly tying DirectX to Vista where they denied DirectX upgrades to customers who wouldn't "upgrade" to Vista -- nearly everyone!

Uptake of DX10/DX11 is currently over 97% amongst Steam users. As if!

And their Windows 8 disaster chased developers off the Windows platform and onto mobile devices where OpenGL rules supreme.

PC game sales did not take a noticeable dip after Windows 8. Go ahead, show me a some sort of supporting evidence of any sort and prove me wrong. You're making the claims here.

Look: "Microsoft's Windows 10 privacy headache extends into gaming"

Privacy shittyness is something to be concerned about with Windows 10, for sure. But, did you read the article you just cited, or were you taken in by its clickbaity title and stopped reading there? If you'd read it, you'd notice the entire article hinges on this EULA snippet that apparently applies to Skype and Xbox Live:

We may automatically check your version of the software and download software updates or configuration changes, including those that prevent you from accessing the Services, playing counterfeit games, or using unauthorized hardware peripheral devices.

Can you tell me the last time you bought a AAA game that doesn't have similar wording in its own EULA? Oh no, they're going to... possibly update the game's DRM to prevent you from pirating it or accessing XBL with a pirated copy? How terrible?

Now this http://store.steampowered.com/... makes a whole lot more sense. Obviously Steam paid attention to the most important thing about windows, the only binding power computer users to windows was high end games and power users will never ever accept privacy invasive practices on a desktop. Mobile phone invasiveness causes grumbles but hey you can always use you desktop or notebook instead for secure oh wait, FUCK YOU MICROSOFT ;D. So Linux for the internet and work and Steam for gaming, so how long before I can get both in the one box.

Dunno 'bout the getting the original 16-bit version to run on modern OS, but you can always play the remake and sequel: Chips Challenge for Steam and Chip's Challenge 2

Before you get all hot under the color about how developers are abusing nostalgia for a quick buck, CC2 (and the CC1 remake) is written by the same guy who made the first and its only been held up these past two decades because of copyright issues.

If you really, really want the absolute original experience though, you'll probably have to resort to using a VM (DOSBox works too).

Dunno 'bout the getting the original 16-bit version to run on modern OS, but you can always play the remake and sequel: Chips Challenge for Steam and Chip's Challenge 2

Before you get all hot under the color about how developers are abusing nostalgia for a quick buck, CC2 (and the CC1 remake) is written by the same guy who made the first and its only been held up these past two decades because of copyright issues.

If you really, really want the absolute original experience though, you'll probably have to resort to using a VM (DOSBox works too).

If there was an easy answer to this, then everyone would be doing this to watch watch mkv files (with .srt files where you have to choose between them), and other things (streaming from popcorn site or whatever).

VLC on Mac + Apple TV let my wife and I stream DVDs during our honeymoon without any issue. AirPlay Mirroring sends an on-the-fly re-encoded stream to the TV, so it generally doesn't matter what format your content was in originally: if it can show up on your monitor, it can show up on your TV (with a few exceptions).

That said, for the purposes of this summary's question, he'd likely be better served by something like a Steam Link, since it has wired connections for his keyboard and mouse (it can also work with Bluetooth peripherals), can operate wired or wirelessly on the network, is built on top of Valve's In-Home Streaming functionality that is already proven, and has confirmation from Valve (check near the end of the article) to be able to stream any content, not just content from within Steam. Plus, it's just $50. Chief downside: it doesn't launch until November.

Related products or ideas:
- Razer Forge TV/Android TV (seems to be limited in terms of what it can stream, may not have ports for peripherals)
- Wireless HDMI (can be expensive to get low latency, doesn't do anything for peripherals)
- Wireless USB hub (can be expensive last I checked, no clue how good it actually is)
- HDMI over Ethernet ($20ish, but doesn't help with peripherals and requires your home is wired up)

I had been planning to put my next gaming rig in my media room, but at this point I'll wait for a Steam Link and will tuck the gaming rig somewhere out of sight in a distant room (sadly, no server closet or a convenient place to put one).

Thanks, I so rarely get to use this in a sentence...WHOOSH, way to miss the point!

The point was, which I thought I had made clear, is that the gaming companies will go where the players are and if they can build ONE version that will let their product be bought by ALL, or build TWO versions to accomplish the same task...which do YOU think they will pick? BTW the DX09 modes didn't start getting dropped until XP had dropped below 10% of the Steam survey and the reason why is obvious, when a game costs tens of millions to make are you really gonna risk removing 20% or more of the potential buyers from owning your game? Of course not!

If you look at the numbers currently 90.65% of PC gamers is on either Windows 7 or 8/8.1, now compare this to Windows 10, which despite MSFT handing it to anybody that will take it AND gamers typically being early adopters is sitting at...1.10%. Cue WB cartoon "waah wahhhh". Now you may be of the belief that at release day all those tens of millions of gamers will switch (I'm betting they won't, Win 10 has too much baggage) but do you REALLY think a dev working on a game now will risk making their game a DX12 exclusive? Remember a game can take up to 3 years in the pipe, would they really risk their company in the hopes than Win 10 doesn't end up Windows 8 SE?

If even 10% of the games released in the next 24 months not paid for by MSFT are DX12 exclusive it'll be a miracle, more likely Windows 10 won't be the second coming MSFT is hoping for and just like with DX11 the devs won't risk making exclusives until the previous OSes are down to single digits. Considering that Windows 7 is at nearly 50% and the amount of sheer hatred I've seen from 7 users wrt 10? Yeah no devs with any sense are gonna risk it, it'd be suicide.