Steam Client for Mac Launches, Linux Client On the Way

CyDharttha writes with news that the Mac version of Steam went live today, along with Mac versions of Portal, Team Fortress 2, and many other games. Valve plans to make more games available every Wednesday. Several publications are also reporting that a Linux version of Steam has been confirmed, and is expected within the next few months. Quoting Phoronix: "Found already within the Steam store are Linux-native games like Unreal Tournament 2004, World of Goo, and titles from id Software such as Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Doom 3. Now that the Source Engine is officially supported on Linux, some Source-based games will be coming over too. Will we finally see Unreal Tournament 3 surface on Linux too? Only time will tell, but it is something we speculated back in 2008. Postal III is also being released this year atop the Source Engine and it will be offering up a native client. We have confirmed that Valve's latest and popular titles like Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, and Team Fortress 2 are among the first of the Steam Linux titles, similar to the Mac OS X support. The released Linux client should be available by the end of summer."

Comments

I am happy.

[CasualFriday]

AWESOME. If CS:S and HL2 run well in Ubuntu, I now have no reason to keep my Windows partition.

Re:I am happy.

[mejogid]

Cedega is a hacked up fork of Wine which is itself an incomplete and buggy implementation of Windows APIs on linux - why would you have similar expectation of Valve's official ports? Running portal on a Mac right now, it's infinitely superior to anything achieved through emulation.

Re:I am happy.

[MBGMorden]

Right, but the same applies to Mac ports - they're generally treated equally since they both essentially require similar technologies for graphics/audio/networking - and the new Steam for OS X is exclusively native games (if you consider the handful of Flash games to be native I guess).

And that's one of the few benefits I see in the uptick in Mac popularity. You want to make your game work on Mac OS X, then you have to write it to be able to use OpenGL instead of Direct3D, and write it with a Unix environment in general in mind.

Now, that doesn't mean that a Linux port is merely a recompile away, but it DOES SIGNIFICANTLY cut down on the amount of extra work you'd need for a Linux version of the game. The publisher still might not put one out (ie, Blizzard puts out MacOS clients for all it's games, but still no Linux versions - shame, because the ONLY thing I'm switching to my Windows machine for now is the Starcraft 2 Beta. Everything else is on Ubuntu), but it increases the likelyhood by a lot.

That said, this might mean that I finally have to start buying "real" graphics cards for my Linux machine. Previously my position was "buy the slowest version of the latest generation" for features alone (VDAPU for example), but if games actually start coming out I'll need to rethink that.

Re:I am happy.

[MrNiceguy_KS]

I have an emo lawn. It cuts itself.

Re:I am happy.

[TheRaven64]

When they say WINE is not an emulator, they mean WINE is not a system or CPU emulator. It is an implementation of the Win32 APIs, but it implements them on top of the equivalent *NIX APIs (complete with some ugly hacks to get around impedance mismatches), rather than implementing them on top of the lower-level functionality that those *NIX APIs use. For example, when you run a Direct3D game on WINE, the Direct3D functions call OpenGL functions, which call low-level driver functions. When you run a Direct3D game on Windows, the Direct3D functions call the driver functions directly. With a modern game that uses shaders, you are often doing a source-to-source transform of the shader (or a bytecode-to-bytecode transform) before then JIT compiling it for the target GPU. This means that, theoretically, there is more overhead when using WINE. In practice, if the WINE code or the low-level implementations are slightly better optimised then this overhead becomes irrelevant.

for your convenience, the URL they didn't give you

[FooAtWFU]

the download page.

Re:for your convenience, the URL they didn't give

[joe_bruin]

Even better, free Portal for PC and Mac here: http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal/

Re:But, for now..

[binarylarry]

No but they obviously wrote an opengl backed for Mac OSX.

Since that's done, it's trivial to port the renderer to Linux (which also uses OpenGL for native 3d hardware access). The renderer is probably the most complex part of the engine, so that means adding Linux support is much cheaper than it would have otherwise been.

why buy WoG through Steam, instead of NOT through?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why by World of Goo through steam, when you could buy it NOT through steam? Seriously, they sell a DRM-free version, doesn't require any intrusive software on your machine, your computer stays YOUR computer, no worries about what the thing might be doing behind your back, etc.

I can understand the argument of, "Well, game XYZ is only available through stream", even though I wouldn't do it myself. Buy when there's a totally un-DRMed alternative available, why would anyone chose Steam over that?

Re:Wanted linux games..

[Anonymous Coward]

Tough shit. You can have tux racer.

Re:What to do

[Diantre]

Awww come on now. Steam is, IHMO, the only gaming platform that does DRM well. You simply have to register your game to your account and you can play anywhere afterwards (even in offline mode). The only time you have to connect to the internet is when registering your games (that you likely bought over the net anyway). Non-intrusive and practical; I can download my games on as many computers as I want and play them whenever I want.

What?

[Diantre]

I can't wait to see the mac users' faces when they are told to enter something in the console :)

Re:What to do

[amicusNYCL]

Show your support for a model which not only works, but is actually being done correctly. Companies like Ubisoft and EA are great examples for how to completely ruin a distribution platform like this. Valve is, and has been for many years, an excellent example of how to do it right. This type of protection is no more "evil" than requiring the CD to be in the drive (that being said, I still refuse to purchase GTA4 even over Steam because of the additional DRM added by Rockstar). Show companies like Ubisoft and EA that you reject not the concept of online distribution, but their specific implementation of it, by supporting a company like Valve which is committed to a good experience for its customers. Just as companies who make terrible decisions against their customers deserve to be boycotted, companies who prioritize a good customer experience also deserve to be rewarded.

In other words, help Valve prove that Linux is a viable market for games, and that even free software folks are willing to pay for high-quality games. It will give companies like Ubisoft a lot to think about.

Painful

[drdaz]

I'd been looking forward to this for a while now. Having installed I find out that Steam doesn't support case-sensitive file systems.

Color me disappointed.

Their 'solution' is here:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8601-RYPX-5789

*Sighs*

Re:Painful

[Blakey Rat]

OS X (which is a certified Unix, for whatever that matters) creates case-insensitive filesystems by default. You have to go out of your way to make a case-sensitive one.

This is because Apple, like all right-thinking people, realizes how stupid and hard-to-use a case-sensitive filesystem is. (Debate below. :)

Re:Painful

[flink]

Heck, I'm not sure I've ever *seen* a case-insensitive filesystem on any UNIX-like OS.

OS X's HFS+ filesystem is case insensitive. It's case preserving, like NTFS.

$ echo bar > FOO.txt
$ cat foo.txt
bar
$ ls *.txt
FOO.txt

Re:Painful

[Blakey Rat]

Apple's HFS has always been case insensitive, back to 1984. This is only an issue because, since OS X is based on Unix, a certain (tiny) subset of people want to use it "the Unix way". Real Mac users (meaning: have been using a Mac longer than 5 years) wouldn't, in a million years, go out of their way to format a drive as case sensitive.

Re:Painful

[Anonymous Coward]

Case-sensitive filesystems may be sane for PROGRAMMERS, but they're not sane for USERS.

As a user, I couldn't care less about how hard it is for you to deal with it. I'm not a machine, I don't want to start thinking like one just because the programmer working a layer or two beneath me can't figure out a way to make it work for people that think like humans.

MS and Apple have no problem doing it, and their systems are just as multi-language as any Linux release.

Re:why buy WoG through Steam, instead of NOT throu

[Tei]

I give you some reasons:
  - You already trust the Steam shop. This is important for people nervaous about his credit card details
  - You have a centralized location to re-download. If you move to another computer (or OS), you just click to download again
  - If you have savegames on your Mac, Netbook, PC, ..these savegames follow you around. You can start playing on the netbook, continue on the Mac and finish on the PC.

Re:What to do

[Amouth]

Steam really has matured to a very nice product.

I personally like using it as i don't have to keep track of all my install CD's .. and i can have them installed on my laptop and desktop.. remove as i need space/

even for the net only and DRM part - Steam has put out notices in the past that in the event that the steam network was to go away they would push an update removing the need to auth on the client so that it wouldn't stop working..

now many people can argue that they say that but woln't do it BUT out of the different publishers and networks Steam seems to be the only one actually doing GOOD work - and i have YET to see them re-nig on something, and there for will give them the benefit of the doubt and my money - until they give me a reason not to.

Re:My Question

[slimjim8094]

Yes. Just like they're doing for Mac.

Valve doesn't screw their customers.

TF2 is NOT available today

[slimjim8094]

The summary is wrong. Team Fortress 2 will NOT be available today. It'll most likely be out next Wednesday.

In fact, it doesn't even show up in the list of owned games.

Re:and my big question is

[ninjacheeseburger]

The answer is yes amazingly. If you own the game you can play it on any platform that supports it.

Re:for your convenience, the URL they didn't give

[BitZtream]

WHY THE HELL DO EDITORS APPROVE POSTS LIKE THIS WITHOUT A GOD DAMN URL TO THE IMPORTANT BITS.

For fucks sake, it takes your users to actually post the important parts of the story slashdot, come on.

User driven content is one thing, slashvertising for some other site that doesn't even have the information your users care about is just retarded.

Thank you FooAtWFU for providing the one bit of information I actually cared about (And joe_bruin below for the free portal linkage)

Re:What to do

[Sancho]

They can still take away access to your legally purchased games. This is actually one of the most unreasonable DRM schemes in existence.

Spoken by someone who is waiting to hear if they disabled his account, if his account got hacked, or what, since he's unable to log in with the new client.

Re:What to do

[Monkeedude1212]

Don't get me wrong, I like Valve, and I support Valve, I buy most of my games through Valve, but it erks me when people proclaim Valve's DRM Scheme as "How to do it right".

The only reason its the right way of distributing is because they haven't abused it for DRM purposes. One person can share a steam account as much as one can copy a CD. Multiple people can even play online should it be a non-valve game. They've tied their own titles into Steam so well that their DRM is tight for Multiplayer Valve Titles. Not that thats a bad thing, gotta protect their games and all.

I've committed to them because, as you say, they deliver a good customer experience.

But it is still completely within their power to take away every game you've purchased through Steam. When you use Steam, you agree to the EULA, which basically states that you are not buying the game, you are purchasing a license through Valve. Valve may at any time at their discretion close your steam account, or stop their servers, with no obligation to deliver you a working copy of the game. This has happened to severe hackers on their more popular titles, such as Counter Strike and Team Fortress 2.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, though I like and support Valve's online distribution method, and Valve as a whole, their implementation does leave one paranoid, since you can lose hundreds of dollars worth of games at the sole discretion of someone else.

Should something happen to cause new management at Valve, their system is set up perfectly to screw you over worse than game you could buy in store. Just saying.

Re:What to do

[vux984]

One person can share a steam account as much as one can copy a CD. Multiple people can even play online should it be a non-valve game.

I'm not worried about copying a CD, but i do like being able to move them from PC to PC. After I finished portal, I'd like to *give* it to my brother. But unlike a normal game, that's not possible. Either I give him my whole steam account (which is against the ToS), share it with him (which is against the ToS), or create a separate steam account for each steam game i buy (which makes steam a hassle, is frowned upon by valve, and may even be against the ToS, and then give him that... which is against the ToS)...

Steam kills the right of transfer and resale. They do it by claiming you are entering into a perpetual rental agreement instead of a sale in the fine print. (Despite advertising that you can "buy" games.)

I'd rather just get a CD.

I don't want to live in a world where the rights of property ownership have been subverted by making all purchases perpetual rental agreements with onerous terms and conditions. How long before you go into a store and buy a pair of ice skates with fineprint that you are entering into a rental agreement, and that you aren't allowed to lend anyone the skates, or give them away, or cover the sponsored logos, and that they've been implanted with sensors and rfid tracking technology to enable them to enforce these rules... and you aren't allowed to tamper with it... not because of a DMCA... but simply because its just a rental after all. You don't even really own them.

Re:for your convenience, the URL they didn't give

[pyster]

You will be able to spot the mac users a month from know as they all scream the cake is a lie randomly.

Re:What to do

[Smelly Jeffrey]

and i have YET to see them re-nig on something

The word you are looking for is renege.

Re:MS Buyout

[MachineShedFred]

Or, according to the interview with Gabe Newell available on Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

RPS: I have a friend (an idiot) who is determined that in six months Valve will be owned by either Microsoft or EA

Gabe: Tell him that I’m not interested in buying either one of them.

Asked and answered.

Re:Case matters more than you might think

[Blakey Rat]

Case-insensitive filesystems already preserve whatever case you originally named the file as (on Macs: back to the original HFS in 1984.) This is already a completely solved problem.

Nice try, though.