Op Ed [Jun 08, 2015, 09:34 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Don't buy a Steam Machine - The Verge.
The official Steam Machines run SteamOS, which is basically Linux with Steam’s Big Picture Mode. Even though Valve is working to bring more games to Linux, most popular titles aren’t available for it yet, and there’s really no reliable way to predict which games will be supported in the future. Of the top 10 games you can buy on Steam right now, only one, the Fallout Classic Collection, works on SteamOS. There’s no Grand Theft Auto 5, or Skyrim, or DayZ. Hell, you can’t even play games that are compatible with Linux but aren’t on Steam, which includes Blizzard’s popular catalog. If you care about playing anything relatively new and popular, the Xbox One, PS4, Wii, and Windows-based PCs are all clearly superior options. And games aren’t the only compatibility problem. If Valve and HTC’s virtual reality headset is anything like the Oculus Rift, it’ll need powerful hardware, and it’s possible lower-end Steam Machines won’t support it.
Cutter wrote on Jun 8, 2015, 12:23:TheEmissary wrote on Jun 8, 2015, 12:08:
It seems like the author is missing the mark. You can install 3rd party software if you go in to desktop mode. Once there you can install the missing dependencies and packages just like any other linux distribution.
http://www.howtogeek.com/179883/how-to-use-the-steamos-desktop/
There are major AAA games coming out that support PC/Mac/Linux/SteamOS. The Back-catalog isn't really all that bad.
The entire point of this is to compete with consoles for ease-of-use for gamers who aren't PC savy so how would something like this possibly be of any benefit? It defeats the entire purpose of the machine to begin with. One way or the other you're still better off just buying a Windows based PC.
I was just mentioning the edge cases. You can support games that aren't "Steam supported". On Windows even you might occasionally have to manually install and also no different to how people may sideload apps on mobile platforms.
I am sure Valve if they have the desire they can solve the dependency issue for running non-steam linux games. Most package managers are really easy in terms of installing what you need to run the application. It can almost be automated or have dialog prompts no different to when you install Windows games with 5-10 Redist libraries (DX/OGL, VC++, etc).
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