Higby/Devs: PS2 Linux + Steam Q's

[Novacane]

Originally Posted by zomg

Said like a true believer of lord Linus the Christ of computing If it is lacking the support needed, then I would say that is a level where it is not better than Windows. Of course you have the right to your opinion of it

HAHA

I was a die-hard Windows fanboi until I tried out Ubuntu recently. Now it's on all the machines in my house other than my gaming rig. Seamless compatibility between the two OSs and just as capable for everything except running games but, it boots faster and is far easier to get it to do what you want, if you know how to do it. For just using the internet and word processing, like what most people use their computer for, it's no different, as far as ease of use goes, than windows.

It isn't that *nix systems are lacking support, it's that developers find it easier (because that is what most of them are taught to use) to use windows libraries rather than finding open source or cross-platform propriety ones that do the same job and can be compiled against more than one OS.

However, Direct3D is miles ahead of OpenGL as far as bells an whistles go. And everyone knows eye-candy is very important to the modern AAA title.

[Trafalgar]

There's also that ATI and Intel don't seem to much like OpenGL, and ATI doesn't even seem to care how well OpenGL works with its cards. Either that or it must have almost no resources devoted to it.

[Novacane]

Originally Posted by Trafalgar

There's also that ATI and Intel don't seem to much like OpenGL, and ATI doesn't even seem to care how well OpenGL works with its cards. Either that or it must have almost no resources devoted to it.

I don't know about ATI but NVIDIA works with developers to find out what rendering processes they use most and optimizes their drivers to do those tasks faster (and probably vise verse too)

When I used ATI, I always used 3rd party drivers but, that was back in 2004 so I don't know if any still exist since they were acquired by AMD. The 3rd party drivers were always more stable and almost always faster than the stock ones you got from the ATI site. I've been using NVIDIA ever since which is why I can't really say anything about it other than that.

If it doesn't run on windows and it has video hardware acceleration, it probably uses OpenGL so I'd say that if they don't have resources for optimizing it, they are going to fall behind.

[Dagron]

Being at the mercy of one company is never a good thing, be it MS or Valve.

For instance: MS can do whatever it wants and people are forced to swallow it. I'm not saying linux is the answer to all our problems, but if there was another decent gaming friendly OS out there (mac may be slowly getting there), us users would see more love because the companies would forever be trying to win us over as opposed to what happens today when they basically just say "release the new OS with whatever crap we want, it's not like those suckers have much choice... and while we're at it, also charge whatever we want, mwahahahaha".

That said, i do support the idea of a person "storing" every game they own into one place like Steam, and i'd hate to have 50 steam-like platforms in my PC, but you have to agree that some competition would make things a litte better for the consumers.
However i have to point out that so far i still haven't had any reasons to complain about Steam in that regard... their frequent offering of deals (probably because while Steam is owned by one company, it's theoretically open to all others) makes me feel more cherished as a loyal customer than any other company has made me feel so far.

Originally Posted by CuddlyChud

... since its f2p and download, really Steam would just be for advertising, in which case maybe the money SOE would have to pay to steam would be better spent with just direct advertisement.

Would it be better? We don't know how much more or less expensive would using Steam for advertisement be, compared to how much direct advertisement would cost to reach as many people. You have to take into account that steam is very popular.

Originally Posted by CuddlyChud

And Guild Wars 1 is on Steam but apparently Guild Wars 2 won't be. All I'm saying is that Planetside 2 being on Steam isn't a sure thing and there may or may not be good reasons for it not being on Steam.

Just because someone else is doing it, it doesn't necessarily means it's a good idea for them.
But true, there may or may not be good reasons, we don't know what they might be.



Also, QFT:

Originally Posted by kaffis

There's no reason why each developer/distributor *cannot* emulate Steam.

There are several reasons why doing so would not be likely to garner them success.

A few of the shortest, punchiest, and most memorable ones, in no particular order, are:
1. People like having their games in one place, rather than spread across fifty accounts.
2. Many people are (rightfully) wary of creating new accounts with various services, particularly when there's a transfer of money involved. The prevalence of data breaching activities and the increased media profile of such events over the last few years has lead to people being more information/identity/security conscious.
3. Making a quality digital distribution platform is hard. Anybody can set up an FTP site. Making a client and service that offer value to the customer is much more involved, and everybody's playing catchup to Valve in that department.
4. Lots of people have very warm, gushy feelings about Valve as a company. Many game distributors do not. Few game developers have the resources to cut out the distributor and develop their own complex platform (see #3 above)

Originally Posted by Furber

I like the idea of it being advertised on Steam just because Steam is so popular. They've actually done a better job advertising the game so far than I thought they would have, Steam would push it even further into the public spotlight.

Originally Posted by Bags

Everyone on the internet hates [Origin]. I wouldn't have gotten BF3 through origin if it was on steam.

[Sensator]

Competition is good for consumers like us, so be glad Origin succeeded--it means that Valve will have to keep up their game.

As for PS2 on Steam? I'd say it's very likely.

[Pella]

Microsoft and steam make things convenient for online gamers.

Unless someone else comes along with a better idea. Developers and gamers will ride the wave.

[indirect]

Originally Posted by CuddlyChud

And Guild Wars 1 is on Steam but apparently Guild Wars 2 won't be. All I'm saying is that Planetside 2 being on Steam isn't a sure thing and there may or may not be good reasons for it not being on Steam.

Guild Wars 2 has NEVER been noted to not be coming to Steam.

[Sabot]

As long as they _NEVER_ make some deal with EA regarding distrubution I'll be happy tbh. But I don't think EA will want to touch a F2P game with 10 foot pliers. Greedy sob's *mumble mumble*...

And yes, as someone pointed out... remember Steam when it first launched? It was waaay worse than Origin. You regularly wanted to stab whoever came up with it.... But now it's absolutely great and I think it'd be very good PR to have the game on steam.

[Nemises]

apparently Steams policy on after market sales / micro transactions is a bit grabby.

Why should SOE share the profits just to use Steam anyway?

look at Tribes:ascend...has it's own integrated client / logon / management / auto patcher and shop...and that way they arent restricted by Steams grabby grabbyness and patch deployment shenanigans..

Steams alleged grabbyness / policies are just my interpretation of other conversations I've seen on various game forums, and are not based on any hard research on my part so..feel free to dis if incorrect..

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by zomg

Still, I feel it was blown completely out of proportion by a few loudmouths. And internet loves a good lynching.

Indeed it was, especially considering that no EULA/TOS can supersede actual laws and regulations.
Personally I would much rather have all DLC/social game services be completely optional requirements, but them's the breaks as it were.

I have no idea how Steam handle their cuts with F2P games. I don't see Valve taking a cut out of ingame items bought via stationcash, so I would guess Sony will simply be paying Valve to allow PS2 to be distributed through Steam.

[TerranTitan]

I'd like it to be on Steam, I'd love it if the game used VAC Anti Cheat. PS1 suffered from a lack of advertising, yes, but it was also 2003. Most people didn't have computers then, and the internet especially. Now every tom, dick, and harry has a PC and internet.

PS2 will be alot more popular. If it got on Steam, the growth would be 5x higher than if it were stand alone. That's just my .02 cents.

[Stew]

I hope the game will be fully integrated with steam with will make the game more popular because as we can see many people dont even know planetside 2 even existe i always have to do some marketing stuff to let people know the game is actually awesome and will be out soon !

Almost every body i play whith exept my few ps1 vets friends dont even know the game exist at all !

So having steam to make it even more popular is the best moove they can make !

[Stew]

Originally Posted by TerranTitan

I'd like it to be on Steam, I'd love it if the game used VAC Anti Cheat. PS1 suffered from a lack of advertising, yes, but it was also 2003. Most people didn't have computers then, and the internet especially. Now every tom, dick, and harry has a PC and internet.

PS2 will be alot more popular. If it got on Steam, the growth would be 5x higher than if it were stand alone. That's just my .02 cents.

Agree VAC»punk buster

[ChipMHazard]

Originally Posted by Stew

Agree VAC»punk buster

Good thing that PS2 will be using neither.

[Rexdezi]

Originally Posted by TerranTitan

I'd like it to be on Steam, I'd love it if the game used VAC Anti Cheat. PS1 suffered from a lack of advertising, yes, but it was also 2003. Most people didn't have computers then, and the internet especially. Now every tom, dick, and harry has a PC and internet.

PS2 will be alot more popular. If it got on Steam, the growth would be 5x higher than if it were stand alone. That's just my .02 cents.

thats your 5000th of a cent? I thought it was 2 cents personally but if you want to be stingy and have only .02 of a cent then sure if you like....