How can people possibly get this confused? It is in the name. Steam*OS*. But apparently some people still think that it's a streaming service because they somehow skipped down the official Steam article on the subject to selectively read a portion about its streaming abilities. Fear not, I'm here to provide some clarity.
First of all, SteamOS is an operating system. I know, it sounds more like a breakfast cereal than an operating system going by the name, but I assure you that it is an operating system.
"As we’ve been working on bringing Steam to the living room, we’ve come to the conclusion that the
environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself.
SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen"
--Steampowered.com
You see, it is an operating system built around steam with a Linux architecture. An operating system operates a system. Operating systems don't require operating systems to run them, thus it is foolish to think that another OS is require to run SteamOS. Yet lots of people think this is the case, which brings me to point two...
SteamOS can stream games from PC and MAC. But wait, wait! Don't let me lose you now! It plays games without a PC or MAC, too. It can play Linux games on its own AND stream games from PC/MAC.
"You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too"
--Steampowered.com
"Also" is a synonym for "Too" It means that both the first thing said and the thing just said both apply. Thus, the first thing, playing Linux games, and the second, streaming PC/MAC games, both are true!
Please take a 5 minute break from reading to process that difficult information before moving on.
Understand now that SteamOS is an OS that plays games both natively and through streaming? Good! Let's move on!
"But that has no advantages whatsoever!" you say, still not having read the article on Steampowered.com, probably still under the impression that SteamOS is only a streaming service. But it indeed has some interesting advantages. For one, that streaming capability that is a feature of SteamOS and not its only function. Instead of lugging your desktop around if you want to play games in another room, you can play them on the device running SteamOS.
With a less obtrusive OS, you can potentially get better performance out of your game than Windows running on the same hardware. And the fact that gamers are getting an OS that could potentially be a good alternative to being forced to play on Windows is great. Especially since it's free.
Sure, some people will still need Windows for specific software, but shockingly, that doesn't apply to everyone just because it applies to yourself. Possibly not even the majority, since most people use computers primarily for email and web browsing and even their non-windows phones do that these days.
You would think that everyone would understand these simple concepts, since it is all laid out on Steam's website in one easy to read page: http://store.steampowered.c...
But I'm not here to judge; just inform you, you illiterate little...!! *ahem*
All 21 Classic Games are playable for a limited time 🎮
CCG writes - "WiZmans World Re;Try has some really interesting things going for it, and some cool mechanics and visuals that few other JRPGs do. It is clear some real care and effort went into this game. However, between the sheer amount of inevitable, unavoidable grinding; the lack of depth to most of the combat; the just-okay music and sound effects; and the moral issues that really make me question how this game got away with an E10+ rating, it's difficult for me to recommend. This is definitely a "play with a podcast or Netflix binge-session on in the background" type of game, even if you are in love with the things that make this one stand out. If that's your cup of tea, then WiZman's World Re;Try will provide 35+ hours of it for a relatively reasonable cost."
Saros builds on its predecessor, but can it evolve the formula without losing the intensity that made it compelling?
I just hope Valve knows what they're trying to shuffle their way into.
Steam is an amazing service as it is. But I wonder how many people would be inclined to actually use a full-on OS that's dedicated entirely to Steam-powered gaming. It's like a game-console PC, almost...A hybrid, perhaps?
Nonetheless - I'm really interested to see how this is going to play out.
I'll admit I was one of those people who thought the only thing this OS could do was stream games. My fault for just taking Engadget's word for it(their original article only mention streaming games) and then commenting rather than going to the Steam site itself in the first place. A mistake I will not make a second time.
If big name publishers, developers, AMD and Nvidia provide support, gaming on Linux could become a viable option.
Hope it fails.
i found this blog most amusing
It really is kind of the fault of Valve for the little confusion. I first thought it was a streaming service/device thingy, to be technical, on the first read through.
I think the part that is throwing people off is at first "OS" makes sense what it is. But then they go on to talk about it only by mentioning living room machine, and the talk about streaming games. This gives people the impression it would just stream to tv or have a medium running steamOS specifically for that purpose.
I just reread the site and the only mention they had for SteamOS was with living room machine. So no mention of PC their unless I missed it. Main point Valve needs to be more clear on this, but that will probably be helped by the upcoming announcements. When are the next two again?