I'll wait until they iron out the bugs and give it a shot

Where the Steam client goes is going to be an issue regardless of what OS we're using. It's definitely going to be something we have to face down and beat when/if it goes that far. But in the mean time, why not let them push for an Open Source operating system to be a feasable gaming option. They're big enough to make it happen.

I'd rather be battling DRM on Linux than Windows. At least it's a step in the right direction, even if we have a fight on hands later. It's a fight we'll have regardless.

It isn't the DRM fight I worry about so much as the distribution point fight.

Valve is using their DRM to leverage themselves as a game distributor. Why buy from someone else if you have to go to Steam anyway?

Used to be that people who bought hardcopy games never had to give Valve a second thought, but by marketing their DRM to developers they eliminated many of the advantages that hard copy retailers had over them (don't need internet...well, yes, you do. I have a physical copy if I need to reinstall...well, yes, but it is missing key files you must get from Valve so they have to approve). And in case you haven't noticed hard copies are getting harder and harder to come by.

Other sources of digital downloads now face the uphill battle of 'we sell you the game but you must then log onto our competitor anyway because the game publisher requires it'. How many of those sources will eventually just give up and leave the market to Valve?

As both sides continue to give Valve more and more leverage in the marketplace they gain more power over both consumers and producers in that marketplace. There is nothing in their previous behavior that indicates to me that the SteamOS isn't intended to be yet another lever for them, or that they will do anything with their increased marketing power other than abuse it.

But wait! They say their philosophy prevents them from wanting any kind of exclusivity. Surely we can count on their noble philosophy, right?

All very good points, but again, it's a problem whatever system you're on. If Steam don't let you use any Linux build other than SteamOS the whole idea will fall flat on its face. I certainly won't be interested. If that is the case we're still having to fight on Windows turf.

If they do allow other Linux builds though, it's the same fight, but if we win it'll leave us with a better operating system to use.

Personally I'm all up for Steam opening that door, even if it means stabbing them in the back later. As for discs and DRM? There's always the old activate, uninstall DRM, crack, and archive approach we've had for years.

Variety is nice.

Don't trust Valve as far as I can throw them though.

Path laid out plain as day...the market for Linux ports is small. Distributors by and large can't be bothered, so publishers who use a variety of distributors for their primary release just use Valve for distributing their Linux ports and other distributors hardly complain. Linux users are pleased with having more Linux ports so they don't complain that the only place to get them is Steam.

If Linux expands and becomes a significant market share distributors that try to challenge Steam as sole source have to overcome their entrenched position with consumers as well as their 'must see us anyway' DRM. More publishers see the expanding Linux market, and also recognize their access to that market is totally controlled by Valve. They sign on for distribution/DRM packages that only strengthen Steam's monopoly position.

Smart Linux users are appalled, but most Linux users just add their voices to the 'join the modern era of gaming and embrace Steam because Valve loves gamers' chorus. By the time stabbing them in the back becomes obviously necessary you may not have a long enough knife to do any damage.

Look around its not hard to see PC gaming is DEAD! Just look at how many FPS players Ghosts and BF4 has, heck look at the most popular FPS on Steam TF2 only 40k players when Live has over a million Ghost players on at once. Heck look at any game on console compared to PC gaming and console always has more players.

I have fought the good fight (I have been a PC gamer since 1998) and I hate to say it I am throwing in the towel and buying a PS4. I am a PC gamer at heart so I will be playing at a computer desk using a monitor.

Ever since Micor$oft invented the orignal Xbox PC gaming has been going down hill to the point where today's PC gaming is a joke. I highly doubt that Valve is going to gain any ground with their Steam OS. Less and less games get ported to PC every year. What are they going to sell people a hand full of AAA games and indie games?

I would say... I can agree with this to a point...

I'm personally a mixed gamer myself though (Mostly PC and Xbox 360 now)... Never was a pure PC player.

I have to disagree..

PC gaming is still large and quite alive, it has just taken a Different turn then Console gaming (most of the big PC games are large FTP Multiplayer games, like League of Legends, Planetside 2, World of Tanks, Smite, etc) (and have you looked at Payday 2? much larger player-base on Steam compared to consoles atm)..

actually, if you hang around gaming news sites (Like escapist, or Kotaku), earlier when the PS4 and XBOX-One were announced, several game journalists were predicting "PC Gaming is going to make a major comeback"..

PC gaming is far from dead.. actually, its making a comeback, as with the next-gen consoles forcing features no one really wants (not to mention now the Xbox-One and PS4 make you subscribe for online play), more console gamers are making the hop over to the PC

Thing is... Good bit of PC stuff had been doing the same. Most of the games I want on the PC I will never get just cause of Valve's Steam crap...

Amen.

I would love to see PC make a comeback but facts are facts. Look at all of the AAA games being made for Xbox One and PS4 vs what we get on PC. Developers are shunning PC gamers. Look at the quality of the games coming to PC vs consoles. COD Ghost and BF4 run like crap on PC but work fine on the consoles. Heck even look at the game sales far more copies are being sold on xbox and playstation of every game then on PC.

P.S. There are more COD Xbox players playing COD right now then all of the people playing games on steam right now.

Why are you using FPS multiplayer as your metric for gamers? Not everyone even likes FPS, let alone online multiplayer FPSes. Some people like story and content.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-01-04-steam-shoots-over-5-million-concurrent-users-mark. And that's just online players, not counting people playing Skyrim in offline mode.

see, your problem is you are using CoD as an example, it is more popular on consoles due to the kind of people who play CoD..

and BF4 works perfectly fine on my PC, you just need a machine that can handle it..
and the only PC games we actually get sales projections for are the ones sold at stores (Steam, Origin, UPlay, and even GoG rarely release data on digital sales) so your "consoles sell more games" argument can not stand as we do not have the full data to compare with..

and as for your final statement, tell me, how is it you know how many people are currently logged into Steam? saying "CoD has more players then all of Steam" is what we call "fabricated information"

I am not using FPS as a mark, I said there are more players playing COD right on on Xbox then all games being played on steam. I am sure if you added up all games being played on Xbox at peak time it would surpass the 5 million mark.

P.S. I am talking about in game players not people with the steam app running in the background.

http://steamcommunity.com/ there are only 875k people in game right now, across all games.

FPS is console prime territory in my opinion, be it single or multi-player, and a lot of the 'games are only made for consoles and a lot aren't even ported to PC' idea is true...for FPS games.

Flip side is that strategy gaming is a PC platform world and probably always will be.

On the third hand (as the moties would say) there are game genres that are mixed platform and probably always will be...action RPGs for example. I'd guess that gamesas will always put out a PC port...usually a poor one. Reason being they know that modders will immediately fix the port for them to a great extent anyway.

Look at any gamesas product. Take the 'great new features' that they point out repeatedly in the marketing. Compare them to the most downloaded mods for their previous release. They aren't stealing the code, but the popularity of mods tells them what people want in the next game and they provide it...sometimes better than the modders did (which is to be expected given the difference in resources) and sometimes not (which is to be expected because...well, experience says to just expect it).

you realize not everyone plays game on steam with an Internet Connection going? due to many people having limits to how much data their ISP allows them per month?
alot of people when they open up Steam go to that little button in the top right that says "Go Offline".. aka "Offline mode"

EDIT: err, top left

EDIT 2: and even then, not all people who are playing PC games atm are using Steam, some are using Origin, some Uplay, others have none of those services due to being from GoG, while others have launchers of their own (which are the popular ones, League of Legends, Planetside 2, Smite, World of Tanks)..

in point, PC gaming is far more popular than you care to admit

Since when does nearly a million players playing simultaneously on one of many digital distribution platforms mean PC gaming is dead?

Like me.

Same can be said for the xbox not everyone plays online. 77 million 360's not every 360 player plays online either. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/77-million-xbox-360s-sold/1100-6407243/

Obviously PC gaming isn't dead, but if you compare PC in its hay day to today. PC gaming is pretty dead now.

Edit: I can remember endless Quake and Half life servers, heck even COD 4 had a ton of servers and that wasn't that long ago!

1) your point?
2) I wonder how many of those 360s were "repurchases".. I know my Nephew had to buy 3 360s simply because he got the Red Ring of Death (which can actually be fixed pretty easily with a soldering iron)..

So how many people were playing simultaneously in its "hay day"?

It's growing... That doesn't sound like dead to me.

It's pretty obvious you're big into FPS games. Mainstream FPS games like CoD are obviously much more popular on consoles. Overall PC gaming is growing. http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/30/5045830/steam-65-million-active-accounts-6-million-concurrent-users. You're just extrapolating from outdated and skewed data.

Note: This post is brought to you by someone who ISN'T a PC gamer (or really any type of gamer) and who doesn't use Steam.

That made me me sad... (Mostly cause I don't trust Valve and any day now they could 'update' Steam and make all those people sad)...