Steam: Beta Linux Install
Hey.
Any Linux Gamers might be interested in this, but apparently Steam has released a beta install for Linux. Look at the following link:
HTML Code:
http://store.steampowered.com/about/?snr=1_4_4__11
I have always been curious to know when it comes to steam, if once steam is ported to a new operating system, does that mean its entirely up to steam what games are also ported to that new operating system? E.g Steam is like a emulation wrapper for games, i.e. game developers build there games for use in steam and then steam decides what platform they will run on (Mac, Windows, Linux etc)
I have always held the assumption like most software that steam is just a host platform. So while steam may port it's platform to Linux, it is still up to the developers of a said game to port that game to Linux. In which case even if steam can run on Linux not all games will be able to run even if they are installed via steam as the game itself doesn't support Linux.
To me though the first way sounds more logical. If game developers only have to develop for the steam platform, thats a lot less work for them. Especially if steam provides all the underlying operating system requirements due to being easily portable (i.e. like Java). As game developers still get the royalties and money from their games but they aren't limited by platform and don't have to make 3 different versions of the same game just to get that larger market on the various platforms.
This doesn't include game developers that have their games on steam but still provide an independent installs like Call of Duty or Civilisation etc.
