Hasta La Gadget!

Valve has just rolled out a public beta version of SteamOS to the masse. Just in case you were wondering what the heck SteamOS is all about, it happens to be an open-sourced Linux-based operating system, and Valve claims that your experience with it would be most satisfying if you already happen to carry a decent amount of previous experience with the operating system prior to giving the public beta version a go.

SteamOS happens to be a derivative of Debian GNU/Linux. A little bit of history lesson here – SteamOS 1.0, obviously the first version that rolled out, is known as ‘alchemist’, where it will be based on the Debian ‘Wheezy’ (stable 7.1) distribution. Debian is also known to be one of the distributions of the Linux operating system, and Wheezy has been touted to be a current stable release of Debian. There are some major changes made to the public beta version of SteamOS, where among them include backported eglibc 2.17 from Debian testing, the inclusion of different third-party drivers and updated graphics stack, updated kernel tracking to the 3.10 longterm branch, and a custom graphics compositor designed to provide a seamless transition between Steam, its games and the SteamOS system overlay, among others.

Valve SteamOS Public Beta Version Released original content from Ubergizmo.

Following yesterday’s promise, gamers who don’t mind things a bit gritty can now head over to SteamDB and download the release of SteamOS. As anticipated, the release is a beta offering, and because of the operating system’s Linux underpinning, it is recommended only those who are familiar with the OS opt to download. The download […]

Earlier this year, Valve unveiled Steam Machines and its accompanying software, SteamOS, both of which would be Valve’s attempt to enter the living room space and compete with the likes of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo in the console wars. Valve expects the commercial Steam Machines to debut next year, but in the meantime they have announced that they will be shipping prototype Steam Machines to 300 selected beta participants, with the console and its accompanying accessories expected to leave the factory this coming Friday.

Now the good news is that if you weren’t selected to be a beta participant, you might be interested to learn that Valve will also be making the SteamOS available for download for everyone when the prototypes begin shipping out. However Valve cautions that this might not be for the faint hearted, or rather the inexperienced Linux user. “SteamOS will be made available when the prototype hardware ships. It will be downloadable by individual users and commercial OEMs. (But unless you’re an intrepid Linux hacker already, we’re going to recommend that you wait until later in 2014 to try it out.)”

Either way if you’re interested in learning more about Valve’s living room efforts with the Steam Machines and SteamOS, Valve has promised that more information will be unveiled at CES come January 6^th 2014, so check back with us then for the details.

Steam Machines Shipping To 300 Beta Testers On December 13 original content from Ubergizmo.

Valve’s Steam has been a service many PC gamers have used on a daily, if not hourly, basis. Steam has some kind of big sale going on at nearly all times, and its Steam Mobile application has certainly made it harder for those of us not glued to our computers to ignore these sales. Things are only going to get harder as Valve has announced they’ve released some updates to its Steam Mobile for iOS app. (more…)

Valve’s Steam Mobile Receives iOS 7 Redesign, Other Improvements original content from Ubergizmo.

At the end of October, we brought to you news that Steam has over 65 million users now, so it is not surprising to hear about another milestone being achieved – that Steam has now managed to garner approximately 7 million plus users who are online concurrently. This is certainly a record to be proud of, considering how its previous best happened to be a high of 6.6 million users. Steam’s site did point out that it hit 7,190,578 concurrent users mid-morning Eastern Time on December 1, if you want to get all worked up over the details involved. This particular figure happens to be an indication on just how popular the Steam service is, in addition to its growth chart. Who knows, such an encouraging figure might see more and more developers work up an interest as well as appetite for the upcoming Steam Box gaming devices.

Just which is the most popular game over Steam to date? Apparently, it would be Dota 2, which should not arrive as a surprise. Dota 2 managed to touch a peak of 542,906 users simultaneously, while in second place would be Valve’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive that peaked at 93,905 concurrent users, which so happens to be quite a distance from the top spot. As for the other popular titles, those will include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Sid Meier’s Civilization V, and Football Manager 2013. Do you think that the recent Steam sale had something to do with the new peak achieved?

Steam Achieves 7 Million Plus Concurrent Users original content from Ubergizmo.