At the same time, AMD has done numerous improvements to the fglrx driver and released extensive open documentation for Radeon HD family.
This is a good thing, but they are still way behind nVidia on performance and stability. Just look in the Steam support forums to see...
Other than The Pirate Bay...
You have to go online to get to Pirate Bay, before you even have the game
How about we return to playing outside or something?
I can't. Since all the new laptops have shinny screens instead of matt, there is no was to see the damn thing in the sun!
We are calm, this is just a giant fuck-you to the people who want open drivers for good reasons. I get that there are all sorts of stupid (and Microsoft-driven apparently) contractual reasons why NVidia won't find it easy to open-source their drivers. This doesn't mean I can't be fucking disappointed about Valve choosing short-term thinking over long-term.
Actually they chose performance over purity. And I agree, since I made the same choice. nVidia drivers are more stable than AMD, and the card perform better on Linux.
Besides, their business is selling closed source software. Not a big surprise that it does not offend them the way it does you...
I wouldn't consider drivers a serious issue. If Valve goes to AMD/ATI and says 'We'll buy a hundred thousand chips for the first production run, with potential sales of fifteen million to follow' I'm sure improved driver support would quickly follow.
Actually, nVidia has been actively working with them for over a year now fixing some significant driver bugs. And they haven't bought anything yet.
Nvidia hardware isn't really clearly superior to AMD.. they rotate on who has the best hardware at various price points.
But sure, the point is that this hardware should do a specific job for gamers at a specific price point, if Nvidia GPU's are the best bet for that in this product price segment there's no reason to be an ideological crusader about it. The point is to be able to play games, not make the average couch potato start writing driver code on his TV.
Not on Linux. nVidia consistently outperforms AMD, and is significantly more stable. And they have been actively working with Valve for quite some time to fix some show-stopping driver bugs.
So, an offline mode presumes I'm ever going to give it an on-line mode, which I'm not.
Take disc out of cellophane, put in console, play disc. No network. Ever. Need for a network connection at any time in the life of the console is a deal breaker for me.
You know, old school.
But the real old school requires an accoustic coupler, or at least a serial cable! You know... Pre Apple...
I do get your point, but it looks like soon none of the platforms will support that. Other than The Pirate Bay...
"The PS3 is basically a purpose built PC" That runs on a radicaly different cpu/gpu architechture compared to x86.
Well, seeing as how all of the major operating systems (Other than apple) run on multiple cpu archtectures now, what is your point? The PS3 can still run Linux, just not dual boot.
There haven't been any AAA titles ported outside of Valve's own titles.
So there havn't been any games other than the games that were?
They have lots of AAA titles and more all the time, and they have lots of indie games and more all the time.
You had me sold on this theory, right up until you said "warrant".
Then I knew it was bullshit.
Like our government feels the need to recognize the legal process anymore.
You know that he's going to have a trial, right? And that the FBI won't want him to get off because there was no warrant for the evidence the prosecution presents in that trial, right? There might very well be unconstitutional monitoring in this process, but to bring it to court and get a conviction, a warrant is necessary paperwork.
That's right. Each defendant is entitled to a fair and impartial conviction.
"You promised me those men would be decently treated."
"They were decently treated. They were decently fed, decently clothed, and then they were decently shot. Those men are common outlaws, nothing more."
The Outlaw Jose Wales
Old curmudgeons like me who want to play video games offline and without needing a network connection won't want this.
Steam Offline Mode
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-agcb-2555
Consoles aren't for geeks. They're for average folks. Folks who don't want to have to upgrade stuff. This Steam box is basically a PC that runs an embedded (Linux) OS. It'll still require upgrades, compatibility issues, inconsistent performance, etc.
And Sony never has to upgrade the console. Like when they did it and took away the ability to dual boot Linux. The PS3 is basically a purpose built PC that runs a locked down Linux, and still requires upgrades, and has compatability issues with early titles. (PS2) The Xbox is basically a purpose built PC that runs a locked down Windows, and still requires upgrades, and has compatability issues with early titles. Your phone is basically a purpose built PC that runs a locked down Linux, and still requires upgrades, and has compatability issues with early apps.
Are you seeing a theme here?
Thus spake the master programmer: "Time for you to leave." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"
