Valve throws it's weight behind Vulkan.

You answered nothing and then contradicted yourself. You previously said there were 1526 games on Steam, but now it is 2,000.

No, somebody else said there were 1526 games. That was not me. There are over 1500 Linux games on Steam and over 2300 games for Mac.

I presented a challenge of 100 games that the core consumer with purchasing power (will pay $50/game) would consider purchasing that is available on SteamOS/Linux. Without that core consumer base it is not a viable business model and all you did is go on the defense and attack with inaccurate information instead of build an argument.

The point I made (plainly) was that OpenGL is being used in games -- a lot of games. I made no comments about the viability of Steam Machines or Linux or anything like that. I pointed out that it's a myth that OpenGL is not used in games, and that Vulkan will likely just be the next iteration.

And don't say, "but but but i don't like those games!" Who cares. They're games that millions upon millions of people play and have ridiculous sales figures. To say that $50/game is the only viable business model is just incorrect.
 
No, somebody else said there were 1526 games. That was not me. There are over 1500 Linux games on Steam and over 2300 games for Mac.



The point I made (plainly) was that OpenGL is being used in games -- a lot of games. I made no comments about the viability of Steam Machines or Linux or anything like that. I pointed out that it's a myth that OpenGL is not used in games, and that Vulkan will likely just be the next iteration.

And don't say, "but but but i don't like those games!" Who cares. They're games that millions upon millions of people play and have ridiculous sales figures. To say that $50/game is the only viable business model is just incorrect.

What I was saying that when development costs are getting to the point of lunacy for AAA games, $50/game is the only viable business model. To think differently is no understanding of the most basic principles of finance. And these games are not being developed for OpenGL for a reason!

Sure the OpenGL Indie crowd can easy be profitable with a lower price tag, lower dev costs, micro transactions, etc. but being profitable and a profit generator for a multi billion organization are two totally different things. I get that you are OK with playing Indie games, but they are Indie for a reason - the people spending the most money in the industry aren't consuming that product!! For F's sake, why is this a difficult concept to understand??
 
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With a game list so small, why not just run steam on Windows where everything works? I don't get the point of it to be honest. Have a PC boot up and auto start the steam interface. What is the advantage to SteamOS rather than just doing that?
 
Faster time-to-desktop, little-to-no background services running. There are disadvantages too, so it's not for everyone, but it's the same with consoles. Each has advantages and disadvantages.
 
With a game list so small, why not just run steam on Windows where everything works? I don't get the point of it to be honest. Have a PC boot up and auto start the steam interface. What is the advantage to SteamOS rather than just doing that?

It's free.
 
What I was saying that when development costs are getting to the point of lunacy for AAA games, $50/game is the only viable business model. To think differently is no understanding of the most basic principles of finance. And these games are not being developed for OpenGL for a reason!

Sure the OpenGL Indie crowd can easy be profitable with a lower price tag, lower dev costs, micro transactions, etc. but being profitable and a profit generator for a multi billion organization are two totally different things. I get that you are OK with playing Indie games, but they are Indie for a reason - the people spending the most money in the industry aren't consuming that product!! For F's sake, why is this a difficult concept to understand??

It's not even about indie games. I guess maybe Angry Birds is an indie game, but so what and why is it dismissed? I recognize that it's not an impressive game like BF4 (my example), but it's far more popular, played by far more people, has far, far, far more hours of play time logged, and probably made the devs a shitton more money. In what matter can it be dismissed as not competitive against your typical "AAA" title?

It would be dumb for a developer to not embrace Vulkan (or OGL). It gets you on so many more platforms. DX12 is Windows 10 only. It doesn't matter if you're EA or Rovio or Joe Schmoe, developing cross-platform just plain makes sense.
 
What I was saying that when development costs are getting to the point of lunacy for AAA games, $50/game is the only viable business model. To think differently is no understanding of the most basic principles of finance. And these games are not being developed for OpenGL for a reason!

Sure the OpenGL Indie crowd can easy be profitable with a lower price tag, lower dev costs, micro transactions, etc. but being profitable and a profit generator for a multi billion organization are two totally different things. I get that you are OK with playing Indie games, but they are Indie for a reason - the people spending the most money in the industry aren't consuming that product!! For F's sake, why is this a difficult concept to understand??

Let's say you develop a AAA game for XB1, PS4 and Windows. I would think you would at least want some kind of cut-down, smaller version of the game on mobile platforms too. Just something to help get your brand out there to other groups of customers. Make it $5 for a chapter of play or something. Throw in pay DLC. Anything to get it out there. It just makes sense. And if you develop your game with open technologies from the get-go, you don't have to worry about spending trillions to port from one platform to another.

That's another reason why the consoles are idiotic: they're locked-down proprietary piles of crap. Every PC gamer should be supporting the idea of Steam Machines -- even if they believe they won't be successful -- as a way of undermining the closed consoles. If SMs ever become the console of preference, then the PC becomes the primary platform target for devs, since it's the same tech.
 
It's not even about indie games. I guess maybe Angry Birds is an indie game, but so what and why is it dismissed? I recognize that it's not an impressive game like BF4 (my example), but it's far more popular, played by far more people, has far, far, far more hours of play time logged, and probably made the devs a shitton more money. In what matter can it be dismissed as not competitive against your typical "AAA" title?

It would be dumb for a developer to not embrace Vulkan (or OGL). It gets you on so many more platforms. DX12 is Windows 10 only. It doesn't matter if you're EA or Rovio or Joe Schmoe, developing cross-platform just plain makes sense.

Well DX12 is also on Xbone.

Again you aren't getting the concept. Yes Rovio made a lot of money off Angry birds, through the avenues I just said - low price, micro transactions, low dev costs. Why is this so difficult to understand? You can't develop an AAA game for all cross platform or it would be Angry Birds - platform limitations exist!
 
Let's say you develop a AAA game for XB1, PS4 and Windows. I would think you would at least want some kind of cut-down, smaller version of the game on mobile platforms too. Just something to help get your brand out there to other groups of customers. Make it $5 for a chapter of play or something. Throw in pay DLC. Anything to get it out there. It just makes sense. And if you develop your game with open technologies from the get-go, you don't have to worry about spending trillions to port from one platform to another.

That's another reason why the consoles are idiotic: they're locked-down proprietary piles of crap. Every PC gamer should be supporting the idea of Steam Machines -- even if they believe they won't be successful -- as a way of undermining the closed consoles. If SMs ever become the console of preference, then the PC becomes the primary platform target for devs, since it's the same tech.

Well DX12 is also on Xbone.

Your argument that every gamer should support a Steam Machine is idiotic. It's the same as a console. You are just using Steam's DRM instead of Sony's closed system or DX12 in the example of Xbox, and if you think that dev's aren't paying steam to list their wares you are oblivious to reality.

Too much Steam kool-aid being passed around.
 
On the bright side, you can play on your PC--can't do that with many PS4/XBone games, and the ones you can you have to buy for both the console and PC. :/
 
Anything that runs on SteamOS will also run on regular distros of Linux, if you think modern Linux distros are in someway inferior to Windows or OSX you're terribly mistaken.
Actually mouse handling on Linux is quite shitty, windows by far handles mice the best mac and linux are trash in that regard. It's something steamOS actually would want to take care of if they care calling it the "gaming" linux distro.
 
With a game list so small, why not just run steam on Windows where everything works? I don't get the point of it to be honest. Have a PC boot up and auto start the steam interface. What is the advantage to SteamOS rather than just doing that?

The purpose of Steam OS is to provide an accessible Linux distro that is customized primarily for gaming. It aims to be accessible to anyone so you don't have to be a Linux system admin just to operate one.

In open source OS, the aim is never to have one ultimate OS that is the best above all. There are many Linux distro out there that are targeted at different kind of users. Steam OS is just another Linux distro, it's not some new OS Valve is trying to sell.

It is also not meant to stop you from using Windows. But how it does differ is that it's design for the living room, in addition to being a gaming OS. So it's interface are all geared towards that. It's not meant to be a productive OS. Similar to how when you purchase a console, you purchase it for gaming only, not for any productive purposes. It doesn't devalue your console just because it's not productive, because that wasn't it's purpose.

So if you are happy with your Windows gaming PC, by all means use that. Steam OS and Vulcan API are not there to drag you away from a Windows PC. It's there to provide an open source alternative.
 
Well DX12 is also on Xbone.

Again you aren't getting the concept. Yes Rovio made a lot of money off Angry birds, through the avenues I just said - low price, micro transactions, low dev costs. Why is this so difficult to understand? You can't develop an AAA game for all cross platform or it would be Angry Birds - platform limitations exist!

Your argument that every gamer should support a Steam Machine is idiotic. It's the same as a console. You are just using Steam's DRM instead of Sony's closed system or DX12 in the example of Xbox, and if you think that dev's aren't paying steam to list their wares you are oblivious to reality.

Too much Steam kool-aid being passed around.

What a trainwreck.

Actually mouse handling on Linux is quite shitty, windows by far handles mice the best mac and linux are trash in that regard. It's something steamOS actually would want to take care of if they care calling it the "gaming" linux distro.

Linux has raw mouse input just like Windows. Seriously people... at least try to come up with legit criticisms. Where do you guys even come up with this stuff? Is this from late-night shrooms or are you reading this somewhere else and regurgitating it?
 
Well DX12 is also on Xbone.

Your argument that every gamer should support a Steam Machine is idiotic. It's the same as a console. You are just using Steam's DRM instead of Sony's closed system or DX12 in the example of Xbox, and if you think that dev's aren't paying steam to list their wares you are oblivious to reality.

Too much Steam kool-aid being passed around.

Kool aid, or your inability to produce any tangible downside to an open API (Vulkan) or an open console OS (SteamOS) with silly if not intentionally trollish arguments like "you can't produce cross platform games cuz lol Angry Birds"?

If you're actually being serious, youre not making a whole lot of sense. A few facts: DRM on Steam is dictated by the title publisher, not Valve. It's a toggle in the store control panel when publishers upload their game. Proof? There are hundreds of DRM-free games on Steam that can be freely copied between PC's.

A good game storefront cannot exist without publishers - see GOG and it's barren lack of AAA's. SteamOS will also not lock you out of playing non-Steam games, nor lock out other competing stores from installation the way a xbox/ps would. DRM is ultimately a red herring and separate discussion because it's going to exist wherever you have AAA games.
 
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Kool aid, or your inability to produce any tangible downside to an open API (Vulkan) or an open console OS (SteamOS) with silly if not intentionally trollish arguments like "you can't produce cross platform games cuz lol Angry Birds"?

You're not making a whole lot of sense, no offense.

Reading back a few pages will help. Angry Birds really has nothing to do with the conversation other than hammering down how the actual market works and not the pie in the sky shit so many people think is realistic.

This was a direct response to whatever the hell jwcalla is trying vomit on the forums.
 
Kool aid, or your inability to produce any tangible downside to an open API (Vulkan) or an open console OS (SteamOS) with silly if not intentionally trollish arguments like "you can't produce cross platform games cuz lol Angry Birds"?

You're not making a whole lot of sense, no offense. Here are a few facts: DRM on Steam is dictated by the title publisher, not Valve. SteamOS will not lock you out of playing non-Steam games, nor lock out other competing stores from installation the way a xbox/ps would.

LOL for fucks sake. If you actually read my posts and not the fanboy responses to them attacking FACT and HISTORY, I would be all for Vulkan succeeding! What I am trying to point out is if you think of this logically it has VERY LITTLE CHANCE. I don't know how else I can communicate this - the fanboyism is so ingrained in some of you that you can't make a rational thought!

Oh and DRM isn't dictated by Steam? So you don't have to login to steam in some way to play any games you have loaded on it?? What are you on?

Edit: I responded twice to the same post because you were editing your though in the process.
 
It seems Vulkan will be successful on Android but not so much on PC and definitely not IOS/OSX since they have their Metal. With Windows 10 being free and MS likely pushing dollars towards DX 12, Vulkan will probably stay a mobile API for the foreseeable future.
 
The purpose of Steam OS is to provide an accessible Linux distro that is customized primarily for gaming. It aims to be accessible to anyone so you don't have to be a Linux system admin just to operate one.

In open source OS, the aim is never to have one ultimate OS that is the best above all. There are many Linux distro out there that are targeted at different kind of users. Steam OS is just another Linux distro, it's not some new OS Valve is trying to sell.

It is also not meant to stop you from using Windows. But how it does differ is that it's design for the living room, in addition to being a gaming OS. So it's interface are all geared towards that. It's not meant to be a productive OS. Similar to how when you purchase a console, you purchase it for gaming only, not for any productive purposes. It doesn't devalue your console just because it's not productive, because that wasn't it's purpose.

So if you are happy with your Windows gaming PC, by all means use that. Steam OS and Vulcan API are not there to drag you away from a Windows PC. It's there to provide an open source alternative.


If it's free I guess why not give it a shot... Could always setup windows.
 
LOL for fucks sake. If you actually read my posts and not the fanboy responses to them attacking FACT and HISTORY, I would be all for Vulkan succeeding! What I am trying to point out is if you think of this logically it has VERY LITTLE CHANCE. I don't know how else I can communicate this - the fanboyism is so ingrained in some of you that you can't make a rational thought!

Gotcha. It's got very little chance. To which I'd wonder, if its such a nonfactor and its fate already determined by status quo, why raise your systolic BP and waste energy multi-replying about how insignificant and unlikely it is to succeed? In other words who cares at that point.

Oh and DRM isn't dictated by Steam? So you don't have to login to steam in some way to play any games you have loaded on it?? What are you on?

No. Did you see the list of DRM-free Steam games I linked? Here it is again. The point is Valve doesn't mandate DRM on titles as a requirement for publishing in the store. Thus many games are launcher-free once installed and you don't ever have to login to Steam again. If you still consider having to log in to anything for the initial download as "DRM", then by that logic GOG is also DRM.
 
Actually mouse handling on Linux is quite shitty, windows by far handles mice the best mac and linux are trash in that regard. It's something steamOS actually would want to take care of if they care calling it the "gaming" linux distro.

No mouse issues on any of the distro's I've run, TBH I have no idea what your on about here. Perhaps I'm not hardcore enough, but I can fire up a session of CS:GO and it feels identical to the same game on my Windows PC with the exception that I find that it actually runs better under Linux.
 
No mouse issues on any of the distro's I've run, TBH I have no idea what your on about here. Perhaps I'm not hardcore enough, but I can fire up a session of CS:GO and it feels identical to the same game on my Windows PC with the exception that I find that it actually runs better under Linux.
If you can't notice the positive acceleration with desktop and in game especially concerning cs:go while using linux chances are you're just not sensitive enough to it. What's strange is that you don't notice that sensitivity in linux is pretty much double that of windows.
 
How clouded does one's judgment have to be that you vocally support lower framerates and useless touchpads? It boggles the mind that such people claim to be members of the PC Master Race. Valve is a drug that makes people stupid.

the fanboyism is so ingrained in some of you that you can't make a rational thought!
You're wasting your time. Valve fanboys are perhaps the most delusional gamers on the Internet. With Steam Machine/SteamOS, you're combining them with the religion of Linux, creating possibly the most insufferable people on planet Earth.

In their minds, consumers will be willing to pay more money for a console that has lower performance, less functionality and fewer titles than a comparable device. Why would a buyer go with a SteamOS console rather than an Xbone or gaming PC? Because Indie games. And because MS is Satan.

You will never convince the Cult of Valve that Microsoft hatred and Crusader Kings are not valid selling points when it comes to mainstream consumers. They're so self-absorbed they believe that all gamers are just like them - filled with seething anger at MS and thoroughly jaded with any AAA game.
 
I wouldn't buy a Steam console, but there will undoubtedly be people who do, either because they're uneducated, or couldn't bother to build their own, or are rich and can afford to pay for an objectively sweet looking PC to put in their living room and play games on. Not all Steam boxen use Linux, btw. ;)
And then there's this, which lets you stream games from your main computer to your living room, if you don't want a full-blown PC sitting in your entertainment center and already have a good gaming computer in your office.

@Semantics: You can disable mouse accel in xorg (if it's even enabled by default--don't think it is), not sure about DE specific settings because I've never messed with that stuff.
 
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So Crusty_Juggler, links us again to those SteamOS Vulkan benchmarks that you have seen. Just asking because i have only seen the dota2 on intel, the nvidia test on desktop and tegra, some powervr tests and the Valve +Thirdparty debugging tool but no actual benchmark.
 
If you can't notice the positive acceleration with desktop and in game especially concerning cs:go while using linux chances are you're just not sensitive enough to it. What's strange is that you don't notice that sensitivity in linux is pretty much double that of windows.

Granted there are obviously differences at default settings, in such a situation I adjust mouse settings and tweak/disable acceleration until the game feels as equal as possible between platforms.

You're wasting your time. Valve fanboys are perhaps the most delusional gamers on the Internet. With Steam Machine/SteamOS, you're combining them with the religion of Linux, creating possibly the most insufferable people on planet Earth.

In their minds, consumers will be willing to pay more money for a console that has lower performance, less functionality and fewer titles than a comparable device. Why would a buyer go with a SteamOS console rather than an Xbone or gaming PC? Because Indie games. And because MS is Satan.

You will never convince the Cult of Valve that Microsoft hatred and Crusader Kings are not valid selling points when it comes to mainstream consumers. They're so self-absorbed they believe that all gamers are just like them - filled with seething anger at MS and thoroughly jaded with any AAA game.

I think you're focusing a little too much on the idea of a Steam console/SteamOS and not taking into consideration the advantages of a common API to be used across a diverse number of platforms including free/open source solutions.
 
Granted there are obviously differences at default settings, in such a situation I adjust mouse settings and tweak/disable acceleration until the game feels as equal as possible between platforms.

Oh in particular to linux plus cs:go the acceleration cannot be turned off you can change device settings, remove the desktop and change the ingame settings you'd get some acceleration still it's minor but it's there and i'm pretty sure it's dependent on framrate.
 
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Oh in particular to linux plus cs:go the acceleration cannot be you can device settings, remove the desktop and change the ingame settings you'd get some acceleration still it's minor but it's there and i'm pretty sure it's dependent on framrate.

Disabling composting helps, I have it disabled all the time. Honestly, as stated, perhaps I'm not hardcore enough, but once tweaked the game feels near identical on both platforms to me.
 
Disabling composting helps, I have it disabled all the time. Honestly, as stated, perhaps I'm not hardcore enough, but once tweaked the game feels near identical on both platforms to me.
True it's the kind of acceleration most people don't but i just point it out because this doesn't exist in the windows version of cs:go.
 
So Crusty_Juggler, links us again to those SteamOS Vulkan benchmarks that you have seen. Just asking because i have only seen the dota2 on intel, the nvidia test on desktop and tegra, some powervr tests and the Valve +Thirdparty debugging tool but no actual benchmark.

You're wasting your time. You never saw a guy expend more energy trying convince everyone how little he cares. Endless, circular "This sucks! I don't care about it! <insert strawman>!" Utter comedy.

But it's worth it to reply arrogantly enough that it occupies time at his cubicle with his systolic BP probably pushing 200 getting angry and plotting his next brilliant attack.
 
You're wasting your time. You never saw a guy expend more energy trying convince everyone how little he cares. Endless, circular "This sucks! I don't care about it! <insert strawman>!" Utter comedy.

But it's worth it to reply arrogantly enough that it occupies time at his cubicle with his systolic BP probably pushing 200 getting angry and plotting his next brilliant attack.

I've never seen anyone expel so much energy trying to highlight how more choice can somehow be a bad thing that's doomed for failure?!
 
I see one advantage using Win 10 - you get to play not only DX12, DX11, OpenGL titles but also Vulcan future titles.

On Linux - OpenGL/Vulcan

Steambox - what I've have seen is rather expensive, if limited to Linux it will also be limited to the number of new games that are coming out. Consoles are like 1/2 the price with way more current/new games, hardware gadgets and support etc. Plus every store you go to usually has something for them. Steam machine????

Steam machine for the living room at double the price of a console will be a very hard sell. With more limited game assets even more so. Plus the hardware is all over the place making one game play different from others having a steam machine which means conflicts and the need for frequent game updates like on the PC.

Add on top of that VR with a very limited audience or market requiring some hefty hardware, Valve may have bitten off way more then they can chew. To get the price down on a design like a steam machine you will need a standard design which you can mass produce, not every combination of hardware stuffed into yet all sorts of boxes.

If I was a developer what would I aim for hardware wise on a Steam Machine? A cheaper PC hardware level? So basically ports from ports is what the Steam Machine will see and some great Indie Teams as well. I do not see this changing for the next 5 years. If enough gaming hardware with Linux and more importantly people willing to pay for software :) on Linux is available it will attract the bigger developers.
 
Steambox - what I've have seen is rather expensive, if limited to Linux it will also be limited to the number of new games that are coming out.

Alienware sells a Steam Box ("Console") that runs Windows. Gigabyte's Brix will "support" Windows (don't know if that means it'll ship with that or not). OriginPC's Omega runs Windows.

...I don't think you'll have to worry about that.
 
I don't think Sony will with PS4, maybe PS5.

Sony doesn't need to replace the PS4's proprietary API with Vulkan, only add it. It would be trivial to create the Vulkan driver because it's fixed hardware. I see no downsides, and only upsides for Sony:

- Unlike Microsoft, Sony doesn't have to care which API developers use if performance is similar; because unlike Microsoft, Sony doesn't have the burden of simultaneously marketing a desktop OS and trying to create lock-in with their API.

- Vulkan on PS4 opens a door to getting more games on the console that might not otherwise happen if a developer doesn't have time/resources to invest in learning Sony's proprietary API. It also accelerates porting existing games from other platforms. Sony's firstparty devs & friends, NaughtyDog etc can continue to use the proprietary API per usual. Net effect = more PS4 games = hurts Xbox.

- Vulkan on PS4 also helps accelerate the industry move away from Microsoft's proprietary API (hurts Xbox)

No matter which way you slice it, Sony adding Vulkan support to PS4 hurts their main competition and costs them nothing. This is one of the big reasons you'll see closet xbox fans & MSFT shareholders waving their arms around every time Vulkan comes up and insisting "it's a big fail". They're just trying to protect their investment, understandably so.
 
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Sony doesn't need to replace the PS4's proprietary API with Vulkan, only add it. It would be trivial to create the Vulkan driver because it's fixed hardware. I see no downsides, and only upsides for Sony:

- Unlike Microsoft, Sony doesn't have to care which API developers use if performance is similar; because unlike Microsoft, Sony doesn't have the burden of simultaneously marketing a desktop OS and trying to create lock-in with their API.

- Vulkan on PS4 opens a door to getting more games on the console that might not otherwise happen if a developer doesn't have time/resources to invest in learning Sony's proprietary API. It also accelerates porting existing games from other platforms. Sony's firstparty devs & friends, NaughtyDog etc can continue to use the proprietary API per usual. Net effect = more PS4 games = hurts Xbox.

- Vulkan on PS4 also helps accelerate the industry move away from Microsoft's proprietary API (hurts Xbox)

No matter which way you slice it, Sony adding Vulkan support to PS4 hurts their main competition and costs them nothing. This is one of the big reasons you'll see closet xbox fans & MSFT shareholders waving their arms around every time Vulkan comes up and insisting "it's a big fail". They're just trying to protect their investment, understandably so.


I don't know what goes on with console game qualifications, but if Sony is checking every game before it's published on their platform, then it may be too much of a hassle for them to write new technical documentation on how the API should be applied for the PS4 as well as training their qualification staff. That's just my guess on why it may not come to PS4 and probably will on PS5. I'm sure someone that works on these kinds of things would know more. But as for MS, I don't really think it needs to worry about Vulkan on the desktop since I still see most big devs sticking to DX 12, especially w/MS dollars flowing their way. Plus with Windows 10 being a free upgrade for Windows 7/8 users means it will gain traction really fast (I used it for both my notebook and desktop).
 
For me personally, DX12 is literally the one and only saving grace of Win 10. If DX12 doesn't offer massive improvement (30%+ minimum) over the DX11 path, I won't "upgrade" to Win 10 even if Microsoft paid me to do so.
 
How long are you willing to wait for that? I'd be shocked if we see that kind of improvement immediately. It takes time to build up the kind of institutional knowledge. Games that exist in both versions (the kind of game you can compare) will probably be more optimized under DX11 for at least a year, given that most of the market won't have DX12 cards.
 
Alienware sells a Steam Box ("Console") that runs Windows. Gigabyte's Brix will "support" Windows (don't know if that means it'll ship with that or not). OriginPC's Omega runs Windows.

...I don't think you'll have to worry about that.

The cheapest one is $449, I3, 4gb ram, 500mb hard drive and comes with Windows 8.1 and Xbox 360 controller. That is not encouraging. I also take it has a modified 750Ti in it as well, not clear on that respect. Anything decent is way more in cost yet has the same lower end graphics card. I just don't see this selling well compared to consoles but at least it is another option out there which some may find what they want.

Using a controller to control Win 8.1 :(, meaning you probably need a mouse and not forget about a keyboard as well. I have had Win 8/8.1 on our HDTV set with a 7970, FX8350 cpu (left over parts), this is nothing new and one could build a way better system for the prices they are asking. Win 8/8.1 is just not a very good couch operating system even with a wireless keyboard with a touchpad.
 
I would say MS has money and support to provide for DX12 to developers. Two very successful platforms Windows and Xbox One.

The good thing about Vulkan is that its platform open.

So it really comes down to what target audience the developer / publisher is aiming for, and what long term goals they have. A lot of developers would be safe only developing for MS as we already know.
If they supported OS X, I'd see an advantage for this API. I know there are die hard users, but at 1-2% market share Linux is irrelevant (especially since only a fraction of those users are gamers)
Android has a much larger base, but the question is are games for the PC the same as games you play at home. The phone games I play are very different from home games.
 
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