News - Ubuntu arrives on tablets, it’s “tastefully tactile”.

[HEXUS]

It will be made available for Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 owners on Thursday.

Read more.

[Noxvayl]

Can you install Steam on these versions of Ubuntu? If you can then I might seriously consider ditching Android for Ubuntu on my Nexus 7. The prospect of playing some of my indie Steam games on my tablet is very appealing, perhaps this is why Valve have been working so hard on Linux support.

[Wozza63]

Can you install Steam on these versions of Ubuntu? If you can then I might seriously consider ditching Android for Ubuntu on my Nexus 7. The prospect of playing some of my indie Steam games on my tablet is very appealing, perhaps this is why Valve have been working so hard on Linux support.

damn i never thought of that, i hope it does, it seems like steam will run when its in full desktop mode, although games may be hit and miss due to the ARM chips, but certainly interesting ideas there

[Brewster0101]

The more I read , the more I like...

[GazP172]

I thought that but then its not x86 so Steam Games wont work.

[TheAnimus]

Can you install Steam on these versions of Ubuntu? If you can then I might seriously consider ditching Android for Ubuntu on my Nexus 7. The prospect of playing some of my indie Steam games on my tablet is very appealing, perhaps this is why Valve have been working so hard on Linux support.

Is steam better for "indie tablet games on arm" than Play store, or Apple store, or Windows Store?

I dunno why steam gets such a love-in, people are jumping up and down over the no re-selling on PS4, yet steam gets a free pass.

[directhex]

Can you install Steam on these versions of Ubuntu? If you can then I might seriously consider ditching Android for Ubuntu on my Nexus 7. The prospect of playing some of my indie Steam games on my tablet is very appealing, perhaps this is why Valve have been working so hard on Linux support.

Steam is for i386.

If anyone ever ships a "High-end Ubuntu enterprise tablet" with x86, then yes. If they ship only ARM Cortex A15 tablets, then no.

[aidanjt]

Can you install Steam on these versions of Ubuntu? If you can then I might seriously consider ditching Android for Ubuntu on my Nexus 7. The prospect of playing some of my indie Steam games on my tablet is very appealing, perhaps this is why Valve have been working so hard on Linux support.

Steam only runs on x86 CPUs for the time-being.

[Hicks12]

Is steam better for "indie tablet games on arm" than Play store, or Apple store, or Windows Store?

I dunno why steam gets such a love-in, people are jumping up and down over the no re-selling on PS4, yet steam gets a free pass.

I know TA I have no idea why it gets so much praise, the service from Valve is pretty poor as the steam client is buggy slow and sometimes just crashes now add to the DRM side of it then its damn right nasty, one rercent experience was Aliens Colonial marines, terrible game that gearbox clearly made up (created demos that had good gfx, end game had none) and I couldnt sell it because it was on steam.

Greenmangaming is a site that has the right idea with trade-ins but unfortunately its limited when alot of the games are steamwork games so are untradeable .

[wyte_w0lf]

Looks very nice. Hopefully when im due for a new phone on contract ubuntu will fully support more than just nexus products. ( i want a note phablet)

[Noxvayl]

Is steam better for "indie tablet games on arm" than Play store, or Apple store, or Windows Store?

I dunno why steam gets such a love-in, people are jumping up and down over the no re-selling on PS4, yet steam gets a free pass.

I wouldn't compare them for buying new games but if I can use games I already own on Steam for all my devices then yes. What I am interested in is the benefit of purchasing once and playing anywhere, any time and on any device. If Steam provides that when I pay £3-5 per game then I have every right to be exceedingly happy about it despite the flaws of the system. I most certainly will not pay for a game separately in each of the stores you mentioned just to get access to a game I own on a different device. I own World of Goo on Steam and I won't pay for it on Google Play, Windows Store or Apple Store just to play it on a tablet or phone.

As for the reselling of games and DRM, I can deal with those issues at only £3-5 per game, I refuse to use Steam if I could only buy at full retail price or even 25% of retail price; I won't spend more than £10 on a game from Steam and in the 5 years that I have used Steam I haven't exceeded that limit. I'll purchase titles for £10-30 from gog.com only as that is the only store to offer games with acceptable conditions for the price publishers want me to pay.

To summarise: if games have strings attached I refuse to buy them unless they cost less than £10, without strings attached I'll happily pay their asking price. Just because I'm happy about a service doesn't mean I'm happy with everything the service does, ie DRM and lack of resale.

[ET3D]

Looks impressive. I'd love to know if it supports windows. While tablet functionality is nice, being able to open a small note over another app and such is something that's really missing. Android has some such apps, but it would be nice to have a tablet OS which supports this without hassles.

As for playing indie games, iOS and Android has quite a few of them. On my Nexus 7 I have Avadon, Waking Mars, Swords & Sworcery and others (mainly from indie bundles). Also Broken Sword 1, Plants vs. Zombies, Ur-Quan Masters, ScummVM and DosBox Turbo to run those old GOG games.

[Noxvayl]

I know TA I have no idea why it gets so much praise, the service from Valve is pretty poor as the steam client is buggy slow and sometimes just crashes now add to the DRM side of it then its damn right nasty, one rercent experience was Aliens Colonial marines, terrible game that gearbox clearly made up (created demos that had good gfx, end game had none) and I couldnt sell it because it was on steam.

Greenmangaming is a site that has the right idea with trade-ins but unfortunately its limited when alot of the games are steamwork games so are untradeable .

TotalBiscuit was also furious about that game yet he points out that you can't blame the publishers or game distribution platforms for it, customers are actively encouraging such behaviour by purchasing games without waiting for reviews.

[nacasatu]

I dunno why steam gets such a love-in, people are jumping up and down over the no re-selling on PS4, yet steam gets a free pass.

Stem is an accepted form of DRM among PC gamers, it's the best of a bad lot really. To be honest, it's not even thought of as a DRM as it's not very restrictive at all and it actually gives more benefits than it might hold back.
The ability to have your games available across various PC's, albeit with only one allowed login live at a time, and all your games there ready and waiting to download and play, along with save game progress on most of them - it's very appealing. With them adding support for Mac's along with now Linux (and possibly tablets, who knows) it becomes even more appealing. Buy once, play on various platforms (depending on game), all legit and above board with everything held there on your account should you wish to download and play on something new.

The re-selling thing became a console phenomenon whereas PC gamers just accepted really that this was the best way forward as bricks and mortar shops had already turned there back on PC gamers while Valve pushed hard forward to make Steam work and keep the support for PC gaming going. It's nice to see them grow now on to Linux and hopefully they'll make the push on to tablets if it allows.
The only thing keeping me with Windows is the games I play. If more were available on Linux I wouldn't bother with Windows at all as I'd have no need for it as a home user who doesn't bother with any office suite.
Personally I think Steam is great and I feel it saved PC gaming when everyone else in the industry was walking away.

Anyway, Ubuntu for tablets looks very good. Pity I can't legit buy a Nexus in Ireland, the place were they're posted from if you buy from the UK :/

[nacasatu]

Stem is an accepted form of DRM among PC gamers

I meant STEAM not Stem, I dunno what Stem is :/ stupid fat fingers...

[nacasatu]

...the steam client is buggy slow and sometimes just crashes now add to the DRM side of it then its damn right nasty, one rercent experience was Aliens Colonial marines, terrible game that gearbox clearly made up (created demos that had good gfx, end game had none) and I couldnt sell it because it was on steam.

In all the years I've used Steam, the client has never once crashed and it's never been buggy either. It's always worked and worked well.
What DRM are you talking about though ? There has to be *something* there to stop piracy but all Steam does is tie the game you buy to your account and allow you login live once to play per machine you use Steam on. Actually if you just want to play the one player game on many games, you can set steam to offline mode and play it on one PC while you login live and online on another to play a different game, or the same one.
The only real DRM there is any third party DRM which some publishers insist on, even on Steam, and Valve have little control over that as it's not there DRM they're imposing.

Also, read reviews before you buy, don't get caught up in hype. Buyers remorse and all that.