14 DAY TRIAL // Nvidia explained the extent of its involvement in Valve's SteamOS project and has outlined its expectations from the new operating system.
Valve has just published some of the preliminary hardware configurations for the upcoming Steam Machines, which will be running the SteamOS Linux-based operating system.
Even if Valve has yet to mention whether SteamOS will be something built from scratch or it's using another, already well-established distribution, such as Ubuntu.
An Nvidia representative, a member of the Linux team at Valve, has provided some interesting answers regarding the collaboration between the two platforms.
“When the SteamOS and Steam Machine projects first got going at Valve, everyone from NVIDIA showed a ton of excitement and wanted to get involved. It was a very collaborative effort as folks just started tackling issues such as driver support, porting ’NVIDIA’s content library, and more,” said Mike Sartain from Nvidia.
Nvidia has said no to the opportunity to provide GPUs for the new PlayStation, which is slated to arrive in just a couple of months, citing different interests for the company. It never said what those interests were, but Steam Machines seems like the perfect reason.
“It has the potential to redefine the living room experience. Also, both companies are very interested in collecting gamer feedback during pre-production, including them in the design process. It’s a chance to innovate in a way that doesn’t come along too often,” Sartain also said .
It seems that, for now, Nvidia and Valve are just dipping their toes and are trying to ascertain what the perfect combination of hardware is to provide the optimal experience for the SteamOS gamers.
The Steam Machines have been announced by Valve as its first attempt at building a PC/console that features a Linux-based SteamOS, which is capable of running both Linux, Windows, and Mac Games, and which should provide fierce competition for the consoles in the living room.