2014-02-26, 23:51
Here are my answers :
1) This would benefit valve's vision of the steambox, as well as providing more flexibility than on windows (see #6 : it would be possible to force the display used). Moreover, if the streaming option is implemented, this would allow to stream almost any game to any platform (provided there's an XBMC build for it) Imagine for example playing Skyrim on a raspberry pi... There are more and more games on Linux, and the operating system does provide a lot of tools to allow flexible communication between processes (I am thinking about dbus, but it's not the only one). Developer-wise, it's just better.
2) That's the point of streaming. Moreover, valve could implement "headless" streaming. Tins is possible on Linux, thanks to the X server (and, hopefully soon, Wayland). It might be possible on windows too, but I doubt it. Since everything is centered around the GUI, this one is far less modular :-). Headless streaming means you wouldn't see the game window on the server, so you can just keep on using your computer for almost everything else while the game is displayed on another computer.
3) The library is growing more and more. It's a chicken-and-egg problem : few users=>few games because of the restricted audience=>few games... Maybe it's time to jump in, and that's what valve did. 110 of my 275 games are supported on Linux. That's 40%. (I must admit I now almost exclusively buy Linux games, so this must be a bit overrated. Steam currently lists 338 Linux games over 2613 Windows ones, for 699 Mac ones : 13% Linux, 27% mac. This is just one year after the Linux beta, and there was already a big Windows-only game list). There is a real potential here, and Windows might not stand up for long, even if the tux OS has still a long way to go.
4) I don't know about RCB. Is this an add-on? The idea of shortcuts is a good one, but I think we can have a better integration, and more features.
EDIT : Figured out
About retroplayer, this is quite new for me too, I didn't see this one come (my studies are taking a lot of time). I remember reading about a game database somewhere, but I wouldn't swear it. I totally agree with you on the game database. This would allow more flexibility, and a more unified access to the content.
With that said, keep in mind that XBMC won't participate to this GSOC, so I will be unlikely to work on this during the summer. I will probably try to implement these features if I have time to do so, but this won't be a full time job.
1) This would benefit valve's vision of the steambox, as well as providing more flexibility than on windows (see #6 : it would be possible to force the display used). Moreover, if the streaming option is implemented, this would allow to stream almost any game to any platform (provided there's an XBMC build for it) Imagine for example playing Skyrim on a raspberry pi... There are more and more games on Linux, and the operating system does provide a lot of tools to allow flexible communication between processes (I am thinking about dbus, but it's not the only one). Developer-wise, it's just better.
2) That's the point of streaming. Moreover, valve could implement "headless" streaming. Tins is possible on Linux, thanks to the X server (and, hopefully soon, Wayland). It might be possible on windows too, but I doubt it. Since everything is centered around the GUI, this one is far less modular :-). Headless streaming means you wouldn't see the game window on the server, so you can just keep on using your computer for almost everything else while the game is displayed on another computer.
3) The library is growing more and more. It's a chicken-and-egg problem : few users=>few games because of the restricted audience=>few games... Maybe it's time to jump in, and that's what valve did. 110 of my 275 games are supported on Linux. That's 40%. (I must admit I now almost exclusively buy Linux games, so this must be a bit overrated. Steam currently lists 338 Linux games over 2613 Windows ones, for 699 Mac ones : 13% Linux, 27% mac. This is just one year after the Linux beta, and there was already a big Windows-only game list). There is a real potential here, and Windows might not stand up for long, even if the tux OS has still a long way to go.
4) I don't know about RCB. Is this an add-on? The idea of shortcuts is a good one, but I think we can have a better integration, and more features.
EDIT : Figured out
About retroplayer, this is quite new for me too, I didn't see this one come (my studies are taking a lot of time). I remember reading about a game database somewhere, but I wouldn't swear it. I totally agree with you on the game database. This would allow more flexibility, and a more unified access to the content.
With that said, keep in mind that XBMC won't participate to this GSOC, so I will be unlikely to work on this during the summer. I will probably try to implement these features if I have time to do so, but this won't be a full time job.
