Download Steam for Ubuntu, get some free Team Fortress 2 goodies.
Nearly ten years after launching on the PC and more than two years after coming to Mac, Steam is now available on Linux, meaning there’s almost no excuse for not using Valve’s digital distribution service. To celebrate, Steam is doing what it does best: offering steep discounts on a slew of games so that Linux users can start building their game libraries right away.
In a press release, Valve stated that Steam was best experienced on Ubuntu, “the most popular distribution of Linux used by millions of people globally and known for its well-designed, easy-to-use customer experience.” According to David Pitkin, Director of Consumer Applications at Ubuntu developer Canonical, “The introduction of Steam to Ubuntu demonstrates growing demand for open systems from gamers and game developers… We expect a growing number of game developers to include Ubuntu among their target platforms.” Now that Steam is available for Linux operating systems, Pitkin hopes to see an influx of AAA games designed for Ubuntu.
The Steam for Linux client also includes Big Picture mode, so Linux gamers can play PC games from the comfort of their couches. Additionally, those who download free-to-play Team Fortress 2 on Linux will get some bonus in-game goodies. Now that Steam for Linux is real, what will the service come to next? Graphing calculators? My old Atari Lynx? The possibilities are endless.
