Steam for Linux to see a 1,000-person limited beta in October

Valve announced Steam for Linux not too long ago, where they told the world that they were experiencing better frame rate results under the open-source OS compared to Windows, in Left 4 Dead 2 on OpenGL. This was impressive, but the public haven’t seen much since.

Now the company is teasing that there will be an internal beta of Steam for Linux sometime next week, after which we’ll see an external beta open up to 1,000 lucky gamers sometime next month, if all goes to plan. Valve’s private external beta will include support for Ubuntu 12.04 and above, and will include access to just a single game – most likely the company’s Left 4 Dead 2.

Over the next coming of weeks, Valve will open up a sign-up page for the external beta, where participants will be selected based on their PC configuration so that the company can test a wide variety of hardware.

This is an interesting step for the company, as it would provide the ground work to their own platform – Steam Box, the rumored system that has been getting lots of fan fare, but the company has constantly denied it. We know they’re working on wearable computing, so imagine a world where 2013 includes a Linux-powered Steam Box being announced, at the same time as a completely next-gen wearable computing device from Valve,  and Half-Life 3.

Ok, probably don’t imagine that, because you might get your hopes up – I just did.

Source.