No longer will anyone be able to say "there's just no market for gaming on Linux." After years of patient waiting and an endless stream of rumors, anyone can now have Steam on Linux. Following several months of beta testing, Valve gave the open source world a Valentine's gift yesterday by fully releasing the Steam for Linux client.
The officially offered version that was also used in the beta was designed for Ubuntu and is available in the Ubuntu Software Center. However, if you're a Fedora user, you can use the Steam yum repo created and maintained by Tom Callaway.
To celebrate the release, more than 50 Linux titles are 50-75% off through Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. PST. If you've never played it, I highly recommend World of Goo, available for $2.49. World of Goo has previously been available directly for Linux and sold remarkably well. So if you've already plowed through that delightful physics-based game, you have quite a few choices, from highly popular titles like Half-Life ($2.49) and Counter-Strike: Source ($4.99) to Space Pirates and Zombies ($2.49), a space combat game abbreviated SPAZ.
For a limited time, Steam users who play Team Fortress 2 on Linux (one of the first games made available, even to beta testers) will get a free Tux penguin mascot as an in-game tradeable item.
Despite initial reports that the Linux version would not include Big Picture mode, which enhances steam for use with a game controller and television, it is indeed a part of the package, making gaming even easier for Linux users.
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