Latest Comments

Quoting: operaActually one has Linux support indicated.

Right! "Spacious Skies" has.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I am not quite sure what a "legacy publisher" is. If you are referring to the companies currently releasing pretty much 100% of all AAA titles, then...yeah. That's the ones we want to release Linux games right now, no? Except you're happy getting more 8bit retro games looking like the stuff they released back in the mid 80s. Nothing wrong with (some of) them, mind you, but we have 2,500 of these already. What we need to grow as a gaming platform are games appealing to the mass market. "Oh look, Linux can do outdated graphics like we had 30 years ago!!!" isn't going to cut it.

As for these "legacy publishers", they will not change their internal processes for us 1% any time soon. They are used to making Windows games and that's what they will do for the foreseeable future. For the time being we need porting houses to get access to these games, like it or not. It's actually these porting houses that might be able to press middleware developers into providing a Linux port of the stuff that currently doesn't run in it. They ARE what's currently driving Linux game development. We got the major engines already. The battle these days is for the middleware. If you want "legacy publishers" to switch to cross-platform development, we need to become a serious gaming platform FIRST. We're not quite there yet.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: CorbenEven the Feral Radar is pretty empty (except for two upcoming mac only titles) at the moment.

Actually one has Linux support indicated.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: rambo1462i see 32-bit went from 2 to 4.
nice to know I am 25% of the 32-bit community

Ha! One of the 32 bit desperados! May I ask why you are using this?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I'm a little sad, I'm guessing I wasn't one of the first 1000 people, so I did not receive a key.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Kimyrielle

Quoting: Shmerl"Porting houses" can become a thing of the past. Serious studios will accumulate knowledge in house and do cross platform development themselves. Some already realize it (inXile for example). Others are only getting the idea. With wider adoption of cross platform engines, all this will be less of an issue.

One should think so, but look at who brought us pretty much ANY major title in 2016 not from Paradox Studios...

And look at what games the worked with - all from legacy publishers from the likes of WB and Square Enix. Those aren't ones you'd even expect to be interested in Linux ever. For me those releases weren't relevant - I didn't even play them because of DRM. But I agree, that they represent mass market and are popular, so they are major in that sense (which in my experience doesn't necessarily equal to major in artistic quality).

So the trend will likely to continue. Legacy publishers will keep their heads in the sand, and sometimes will use third party porters to release games for Linux, while others (innovative / progressive publishers and developers) are more likely to develop for Linux themselves. The number of later ones is increasing, same as scale of games that they produce. So I don't really worry about legacy publishers being left behind.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Shmerl"Porting houses" can become a thing of the past. Serious studios will accumulate knowledge in house and do cross platform development themselves. Some already realize it (inXile for example). Others are only getting the idea. With wider adoption of cross platform engines, all this will be less of an issue.

One should think so, but look at who brought us pretty much ANY major title in 2016 not from Paradox Studios...

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Darn, missed my chance at a key! I love finding and fixing issues for games. I hope the testing and the resulting updates go over well!

View this comment - View article - View full comments

"Porting houses" can become a thing of the past. Serious studios will accumulate knowledge in house and do cross platform development themselves. Some already realize it (inXile for example). Others are only getting the idea. With wider adoption of cross platform engines, all this will be less of an issue.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Ok, we all knew that Valve was pushing Linux to protect their business against Microsoft's obvious attempts to create an Apple-like monopoly on software distribution. There is nothing wrong with that. It did us good, despite they don't actually "love" Linux (Hint: Businesses love money more than anything).

I think Valve gave us the initial push to get us visible and viable as a gaming platform. And make no mistake - Microsoft is still dreaming of Windows Store being a monopoly one day. Valve cannot let us die, even if they are currently happy with the status quo of Linux being "just" a threat and nothing else. They will do what's necessary to keep us alive. Maybe not more. But certainly no less.

Right now, I am not worried about Valve. SteamOS is dead in the water, granted, but 2016 has also shown that SteamOS isn't really THAT necessary for Linux to thrive as a gaming platform. As a game developer, Valve has been a non-factor for a long, long time, so all I want from them at this point is supporting and expanding the Steam platform. And they seem to be committed to at least that part.

I am generally positive for 2017 to become a good, maybe even great year for Linux gaming. The ONE thing I am really worried about is basically every single AAA title on Linux relying on exactly ONE company to port them - Feral. And as awesome as Feral is, but monopolies are never a good thing (right, Microsoft?). No, in case you wonder, but I no longer consider Aspyr to be a serious Linux porting house. The one sore spot on an otherwise great Linux year 2016 was indeed the quiet demise of Aspyr as a Linux porting house. Sorry, but if a company needs an entire quarter year to asses the "feasibility" of porting a game (I am talking about Civ VI) to Linux, I can't take them for serious anymore. This is a laughable excuse for "Eh, we have no real interest in it". All source code is portable by definition, and a porting house worth their salt would know if any middleware components used for Civ VI would be available for Linux without even having to ask anyone.

If Valve really wanted to give us a push where it matters, then it would be encourage a few more larger publishers to start in-house porting their major releases. I realize that EA and Ubisoft would laugh them off, but how about bribing Rockstar or Bethesda a little?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Despite what Liam says in the article, honestly it looks like a prettier, less blocky, more complex, still blatantly obvious Minecraft clone/tribute. But that's not a bad thing. Minecraft is still extremely popular and I'm sure there are a lot of ways to improve on the formula. IMHO Microsoft's track record with improving stuff has been less than stellar lately, so someone else has to do it.

EDIT: This genre is not my cup of tea at all so I could very well have missed something that makes this game unique.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

'Member Jezzball? I 'member.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Looks pretty awesome, wouldn't mind playing it but I'm to cheap to spend $40 on it lol.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Thank you all for the comments. It sounds like there are 3 issues that people have run into:

[1] The game didn't install for Ehvis - [EDIT: all sorted now]

[2] The mouse issue - as reported by WorMzy - which may be caused by the "Windows Manager" being used. If anyone could provide feedback that would be great.

[3] Not starting at all (for Leopard) - not sure about this one. Can you provide any more info?

Also, thanks to your feedback, the following will definitely be added in a future update:

a) The VSync will be turned back on
b) Ability to remap keys
c) 4 Player Mode
d) Menu will be improved

DDG

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Thanks for the key! ^_^

View this comment - View article - View full comments

The next rung on the ladder to eventual reality simulations.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Played a couple of rounds L4D2 after reading it. Still a fun game. :)

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: Corben2016 was a great year for Linux gaming in general, with a lot of big releases. Some of them finally released after being announced a long time ago. But what's coming next? I'm missing big announcements to get hyped for and to look forward to.
There are some kickstarter projects like System Shock or Everspace, but that can't be all.

Quite a lot of good releases are coming out in 2017 (supposedly if they won't be delayed of course). Torment: Tides of Numenera, The Bard's Tale IV, Underworld Ascendant, System Shock (remake), State of Mind and etc. I don't think we'll be lacking good games.

And don't forget Yooka-Laylee!!!

i'm waiting this game : )

edit:
@Shmerl
My feel is negative, because all is slow ( i understand the industry always was with microsoft, change to linux can be slow )

so many games for linux are launched month more later than windows and well...i'm not sure about if steam are working hard...or only it has been a touch of attention to microsoft.

PS:sorry if my level on english is not the best....i'm not native english speaker

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Corben2016 was a great year for Linux gaming in general, with a lot of big releases. Some of them finally released after being announced a long time ago. But what's coming next? I'm missing big announcements to get hyped for and to look forward to.
There are some kickstarter projects like System Shock or Everspace, but that can't be all.

Quite a lot of good releases are coming out in 2017 (supposedly if they won't be delayed of course). Torment: Tides of Numenera, The Bard's Tale IV, Underworld Ascendant, System Shock (remake), State of Mind and etc. I don't think we'll be lacking good games.

Quoting: Corbenmy feel is negative @Shmerl

Why so? I might feel negative, when studios which started releasing for Linux would stop. That happened a few times in the past - CD Projekt Red, Larian (who supposedly don't even have Linux developers in house anymore and didn't include Linux version in crowdfunding for Divinity: Original Sin 2). But I think those are the minority. Most are continuing, and new developers start releasing for Linux in addition.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Corben

QuoteThey just need to keep spending the resources to keep their in-house Linux expertise in a healthy state.

This little word "just" has such a big meaning...
I'm afraid, now that Microsoft has picked up DirectX again, improved Windows 10 as a gaming platform (with new features probably coming with the next big update), Linux is losing in the long run.
We are mostly late with releases, latest big thing were the Steam Dev Days showing VR on Linux. And everything else was shown on Linux/SteamOS Machines too, that was quite cool and impressive. But Valve isn't showing anything new or upcoming to us. So I'm wondering what do they have in their pipeline, if anything at all... and when.
2016 was a great year for Linux gaming in general, with a lot of big releases. Some of them finally released after being announced a long time ago. But what's coming next? I'm missing big announcements to get hyped for and to look forward to.
There are some kickstarter projects like System Shock or Everspace, but that can't be all. My concern is, publishers and devs might turn their back on us and go for Windows and maybe Mac only again. Even the Feral Radar is pretty empty (except for two upcoming mac only titles) at the moment.

Atm I'm using wine again for a lot of games, like No Man's Sky or Doom. Luckily OpenGL and Vulkan make this possible. But I want more native ports! I'm really afraid of 2017 after 2016 had such a great pace.

+1...totally.... :(


my feel is negative @Shmerl

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: subSteam on Linux is clearly losing momentum, if Valve/Newell were really
up to change that - the money is there.

I don't worry about Steam. Rather about Linux gaming in general. And it doesn't seem to be losing momentum. Increasing number of studios now regularly release games for Linux, major engines are improving Linux support and etc. The trend is positive, not negative.

Valve so far also don't seem to have lost interest. They work on drivers / Vulkan and VR on Linux, which isn't a minor effort. My only concern is that they can end up with Steam only stuff (SteamVR is such example), that's not good.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

QuoteValve being deeply involved with Linux also gives the company a "worse case scenario" hedge vs. Microsoft. It's like a club held over MS's heads.

Calling this a hedge seems to reveal Valve's actual intentions and is pretty much disappointing, isn't it?
Steam on Linux might only exists to put MS under pressure.
And IMHO I think this is unfortunately the case.

Think about it: Probably, the initial big efforts by Valve were
just meant to create a big enough credibility behind this project.
Steam on Linux is clearly losing momentum, if Valve/Newell were really
up to change that - the money is there.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Interesting read. The situation with 3D graphics on Linux only improved since then and continues moving in the right direction, and I'm sure MS views Vulkan as even a bigger threat than OpenGL. I expect the trend is going to continue.

Valve's major effort in Vulkan and recently hiring engineers to work on AMD driver in Mesa shows that they view this seriously and are invested in Linux gaming. I'd say, those are more important for success of Linux than SteamOS.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

QuoteThey just need to keep spending the resources to keep their in-house Linux expertise in a healthy state.

This little word "just" has such a big meaning...
I'm afraid, now that Microsoft has picked up DirectX again, improved Windows 10 as a gaming platform (with new features probably coming with the next big update), Linux is losing in the long run.
We are mostly late with releases, latest big thing were the Steam Dev Days showing VR on Linux. And everything else was shown on Linux/SteamOS Machines too, that was quite cool and impressive. But Valve isn't showing anything new or upcoming to us. So I'm wondering what do they have in their pipeline, if anything at all... and when.
2016 was a great year for Linux gaming in general, with a lot of big releases. Some of them finally released after being announced a long time ago. But what's coming next? I'm missing big announcements to get hyped for and to look forward to.
There are some kickstarter projects like System Shock or Everspace, but that can't be all. My concern is, publishers and devs might turn their back on us and go for Windows and maybe Mac only again. Even the Feral Radar is pretty empty (except for two upcoming mac only titles) at the moment.

Atm I'm using wine again for a lot of games, like No Man's Sky or Doom. Luckily OpenGL and Vulkan make this possible. But I want more native ports! I'm really afraid of 2017 after 2016 had such a great pace.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

i see 32-bit went from 2 to 4.
nice to know I am 25% of the 32-bit community

View this comment - View article - View full comments

since sales are moving away from PCs MS seems more concerned about their cloud based services, mobile software and xbox moving forward. I'm sure they will continue to do what is necessary to maintain their PC market-share as long as it stays profitable, although it only accounts for 10% of their overall revenue.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I do hope they make a single player version, the game looks and sounds cool.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Had a few plays with the game. It runs fine and I haven't had any issues so far. Only that it doesn't VSYNC and therefore runs at much too high fps, even at 3440x1440.

As for the game, it's a little bit of good fun. Rotating the "ship" is a nice touch. I keep trying to use it to give an extra punch to the ball, but that doesn't actually work. I think the whole advantage of pong on modern systems would be to have some extra physics calculated. Spin would be nice, but that would mean atmosphere and actually slowing the balls down.

Obviously you want to invite steam friends to play as well, but I'm sure that is already on the todo.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Yeah. Microsoft takes Valve seriously as a threat, but they don't see SteamOS as one, with little followthrough and usage. Desktop GNU/Linux is improving, but it's still not high on their radar.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Doesn't really warrant a new article, but some trending graphs are now available.

New links on the page "Sections: Monthly | Trends" to switch between them.

Not all questions are included, as tweaks need to be done for each one of them to have it automated properly.

This is using the new Chart.js library.

View this comment - View article - View full comments