Quoting: eldarionAs much as I like seeing devices with Linux being sold, I really don't understand the hype of steam deck. I like playing a good game on a mobile device as much as I like watching a good movie on my phone. Meaning, not at all.

Don't get me wrong, small devices like this are great for casual gaming, but playing Witcher 3 on this is like going to the cinema and only watching half of the screen. You simply don't get the full experience.

There are people that play handhelds a _lot_, even in their homes. I... am not one of them, but I certainly know people who are. I've been debating getting one myself and even have a reservation for one, they're pretty cool and while not unique I feel like this would support linux gaming even if my kids would probably use it more then I would. The main audience is going to be commuters and people that have shared homes/computers/TVs probably, perhaps people that do most of their gaming on the crapper? Tinkerers would probably enjoy it as well. For the record, I don't understand the appeal of phone gaming either.

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Quoting: anewsonI'm replaying Primordia in honour of they work they've been doing, such a fantastic game and I'm really not much of a point and click gamer; Primordia might be the only one I've finished

Primordia was my favorite one too. Strangeland was a good recommendation, but if you liked Primordia I would also recommend Gemini Rue. Gemini Rue is not by the save developer as Primordia, though it is published by Wadget Eye.

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Quoting: zoli111Finally! Now I'm waiting for the Linux-native release of Shardlight.

You can get "similar" by pointing ScummVM at it; it actually supports Technobabylon too (though I imagine the new build probably has to have it's hash added for detection).

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Quoting: GuestAnd of course (OK, IMHO) it was a consequence of / reaction to the competition from Steam. If only because developers lost interest....

Yeah I don't agree with that, but (OK, IMHO too) I think it was more a matter of the market flooding with indie bundles from them and others. The quality of games dropped substantially, and it didn't take long for people to get sick of their libraries filling up with, how do I put this, "crap". Humble and others did take steps to combat this issue, once people stopped buying bundles because they were bundles, by breaking them out into individual keys once purchased; however, even then people were and still do get turned off by just having an abundance of junk keys.

I know whenever someone brags about the size of the libraries, someone always asks (pretty quickly) how much of it is junk from indie bundles. And they're usually not wrong either.

It's unfortunate that that stigma regarding junk keys was created, because I'm sure there are legitimately good or even great indie games that get passed over due to immediately looking like bundle filler and never being given a chance. Especially since sometimes they are junk bundle filler.

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Quoting: GuestThen Humble. OK, they're not dead, they still lurk around like a Zombie, selling Steam keys. Pitiful fate for a former spearhead of DRM-free and platform-independent gaming....

Slightly OT - This change didn't happen because of Steam actually, Humble sold themselves to IGN in late ~2017 which is when things started to change with them.

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Quoting: mao_dze_dunGOG and by extension - GOG Galaxy, offers a better experience on Windows than Steam.

I disagree with this, my main issue with the client -- which I was highly looking forward to when the new one came out -- is how bad it is at handling large libraries if they're not GOG. It takes several minutes after starting the client, every time you start the client, before it's usable and not laggy from importing/updating games. It's only okay, (way) better then Epic but that's not saying much, if you stick to just GOG games. The client kind of feels made to just never be restarted, on an always-on computer.

I suspect it's an issue with community python integrations in general, but that's IMHO the main selling point of the otherwise "okay" client.

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I don't know. I always find these kinds of (proposed) changes frustrating to say the least. All too often instead of better defaults and better UX, you get the often-increasing mentality of "less options and heavy-handed". Or as I like to call it, high-resolution whitespace.

OR, it can also mean burying options under many sub menus which is the opposite of better UX -- you trade some things being frustrating with everything being mildly frustrating when you do that.

Unfortunately both of these methods, with the first being the more popular of the two, are becoming increasingly popular -- especially among younger developers I've noticed. Better UX is always a good thing, but I remain skeptical as often times these kinds of moves can be... the opposite of that.

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My $0.02.

I've always liked GOG, they definitely put more love into their releases then most -- even if they're not always perfect about it. I was super excited for their GOG Galaxy 2.0 client when they announced it, but have been disappointed with it from the get-go and it doesn't seem like that impression will change; It struggles with large game collections, is slow, the technology they used to build it is non-portable / completely locked into windows, and while pretty is also very clunky. When I buy older games I buy from them because again, while not perfect, are way more likely to work better then lazy-seeming Steam versions of the same games. The DRM-free is great, though sometimes what "DRM-free" means -- and people disagreeing about that -- paints a target on their back like with the Hitman 3 debacle.

As far as Steam goes, like most others it's my main client. "Justifying" the monopoly -- frankly their competitors suck, pretty much all of them, Steam's client has glaring issues and always has but still manages to be the best of the bunch by a country mile -- 10 miles when viewed as a whole. Steam's store, supporting services, and client is dominant for more reasons then just being one of the oldest; It boggles my mind when people try and say they don't deserve their cut. Do they _need_ the cut? Probably not, they're super successful, and I'm sure some of the negative justifications are actually rooted in that. Do they justify it all the same? Yeah, probably. Even when people buy games elsewhere, dollars to donuts say the purchaser looked at the steam reviews/ratings before making a purchase.

I honestly don't understand why so many stores/clients suck these days, what the heck happened where new applications were designed to "be easy-ish with never-consistent UX but always be vaguely frustrating".

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Quoting: Eike

Quoting: dibz

Quoting: AciD

Quoting: EikeI never had more than half a dozen games to download, and if I would, I wouldn't care to watch them downloading..

Well, when you have lots of disk space, a 4k screen and lots of games, you can pretty easily get that kind of page :

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What a waste :(

I guess I'm curious what you actually want from them to fix that issue? Personally, I use a 4k screen -- but with an armchair in an HTPC setup, so I use scaling to be easier on the eyes. I have no use for tiny interface elements to begin with. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you probably run into similar white space issues with a lot of apps.

Will, there's lots of unused space in the middle. Something tiled might help.

Ugh, hopefully if they ever add something like that it'll just be optional. Sounds like a mental headache to parse for me.

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Quoting: AciD

Quoting: EikeI never had more than half a dozen games to download, and if I would, I wouldn't care to watch them downloading..

Well, when you have lots of disk space, a 4k screen and lots of games, you can pretty easily get that kind of page :

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What a waste :(

I guess I'm curious what you actually want from them to fix that issue? Personally, I use a 4k screen -- but with an armchair in an HTPC setup, so I use scaling to be easier on the eyes. I have no use for tiny interface elements to begin with. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you probably run into similar white space issues with a lot of apps.

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