Quoting: dren

Quoting: Frawo

Quoting: drenI love GOG because I can actually buy and own games, but they are still a corporation and corporate track records are pretty shitty these days.

You don't ever own games, neither on GOG, Steam, Epic or physical disk. You only buy the licence to use them. GOGs offline installers might give you the illusion of ownership, but you can more or less achieve the same thing by backing up your Steam common folder.

These are in no way remotely equivalent. GOG provides DRM free portable, self-contained installation packages designed to be backed up and installation can be configured. Steam backups are essentially snapshots of an already-installed, DRM-locked game directory. You don't have the freedom to install it where you want. Games used to be completey DRM free on installation media. Companies tried adding DRM to physical media but that met with issues for the end user. Steam made it easier for devs to lock down our software. GoG is the antithesis of Steam when it comes to ownership and user rights.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The "you can back up your Steam games after they're installed" argument is spurious at best. It overlooks the fact that the game still requires the Steam client to install those games in first place. GOG's offline installers do not.

If it's an "illusion of ownership", I'll take it.

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@Mountain Man

It means blindly accepting direction and/or the status quo without giving it any consideration of your own. From what I've read, this does not seem to apply to you.

You are entitled to your opinion, even if others do not agree with it.

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I have started testing out Heroic recently. I find that it is not as feature-rich as Lutris but somewhat more stable. What features they do have, work and are well implemented. For example, custom categories. In Lutris, you can assign them but they are pointless. In Heroic, you can filter by them.

The only thing I like about Lutris, that I haven't figured out how to do in Heroic so far, is that I can create an "empty" wine prefix and I can do it without having to be online. I haven't tried this to create an UMU-based empty prefix in either launcher, however. Not sure it would work. UMU only seems to create the prefix once you run the installer.

I also like the idea behind Steam integration in Lutris, even if I don't use it. The idea of being able to track total gameplay time while offline is appealing. Having two launchers (Steam & Lutris) running in the background to do so, is not so appealing. If only Valve would enable tracking game time in offline mode ...

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Where I can avoid it, I prefer not to use a retail store launcher for game installation if I can avoid it. I have never used GOG Galaxy and probably never will -- even if they make a Native Linux version. I like the offline installers, play offline anyway, and could not care less about achievements or other social media features.

Frankly, I still think the best move on GOG's part would be to work with the existing third-party tools (which I do value and use) rather than compete with them. If you ask me, cooperation is the future ...

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This is not at all my kind of game, but I am continually blown away be the graphics quality, lighting and shading in the pictures GoL puts up.

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I liked the article not because I agree with the lawsuit (I don't) but because I appreciate Liam's reporting of it.

Quoting: TheSHEEEPI've always said that Valve's cut is undeniably too large. I just don't see any legal grounds to lower it - but hey, who knows.

Speaking from long experience in the retail industry, 30% is pretty much standard fair unless you are targeting wholesale business levels (mega corps with big box storefronts like Walmart, Home Depot, Office Depot, Best Buy, etc.). Computer hardware and livestock feed are two areas that I am aware of that operate on wholesale pricing margins. As such, I have absolutely no objections to Valve's commission structure and see no reason why they should be expected to target wholesale margins like the big box mega corps.

We have a consignment programme where I presently work. There are two takeaway points about it. While we are occasionally negotiable depending on the product, the default commission is 30% of retail (we provide shelf space, handle merchandising, collect and remit sales taxes, etc.). We also include a clause encouraging consignors to have the same retail price wherever they sell their products (we don't legally enforce it but we have reserved the option to cancel a consignment contract on these grounds). It simply benefits no one if the consignor is undercutting their own prices (it impacts their sales through us and makes it pointless to provide shelf space for their products).

Like you, I see no legal grounds to force any retailer to change their margin/commission structure. That would be tantamount to price fixing -- which is, AFAIK, illegal in most nations. If you don't like Valve's commission structure, you are free to take your business elsewhere. If you lose sales because you went with a retailer with less exposure but lower commission, the blame rests on your shoulders, not Valve's.

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Quoting: scaineCompiz ... Wobbly Windows, spinning cubes, fires consuming windows, genie effects when minimising. It was awesome.

Not sure about the other effects, but the first one is available on GNOME,
Compiz windows effect - GNOME Shell Extensions [External Link]
OR,
Compiz Fusion - GTK Window Decorator [External Link]

And on Cinnamon,
Extensions : Wobbly Windows : Cinnamon Spices [External Link]

And on KDE Plasma,
Compiz Fusion - KDE Window Decorator [External Link]

There also appear to be numerous attempts to mod that effect into M$ Windows too ...

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Also on GOG and itch.io. No sale pricing on these platforms, however. GOG has confirmed they are being delisted on their platform as well.

Itch.io versions are apparently out of date.

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: CaldathrasYet, I am not sure this is entirely GOG's fault. Oftentimes, it seems like the developer is slower to update their Linux packages on GOG than they are on Steam.

It's still GOG's fault. Other platforms got to use the Galaxy SDK to handle uploads and updates; Linux builds they had to use manual FTP and wait for it to be approved on GOG's side. They improved the process somewhat after a number of years, but it's still not as good publishing Linux builds as for other platforms.

Steam just has the same build and update pipeline for all platforms.

You would know better than I would. I see your point...

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Quoting: MarlockPutting it plainly, you can plug a PC to a TV since forever, and all PC games are playable on a typical PC setup (monitor+kbd+mouse on a desk)... but a TV usually means a couch or bed instead of a desk and kbd+mouse doesn't really work on a couch or bed.

If the Steam Machine is meant to compete with consoles, then it's essential that Valve pressures for controller support in its games catalog to improve.

Just to be cheeky, if "forever" is about 25 years, then yea. In those early days, connecting to the TV was not seamless and it was frustrating to have a widescreen TV but only be able to get 4:3 resolutions on it. But, HDMI greatly improved the situation.

Have to say, though, that "kbd+mouse doesn't really work on a couch" was not the case for me. I set the keyboard and mouse up with extension cords on a wooden TV tray and had a great time (I've never been all that comfortable with controllers). Now, I game on a laptop. My comfort level with controllers is likely to change too, as I find they seem to help with the vertigo.

My spouse would never have tolerated my gaming in bed, LoL.

In all seriousness, though, I think that Valve really is targeting the Steam Machine as a console not a desktop PC.

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