Quoting: Hamish

Quoting: StyromaniacThat is wrong to me as well as Ubisoft forcing Uplay onto Steam customers.

I always love this argument. Pot calling the kettle much?

Don't get me wrong, I certainly agree that Uplay deserves a far blacker reputation than Steam, but I always love it when denizens of one potentially walled garden complain about the need to frequent another due to a game they want being locked into another service.

It's because all I want is Steam. Forcing me to install another games manager is not what I want. If I had a reason to stick with Uplay, I'd say the same for Steam.

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Quoting: wleoncioWith AAA games costing as little as US$ 10 and indie games on the cents range during sales (which happen quite a few times a year), it's really hard to make a case for piracy these days. Nonetheless, Steam should have a return policy or a trial period so we could see if we like a game (and if it runs in our machine) before we spend money on them. I may be wrong, but it seems relatively easy to implement, especially considering how they already have a similar structure to enable the Free Weekends.

Google does that, but for only 15 minutes following the purchase. The return policy should be counting down from the first time you start playing until four hours had passed since then, IMO. No AAA game lasts just four hours or less unless you already played it enough to know how to beat the game as swiftly as possible, and I see no fun in that, myself.

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Convenience should always be the aim for curbing piracy. I hate DRM that doesn't let me loan out a game to a friend. Valve's own DRM might be perfect for me, but I haven't tried the library sharing feature yet. The reason why I bought Resident Evil 4 when the latest PC version hit Steam for pre-order is because I borrowed a copy for the GameCube, then was convinced I had to buy it for the same platform. Eventually, the game was lost by a friend and all these years later I was ecstatic to know the PC port was being redone since I converted to the glorious PC master race. I was sticking to PC because Steam games don't get lost or stolen to my knowledge (at least it's very unlikely to happen to me). Back then, you could hardly do anything about theft or loss but buy another copy. With purely digital game purchases, borrowing was lost from the PC gaming scene. Now, I can let someone eat my cake and still have it back whenever I wish, 100% of the time, anytime.

DRM has the opportunity to convenience both the customers and the developers. That had barely been touched on as of recent as far as non F2P games go. Anything else is an inconvenience to both sides.

I don't even have a pirate bone in my body. I just know what I want and what developers need to do if they want social advertising, let friends of customers play for free. If it's a really good game and the borrower agrees, then another sale is most likely guaranteed and so much more so than if they had no more than a demo to play. Borrowing features in DRM are a lot more about the developers helping themselves by letting the old tradition of legitimate ownership fly. Borrowing out purely digital games will always have a purpose beyond just conveniencing customers and friends, so it should not be ignored by the likes of Ubisoft and EA games, but EA for instance wants you to buy the same game twice if you change to another OS and if you want to play there too. That is wrong to me as well as Ubisoft forcing Uplay onto Steam customers. Until they fix those problems and let me borrow out games/share my library, I will have to be hard pressed to give them any more of my money for their otherwise great games. I can't stand having my options and conveniences any less than what Steam offers to the paying customer and the wise developer. Don't give me DRM unless it conveniences me more than inconveniences me.

I expect more might come in the future if the best of the old and new come together. It's not just for nostalgia's sake. It's also for a stronger business.

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Quoting: Keyrock

Quoting: HipsterRichI literally have no clue what the SteamOS is, is it like linux or what ;/

SteamOS is a Linux distro, like Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Slackware, etc. It is based off Debian and aimed, unsurprisingly, at gaming as it boots, by default, directly into Steam Big Picture Mode (from there you can switch to the desktop if you'd like, I forget which Desktop Environment/Window Manager it comes with).

GNOME Shell

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Quoting: Ivancillo

Not sure why you wouldn't want to sell your game on Steam, as it's the biggest store around.

If I were a developer I should think it won't be a problem.

But as an user I am, (and an anti-DRM one), this concerns me.
You say that : it's the biggest store of PC gaming by digital distribution.

Which means that if they grow a bit more enogh, they could turn into a monopoly.

Saw your comment coming.

But I agree to an extent. DRM is pointless as it's easily circumvented by someone and then, by extension of people downloading the cracked copy, everyone, so for one it's a wasted effort to implement. Secondly, allowing it opens the doors to locking games with bloatware which might also introduce security holes. I only am okay with running the distribution platform I intended to run in the first place and nothing else. Thirdly, the Steam smartphone app makes no mention of DRM, so if you're not careful, you'll buy a game with useless bloatware such as GFWL.

Points two and three are the most important to me. DRM for games isn't always as bad as it is for movies (who loves being talked down to like a thief by the MPAA and being forced to watch trailers on a legitimately purchased disc, anyway?), but IMO it would be a better world without, so I avoid DRM beyond Steam's own and have a bit more interest in buying DRM-free games.

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I'm actually not surprised by this list, but I'm nonetheless happy for it. Remember, guys, a company's track record is a big deal in predicting newer titles for Linux, so is this website when SteamDB entries are reported, even if the editors are unsure themselves. To me, it all adds up.

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I'm surprised a box of this size is actually kind of sexy. A bit simple, but not ugly. This is ignoring the Alpha, of course.

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Quoting: pd12like!
Although the name is a bit weird ...

It means Volcano. Since volcanoes bring up material from deep within the crust and they're very powerful, I'd say it's a very appropriate name, especially since the new naming trend includes Mantle and Metal. It stands out, yet follows the trend a bit.

"Mantle plumes" would be weird for a name :P

"Volcanoe" is the meh version of the word.

It also makes sense since Vulkan will be a chewing up and spitting out of Metal :)

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As long as Linux proves itself a great alternative to Windows when Windows is too buggy, unstable, or bloated with crapware tied to drivers, Linux will be a winner. These are my reasons among unlisted reasons to use Linux over Windows. I didn't choose Linux over Windows for fanboyish reasons. It just proved to work better for me and it might for other people as well.

Windows 8 and 10 might be better for gaming than 7 is besides performance reasons. If not, then at least Microsoft is looking over their shoulders and thinking about what they can do better for PC gaming. Everyone wins regardless of the OSes they may love, despise, or feel indifferent to.

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Batman: Arkham Origins is developed and published by Warner Bros. It's not unreasonable to expect this will be a native Linux release. Warner Bros has a good track record with Bastion, Transistor, and Gauntlet.

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