As usual, I don't really have much faith in the Survey. As usual, I think that for game developer information what would be most useful is figures for just what percentage of $$$ get spent on Linux games, and I'm sure Valve have that somewhere in the guts of their system. It's fine to have ten gajillion new Chinese Steam users, but if they all only ever buy PUBG they're not too relevant to any developers who didn't develop PUBG.

Linux should, however, improve support for Chinese typing if it's bad. Fundamentally I think open source should be just as good for Asians as for everyone else; piracy only solves one problem with Windows. It would be nice to see them turning on to the advantages of Free Software.

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Quoting: g000hI'd probably build drones to look like ships from Star Control I and II. Urquan Dreadnought, Arilou Skiff, Chenjesu Broodhome, Ilwrath Avenger, Mycon Podship, Spathi Eluder, Yehat Terminator, Thraddash Torch, Androsynth Guardian are example ships. Those games bring back many fond memories. Free open-source release 'The Urquan Masters' was created as a modern port of those old games.

Yeah, I've played my share of both the old and the new of that. Good times . . .

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Quoting: devnullWarthunder

Wart what? What does "hunder" even mean? :D

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I'd like to build a drone which would follow me around filming my epic life. Then, I'd like to get an epic life.

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Quoting: qptain Nemo

Quoting: Purple Library GuyWent back to look at BTRE's review. Man, we're still waiting for really good pirate ship combat, aren't we? I mean, every single game with sailing and cannons, I read the reviews and once again, the actual ship combat is crap at worst or distinctly lacking at best. I want there to be wind. I want to tack at just the right moment and cross the enemy's "T". I want to take advantage of my superior maneuverability and good gunners to hold out of range of the enemy's heavier broadside and peck away with my "long nines". I want to be pirate Horatio Hornblower! None of the games seems to offer much of this. It's saddening.

Quoting: BTREI'm with you! I'd kill for a good sailing game. The Warhammer Man O'War game is the closest thing to that and it's sadly not very good.

Would you be interested and willing to provide some consultation / light QA for something of that nature in the observable future? I can't promise any compensation though.

Um, sure.

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Went back to look at BTRE's review. Man, we're still waiting for really good pirate ship combat, aren't we? I mean, every single game with sailing and cannons, I read the reviews and once again, the actual ship combat is crap at worst or distinctly lacking at best. I want there to be wind. I want to tack at just the right moment and cross the enemy's "T". I want to take advantage of my superior maneuverability and good gunners to hold out of range of the enemy's heavier broadside and peck away with my "long nines". I want to be pirate Horatio Hornblower! None of the games seems to offer much of this. It's saddening.

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Quoting: elmapul

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

yes, i also think that ChromeOS/ChromeBook is our best bet for sucess, if google fail or give up, i will lose my hope, but hopefully they will not.
windows will probably survive and keep an high marketshare, but at least we will be at an much better position in terms of marketshare, 5,10 maybe even 30% in the future.

Historically, in the computer business, starting from cheap and spreading upwards has a good track record as compared to being the premium offering (although Apple is a counter-example . . . so far). Remember Silicon Graphics? No? Yeah, that's why--they were the premium offering for graphics workstations until intel ate their lunch, breakfast and dinner. Cray was eaten by the Linux Beowulf cluster . . . Then there's the mostly-demise of the mainframe and then of the "workstation" (a la Sun) as cheap Windows and Linux PCs and rack servers and such took over. Chromebooks have a strategy that fits computers well.

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Quoting: abelthorne

Quoting: NarvarthIt's more powerful than a docked switch. Is the switch a bad console?

The Switch is a very good console with games that are made especially for its hardware and limitations. Atari is trying to do kind of the same thing by asking developers to make games for their console but they're not Nintendo, it's very doubtful that they can attract big publishers/developers.

If they're smart, they'll try to develop an indie marketplace (like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo do) to get the well known games on their system but there's no sign they want to do this. Anyway, it's too soon to say, maybe that's something they'll focus on later. Let's just hope that their reputation doesn't get in the way.

I don't think they have the muscle to do that. At least, not unless and until their doohicky is successful without it. So, either there has to be a big market for it as mainly a thing to play old Atari games and such on, or it has to be beefy enough to play a goodly bunch of other games which are not optimized for it specifically.

Mind you, Linux enthusiasts probably have a higher bar for success on this thing than anyone else, higher than the Atari(ish) people themselves. They may be able to make a profit on the thing if it has modest success in a niche market; that may well be what a win looks like to them. We want it to be basically the Steam Machine that never was, and are disappointed that it doesn't look capable of being that. We're all the more bitter given that prospects for increased Linux market share, both desktop and more directly as a gaming platform, seem to have been evaporating lately. I don't see this thing doing more than making Atari(ish) a modest profit and adding maybe 0.05% market share to games on Linux. But y'know, that's better than nothing. Scraps add up.

Drifting off topic, I do think there are prospects for the Linux (gameplaying) desktop quietly ticking along from another direction: ChromeOS. It appears that they're making a serious push for Chromebooks to run normal Linux apps [External Link]. Google seems to be quietly trying to push Chromebooks gradually up the ladder from their niche in really-wimpy-laptops. They've been very successful in that niche, Chromebooks have done nothing but grow, and methinks they feel they've now got enough recognition, enough positive buzz and familiarity, that they can now start expanding from that base. Inevitably, in the process ChromeOS will converge somewhat with the rest of Linux, drifting away from the whole "browser is everything" vision. Further, if they can run Linux apps in general, presumably they can, and Google will want them to, run Linux games. I think ChromeOS is gradually going to turn into a real competitor for Windows and MacOS, and if it has even medium success Linux gaming could see big boosts over the next few years.
Edited to add: Note publicity such as this [External Link].

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Quoting: Mountain Man

Quoting: Purple Library GuyEnding the statement with "sad"--I wonder if Atari have decided to go with the "Donald Trump" method of gaining publicity. Machiavelli: "Let them hate, so long as they fear". Trump: "Let them hate, so long as there is buzz".

If we want to continue the Trump analogy, the Atari VCS will have detractor after detractor come forward and tell them it can't be done only for Atari to pull off a brilliant success in the end.

Well, "Let them hate, so long as there is buzz" is actually a quite effective strategy in modern politics. It's very rare for there to be a politician people actually like or respect, so the next best thing is to be disliked but have the most name recognition. Trump is very good at saying and doing things which will get the press to concentrate on him. He may win a second term simply because nobody will have ever heard of whoever challenges him, unless they can draft Oprah or something. Don't know how long the "provocative celebrity" approach will dominate. I think the next stage of American politics will probably be the Berlusconi--after one or two more mergers, someone will end up owning both Fox and CNN et al., and they will be able to run for office with all public voices backing them to the hilt.

I have doubts, however, that name recognition + dislike would be enough to get people to pony up a couple hundred dollars for a game console thing.

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Ending the statement with "sad"--I wonder if Atari have decided to go with the "Donald Trump" method of gaining publicity. Machiavelli: "Let them hate, so long as they fear". Trump: "Let them hate, so long as there is buzz".

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