I don't trust this sudden leap at all, but I'm sure happier to be not trusting a sudden major gain than I would be not trusting a sudden major loss.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: razing32Am i the only one interested in buying this for single player ?

ok....

If I get it, it would definitely be for single player. I'm really not much into multiplayer/online gaming.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Mountain Man"Eco-friendly", huh? So will it feature "green" industries that bleed your tax coffers dry with nothing to show for it before suddenly declaring bankruptcy?

Thing about the old fossil fuel model is, it's a set of resources. Basically it's about mining. Thing about the new green model is, it's a set of technologies. It's unwise to bet on a resource against a technology. The resource just gets scarcer and more expensive; the technology just gets more advanced.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: tuubiBut what's "urban talk".

"Trendy" words, dictionary slang, a result of the mixing of cultures and languages in society, you know like "yall". Mansplaining was created by feminists.

So . . . a pretentious trendy term for pretentious trendy terms. And here I thought understanding irony was part of the modern scene.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I think some people who are talking about Mr. Gordon doing things like contribute to Wine or fixing problems with Unreal engine or whatnot are missing the mark a bit. Coders are not universal tools. Ryan Gordon is very experienced and expert at porting games to Linux; there may well be nobody in the world who is better. That does not make him experienced and expert at any and all computing tasks. He's a smart man and could no doubt learn any of those other things, but spending time on those learning curves, unless he happens to have "caught the bug" on one of them, would not be the best use of his time and expertise.
Other people who know Wine can hack Wine, he can port games.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Well, I'm kind of a sucker for a Shakespeare reference, so I'll keep an eye on it.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Mountain ManEven 5-years ago, I honestly never thought we'd see this day and was prepared to content myself with dual-booting and the occasional indie release for Linux.

But even as successful as Linux gaming has been, I'm still somewhat concerned about our minuscule presence and a little afraid, perhaps irrationally, that it could all just suddenly go away.

I worry about that too. Our market share is too small for this proportion of games coming to Linux to feel sustainable.
There is I think an odd factor sustaining it--the prevalence of Linux everywhere except the desktop. People who do computer-oriented things for a living are far more likely to do those things with Linux, at least some of the time, than the broader population. Servers? Linux. Cloud (really just a special case of servers)? Linux. Supercomputers? Linux. Embedded? Linux. Programming for all those things? Linux. And given that, a lot of education related to programming also teaches Linux. Game designers are part of that community and came through that education, so they too are likely to be familiar with and involved in Linux. There's a mindshare there independent of the actual Linux desktop market; a lot of these people want an excuse to make games available for Linux.

Even so, and despite the engines and such making it easier, at 1-2% the financial viability of making games available on Linux is suspect. This is one reason why I'd love to see a redone, better Steam Machine launch. Or a copyright crackdown in Asia, because Linux can compete with Windows way better than with Pirate Windows.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

It does seem like we're still at a stage with SteamOS where, how to put it, new features being put in are still major enough and needed badly enough that having the latest and greatest is more important than reliability or stability, and so the beta branch is seen as more important than the stable branch.
I remember years ago a LOT of open source software was like that--I'd be watching like a hawk for the latest OpenOffice or Rhythmbox or whatever in hopes that it would solve what was hassling me about it. Now I mostly just use whatever versions of stuff the distro has packaged because the software's mature enough that the upgrades aren't a big deal.

So I'd have to say that SteamOS, while not "in beta", isn't what you could call mature software. It's still at that "Eagerly waiting for important features and fixes" stage.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: DerRiddaI did my part and became a patron and so should you if you are at all interested in game development.

We need great free software tools out in the world for all productive tasks anyone might want to undertake
and as far as game engines are concerned, this is the one. Much in the same vein as Blender is the one for 3D modelling and animation or OBS for streaming.

I must say it's hard to argue with such a cute little piglet.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Doc AngeloIt would be nice if there was an open protocol on how to distribute and (delta) update software.

There probably is. Likely more than one. But nobody's ever heard of them.

As to your "just the game"--yeah, me too, but where's the money in that? Everybody wants a platform, a lure for people to spend their money time hanging around the company and its stuff. That way they can create true communities and gain dollars mindshare from people who purchase appreciate everything the company has to offer.

View this comment - View article - View full comments