Latest Comments by EagleDelta
Valve abusing the market power of Steam on game pricing according to a lawsuit
1 Feb 2021 at 4:44 pm UTC Likes: 7
1 Feb 2021 at 4:44 pm UTC Likes: 7
Going to jump in with a few quick takeaways:
Remember that just because the lawsuit is filed, that doesn't mean it is valid nor that Valve is guilty. That's the purpose of any trial. As such, we probably shouldn't treat Valve as guilty unless that is determined to be so by a Judge or Jury in this Class Action. That said let's move on to the handful of things I keep seeing people bring up:
When there are examples of 10s of options beyond Steam that are successful (not the largest, mind you), the court is probably going to be hesitant to call it unfair as there is no inherent right for any business (or person) to have automatic access to the most popular option. Basically, you can't punish a business just for being successful/popular with customers.
This could be anti-competitive behavior, but the bar to prove that is very high. I'm no lawyer, so I won't make comment on the potential to succeed.
This Class Action is aiming at the way Steam is making pricing agreements with developers. So the platintiffs will be organizations like CDPR and Ubisoft, not the consumer. If anything, the success of a lawsuit like this would probably cause the cost of games to go up for consumers, not down.
In fact, there are groups of Class Action lawyers who just monitor situations like these looking for situations where they think a Class Action might succeed. A vast majority (it seems to me) of money coming from a Class Action goes to the lawyers who offered to file it in the first place, not to the actual plaintiffs :(
For more detailed information from an actual lawyer: https://www.youtube.com/c/HoegLaw/playlists [External Link]
Remember that just because the lawsuit is filed, that doesn't mean it is valid nor that Valve is guilty. That's the purpose of any trial. As such, we probably shouldn't treat Valve as guilty unless that is determined to be so by a Judge or Jury in this Class Action. That said let's move on to the handful of things I keep seeing people bring up:
You can't compete unless you're on SteamI said this about Parler when they got kicked off AWS and I'll say it again here: No business has any sort of inherent "right" to be on the most used/most popular platform. There could be legal arguments made that this lawsuit is DOA simply because of how successful things like Battle.net are or games that aren't tied to an online store. Fortnite itself may be an example against the plaintiffs.
When there are examples of 10s of options beyond Steam that are successful (not the largest, mind you), the court is probably going to be hesitant to call it unfair as there is no inherent right for any business (or person) to have automatic access to the most popular option. Basically, you can't punish a business just for being successful/popular with customers.
MFNs violate Anti-TrustSo, I didn't realize this until a few months ago, but Anti-Trust generally is not geared towards protecting consumers, but ensuring competition is no stamped out. Here are a couple notes of what I learned listening to @HoegLaw and other lawyers:
- Monopolies are not illegal, using monopoly power to prevent competition is.
- Anti-Trust claims have a very, very high bar to achieve. It is generally hard to bring a Sherman Act claim against any company as you have to prove they are actively preventing competition.
This could be anti-competitive behavior, but the bar to prove that is very high. I'm no lawyer, so I won't make comment on the potential to succeed.
They are doing this for consumersNope, absolutely they are not.
This Class Action is aiming at the way Steam is making pricing agreements with developers. So the platintiffs will be organizations like CDPR and Ubisoft, not the consumer. If anything, the success of a lawsuit like this would probably cause the cost of games to go up for consumers, not down.
In fact, there are groups of Class Action lawyers who just monitor situations like these looking for situations where they think a Class Action might succeed. A vast majority (it seems to me) of money coming from a Class Action goes to the lawyers who offered to file it in the first place, not to the actual plaintiffs :(
For more detailed information from an actual lawyer: https://www.youtube.com/c/HoegLaw/playlists [External Link]
Valve and others fined by the European Commission for 'geo-blocking' (updated)
20 Jan 2021 at 4:17 pm UTC
20 Jan 2021 at 4:17 pm UTC
Quoting: EgonautEven if the prices are set the same across region, I doubt that is Valve doing that, but the publishers putting their games on Steam.Quoting: rkfgThis is very bad and stupid. They basically force Valve to set the same prices everywhere, no matter how strong economic is in certain countries. INo they don't. They force Valve and other Publishers to redeem keys all over the EU no matter in which EU country they have been bought. If Valve changes the Prices due to this, it's all up to them and not forced by anyone.
Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor delisted for Linux and macOS on Steam
5 Jan 2021 at 10:47 pm UTC
Add in the fact that, for some reason, there are a lot of Linux users that want their desktop to be configured a specific way and depending on what they do and how they do it, it may not always be compatible with what Steam, Proton, WINE, etc expect causing issues. Not to mention the obvious Hardware issues that occasionally show up.
5 Jan 2021 at 10:47 pm UTC
Quoting: zimia_pThis. I think people somehow forget that as cool as Proton is, Valve still targets the most common desktop distros and, in reality, a different Linux distro IS very much a different Operating System as the OS is more than just the underlying kernel (not to mention some distro kernels have specific optimizations that aren't implemented in other distro kernels for whatever reason). In all honesty, chances are the further you get away from one of the "core" (popular) Desktop-focused distros, the less likely it's been tested on that distro. So, in most cases, Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Mint, Elementary, Fedora, Manjaro, and Arch are probably OK. Beyond that, it probably depends.Quoting: MohandevirIs it just me? I feel like Steam's Linux gaming is gradually falling into a chaotic mess. Linux native ports that suddenly stop being supported... Native ports that run worse than the windows version run through proton... Windows games run only through proton... I have 2 exemples of games that got a gold rating on protondb, but just won't run adequately: Rage 2 that just keeps on crashing every 5 mins, no matter the tweaks I try and Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, that becomes a slide show when you hit the start button... Why gold?! These 2 should get a silver rating max, imo...In my opinion, there are a lot of variables affecting the quality of the game i Proton. For example, I completed the "Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order" without any problems, the performance was very good. In my opinion, gold or platinum. However, that doesn't mean it will work as well on your configuration.
.
Add in the fact that, for some reason, there are a lot of Linux users that want their desktop to be configured a specific way and depending on what they do and how they do it, it may not always be compatible with what Steam, Proton, WINE, etc expect causing issues. Not to mention the obvious Hardware issues that occasionally show up.
Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor delisted for Linux and macOS on Steam
5 Jan 2021 at 4:36 pm UTC
Which is very different from the tech/software industry (especially the web) where consistent updates are important for security and competitive reasons.
5 Jan 2021 at 4:36 pm UTC
Quoting: undeadbydawnIt's probably important to remember that the way the gaming industry works, unless you're running an MMO or long term service-based game (APEX, Fortnite, etc), most of the money made is within the first few months of release of a game and/or ports. Once that is done, updates are only provided until the cost of providing updates outweighs the money coming in from said games. It's one of the big reasons Windows and Steam are popular for gaming - backwards compatibility is kept by keeping/including old libraries so old games (and software) can keep running.Quoting: saellavenI strongly suspect there are a load of games Feral got working really nicely on Linux a few years back, then did zero maintenance. The games (and Steam itself) may have been updated, but the Feral ports have not. The result is previously flawless experiences now a complete mess.Quoting: undeadbydawnSpeaking from harsh experience, Shadow Of Mordor is no great loss. The Linux version was so bad I never got beyond the menu screen, while it was completely flawless - including all online elements - under Glorious Eggroll. While I'm still more likely to buy a game if it offers a Linux version, I generally expect to play under Proton.Add me as another that played through it back in the fall of 2017...
Since Proton is being actively worked on by a surprisingly dedicated team, with Frogging and Eggroll doing amazing work in parallel, it's not overly surprising that they're taking over.
That said I had 100% positive experienced with Tomb Raider
Which is very different from the tech/software industry (especially the web) where consistent updates are important for security and competitive reasons.
Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor delisted for Linux and macOS on Steam
5 Jan 2021 at 4:18 pm UTC Likes: 1
5 Jan 2021 at 4:18 pm UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: sbolokanovValve noted a long time ago that games played using Proton count as a Linux player, not a Windows one.Quoting: MohandevirIt's an additional market. As small as it might be. Just because we are not the average user, it does not mean that we do not play games.Quoting: sbolokanovLinux is an OS made for people who want power. If one doesn't want power, one shouldn't be playing with it.This piece got me thinking... Why is Valve still supporting Linux, at this point, if it all comes to this?
Plus it gives them an edge when interacting with Microsoft. So they can keep them in check.
By the way, Proton is not an official flag for supporting titles on Linux. It's just that tool that gives users the option to play games via WINE with a single click (or at least that's what they claim).
And unless the publishers keep track for who play via Proton, one is possibly counted as yet another Windows user.
Lutris game manager starts off 2021 with a sweet small update
5 Jan 2021 at 4:12 pm UTC Likes: 1
That said, several PPAs use non-version specific packages instead of building for each individual, though those kinds of PPAs are still far less common than ones that build for specific versions of Ubuntu.
5 Jan 2021 at 4:12 pm UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: Pendragon..so do we need to update the ppa repository string in order to pick this up? That seems to defeat the point of having a ppa at all..I just looked again, they've updated the package for 18.04, 20.04, and 20.10
That said, several PPAs use non-version specific packages instead of building for each individual, though those kinds of PPAs are still far less common than ones that build for specific versions of Ubuntu.
Lutris game manager starts off 2021 with a sweet small update
5 Jan 2021 at 3:28 pm UTC
5 Jan 2021 at 3:28 pm UTC
Quoting: borisetoHuh, is for some reason not updated on their Ubuntu repo? Cause I didn't see the .1 update either, besides this one.It's there, they stopped appending the "ubuntu<version>" string to the end of the package. Since 5.8.1 they just create a single DEB file now. I definitely 5.8.2 there.
Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor delisted for Linux and macOS on Steam
4 Jan 2021 at 7:48 pm UTC Likes: 4
While these port license issues do happen from time to time, I don't think I see them as often in general gaming as I do in games based on other properties.
4 Jan 2021 at 7:48 pm UTC Likes: 4
Quoting: rustybroomhandleSorry, that's not entirely what I meant. What I was trying to note is that Feral probably had to enter into a more restrictive and time-limited license because they are based on file franchises rather than that the license was terminated because of that.Quoting: EagleDeltaI don't think anyone posted this yet, but both games are based on movie properties rather than being standalone IPsTotally not related. This is entirely just Feral's license to the ports that have expired.
While these port license issues do happen from time to time, I don't think I see them as often in general gaming as I do in games based on other properties.
Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor delisted for Linux and macOS on Steam
4 Jan 2021 at 4:57 pm UTC Likes: 1
4 Jan 2021 at 4:57 pm UTC Likes: 1
I don't think anyone posted this yet, but both games are based on movie properties rather than being standalone IPs made specifically for gaming. On top of that, this being WB Interactive, their licensing model is probably a bit more restrictive due to the tie to the Movie Business.
Hollywood companies are extremely protective of their "property" and I'd expect anything tied to a movie license to be quite a bit more complicated than a normal porting license. In fact, if the original gamedev is not the IP holder, such as EA with Star Wars, they probably cannot hand out licenses to port anything to platforms EA doesn't support without the permission of Lucasfilm/Disney. While this is less complicated as WB owns WB Interactive, there are still weird organizational separations that make it even more complicated.....
Hollywood companies are extremely protective of their "property" and I'd expect anything tied to a movie license to be quite a bit more complicated than a normal porting license. In fact, if the original gamedev is not the IP holder, such as EA with Star Wars, they probably cannot hand out licenses to port anything to platforms EA doesn't support without the permission of Lucasfilm/Disney. While this is less complicated as WB owns WB Interactive, there are still weird organizational separations that make it even more complicated.....
DOSBox Pure for RetroArch aims to make retro DOS gaming real easy
23 Dec 2020 at 5:32 am UTC
23 Dec 2020 at 5:32 am UTC
Quoting: denyasisI was able to get it working. I had to install from PPA instead of Flatpak or SnapQuoting: EagleDeltaAnyone running into issues with:I guess the easiest question is do you have glibc installed at the correct version? It looks like it's asking for 2.29. From a quick Google, it looks like glibc provides libm and is running 2.32 most recently.
[INFO] [CORE]: Loading dynamic libretro core from: "/home/dhollinger/snap/retroarch/423/.config/retroarch/cores/dosbox_pure_libretro.so"
[ERROR] Failed to open libretro core: "/home/dhollinger/snap/retroarch/423/.config/retroarch/cores/dosbox_pure_libretro.so"
Error(s): /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.29' not found (required by /home/dhollinger/snap/retroarch/423/.config/retroarc[INFO] [Environ]: SET_PIXEL_FORMAT: RGB565.
Granted I'm on Pop!_OS and not Arch, and am running the Snap version since the Flatpak one has some issues.
Do I need to build retroarch from scratch?
I'm not near my computer, but hopefully the newest version will satisfy that dependency.
Small edit: looking at the online Ubuntu repo, looks like the package is libc6. I think pop_os is based on Ubuntu, so I'd check for that package and update.
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