I have been following the development of this game for quite a while now, and with every announcement I grow more and more excited.

I'm surprised to find myself wanting Insomnia for its art alone. It's as if art deco and art moderne elements had been hammer-welded together in a constructivist gulag. It's decopunk on the skids, beguilingly noir --- and I want more.

Hell, even if the gameplay is shite, I'm thinking I'll buy it just to look at it.

God I'm weird.

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Quoting: ShmerlI don't think anyone is opposed to testing unfinished programs.

Hi Shmerl. I absolutely agree here. I don't think anyone is opposed to testing unfinished programs/games either. I must have not been clear about the point I was making because I didn't mean to suggest anything remotely like that when I wrote about people opposing "the existence of EA on Steam." (Quite honestly, I'm at a bit of a loss to imagine how anyone might be able to misconstrue opposition to EA on Steam as meaning opposition to testing unfinished programs,) but, people being people, I'm sure such a thing could happen.

I also appreciate your pointing out how "people are concerned about . . . turning this into a revenue stream." I agree, there absolutely must be such concerns.

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Regarding the game: Kudos to the developers for owning their mistake and correcting it [External Link] quickly. Exemplary.

Regarding this article: As I write this, it's been 11 hours since the developers corrected their mistake. The sooner it is updated to reflect the above information, the better for the readers, the developers, the author, and GoL's reputation.

Regarding Early Access: There's absolutely nothing wrong with the EA. It allows players to become involved in the game development process and (this part's important) --- It's strictly voluntary. No one has to buy an EA game ever.

For those thinking about buying an EA game, Steam has placed a warning on every EA store page that clearly states, in a sky blue box, on a black background:

"Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development."

[Italics and emboldening mine.-- p.boom.]

I cannot fathom how people buy games clearly labeled "not complete" (i.e., unfinished, incomplete, not-all-there) and then find the gumption to complain about it with a straight face, let alone try and feign some sort of moral high ground.

I'm even more flummoxed by those who say they are opposed to the very existence of EA on Steam. What are they afraid of? What are they opposing? Community? Collaboration? Creativity? Choice? That seems unlikely.

I can only guess they've made a bad EA purchase and now lack the character to admit their mistake, own it, learn from it, and move on.

Caveat emptor friends and neighbors. For the uninitiated, caveat emptor is Latin for "Let the buyer beware." To quote the OED:

"The principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made."

So caveat emptor y'all. :)

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Nice overview, TheBoss. It's on par with your recent, excellent analysis of the (Almighty) Steam Controller. Once again you have given me more detail and answered more of my questions about SteamOS than anything I have yet read.

To the SteamOS deficiencies that you touch upon (the lack of broadcasting, FPS counter, inability to access forums, missing "Coming Soon" / "Upcoming" section, etc.) I would add the inability to access the "Settings" menu while in-game. It's just a damned nuisance. These shortcomings, amongst others, are why I'm staying with a Steam client on my Unity desktop for now. I mean, although I really do enjoy be-bopping around BPM with my Steam Controller (can we call this thing a "Steampad?"), until BPM is at least as capable as "Desktop mode," SteamOS just doesn't float my boat.

I do have workarounds for two of the issues you mention, though only one applies to BPM, alas. Regarding not hearing other players in VOIP: when possible, I adjust the game's audio so voice chat is the loudest of the audio settings. To view all "Upcoming" titles (in Desktop mode only) choose "windows" in addition to "SteamOS/Linux" in the filters. You'll get upcoming windows games, but you'll also get Linux offerings too.

Finally, your wishlist items are spot on. It's insulting that my old Xbox 360 can split audio so voice-chat goes to the headset and game audio goes to the TV, but Steam can't. And I really like your idea of having the controller's battery status always visible in the UI --- Steam devs, are you taking notes?

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Liam, nice review! In fact I found it a more comprehensive and even-handed review than any other I can remember reading. Well done!

Mountain Man and adolson, thanks for your posts about sorting and avoiding that BPM cursor bug and putting the modal shift button and input device on the same device, respectively. I couldn't consistently fix the first issue, and I never thought of the second solution. Kudos to you both.

A couple things I didn't yet see mentioned:

* Dual pads instead of joysticks. Even for shooters that have full controller support, I always use a K&B set-up with WASD movement on the left pad and a low friction mouse track ball on the right. It permits speed and precision that is just downright sexy. This is especially nice for some older games with bizarre keyboard layouts from the pre-WASD era.

* Modal shift touch pads can map a lot of additional buttons! In some cases K&B layout requires more keys for necessary functions than are available on the Steam Controller. In these cases I use modal shift to set up an on-screen touch pad menu. Each touch pads can map 16 additional actions per touchpad. I put any infrequently used but necessary keys in here.

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They lost your controller order, and you're entering their contest in the hopes of winning another?

Liam, mate, your profound optimism is an inspiration to us all and should be held aloft as an example for this all-too-often jaded and cynical world. :)

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Well I had forgotten about them. :P

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"Divinity: Original Sin Coming to Linux!" isn't news.
"Divinity: Original Sin Now on Linux!" is news.

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Larian, I don't need another explanation of your latest failed Linux deadline, because my problem with you isn't about the your delays. It's about your empty assurances and broken promises. You're not special. Like everyone else, you're only as good as your word. Your word on other OSs seems good. If it weren't, you wouldn't be in business.

You are clearly a competent crew. You know how to make plans, set goals, and meet deadlines. And, granted, maybe the Linux learning curve was far steeper than you anticipated. That explains the first failure to meet your announced release date.

But that doesn't explain why you persist in announcing unequivocal release times that you utterly fail to meet? Have you not yet learned that you are clueless how long it will take you to do something in Linux? I've learned that, why haven't you?

So go ahead and state your position, make your arguments, explain your deficiencies, and make your apologies ... It's all meaningless noise at this point. It's garbage. It doesn't matter how well intentioned you are. If you can't or won't do a thing, don't say you can over and over and over again. People may begin to wonder how you could be so mistaken so often; are you incompetent? Or are you lying?

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I have bled the black rooster and said the necessary incantations. It will happen. ^_^

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