Quoting: Gnurfos

Quoting: mraggiI'm going to look into the steam api (I didn't know it existed!). The problem is that steam uses either your phone or a code they send you by email to authenticate, so I didn't know how to do that via script.

You can require that the user set their profile to public, if you want to spare the pain of logging in.

Else I suggest you turn your script into a web page, where users can authenticate by themselves via Steam. Lots of sites do that, and as a user, I like this a lot more than running a script. But in addition to coding it, you have to host it somewhere.

I second what Faugn says about using proper modules rather than system calls. I would add that you should reserve main() for command line entry points only, and if a module calls something from another module, it should be a function with a descriptive name instead.

I'll just think loud - what do you guys think about making @mraggi's script a tiny page (like @Gnurfos you suggested) that would be linked from gamingonlinux in a similar way as http://www.opengamebenchmarks.org/ [External Link] is linked in forum?
Of course, as Gnurfos said, there will be a need to pay for the hosting, etc., but personally I would consider "checking your library against Wine" a valuable part of Gamingonlinux.
There is yet another option -> rewrite what @mraggi did to PHP and make it a part of GamingOnLinux, but that's up to @mraggi and @liamdawe to decide.

P.S. I guess gamingonlinux.com should also allow to post user reviews, but I guess I just need to create a separated suggestions forum thread for that topic.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I picked Valve Complete Pack for 17,99 almost 3 years ago.
I start to think that Steam Sales aren't worth my attention anymore...


P.S. There is no a single new game from Valve in pack from 2017.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Sorry for being ignorant, but I felt I must ask:
Why is this information worth writing article about?
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to criticize here, I just want to understand, because honestly this information seems to have no value at all.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: GuestThanks for the replies.

Let's say the financials are not an issue and the porting company can do it successfully. Will there any be logical reason for the Windows publisher not to allow the game to be ported to Linux?

Yes and no. Let me elaborate on this.

The problem is that your assumption is wrong. Financials are always an issue -> Party that has rights to the game has to see business value in new market (either now or in long-term perspective). Regarding "porting company can do it successfully" I will use Witcher game series as an example to answer your question, because I have an impression that you want to focus on Witcher 3.

First of all -> CD Projekt Red already ordered Linux port of one of the Witcher series games - The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. I don't know if you are familiar with the story, but initial port caused serious shitstorm. Quality of the port was very bad, and Linux users were requesting their money back, Windows users were laughing at Linux users, because of low quality of the game and because of low performance of OpenGL, etc.
Virtual Programming did this port, and many Linux gamers started to hate their "eON" wrapper.
3 years later the game works almost as good as Windows version performance-wise, eON wrapper is mature (has it's own issues of course, but is decent from my perspective).
The question here is -> is such a port successful? Today, the game works like it should, however, it looks like CD Projekt RED interpreted this port as a failure, because they avoid talking about Linux versions of their games. If first port would be successful from very beginning, I am 100% sure that we would be playing Linux version of Witcher 3 game for a year now.

The other aspect related to successful port is the fact that porting the game like Witcher 3 is an ongoing process. You need to ensure that the game on other platform is up-to-date with the version on base platform. Take a look at other games Feral Interactive ported -> those games have some delay with updates while comparing with Windows version of the game. Because of that I can assume, that Feral's port is not merged to game's codebase, and because of that they have to manually adapt changes made in game's codebase to port's codebase. If my assumption is true, Feral's developers have to do some ungrateful work after port is published and updates to already ported games are released.

This business model has it's serious disadvantages -> at some point port done by 3rd party may be not developed anymore, while the game itself is in development, and as a result, people who invested money in Linux version of the game cannot play their game anymore. I refer to this situation.

So it's not black and white and that's why there is no simple yes/no answear to your question.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I saw the price and I laughed badly. Seriously, WTF? There is a givaway of 5 million copies of basic version of the game, and a moment later there is an ultimate edition of a game for 45 euro? 4 years old game for 45 euro? What is it - GTA V?
I can't imagine what would DLCs have to include in order to force me to pay 45 euro for them...
I'm not against paying 45 euro for game - there are games worth such an amount of money. But seriously - ultimate version of a game that you could have in basic version for free? I can't understand that business model.
The other topic is that gaming industry is in terrible shape. Most of the game developers try to sell us the same product once again for ridiculous price. The whole idea of remasters, game of the year edition and ultimate editions is pure evil.
I can understand game of the year edition for games that have some interesting story DLCs, for example Witcher 3. 2 great DLCs that enhance main story - brilliant, I understand why they were created.
But Payday 2...
I may be ignorant here, but I have to ask. Seriously - what new content adds Ultimate edition to basic version of the game? What can possibly be created in the same multiplayer focused product to force people to pay 45 euro for it? I could google it, but honestly I want to read it in this thread and read your opinion about current state of the gaming industry.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I don't get it. Why Steam publishes information about users from surveys instead from analytics of running Steam clients?
It would make much more sense to have analytics per month with:
- max / min / average daily users,
- max / min / average users at the same time,
- overall hours steam clients been running.

I have never had Steam survey and I was using multiple machines, multiple Wine prefixes and multiple distributions.
Measuring market share from Steam survey makes no sense.

And I don't say Linux market would be bigger, because most of the game sales published on this site say Linux is about 0.5 - 2 percent, but I would consider such a data much more useful than Steam survey.

P.S. if someone would say that such an analytics would be too much to infrastructure, I would laugh, because I can't imagine such a big system without analytics data. So I'm confident Steam collects such a data.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: razing32

Quoting: wojtek88I have finished the game in about 90%, from main plot I haven't finished only the last mission.
I haven't finished it because...
I don't have much time to play recently and whenever I start the Dying Light to finish last mission, the scenario is the same:
I start the mission and play it like any other mission. On the map there is a suggestion, that always points me to wrong place and I get mad and turn off the game...

However the game is golden and I can recommend it to everyone.

The game is good and the night sections really make you afraid of the super zombies.

As for the final mission , sorry to say but it is a mess. You're not missing out on that one.

Did you play the DLC yet ?

Nope, I haven't. Honestly very often I skip DLC's. The only DLC's I enjoy are those that provide story extension, like White March part I and II in Pillars of Eternity, or Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine in Witcher 3.
Is the Following similar to those extensions? I own it, but didn't manage to give it a try yet.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I have finished the game in about 90%, from main plot I haven't finished only the last mission.
I haven't finished it because...
I don't have much time to play recently and whenever I start the Dying Light to finish last mission, the scenario is the same:
I start the mission and play it like any other mission. On the map there is a suggestion, that always points me to wrong place and I get mad and turn off the game...

However the game is golden and I can recommend it to everyone.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I will throw some money at them, just to show them that Linux gamers pay for the games, even if they are released late. However it's worth to have in mind, that this game was already available in humble bundle for very cheap (it means that such a game won't create colossal income).

However I am very pleased that the game was released to Linux and I hope our library will grow even faster!

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I am in weird moment of my life, where I want to support Linux gaming but I don't have a hardware that would allow me to play newest games on Linux.
I buy Linux games on sale even if I am 100% sure that I won't be able to play them in nearest future.

For almost 2 years I have a PS4 (bought to play Witcher 3) that is meant to play newest titles and 4,5 years old laptop that is meant to play Pillars of Eternity and some less resource-demanding Linux games.

Because I own PS4 I buy games for PS4 and Linux at the same time.
The weird thing is that DIRT, XCOM2, Tomb Raider (2013) and Mad Max I have on PS4 (On Linux as well except Mad Max) and all of this titles I bought at this or lower price on PS4 few months ago.
The only game that I bought for much more is Shadow of Mordor (which I have on Linux as well).

What I'm saying is that it is weird, that PC hardware is more expensive and PC games are getting to the price of console games.

I want Linux gaming to succeed, but I need to pray for Valve to do new push for Steam OS with some insane deals like - pay 500 euro for gaming console, get 300 euro to spend on Steam.

Previous deals for Steam machines were pathetic - 349 euro for cheapest version with old GPU and you received Payday 2. At the same moment you could buy PS4 for the same price with Uncharted: Nathan Drake's Collection, DriveClub and Little Big Planet 3. And a store with all the newest games available.

Don't get me wrong - I admit that we need to pay full price for games for Linux gaming to succeed.

But it is impossible to convince end user that is interested only in gaming to choose Steam machine if it has:
- Higher price
- worse hardware
- worse title bundled
- worse gaming library available to purchase
- worse performance of the games
- AND IT DOES NOT HAVE CHEAPER GAMES

View this comment - View article - View full comments