I wish they'd get enough DX11 up and running to make Elder Scrolls Online run again in WINE.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: LukeNukemNow if only those lazy devs who only ever released 32bit versions of their games would actually realise how stupid that is...

That’s not stupid since 32 bit games work on both 32 and 64 bit systems, while 64 bit games only work on 64 bit systems.

There shouldn't be any 32bit systems left in the world anywhere outsides of a museum. 64bit operating systems aren't exactly a new thing. How old does a computer need to be not to be able to run one? oO

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Canada was poorly represented in the game so far. Glad to see this DLC. Bought! :)

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To be honest, it makes very little difference if you dual boot to run your Windows games or use WINE for it. In both cases, your game purchase will register as a Windows sale.
What people need to do to get developers making games for Linux is limiting purchasing Windows games to the minimum they are comfortable with, and buy Linux games whenever possible. Buying Windows games and run them in WINE will do exactly nothing to encourage developers to make native ports. It doesn't mean we need to be zealots about it, it just means trying to funnel our money to those developers willing to support us. It means treating buying Windows games as an exception we reserve for truly special games.

Personally, I like it when my older games run in WINE, and I am in no shape or fashion opposed to it. I don't see it as a long term solution for Linux gaming either - in the end we want native ports. My gripe with WINE is not ethical, it's more an issue of practicability and convenience. As awesome as WINE is in making software run on a foreign OS, I can barely name you ANY game that "just runs" in WINE without a more or less massive amount of tinkering and trial and error - if it runs without massive issues at all, which is the rule and not the exception. I am using it for SWTOR (which actually is one of the few games I tried that run amazingly well in WINE), but others I couldn't get to run for the life of me (e.g. the Steam version of The Sims 3), others had their support suddenly broken by patches (e.g. Elder Scrolls Online), and yet others run so badly in WINE that keeping a Windows partition around is a much smarter choice (e.g. Star Trek Online, Guild Wars 2).

In the end, I am torn about WINE. I have nothing but respect for the developers and what they achieved, but for gaming, it's just not (yet) good enough to be a true alternative to dual booting. Better DX11 support will be a step in the right direction, though.

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Cool. A training simulation for Facebook commentaries!

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I usually refrain from buying games these days unless they come with a Linux port as well. But I am willing to make 1 or 2 exceptions per year if I -really- want the game. Fallout 4 was last year's. I don't think I had one this year. But I -am- glad that Wine is capable of running SWTOR in Linux, so I don't have to boot into Windows to get my MMO fix. Maybe the Wine guys can fix the broken ESO support as well!

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It has been a good year, for sure!

The two disappointments for me were the high amount of already announced and confirmed ports canceled over middleware issues, which made me question the competency of some of the "professional" game developers out there. Sorry, but if you plan a multi-platform release and then use Windows-only middleware to make the game, you should be doing something else than developing games. Anything.

The other disappointment was games that actually DID release, but with so little love and polish that the game didn't even start. Master of Orion, I am looking at you! This just reeks of disrespect. No matter how small a customer base we still are, but that's no way to treat people who bought your product. Nobody is forcing anyone to do a Linux port, but I think it's not too much asked for that IF a company does one, it should do them right. That includes actually testing a build on a platform that's -officially- supported.

Other than that - wow, did we get a lot of good games! My Linux Steam library broke through a hundred games this year - something I didn't think would happen anytime soon. I recently got a new PC, and while I still have a Windows partition on it, I rarely boot into it these days. Yes, yes, we still don't get EVERY AAA release and still none of the Top 3 publishers supports Linux, but let's be honest, if you don't insist on playing literally every single blockbuster game made, you will find more than enough choice on Linux these days.

What's on my wishlist for next year? As Liam pointed out - an improved Steam client (can we PLEASE stop displaying Windows games by default on a platform where these games don't run?), and a bit more QA on Valve's end. I really would want them to remove games from Steam that fail to even start on platforms that are allegedly supported. I would also love to see a true commitment to SteamOS from them. Like encouraging developers to support it by giving SteamOS games more exposure on the front page? Or even sponsor porting some really outstanding games to it (it's Valve, they wouldn't even notice the costs...).

I also would wish someone would magically turn the Bethesda CEO into a Linux lover. I can totally do without EA and Ubisoft's mass-produced garbage games on Linux, but not having Beth games is a total bummer for me.
And maybe...just maybe...one major MMO. If it's not too that much asked for.

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Glad to see this project is going on. This is one of the very, VERY few commercial quality open source games (I can't even think of a second right now, but there probably is one). Most look as if a 5 year old did the art (*cough* FreeCiv...). But 0AD is really beautiful and professionally done.

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I am usually not at all into JRPGs, but this one is really pretty, for sure. oO

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Well, as far as reasons for delayed ports go, that one is at least a solid one.

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