By all means, buy,install, play the games you like. But know that Virtual Programming is a stepping stone _away_ from native games. It costs companies nothing to say "wine", it is a minimal investment to actually support wine, but they pay, _they PAY_, to avoid making a native Linux version by using Virtual Programming. They are _investing in avoiding native ports_ when there are low to no investent options.

There are those of us using Linux' unique advantages to enjoy gamming on systems that are not Intel, AMD, or even x86 and do not use nVidia, AMD, or Intel graphics accelleration.

About opensource driver confusion. Could it be that some people actually download Intel binaries from the Intel website and think that these are proprietary drivers because they didn't get them through their package manager?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Things to remember in all market places:
If you buy a game for Windows+Mac+Linux, a Windows purchase is recorded along with the other OSes
If a survey asks and you say you game with, use, have installed, or buy for Windows, Mac, and Linux (or more commonly Windows and Linux), Windows gets counted.
If you run a Windows game from a dual boot computer Windows gets counted and Linux does not even if you also run it with Linux.
If you run a Windows game using wine (or any emulator/virtualizer) on Linux (or Mac) on any market that tracks your OS with software, Windows gets counted and Linux does not
If you are using Windows software of any sort in any way (including background apps) and use a website tracks your OS, Windows gets counted and Linux does not.
If you are using Windows software that is also avaiable for Linux and use anything on the net that tracks your software, most likley this counts as Windows and Linux is not even looked for.
Steam is a bit smarter for separating Windows and Linux, but still counts many Linux gamers as Windows gamers because of wine and Dual boot (But this really doesn't matter, see below).

And now for the most important fact: If statistics from anywhere show a customer or potential customer games with, uses, has installed, or buys Windows, the vast majority of market professions will ignore all other OS stats. They only thing that will ever have any chance of catching their attention is stats that show Linux gamers who do not use Windows at all. Sadly, most survey's and nearly all software tracking does not even offer a way to indicate this.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I will go right on saying, "No Tux no bux"

I haven't tried SteamOS in a while but I'm hoping it is not possible to boot up and play without seeing Tux or "Linux" branding of any sort. It would actually be bad for them in the long run not to emphasize SteamOS is a Linux distro. People and companies see the "Intel Inside" badge, for example, so the hardware manufacture benefits along with Intel.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I thought there was a process in order to get a game on Steam. Who approved this?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

What's wrong with a one of those tiny 3rd party wiimotes? That's what I use for mine it suffices for most games. I use a nunchuck for a few games (dxx-rebirth). Certianly the playpad offers more control options in a tink space, but the wiimote doesn't need flashing or Windows.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

my wife just sent me a text. she filled out the survey but complained to me there was no option for her video card. Its a Trident Cyberblade. Maybe you could add an 'other' option. also 'none'

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: GuestThey hate us.

Perhaps just a tad overdramatic?

Perhaps. But I searched their site months ago and found over 30 occurences of "Linux". None of the results were on a page selling games nor on any of the pages where 4 to 11 other platforms/outlets are listed. I sent them an email asking why they seemed to be avoiding mentioning Linux. They claimed they informed people of Linux compatibility by using the Steam icon. This would be a technically valid dodge except for two facts. Not all of their Steam games are for Linux and the show or mention "Windows", "PC", and "MacOSX" in many of the same places where they indicate "Steam". Now I see the mentions of "Linux" dropping. It is clear. They embrace Steam and avoid Linux. They like Linux+Steam users and have a completly different reguard for Linux users.

And it does seem an excellent idea for all Linux users to join Steam to be counted and heard and not buy games. Developers are getting the idea that Steam+Linux users are the Linux community or that others don't matter.

View this comment - View article - View full comments