Quoting: ElectricPrismThis time period of Linux is like watching the fall of Berlin Wall, or waking up September 11th, 2001, or the fall of the Roman empire.

The first and last analogies I get, but September 11? Do you really not know what happened on that day? Or are you trolling? :huh:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: PZiggyDefinitely an amazing game. A few more like these and I'll have no reason to dual boot.

I gave up dual booting months ago. It has gotten to the point that I don't mind missing out on Windows exclusives because there are so many other games available to me.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Ah, pity it's not the first DoW: 40K. I bought that years ago as part of a Humble Bundle, but I've never really had a chance to play it.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I think the most encouraging thing here is that even with a small percentage of sales, Linux can be profitable in the right circumstances, the most important factor being a work flow that allows for easy porting.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

It's always hard balancing a game like this because even if you're pursuing a non-military victory, you still have to field a strong army to fight off the players who are, which can make things feel a little lopsided at times. It works in Civilization 5 because you can form alliances that offer a degree of protection. One of my most fun Civ 5 matches was when I maintained a game-long alliance with a powerful neighbor and was able to win a tech victory.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Interesting to hear that Unity doesn't play well with Linux when you consider just how popular it is with developers. I wonder if they would have better luck with another engine like Unreal, Source 2, or Cry Engine?

On the positive side, the sales figures here are about double what the Steam hardware survey shows.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Renzatic Gear1. Performance. This is the big one.

I agree, although I think people make a much bigger deal about benchmarks than is warranted. In the majority of cases, Linux easily gets above the 60FPS threshhold, so most people wouldn't even notice that it theoretically lags behind Windows in terms of performance. What it does, though, is deny Linux gamers the coveted "My OS is better than your OS" bragging rights which a lot of people irrationally value.

This is one area where Linux could easily improve.

Quoting: Renzatic Gear2. Ease of use and reliability.

What you describe is a "Your mileage will vary" scenario. You mentioned XCOM 2 as being a particularly troublesome game for you, but here's a video showing that it runs equal to and even better than Windows on the exact same hardware:

View video on youtube.com

Having played the game myself, I can confirm that it runs beautifully in Linux, which is likely the result of Firaxis bringing Feral in from the beginning to create the Linux version alongside the Windows version instead of after the fact, and this is where Linux could see the biggest performance and stability gains. It also allowed for a Day 1 Linux release. Too many Linux ports are done after the Windows version is completed, and that needs to change.

But getting back to your problem, that just sounds like you have something misconfigured on your system which can happen in Windows easily enough.

Quoting: Renzatic Gear3. Like the guy in the interview said, games need to launch simultaneously to have a chance to rack up some sales.

Agreed.

Quoting: Renzatic Gear4. Linux is still a little rough around the edges. While things have improved GREATLY over the years, it can still occasionally be a chore to use. You'll see the odd weirdo issue pop up that requires a diving into Google for an hour or two to figure out. Odd weirdo issues that has absolutely no parallel in Windows, mind.

What? Sorry, but Windows has plenty of odd weirdo issues. I've encountered many of them myself, either troubleshooting my own problems or ones my wife has encountered, and I recently gave up on Windows entirely when a Windows Update got stuck in an endless loop that a Google search informed me is a rather common problem without an easy solution. So I blew away my Windows partition and never looked back. Linux is, in fact, much easier to troubleshoot and repair than Windows or OSX because everything is open. You're not stuck trying to navigate a locked down environment with limited access to the underlying system.

So in the end, the only real "downsides" of Linux gaming at the moment are performance and timeliness of releases, both of which can be solved with relative ease.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

To help put things in perspective, 1/3 of Steam's catalog is currently available for Linux. When you consider that two years ago, that number was zero, it's easy to make the argument that Linux gaming has seen amazing growth in an incredibly short amount of time, and we're still in the early days! To scoff at Linux gaming as a failure seems rather uninformed and short-sighted.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

[quote=Mal]

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: NyapMake hl3 a steam-linux exclusive. Boom, problem solved

I got a couple of digs for (jokingly) saying that earlier in the topic.
People seem to take it waaay too seriously.
Well... arguably make hl3 linux only is not make it an exclusive. Since the platform is open and free it doesn't really cut out anybody... both technically and economically.

Good luck explain it to the guys still connected to the Matrix though. ^_^

I agree. If a game were ever released exclusively for Linux/SteamOS, there would be very little to stop someone from acquiring the free distro of their choice and giving it a look. What people should really be concerned about are the large number of Windows exclusives that are released every year.

That said, I do laugh at the idea of a bunch of Microsoft fanboys grudgingly dual booting Linux just to play a coveted game.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: s8as8a

Valve is making games exclusive to their "platform", which is Steam, the same way Microsoft is making games exclusive to their Xbox/Windows store

If you're referring to the Source 2 engine, to my knowledge, Valve is not saying that games made using that engine cannot be sold outside of Steam; Valve is simply saying that, the Source 2 engine games must be sold in either Steam alone or Steam in addition to any other store.

I think it was about Steamworks. Steam isn't new to the lock-in game. Developers which use Steamworks and make it mandatory can't distribute their games outside of Steam. It's a nasty tactics to use developer tools for lock-in.

Steamworks is an optional feature. It's up to the developer whether or not they want to use it, so it's hard to argue that as a case of vendor lock in.

View this comment - View article - View full comments