Let's not forget to praise our good friend Ethan Lee for doing a great job with the Linux version.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Agreed, this interface simply does not work. It hardly exposes any of the Steam features, like categories, favorites, gamepad friendly icon (minor, but useful), etc.. I also cannot see how the gamepad input feature would fit with that chat interface.

To put my initial thoughts into words; it's a simplistic media center! Why would I ever want to expose my huge game list in such a space craving, hard to find, format. To be frank, that format even has its problems when you have a big movie collection, but at least there genres are easier to implement.

In the interest of fairness, I might as well add the single issue I have with the real Big Picture Mode. The way the return/back command works can be a bit confusing to some. I imagine it as return to a higher tier menu, but in reality it is return to last viewed page. It should not matter too much though, just me wired another way.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: sevThe internet is a great thing, because you can filter it. If you don't like what people are saying about you, stop going to the places where those people are posting, or else filter them out either in whatever web app you are using or just mentally. Leaving GoL because someone was abusive to you on some podcast or twitter or reddit or all of the above, is like leaving a ball game because someone in math class hurt your feelings. The answer is not to leave GoL, it's to leave the places that affect you negatively.

That is all nice in theory, but for the human mind things are rarely that simple. Not all of us are capable of filtering things out mentally, and if your quality of life suffers the best and only thing to do is leave.

Also, I realized that to be effective in the work Liam did you will have to be exposed on social sites, such as G+ and Twitter. Since those services were specifically mentioned, I would ask you how would you filter all of the jerks (or even one?) on those sites? I have never seen any such function, and I even believe it is in the vendors interest to make it difficult.

One could not solve this by simply leaving those places instead, since today those sites (and many more) are essential tools to communicate with sources and remain effective in this kind of work.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: lucifertdarkThere are some downright awful games on Steam but when you look closely at them you find that most are bad ports of Windows games that weren't up to much to begin with.

My point exactly. Well said.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: gbudny

Quoting: AsavarTzethI know English is not the easiest language to everyone. But could people please learn how to use paragraphs and also try to follow common good practices when writing comments, such as proof reading and trying to keep it short (as much info in as little text as possible).

I'm a non-native English speaker, but I try to treat these types of remarks seriously. I made some small changes in my previous comment.

I have to admit that sometimes I can't stand opinions that are formulated in a very critical way about games for Linux.

Nice! I am actually Swedish myself, so I too am non-native if that further encourages you.

Yes, I agree with some that some of the things I stand for (such as this) is an endless battle, that cannot be won. I also agree that it takes more energy than it may be worth. But I will not give in.

If I would simply give up, why would I remain a Linux pusher? Why, is that not just as hard? Why would I insist on educating people about Linux, yet value other knowledge less? I would say, that would make me a hypocrite.

Also, a personal reason I involve myself is because speaking/writing to strangers is a personal difficulty of mine (of the psychological nature). Here I feel welcome, and I am thankful for that.

Regarding Indie games being crap. This is obviously not true. But it is a simple fact that when the tools of today allow almost anyone to create a game and Steam makes it easier to get in, most of those games will be bad, or indeed maybe even "garbage".

Instead of going further into that topic I will end it with the simplest argument. The exact same thing applies to Steam for Windows, if not more so. Linux at least demands you think outside the box, sometimes providing some quality control.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: EKRboiLOL, good luck with that one. No offense, but are you new to the internets? I know that I am guilty of long posts at times, I prefer to make my thoughts clear and I tend to not leave much "open to interpretation". In a virtual world full or idiots and trolls it really does help. If you don't leave a target for them, they can't really go full retard on you without making themselves look like idiots. I'm not talking about simple disagreement either, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I agree it would be fantastic if everyone did as you say, but it's just not going to happen. So why waste your time posting about it?

No I am obviously not new to the Internet.

I would like to start with saying when I started writing I did not notice there was a second page (I often miss this for some reason/topic for new design?). In fact, even now I would not include yours, it was formatted well enough. If something needs to be long, so be it.

I think you would find we have much in common when it comes to long posts LOL. I'm just saying one should at least try (again not you, or even most).

I do partly agree with you on leaving a target. Unfortunately I tend to at least partly mess up my own comments thus kind of hurting myself in the same way. But I guess I will learn with time :)

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I know English is not the easiest language to everyone. But could people please learn how to use paragraphs and also try to follow common good practices when writing comments, such as proof reading and trying to keep it short (as much info in as little text as possible).

This really is not something that is exclusive to English, but generally is a rule in most/all? languages of the world. I especially know this can be hard when some jerk unintelligent jerk starts ranting. So, no offence meant, just pointing it out.

Not pointing to anyone specific. Just thought I would mention it, in case some might be reminded by it. You will only need to look at Liam's comments to find a great example.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I remember trying to play this under Windows, back in the days. It was horrible, buggy and plain unplayable.

As I understand it the series is loved for its original titles, while the newer, kind of 3D, ones are generally hated. I am lucky I already own it so I cannot make the same mistake again. If anything it will be interesting to see if it works better with eON under Linux than it did under pure Windows, lol.

Btw, a simply bad game in the series, riddled with bugs, and ported by VP? Really, I know we love supporting Linux efforts (VP included), but please do consider this before you buy. I would actually rather find some other, less known indie, and support them, even at 4-5€.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Here is an idea I have come up with that might be useful to others.

I used to buy extra gift copies to support Linux devs. Then I sometimes gave or traded them to my friends. Some of those friends still partly or fully used Windows. Then Aspyr revealed how things really worked.

My solution; a second Linux account. Whenever I buy a second copy to add to the Linux stats, or more importantly, make sure companies like Feral Interactive and Aspyr get their cut, I gift that to my other account. Then I make sure to launch it there at least once.

If any of my friends need a copy to play multiplayer I will now let them borrow it from my second (guest) account via family sharing, instead of gifting them a copy that would turn into a Windows purchase.

Consider this idea when you think of raising Linux stats. Oh and I recently had the survey, not too long since the second one. My second account then got it almost immediately after having added games to it.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I just wish to add, if anyone might have misunderstood my initial post, I never said I was for or against eON. I just wanted to share information, pure and simple.

As for what my actual feelings on the matter is. I have had way more broken experiences with wine wrappers used (broken res, missing regfix for gnome-shell focus, controller support, etc..). I love wine, especially when I tweak it myself, but if I am to get it pre-packaged I would take eON (if working well) before Wine any day.

This is not me saying Wine sucks, but claiming the developers are inept when it comes to working with it. If I had packaged the game myself, I am less sure on the subject.

View this comment - View article - View full comments