I did a tiny amount of Linux beta testing. Might be doing some more and reporting back to the developer.

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I decided to pick up retro-style beat-'em up game Mother Russia Bleeds [External Link] which is currently on sale at 75% discount on Steam. Haven't tried it out yet. Looks "interesting" ;)

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I want to support new games the moment they come out... but at the same time I want all the DLC for the game, without having to buy it later. Whereas people who don't buy early, wait for the Game Of The Year (GOTY) version and get everything in one go and a much better value deal as well.

In my case I bought Pillars, then White March I, then White March II, and NOW there is Deadfire DLC (and the 'GOTY' Definitive version which has it all.)

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I've been considering buying Shadow Warrior 2 (60% off) on GOG, even though it is "for Windows only" (BOO HOO!)

But, I've stuck to the "No Tux, no bucks" philosophy and resisted buying it. I really do aim to play games only on Linux... It boosts Linux gaming stats and I can leave my Windows partition to rot. The Halloween Sale on GOG is over now, so SW2 is back to full price again ( "Temptation averted" ).

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Quoting: BrisseYeah, but my point is that you seemed to imply with your last comment that pirates don't count towards Steam statistics which is just plain wrong.

No, my implication was that someone who pirates will potentially do so, whenever possible. Agreeing with you that people can selectively pirate software, i.e. buy some stuff and pirate other stuff. However, if the person is in Steam statistics, it probably means they bought the game on Steam or acquired a steam key some other way, possibly fraudulently.

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Quoting: BrisseThere's no reason someone who pirated Windows wouldn't have a legit Steam account with a few legally owned games on it. The world isn't that black and white.

Here's some Black and White for you..

You play legitimately bought games on pirated Windows - you're a pirate.
You play pirated games on pirated Windows - you're a pirate.

You play legitimately bought games on free Linux - you're not a pirate.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: g000hI think what annoys me about this news is the fact that most of the copies of Windows being used in China are pirated. Previous news stories estimate 90% of Windows in China is pirated. A few years ago, Steve Ballmer stated it being the case. It is clear that Chinese do not want to pay for software, probably because typical earnings are not great and probably because they can get away with it without fear of repercussions.

The thing is... They could be using Linux instead, and for FREE. And no WannaCry or other malware that has gone through Windows installs over there. Imagine the boost to Linux if all those Chinese had not been pirating...

What makes you think that Chinese Linux users would bother to pay for the games?

Answering your question: Anyone who pirates operating system software is just as likely to pirate games or application software. In the case of games which don't have an online multiplayer component, e.g. playing The Witcher 3, Skyrim, Dark Souls, then I'm sure that piracy is rife.

However, games which use a gamer id to login to an online multiplayer game, e.g. Overwatch, PUBG - Then the publishers can identify pirates and ban them. In these cases, I expect there are game purchases being made. Also noting that these are Steam statistics, so I expect the game has been bought (or the steam key acquired fraudulently) for the pirate to play it.

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I think what annoys me about this news is the fact that most of the copies of Windows being used in China are pirated. Previous news stories estimate 90% of Windows in China is pirated. A few years ago, Steve Ballmer stated it being the case. It is clear that Chinese do not want to pay for software, probably because typical earnings are not great and probably because they can get away with it without fear of repercussions.

The thing is... They could be using Linux instead, and for FREE. And no WannaCry or other malware that has gone through Windows installs over there. Imagine the boost to Linux if all those Chinese had not been pirating...

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Tried out the demo myself for a few minutes - Finished off the tutorial. Followed your advice and played it windowed (and no problems).

It has similarities to FTL and I'm definitely interested to look into it further. I'm not generally an early-funding backer though. I'd rather pay for the game when it is out, tested and reviewed.

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Happy that another quality game is coming to Linux. Would be interested in a Linux vs Windows shoot-out (average, minimum, maximum FPS) for the game running with Vulkan on Linux.

And... Happy that Feral are releasing another title to Linux with Vulkan. Even if big publishers aren't fussed about releasing games on Linux, as long as they use Vulkan then future porting or playing of the Windows version on WINE, should make things increasingly better for Linux gaming.

It would be so cool if F1 2017 (Vulkan) ran better on Linux than Windows 10 (Vulkan or DirectX 12). =P

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