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Latest Comments by Hamish
Sales Statistics From Developers Part 3
29 Jul 2014 at 1:17 am UTC

Quoting: tmtvlYeah, that's my only problem with Linux: there's pretty much no good games available. But there's always Wine, which works well enough.
Really? Not even one? :S:

The New Unreal Tournament Is Shaping Up In A New Video
28 Jul 2014 at 8:33 pm UTC

Yes, the engine support is the main important thing, although the same applied to the older UT ports as well to an extent - the main difference between the older Unreal engines and UE4 is that this engine supports cross-platform from the get-go upstream and offers full source code access, which should actually make the work of porters like Gordon less necessary in the long run.

And there were retail Linux games on disks before UT2003, mostly from Loki Software but there were also a few others such as LGP, Hyperion, Macmillan Digital Publishing, etc. Since people seem to be having trouble looking back that far, I would suggest consulting these links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_gaming#History [External Link]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_C._Gordon [External Link]

If you can look them up Gordon's own SELF talks are pretty good for this as well.

GOG com Now Officially Support Linux Games
28 Jul 2014 at 4:05 pm UTC

Duke Nukem 3D and Rise of the Triad just work for me (even though they would probably be better served with source ports, but the data is there for whenever I want it) as do the Blake Stone games. Realms of the Haunting works in everything except the music which complains in the terminal. I have yet to try anything else, and I did not buy the Flatout games.

My brother cleared them out of most of their Linux sale items, barring a few exceptions - still, even with him deselecting a few games for various reasons, he still ended up purchasing a frilly pink princess game by mistake, even if it is a rather perverse one. I think his masculinity can handle it.:P

The New Unreal Tournament Is Shaping Up In A New Video
28 Jul 2014 at 3:52 pm UTC

Take a piece of advice: actually make sure you have some ground to stand on before acting standoffish.

The original UT's server and client were ported in-house by Epic and then later taken over by Loki Software - that being said, despite being an official Loki product, it was never sold in boxes and instead acted more like the unofficial id Software ports in that you needed to have the Windows version's data and then use a separate Linux installer.

Ryan C. Gordon ported both Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 to Linux, and not only did he make both a server and a client for these games, but the Linux installer was actually included on the game disks. No joke. If you have a copy of them, look for the linux-installer.sh files.

UT3 was supposed to be the same deal, but while Gordon was able to make and release a server, his client for the game was never released. There is a lot of speculation about why this is the case, but very little concrete facts, which is part of the reason why some in the Linux community are still suspicious of Epic, even with all of their recent gestures.

As to why these ports are not currently on Steam, well, Epic has probably just not bothered with it, and besides, the sun does not just rise and fall on Valve. There was Linux gaming before Steam. It is an interesting history, and I suggest you look it up someday.

The New Unreal Tournament Is Shaping Up In A New Video
26 Jul 2014 at 2:58 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: BeamboomIt's still unreal to me that the next UT is coming to Linux.
Even though that was the standard for the longest time...

GOG com Now Officially Support Linux Games
26 Jul 2014 at 2:31 pm UTC

Is the 30 day money back guarantee invalid if you are using other distributions? Or is it just for refunds after that? I would have assumed the 30 day guarantee would apply for any reason...

Quoting: CheesenessIn most of the ways that matter in this context, they're the same sort of thing IMO. Third party (community) developed replacements for runtimes/engines without the support (or approval) of vendors to allow stuff to run on platforms that weren't originally intended.
There are still some big differences though - only one of them is trying to support a moving, actively developing target, let alone the whole other element of potentially endorsing development for another currently viable platform as opposed to your own.

EDIT: So the 30 day money back guarantee does only apply to support issues rather than as a more general policy, which I do find disappointing.

GOG com Now Officially Support Linux Games
25 Jul 2014 at 11:26 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: neffoA rational response. How about celebrating having some choice?
Generally not the best tack when defending the market leader...

Among The Sleep Is Now Playable On Linux
24 Jul 2014 at 5:52 pm UTC Likes: 1

DRM free builds are also available on Humble Store: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/amongthesleep_storefront [External Link]

GOG com Now Officially Support Linux Games
24 Jul 2014 at 3:53 pm UTC

Got my account and have $10 dollars worth of games in my cart already.

The main oddity I have noticed though is the assumptions about my Personal Information. It automatically listed me as being in the United States and that I was born on this date in 2000. The birthday shenanigans I can accept, but it is very easy to probe one's country through the IP address, rather than insulting the user by saying he is an American. :P

Such riffs aside, so far no issues. As long as the WINE games are marked I do not have too much problem with them; on Desura and Humble Store I accept the same treatment when it comes to DRM after all, so this is relatively minor.

I had actually been expecting a larger roll out later in the year with a whole bunch more new to Linux titles, but this will do me for now.

Clockwork Empires From Gaslamp Games Should Be On Linux In August
22 Jul 2014 at 1:25 pm UTC

Quoting: RutineThat's good news, I was interested by this game but disappointed to see there was no Linux support when I heard of it. Really good news ! :)
Linux was a target platform from the word go though - it might be pushing the line a tad far if we start demanding same day release for Linux even for the likes of "Earliest Access".