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Latest Comments by kaiman
Hold onto your humanity as the incredibly stylish Neo Cab is coming to Linux
8 October 2019 at 9:18 pm UTC

Had that one on my radar for quite a while. Hope it also makes it to GOG.

Quoting: Doc AngeloI don't share these dark views on automation ...
I think there's good and bad things. I'd definitely be happy if my car drove the 360km to my parents place on its own ... I'd visit more frequently that way :-). But when I ride my bike or walk the streets, I find the advent of self-driving cars quite intimidating.

In some cases, I also have the impression that with automation comes a reduction of service. Nowadays, I need to check myself in at the airport, tag my luggage and haul it to the drop-off. In the supermarket, there are more and more of those self-checkout stations that'll force you to do a cashiers job on top of the groceries shopping. Who knows what's next!?

And then -- that's what the game seems to be about -- there's the human component. If you get mostly served by machines, only communicate with bots, etc., it's easy to lose touch with other humans, and who knows what that'll do to humanity (as a whole and your own).

Alen Ladavac, co-founder of Croteam has left to join the Google Stadia team, plus other Stadia news
8 October 2019 at 7:00 pm UTC

Quoting: natis1So Unity actually cited Stadia as why they added il2cpp on Linux into their engine. So I guess that’s something, even if it gets us no games which let’s be real it probably won’t.
Huh? Didn't some of the developers that are dropping Linux support from their game cite IL2CPP as one of the reasons for doing so? *confused*

Alen Ladavac, co-founder of Croteam has left to join the Google Stadia team, plus other Stadia news
7 October 2019 at 5:36 pm UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: BielFPsFor those who think's that Google Stadia will help to get anticheat games to run in Linux forget it, they probably will just remove the anticheat in the stadia versions, since in theory it's impossible to run third party software with it.
Sounds very likely.

Quoting: BielFPsThe only thing stadia might help Linux games is forcing developers to get familiarized with Vulkan and to not use Microsoft media foundation (Presuming that stadia won't fail either).
Not just that. It might force the makers of game engines and various game-related middleware to improve and/or add Linux support, which could be beneficial for those developers that actually do have the intention to bring their games to the Linux desktop.

Of course, it's hard to say what will come of it. I personally am not convinced that streaming will work out for gaming the same way it does for TV and Radio. And even if it did, I would at least expect that all those really fine indie games that have no chance to get onto a streaming service initially will continue to fuel desktop gaming, on Linux and elsewhere.

Intel giving hints at a possible Intel Xe dedicated GPU release in June 2020
7 October 2019 at 5:13 pm UTC Likes: 2

This could be interesting. Right now I'm leaning towards AMD for both a new CPU and GPU, though I will not upgrade until well into next year or even later. Unless there is a game that absolutely does not run I usually don't see a compelling reason.

Regardless, a third, serious competitor might not be bad for consumers, in the short term. In the long run, I'm not sure. There's only so much demand for discrete GPUs, so nVidia and AMD will eventually make less money. Might lead to new innovations, but could also spell doom and gloom.

The Eternal Castle: Remastered is now available on Linux
3 October 2019 at 5:58 pm UTC

It's amazing to see what can be done with just 4 colors. Graphics wise, I'd love to play this, but it's the type of game I know I will suck at. So I'll have to pass it by, unfortunately.

Psyonix have announced what is replacing Rocket League loot boxes and it sounds reasonable
1 October 2019 at 8:22 pm UTC Likes: 6

Anyone else that read Psygnosis in the headline? :-)

The Linux and gaming Sunday round-up paper
30 September 2019 at 4:56 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: BotonoskiSteam basically killed physical PC game releases so finding a used PC game old enough to have a physical release floating around while simultaneously new enough to require Steam is pretty difficult.
Depends where in the world you live, I guess. Here in Germany, physical releases were still relatively common until recently, and the majority of those require Steam. So likely anything sold past 2010 is tied to Steam.

I've got a few DRM free games on disc, such as Broken Age, Broken Sword V and Book of Unwritten Tales 2, all of which even include the native Linux version right on the DVD, but the few more recent physical releases (Pillars of Eternity II, Kingdom Come: Deliverance) are tied to Steam, unfortunately.

I've been on the fence about physical vs. DRM for a while, but right now I'd rather have my stuff DRM free on GOG than a box with nice feelies that requires Steam. How cool was Thimbleweed Park in that regard: big box, feelies and a GOG key! (That had been a U.S. import, though)

The Linux and gaming Sunday round-up paper
29 September 2019 at 2:11 pm UTC Likes: 4

QuoteMore and more developers have been kicking up a fuss about changes to MacOS, with a lot across our Twitter feed mentioning they will no longer support it with their games in future.
Having maintained macOS builds for my old open source project since what seems like forever, this is something that has been nagging me at the back of my head for a while as well. I have not yet given too much thought about the issue, but will do so when 10.15 is available in a stable enough version to actually risk installing it :-).

This is a prime example though how important an open OS like Linux is, where no single entity is able to control or dictate which software runs and which doesn't.

Mystery adventure game Jenny LeClue - Detectivu is officially out now with Linux support
23 September 2019 at 5:01 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoteyou're often given a quick prompt between two options. They're not always meaningful though
They may not change the story, but I think they feed into the personality map that's also part of the journal. Not sure which methodology is in use (if any), but it might be fun to see into what bin your decisions placed you by the end of the game.


QuoteIt seems the book author, Arthur, doesn't always agree with the decision you take too.
Occasionally it's also the other way round, with the narrator saying one thing and Jenny doing the opposite, and that's part of the humor. It also helps to see more in Jenny than a purely fictional character dreamed up by another fictional character.


QuoteSomething to note, is that voice acting was a funded stretch goal on the Kickstarter which is not currently in the game.
That would explain why there's an audio setting for voice, but no voice over :-). Seemed odd, and releasing a game without voice over these days certainly defied my expectations, but I got over that fairly quickly. But if done well, it could make the experience even better!

The Linux gaming Sunday round-up paper
22 September 2019 at 3:02 pm UTC Likes: 5

Been playing a bit of Kingdom Come: Deliverance in Wine + DXVK and Jenny LeClue in all its native glory! :-).

Not much to say about the former; the fact I've been playing that for close to 175 hours speaks for itself. I've only got one and a half DLCs to finish, though, so the end is drawing near.

Jenny LeClue turned out great, after all those years of waiting. It's delightfully funny and mysterious. It's not too difficult, but that also means the narrative flow doesn't get interrupted by unfair or illogical puzzles thrown in purely to stall for time. After Heaven's Vault, that's this year's second highlight in gaming for me!