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Latest Comments by Shmerl
The E3 2019 Linux gaming round-up
11 Jun 2019 at 10:00 pm UTC Likes: 10

Some weird announcement about The Witcher 3 being developed for Nintendo Switch. It means they are implementing a Vulkan renderer for it after all? With Google trying to attract high profile games to Stadia, it's one step away from it. And two steps away from normal Linux release then.

Double Fine Productions acquired by Microsoft for Xbox Game Studios, Psychonauts 2 still for Linux
11 Jun 2019 at 4:44 am UTC

Another one bites the dust I guess? Good bye Tim, you and your games will be missed.

Info on Google Stadia from today’s Stadia Connect, Baldur’s Gate III announced too
7 Jun 2019 at 5:13 am UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: eldakingThat is be a really intriguing idea. I am quite curious about the application of "real" AI (machine learning) into making better and more fun computer-controlled adversaries (something that is somewhat important in strategy games, for example). AlphaStar (Google's Starcraft-playing AI) is a really interesting project, for example... and I'm sure hardware would be a limiting factor (it already is, to a certain point). And detailed simulations in general can also be ridiculously heavy, and are if anything easier to make than lighter ones; things like city builders that model vehicles/people individually on humongous maps.

But I am afraid this is something in the realm of speculation only for several years at best... while the current model of game development has been in place for years, and graphics (the high-fidelity, photorealistic, super-heavy 3d kind) are a much more immediate concern. Games that require high-end hardware for sophisticated mechanics might arise to benefit from cloud gaming, or might push us in another direction entirely, but I don't think they are going to define the services and products in the short term.
I think complex simulation should be the real benefit of cloud gaming. Pushing more pixels per second? Local PC hardware handles that better and better every year. How much photorealism do we really need? At some point we won't see any difference, while server clusters is an overkill for that purpose.

And this heavy bend on graphics is really weird, given how many interesting things in gaming are underdeveloped. Strategy is more straightforward sure, but imagine something more complicated. Such as simulating climate, or a biological ecosystem, or simulating NPC behavior not based on predefined scripts, but on their self learning driven by in-game interactions. It's surprising these kind of ideas aren't yet applied more widely in gaming, with all this push for the cloud.

DRM has been blown out the airlock, as X4: Foundations for Linux is now on GOG
7 Jun 2019 at 2:54 am UTC

Quoting: TheRiddickAnyway is this game OpenGL or Vulkan? kinda sick of developers attempting to do OpenGL correctly but failing horribly (Ark comes to mind)
Vulkan.

Info on Google Stadia from today’s Stadia Connect, Baldur’s Gate III announced too
6 Jun 2019 at 11:35 pm UTC Likes: 7

Quoting: DuncIt all looks a bit “meh” to me. What worries me is that five, ten years down the line (assuming they can keep it running that long), developers will start producing games that are massively out of the scope of consumer hardware but look absolutely incredible when running on Google's servers. Then, for people who don't care about the downsides and dangers of the SAAS model - i.e., the mainstream - it becomes hard to resist.

For that reason, I kind of hope that things like resolution and framerate increases will mean that the bandwidth requirements for a comfortable experience comparable to local code will always remain ahead of what most people actually have. I suspect they will, but we'll just have to wait and see. I never thought we'd see streaming HD video over, basically, copper twisted-pair phone lines, yet here we are.
To develop this idea, I think more computing power would be needed for some sophisticated AI, not for better visuals. A cluster of multiple servers would run some AI algorithm surely more effectively, than any local PC. In this sense, imagine a game that simulates more realistic behavior, not "presents visuals more realistically". There is some quite interesting potential for gaming there, that's far from being tapped yet.

Humble are doing another 2K Build Your Own Bundle Sale, a good chance to catch some cheap games
6 Jun 2019 at 9:20 pm UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: LeopardBut Humble gives a Steam key , not a GOG one. Stating that in here just pointless imo.
Not pointless, since not everyone would want a DRMed sale if there is a DRM-free option that works.

Humble are doing another 2K Build Your Own Bundle Sale, a good chance to catch some cheap games
6 Jun 2019 at 8:02 pm UTC Likes: 4

For the reference, GOG version of Bioshock Infinite doesn't work in stock Wine, but works in Wine staging (you also need xact override, since staging builds disable faudio).

Info on Google Stadia from today’s Stadia Connect, Baldur’s Gate III announced too
6 Jun 2019 at 7:07 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: ZeloxI will keep an eye on this :D
Please add more comments there if you can, rather than just watch.

Info on Google Stadia from today’s Stadia Connect, Baldur’s Gate III announced too
6 Jun 2019 at 6:53 pm UTC Likes: 9

Please tell Larian to release it for desktop Linux proper, since they are already making the Linux version:

I made a post for that on their forum (please comment there): http://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=652719#Post652719 [External Link]

DRM has been blown out the airlock, as X4: Foundations for Linux is now on GOG
6 Jun 2019 at 3:20 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: GuestFor srlsy though, this game has too many negative reviews and reports of bugginess to make me even want to try it.
From what I've read, they are also continuously working on fixing it, and plan to support it long term. So check if any of the issues you've seen mentioned were already fixed. I.e. old bug reports could be outdated.