So having spent a good amount of time with PoE now. I most definitely have to say that I am so glad that I back this game on Kickstarter. I have always been a big fan of the Infinity Engine games. I know for myself I have backed Wasteland 2, PoE, and Torment. I have yet to be disappointed in them thus far.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

You know I find it interesting we have people who basically call something bullshit without actually looking at it from the other side of the argument. First let me give some people here my Linux background (Yes LINUX not GNU/Linux which I know someone will inevitably bring up.) My first *nix distro was Mandrake 6.1. I have bounced back and forth between Windows, OS X, and a variety of Linux distros (currently running Kanotix) I work in the gaming industry doing much what Liam does here. However, instead of taking a one-sided approach which is seeming to be done here. Why not just ask the hard technical question. Ask actual developers whether or not having the various API's, Desktop Environments, Packaging formats etc. actually matter. 

I know for a fact those are the type of questions that I have actually asked in my interviews with Unknown Worlds, Muse Game etc. For those who want to know what games those companies have put out they are Natural Selection 2, and Guns of Icarus Online. The simple fact is Linux does not currently fit into GOG's business model. They want to ensure that games run on the widest selection of stuff that most regular users use. I hate to break it the 2%-3% market share that desktop linux has is not enough to justify jumping into Linux for them. You can argue that Valve hitched their wagon to Ubuntu and that is the core distro they support. Well how many people have read the Steam TOS? Do you know that you can only get a one time no questions asked refund? GOG is doing just the complete opposite of that. In order to do that they are ensuring the platforms they support are limited.

You guys want to see linux games from GOG? Then show them a reason to acting like a bunch of typical erhmahgerd linux user is not and will not work. Now, the argument could be that GOG loads games with its own self contained package with separate libraries from the system library. This would make games run on all *nix distros which would present a more distro agnostic approach that some would like to see. I will say the following though the Linux communities typical RTFM (which some have shown in this comment section) is not conducive to actually being able to have a good solid MERIT based conversation on technology.

The simple fact that a GOG rep even took the time to even come and respond to the comments section or this article along should show that they are true to what they are saying about at least looking at Linux as a possiblity. Or maybe it is just me seeing both sides of the argument. Because while I am a *nix gamer I obviously dont have the option to support GOG as they do not offer *nix games. So I choice to be on the services that do. Steam, Desura, GamersGate(limited), Humble Bundle (when they have them.) use the ones that support your said platform of choice whatever that maybe. Also just give a little comparison in company size CDprojektRed has 112 employees (take the numbers for the following with a grain of salt as the numbers are from Wikipedia) Valve by comparison have over 400. 

So I would recommend that GOL start actively asking developers their opinions on developing on Linux. I know in my upcoming interview with Hugh Jeremy from Unknown Worlds. Here is just one example of the questions I asked. 

There have been some developers who have brought their games over from Windows to Linux. Some of these developers have complained specifically about the debugging process using GDB (GNU Project Debugger) and the lack of good interfacing IDE's being the biggest determent to bringing games to Linux. Whats your take on the subject?

For those that don't know this was a very specific complaint from Jonathon Blow(creator of Braid.) If Linux gamers and community want to see games on Linux then address the problems that people see in the platform, and do not pretend like they don't exist.

View this comment - View article - View full comments