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Linux Business Games Linux

Thanks To Valve, More Than 1,500 Games Are Now On Linux 281

Posted by timothy from the snowball-rolling dept.
An anonymous reader writes: The Steam Store crossed the threshold this morning of having 1,500 games natively available for Linux. Timberman, a 0.99$ video game was the 1,500th title, but while there are a lot of indie games available for Linux, in the past three years have been a number of high profile AAA Linux games too. What games (old or new, free or paid) would you like to see available for Linux systems?
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Thanks To Valve, More Than 1,500 Games Are Now On Linux More

Thanks To Valve, More Than 1,500 Games Are Now On Linux

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  • 99% shit (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 19, 2015 @11:34AM (#50555889)

    99% of these games are shit - but so is 99% of everything

  • Open world city (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jones_supa ( 887896 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @11:35AM (#50555893)

    What games (old or new, free or paid) would you like to see available for Linux systems?

    This is kind of obvious answer...but some big open world "dicking around in a city" game like Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row or Sleeping Dogs would be nice to see.

  • Those I play (Score:4, Informative)

    by leegaard ( 939485 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @11:46AM (#50555943) Homepage

    The games I play - and the only reason I am still on windows:
    -Everything Blizzard makes (WoW, Diablo, Starcraft, Hearthstone, Heroes of the storm and Overwatch when it becomes available.
    -Battlefield (and derivatives, including Star Wars Battelfront)

    Blizzard should be able to do something since they already have support for OSX.
    EA could be a bigger problem.

    I spend a lot of time in steam games - and welcome all they have done for gaming on Linux. I loath wrappers though as they have a tendency to cost on perfomance an example is Civilization V on Linux is painful compared to windows on trhe same machine.

    • Re:Those I play (Score:5, Funny)

      by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @12:24PM (#50556115) Journal

      EA could be a bigger problem.

      Yeah, EA has problems making their titles work right on Windows.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Rob Bos ( 3399 )

      I haven't had any problems with WoW for the best part of a decade in WINE, if you need a data point. I don't even remember whatever hacks I needed to get it working. Except that I run it in its own desktop session to simplify fullscreen mode. Similarly Diablo and Starcraft. I ran HotS a few times, seemed to work well enough. No idea about Hearthstone.

  • FreeBSD (Score:4, Interesting)

    by unixisc ( 2429386 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @11:46AM (#50555945)

    Dear Valve

    Can you work w/ the FreeBSD project to make this available on the BSDs as well? I'd love to play Civ V on this laptop running PC-BSD

  • Popular games (Score:4, Insightful)

    by godrik ( 1287354 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @11:57AM (#50555991)

    Actually, I think the most important games to get to run on Linux are games that are popular with the general gaming population. Videos games are parts of 21st century general culture. Being able to access (play) them would be a good step forward.

    Of course, I'd love some weirder, less common games to be available as well.

  • Thanks to Valve! Absolutely no game developers involved at all!

  • Portal 2 would be nice, but that's more of an ATI/AMD issue where I am currently standing...http://imgur.com/a/2Nd9h [imgur.com]

  • Just too much fun. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze!!!

  • Correction (Score:3)

    by bananaquackmoo ( 1204116 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @12:31PM (#50556147)
    Thanks to Valve, GoG, and Humble Bundle.

  • No more lame excuses, Blizzard.

  • Not good enough (Score:3)

    by Jethro ( 14165 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @12:32PM (#50556163) Homepage

    I recently moved from console gaming to PC gaming. And I really, really wanted to move to SteamOS because I do NOT want to deal with Windows when I want to simply sprawl out on the sofa and play a game.

    And I waited ever since they announced the thing to see how it does. The thing is, they're never getting those big titles to work natively on Linux. Small games? Sure. "Indy" games? Maybe. But the big ones? No way.

    I consider myself a casual gamer (if anything). I play those games where you can get immersed for a few months. I don't play the little and indy games. And they will /never/ get a Skyrim ported to Linux. Or Fallout 4, or Mass Effect, or Assassin's Creed. Furthermore, there's a very spotty record of EA games showing up on Steam to begin with - and why would they when they have their own service?

    SteamOS (and other Linux, by extension) have a lot of games now, but they're mostly not very good ones, and not the big titles. If that's what you're into then that's great, but it's no competition at all to Windows or Playstation/XBOX.

    And yeah I know there's in-house streaming, but that defeats the point of using SteamOS in the first place.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Jethro ( 14165 )

        I have done just that. And it actually works a lot of the time. But I still have to deal with drivers and updates and Windows weirdness. And I have to use Steam to start Origin games. And sometimes Steam takes too long to start and other things get in the way and stay on the screen in FRONT of Big Picture mode. And no matter what I do, I still need to have a keyboard and mouse in the living room, which annoys me greatly.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Jethro ( 14165 )

            Yeah, but that's kind of the point - I need to have Steam running, and Origin running, and if I ever get a Ubisoft game I'll need THAT running, too...

            I have a small keyboard and small mouse (I prefer that to an integrated touchpad). Doesn't matter if they're small, they're still here (; The real deal with that is mods and mod management. Mods were one of the big considerations about moving to PC so hell if I'm not going to use them!

            I use a controller because it's really, really uncomfortable to use a keyboa

    • Re:Not good enough (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @02:29PM (#50556699) Homepage

      Not that I'm going to really dispute anything you said, but never is a very long time. There's a huge section of the smartphone, tablet and console gaming market that doesn't and won't run DirectX, so even ignoring Steam and the PC there's a solid future for OpenGL. And with Vulkan doing significantly less [architosh.com] there's hope that Linux support in general and open source support in particular will be much better. I mean, Valve has already written an open source driver for Intel, it took two developers two weeks and is ~27 kLoC - though I assume they generously copied bits and pieces from the mesa driver. The GLSL to SPIR-V compilation comes on top but it's generic and already written, it's only the SPIR-V to target that is unique for each card. Android has already picked it as their next-gen API, that's certainly not a bad ally.

      If Vulkan can become a first party rendering target for Source 2, Unity, Unreal Engine 4 and CryENGINE which I assume they will since they don't want to lose the smartphone/tablet business, the hurdle to produce an AAA game on Linux is that much lower. Maybe the bar still won't be low enough, but lower than it is today. Particularly if Valve paves the way with a good first party title or two, if a year from now Half-Life 3 launches with same day Linux support a lot could change in the next few years. Then again, it might also be just wishful thinking...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tepples ( 727027 )

        There's a huge section of the smartphone, tablet and console gaming market that doesn't and won't run DirectX

        Smartphone and tablet games are touch-controlled. Because touch is so different from keyboard or gamepad control, you might as well write a completely separate game with a separate engine for mobile platforms. And for games released on both PC and a console, DirectX still runs on Xbox One; in fact the X in Xbox stands for DirectX.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      I recently moved from console gaming to PC gaming. And I really, really wanted to move to SteamOS because I do NOT want to deal with Windows when I want to simply sprawl out on the sofa and play a game.

      And I waited ever since they announced the thing to see how it does. The thing is, they're never getting those big titles to work natively on Linux. Small games? Sure. "Indy" games? Maybe. But the big ones? No way.

      I consider myself a casual gamer (if anything). I play those games where you can get immersed fo

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Jethro ( 14165 )

        Tell you what, when I can't get the next Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect games on PC, I'll buy a PS4 or whatever number it is.

  • How's the game controller support? Can I chuck in a random gamepad or other gizmo, and expect it to work? Or do I just get weird glitches and scary messages in syslog? I see this being an important part of the puzzle.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rob Bos ( 3399 )

      It's probably more important to ask about vendor support for Linux, not Linux support for vendors. It's likely that a random gamepad or gizmo won't work, because the vendors aren't yet taking it very seriously. The solution here is not to buy a random gamepad or gizmo; do your research first. It may eventually happen, but we have to demand it.

    • I own two kinds of "random gamepad": several brands of "generic human interface device" and Xbox 360 game controllers. Both work in SDL on Xubuntu 14.04. The biggest practical problem, whether on Windows or on GNU/Linux, is button layout Babel [pineight.com] for anything that's not an Xbox 360 game controller.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jandrese ( 485 )
      My experience is that an el random USB gamepad gets mapped as a HID when you plug it in. It seems to generally work, but since I prefer KB/Mouse I don't use it a lot. If your gamepad has unusual features (macro buttons, touchscreen, etc...) those are less likely to work, but buttons and analog sticks seem to be pretty reliable.

  • Those three would be a good start... but real question is "Will it play the next game my friends decide to pick up?" because I once had a decent setup for the games we played at the time. Then those changed and WINE couldn't keep up. The games I play myself, well those I control. The rest is more of a collective decision where I get a vote, not a veto.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • First, I'd like to see decent performance.

    I only keep Windows around for gaming, plus a couple of Adobe applications. The last game I bought over Steam, I was happy to finally be able to put on Linux. Geez.

    Crappy graphics - couldn't see a damned thing. Mouse lag of nearly a second (move the mouse, watch the mouse cursor slowly move to the new spot) - utterly unplayable. I rebooted, installed the same game on windows, it was (unfortunately) like night and day. Naive theory: No DirectX and/or crappy drivers.

    A

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rob Bos ( 3399 )

      Part of the problem is a bias from the user; if Linux performance sucks for a game, it's Linux' fault; if the Windows performance sucks, it's the vendor's fault. In reality, it'll almost always be the vendor's issue, either because the video card manufacturer's drivers suck or because the game did not properly optimize.

      In either case, it's a matter of time and will to make it happen. Hopefully it does. I counsel patience and pressuring the appropriate vendors when you have the opportunity.

      • Part of the problem is a bias from the user; if Linux performance sucks for a game, it's Linux' fault; if the Windows performance sucks, it's the vendor's fault. In reality, it'll almost always be the vendor's issue, either because the video card manufacturer's drivers suck or because the game did not properly optimize.

        Optimization takes time, and time is money. If the publisher didn't optimize the game, it could be thought of as GNU/Linux's fault for not being enough of a market to make optimization profitable for the publisher.

  • Steam has been great for Mac too! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Zobeid ( 314469 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @02:19PM (#50556639)

    I can't remember ever seeing a Linux game on Steam that didn't also work on the Mac. I think if you use Valve's tool set to create Linux games, Mac compatibility is a "freebie". This has been huge for Mac gamers. Before Steam, Mac gaming was a wasteland. Now it's viable.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rob Bos ( 3399 )

      Similar for Linux games; once you've ported to MacOS, Linux is going to be significantly cheaper, since the hard work of agnosticizing your code is done.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      If Mac ports exist, then where are the Linux ports like Elite: Dangerous [elitedangerous.com]?

  • Why? For the PR i guess? (Score:3)

    by Barlo_Mung_42 ( 411228 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @02:42PM (#50556763) Homepage

    Look at the Steam stats. Only 0.92% of Steam users use Linux. There is no way companies that do this are making much money at it. Heck, they would even be better off porting their games to Windows Phone first.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Ksevio ( 865461 )
      Partially because the tools are getting much better. Unity (a popular game engine) works in Windows and Linux, and even had better support for 64bit in linux (the most recent version should even that out). When a game developer can easily make their game for multiple platforms, then easily deploy to multiple platforms through Steam, they can easily access that extra 1% of the market.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rob Bos ( 3399 )

      Small percentages can hide large numbers. 1% of (say) a hundred million users is a market a million in size. Once you've saturated your sales on the Windows side of things and your sales start to slow to a crawl, maybe you're selling a trickle, you can get a healthy bump from selling to that smaller portion of the market a year down the line.

    • Heck, they would even be better off porting their games to Windows Phone first.

      That depends on whether or not the game's control model can be adapted to a 5 inch touch screen. Point-and-click games work well, such as Fruit Ninja, Pipe Dream, match three games, Threes clones, or much of the ScummVM library. So do shmups, Marble Madness-type games, or anything else that can be adapted well to a laptop's trackpad. So do one-button endless runners, such as Temple Run or Jetpack Joyride or SFCave clones with "Flappy" in the title.

      Other genres, not so much. I tried the Mario/Giana-style pla

  • This article reminded me to download the Steam client and see if it would run on my Ubuntu 15.04 Linux box with an Intel chipset, and it does! I am most pleasantly surprised. I knew they were doing a lot of development with NVidia chipsets, so I wasn't sure if you needed an NVidia card for the client.

    Most of the games I have are older ones like Left 4 Dead and Half Life 2, so the framerates should even be acceptable. (Intel chipsets may be weak compared to current generation AMD and NVidia hardware, b

    • Intel chipsets may be weak compared to current generation AMD and NVidia hardware, but compared to the cards of a decade ago they're pretty powerful.

      Agreed. A previous Intel CPU (Ivy Bridge with HD 4000) runs Skyrim playably at 720p according to Anandtech [anandtech.com]. This puts it at least at parity with the PlayStation 3, which also runs Skyrim. In turn, because so many AAA PC games prior to 2013 were also released for PS3 and/or Xbox 360, they should have settings that scale down to PC hardware comparable in performance to those consoles.

  • Steam? More like Humble Bundle. (Score:5, Informative)

    by TheLongshot ( 919014 ) on Saturday September 19, 2015 @05:32PM (#50557663)

    Humble Bundle has ported over a hundred games to Linux, so they deserve a lot of credit for actually making Linux games, rather than just creating a store to sell them.

    http://blog.humblebundle.com/p... [humblebundle.com]

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