As of Tonight, 1900 Steam Games For Linux (phoronix.com) 179
New submitter KGIII writes: "After a recent Steam change, there were more than 1,900 Steam Linux games listed as Valve ended up including yet-to-be-released Linux game ports. That total including unreleased Linux games is now up to 2,009! But in terms of released Linux game titles available for download right now, the 1,900 threshold was crossed tonight to end out February." It's getting there. All of you gamers might just be able to make the choice to move to Linux soon. It looks like there are quite a few more games coming down the pipe. This is a good thing as it gives gamers more options for their operating system. I imagine this bodes well for the SteamOS project and for the dedicated SteamOS devices.
Keep 'em coming! (Score:5, Informative)
I know several people who dual boot, and only keep Windows around for game playing. The sooner more people can ditch Spyware 10, the better.
Re: Keep 'em coming! (Score:1)
Honestly, it's good to know that so many games are available for Linux based Distros. However, until Linux based desktops start to increase in number I still don't see things going anywhere. We are talking about less than 2% of the total desktop & laptop market for all those 1900 Linux based games. You might see a small bump in total numbers of Linux based desktops but considering all the other windows based software out there it will still be a very small market. I still believe that the Linux OS envir
Re: Keep 'em coming! (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't actually think it's primarily gaming that will switch people to Linux because Windows has that locked down. I think people will only seriously consider switching when Linux becomes more user friendly and superior to Windows for novice users (it's already superior if you understand ssh, bash scripting, systemctl, CLI, etc). Apple were smart enough to know they couldn't compete on gaming so focused on other areas like UI, use ability, security, iTunes and cornered certain professionals one by one (music production, desktop publishing, graphic, video, etc).
Windows looks like it's going down a bad path at the moment and of they continue with their gimmicky OS's and don't return to the solid Windows 7 type system then they'll accelerate the migration. Also improved virtualization may eventually mean you can run Windows games in Linux at pretty much native speeds. And virtualization seems to be the big thing everyone is concerned about at the moment.
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Funny, uninstalling the telemetry and other spying things on Windows 7 left me locked out of my standard and administrative accounts after a restart. My passwords did not work anymore I had to boot into Windows 7 repair mode(cmd) and fix my accounts. I doubt average joe knows how to do this. Kde plasma 4.xx is actually much better than Windows 7 especially when it comes to customization and at least i can have another taskbar added to my second screen. The problem with linux is not the DE's but the lack
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I think people will only seriously consider switching when Linux becomes more user friendly and superior to Windows for novice users (it's already superior if you understand ssh, bash scripting, systemctl, CLI, etc).
It already is if you use KDE. Now on the rare occasions I put my fingers on a Windows keyboard, I'm always surprised by how clumsy and confusing it is compared to what I normally use.
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1. They are afraid to try something they know nothing about
2. You have to go out of your way to find a computer that comes with Linux pre-installed.
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You obviously have not used Linux in the past 10 years if you think there is a lack of applications.
For your second:
For the vast majority of people they will use the OS that came on the computer. They will not ever install a new one no matter how easy it is because they think it will be hard. Simply they are afraid to try it, so they will not do it, ever.
For your average person to try a new operating system it has to come installed on the computer. To them trying to install som
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".. gimmicky OS's..."
By that I'm assuming you mean anything created after Windows 7. So let's look at the gimmicks. A new Start Screen and Metro Apps.
Let's address that new Start Screen. Yes, for the cumulative 5 minutes a day I spend on the start screen, I am really annoyed. I either see what I want and click it, or I start typing and locate the function / app I need in less than 2 seconds. Yes, this is a bother in contrast to the Windows 7 start screen where I pressed the Win key, clicked on what I wanted
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Whenever Linux innovates, Microsoft copies it. Then makes people buy it (they have no choice).
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Woah, another time traveler! This one seems to be from 2002-2003 ish.
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yet, only yet...
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Which "Linux" are you talking about? There are a number of popular distros and a number of popular desktop environments.
Go play with elementary OS and tell me it's not user friendly. It's much easier to use than Windows and Mac OS.
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Exactly. Also browser statistics show that Linux slowly but surely makes gains on the desktop. Windows 10 will drive quite a lot of people to Linux.
Re:Keep 'em coming! (Score:4, Interesting)
Also browser statistics show that Linux slowly but surely makes gains on the desktop. Windows 10 will drive quite a lot of people to Linux.
Wasn't Vista also supposed to drive people from Windows to Linux in droves? According to the Steam hardware survey [steampowered.com], Windows has 95.39% of the market, while Linux is at 0.95% (I'm sure that used to be higher). It seems that the combined forces of Vista, Windows 10, SteamOS and greater number of Linux games still haven't provided that platform with a boost in usage.
Even if Linux managed to double the number of users, the corresponding drop would barely register on the Windows side of things. And given that a third of Steam's users are on Windows 10 (and is just about to surpass Windows 7 64bit as the most used OS on Steam), it seems that once again reality doesn't match the hopeful proclamations of the Linux supporters.
The biggest problem is getting people to move from Windows not with Steam, but with the two largest publishers having their own distribution platform (Uplay and Origin), and neither of those support Linux. The reason why Linux gaming has grown so much on Steam is because Valve foresaw the loss of the AAA market to the publishers' own services and turned it's attention to the small, indie market that used to be at home on the likes of Desura and ShinyLoot. It is much easier to convert the tiny games (often made with cross-platform development systems) to Linux and Mac OS X than it is to do the same with the AAA titles.
And if the AAA games make such a mess of their ports to Windows (eg. Batman: Arkham Knight), how bad do you think the Linux versions of those games would be?
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I am not a gamer* and I'm not a Linux zealot. I am, however, the submitter. I figured this might make a good subject to rehash, again, as we've not touched on it in a while. What I am concerned with is choice. Even though I'm not a gamer, I want people to be able to choose the OS that they prefer to use, be it BSD, Linux, OS X, or even Windows.
* I haven't played any games seriously in a very long time. Except for a foray into KoL, I've not played since Fallout Tactics. Yes, it was that bad. I did just buy a
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Wasn't Vista also supposed to drive people from Windows to Linux in droves?
Except that there weren't nearly 2000 linux games available on Steam when Vista released now was there? And now that a lot of these "free" to use engines like Unreal 4 and Unity make it much easier to release your game on the Linux platform its only going to grow. I've been a windows gamer for my entire life. I am looking forward to the day in the near future when I can just dump it for Linux as a gaming platform.
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Except that there weren't nearly 2000 linux games available on Steam when Vista released now was there?
That's true, and yet we still don't see the predicted rush away from Windows. In fact, the share of Windows 10 usage on Steam increased by more than the total share of Linux in a month.
If you want to dump Windows and play games on Linux then you don't have to wait. But don't expect a lot of people to join you in the near future.
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Even if Linux managed to double the number of users, the corresponding drop would barely register on the Windows side of things.
Things have changed now that vendors, particularly Steam, have realized that staying tied to the Windows ecosystem means clear and present danger of being crushed by Microsoft. So now, demographics isn't the main driver, it's vendors self-preservation instinct, a powerful force.
And even with the gamer share Linux has (not counting android!) it's still many millions of users, easily enough to pay back the porting effort. Now, it's less of shocker to see AAA titles (e.g., Talos Principle) released simultaneou
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The reason why Linux gaming has grown so much on Steam is because Valve foresaw the loss of the AAA market to the publishers' own services and turned it's attention to the small, indie market that used to be at home on the likes of Desura and ShinyLoot.
The publishers own services... uplay and origin are competitors... but not really a threat. Before uplay and origin Ubi and EA still didn't reliably release on steam, they just stuck with tradition discs+DRM for their biggest titles.
The release of uplay and origin has meant a bit of a pullback of titles from steam from those publishers, and a bit more competition in the market, but its not really a threat to Steam's existence.
Valve's support for Linux and steamos etc is hedge against Apple and Microsoft goi
Re: Keep 'em coming! (Score:1)
Sorry but Win10 will not drive many to Linux distro. I've spent a lot of time messing with Win10 and there is nothing wrong with it. And yes I know everyone will scream but they are spying on me. That's a big so what for most users cause they aren't doing anything crazy anyway. And I've been able to turn off most of telemetry stuff just by making changes in the task scheduler. I have install classic shell to make it more like Win7. You can use ultimate windows tweaker 4 to make more changes to the OS. I've
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oh boy!
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Serious question (Score:2)
How does this work when one of the chief complaints about Linux is the 3D drivers are so terrible?
(Yes, this is a serious question.)
Re:Serious question (Score:5, Informative)
*terrible* for many means less FPS on major titles while running three 1080p monitors. In my experience if I would have noticed those FPS then the game probably wasn't running particularly well in windows either.
One thing I have noticed is that load-times in Linux can actually be faster depending on the filesystem used.
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Nvidia card, no problem.
Generally the experience is far better than Windows on the same hardware. I have a couple of games run on Win and Linux, the Linux experience is generally smoother.
No crashes, no reboots due to updates - that alone makes it worth it.
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One word - nVidia (Score:2)
The nVidia OpenGL driver is top-notch. Of course getting a game that uses OGL is another matter.
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It varies to be honest.
The Nvidia proprietary driver is as good as it gets-- basically the same performance as on Windows.
The AMD closed source driver is a lot worse off than on Windows, AMD's not really doing anything about that specifically-- their longterm plan is to (more or less, im simplifying) make the open source driver the "go-to" driver, and basically deprecate the closed source driver.
The AMD open source driver tends to get 80% of the closed source driver performance, sometimes it actually exceed
Re:Serious question (Score:4, Interesting)
> basically the same performance as on Windows.
This isn't true at all. Windows 10 has been mopping the floor with Linux in terms of game performance - this has been shown again and again with SteamOS. It's also why Vulcan is such a big deal - it has the potential to level the playing field for titles that embrace it.
Correct, but none are fair comparison ... (Score:3)
If there was tier one games that exclusively used OpenGL then there might be something to compare. Until Vulcan is mature and many experienced big-budget developers deploying for exclusively Vulcan then there will continue to be nothing fair to compare against.
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And when I say exclusively, I mean definitely no attempt to cater for any version of D3D.
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And that will never happen, as long as publishers still care about porting to/from Xbox One.
Or making money.
Wish that wasn't true but that's the way it is.
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And when I say exclusively, I mean definitely no attempt to cater for any version of D3D.
Why would they do that? The majority of developers (and all the major engines) separate their renderer from the 3D API, this means they can target the available and most efficient API implementation for the given platform. On iOS you can target OpenGL ES or Metal, on OS X it is OpenGL <=4.1 or Metal, on Windows it is generally DX 9, 11 or 12 feature levels, OpenGL or Vulkan, on Linux it is OpenGL or Vulkan, on XBox One it is DirectX (both an 11 and 12 implementation now available but obviously pretty sen
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If there was tier one games that exclusively used OpenGL then there might be something to compare.
People don't care what development system a game uses on each platform once they are actually playing the game. If there is a difference in performance, they will prefer the fastest, most optimised version. If you can only compare platforms once you have hampered one of them then that is not a fair comparison.
Re: Correct, but none are fair comparison ... (Score:2)
That's exactly right, and Microsoft has hampered opengl performance on Windows to promote their own tool chain.
Here's an interesting opinion piece.
http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/0... [wolfire.com]
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I don't care if I get a free puppy if I move to North Korea
What else are you going to eat?
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What you don't seem to understand is that "most" is not enough for Microsoft.
Yes, "most" Windows users will just upgrade to Windows 10. But they still bleed marketshare because even when 70% (i.e. "most") Windows users accept Windows 10, that is a massive loss for Microsoft.
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"Most gamers don't give a hot shit whether their games are running on windows 7, 8, or 10" BOLLOCKS.
Oh, so they do care what their games are running on.
They don't care if it's running on Windows or PS4 or XBone (and therefore Linux/SteamOS either).
Wait, now they don't care what they are running on??? That is the most bizarre logical jump to make! The question of whether to upgrade to Windows 10 is irrelevant to people who don't own a PC. What you have said is like asking people what flavour of ice cream they like, and then telling them they are wrong because they forgot about hamburgers.
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I don't think that's entirely fair - there are some compelling titles available for Linux. I just don't think it's enough - especially for gamers like me that have well over 300 titles in their steam library and don't want to give up 70% of them just to run an OS that will not play the remaining 30% as well as Windows will.
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This is exactly why I run a Linux virtual machine as a guest in my windows box, and I run Linux at work. I realize this isn't a viable solution for everyone, but it works great for me. There are some things Linux just does orders of magnitude better. I just don't think gaming is one of those things. I prefer the right tool for a given job.
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Dunno why that is the complaint. I play games happily in Linux and don't have a problem with the drivers. Borderlands Pre-sequel runs absolutely fine....
Re:Serious question (Score:4, Interesting)
Impressively, X-COM Enemy Unknown not only manages to melt my squad into zombies, but also melt my laptop into slag under linux but not windows with AMD proprietary drivers. Otherwise, I am quite happy with the performance of games on linux. Most seem more than acceptable.
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Yeah, AMD have huge linux driver issues. If anyone wants to run a gaming graphics card under linux it has to be NVIdia. I hope that will change but not at the moment.
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I've since migrated to Windows for gaming, but years back I ran World of Warcraft under Wine on Linux, and got far better framerates than I did on Windows. YMMV.
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How does this work when one of the chief complaints about Linux is the 3D drivers are so terrible?
It works great when you get your video cards from nVidia, since they seem to care enough to make a Linux driver that works and provides adequate performance (in some games, actually better than on Windows.) It works for shit when you get them from ATI, since in the best case the performance is significantly behind the Windows driver, and in others it is dramatically slower.
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I second this: Unity drove me to gnome-shell (the insanity of closing windows on the right is a "psychological disorder", it's not possible otherwise...)
Damnit (Score:3)
(Quickly scans list....) STILL no Half LIfe 3.
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You realize the month of March is the 3rd month of the year? ;-)
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Outlast is a nice experience and quite cheap btw. You should try it while waiting for HL3 !
It's getting there but big franchises still missin (Score:5, Interesting)
Steam carries a lot of good games for linux now but there are still a number of big franchises that haven't made it across. I don't think they will make the move until they move to their next major engine release.
That said I suspect that game developers are going to be watching microsofts movements with their push for a windows store again and won't want to be stuck in windows if microsoft starts putting in over the top requirements.
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Valve just needs to make HL3 and Portal 3 exclusive for Linux. ;)
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FTFY.
Seriously though, Gabe, get to work already.
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I will install windows 10 for Half Life 3. I will hate myself, but I'll do it.
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That would be the fastest way to make them commercial failures.
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In the short term. Maybe not so much in the long term. These things are not so simple.
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In the short term, and in the long term. People will not switch operating systems just for those games. Most people won't even switch given the current size of the Linux catalog. Get it out of your head right now.
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I will switch for HL3. I would install windows 10 to play it.
But I am one data point. What you're missing is that Valve is not targeting PC gamers right now. They're trying to break into the console market, where nobody cares what the OS is, as long as it works. Linux gaming is a fringe benefit. So you're both right and wrong. People won't change their OS, but they might buy steam machines...
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Really? Valve isn't targeting Steam, their own platform?
Give me some of what you're smoking.
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I am not sure where you get that idea from? Reading comprehension fail perhaps?
Valve's long term goal right now is clearly to compete in the console market. That is their target. It does not mean that they will ignore PC (as some suggest), but simply that their focus is on the console.
Since when did "Steam" = "PC" anyway? No, it is you sir who has access to the really good stuff, and you are clearly smoking it.
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I actually don't think they are targeting the console market. I think they are taking pre-emptive defensive moves against a microsoft led store being bundled with the primary PC OS.
So me this reminds me of the browser wars. Except this time it is where to you buy your software. Back when the browser wars happened and IE was bundled with windows Linux was not a viable option. Today, Linux is, it just doesn't have the market penetration. The software itself though is mature and easy to use. If through p
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Unlikely, unless someone subsidizes steam machines hard. Because a steam machine really costs a TON of money compared to a PS4 or Xbone. Toss in a decade's worth of premium membe
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I don't know about i3s not lasting. Maybe not for the PC 'master race', but for the rest it might be fine. My last machine was fairly cheap (Phennom II X4, worse than an i3) and it still goes well. Still in use - my wife plays casual games on it just fine. Seems to perform OK for even modern titles (only thing I did was put a GTX750 in it, because the 460 died).
It may be ill advised, but they really seem to be pushing into the console market. Apart from Source 2, DOTA 2 and VR, which can fit that strategy.
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No shit sherlock.
That's the point. What they are targeting like I said is breaking into the console market. That is they want to become a console platform (as well as a PC platform).
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There are stark differences between a PC and a console when it comes to how people perceive exclusives. Most AAA games come out for all the major consoles. With Linux, most AAA games don't get support at all. So, having a single exclusive isn't going to help you unless you can deal with the problem of large existing libraries which wouldn't work on Linux.
It is all about what games you play (Score:4, Interesting)
If you are a gamer that wants to know you'll be able to pick up the Big New Thing on Linux... we aren't there yet. That day may come soon-ish, but we aren't.
But if you are someone who is primarily interested in--or at least sufficiently satisfied by--the wide indie game market, Linux has been there for a little while now. Hungry indie game studios generally build with tools that make building for Linux easy, don't build games that hit driver edge cases, and they are hungry for the money the smaller Linux market provides.
I know one minimally technical gamer who uses Linux exclusively for work and games. He's very satisfied by the indie game market. He's an exception... but he's a sign of times to come.
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If you are a gamer that wants to know you'll be able to pick up the Big New Thing on Linux... we aren't there yet. That day may come soon-ish, but we aren't.
I was pleasantly surprised to see XCOM 2 had native Linux support, that counts as one of the "Big New Things" for me. But yeah that is more the exception than the norm, hopefully Vulkan can change that.
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Witcher 2, Talos Principle, XCOM 2, DOTA 2, lots more... way more AAA titles than I have time to play, good enough for me.
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Steam requires an x86 (Intel/AMD) CPU and won't run on the ARM CPU in the Raspberry Pi. Steam on ARM might be a thing one day, but I imagine Valve would want Linux gaming on x86 more firmly established before even thinking about adding another platform.
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7,560 Windows Games And Counting. (Score:5, Insightful)
Balrum, Gloiath, And So It Was, Soul Axiom, and Fairies vs. Darklings: Arcane Edition were among the latest Steam Linux game releases. Meanwhile, the Steam Windows game count is at 7,560 and OS X is at 2,900.
It is not hard to imagine 10,000 Windows games being distributed through Steam in the not too distant future.
But there are at least two numbers that matter more that a simple count of games. The first is sales. The second is the breakdown between casual Indie games and the somewhat more ambitious and demanding AA and AAA titles --- another $3 gem-drop game like "Fairies vs Darklings" takes Linux gaming only so far.
Re:7,560 Windows Games And Counting. (Score:5, Informative)
Looking through the recent releases for Linux [steampowered.com], there are certainly some ambitious games there. I've heard good things about SUPERHOT, Factorio, Firewatch, XCOM2.
Overall, there is enough to play on Linux, but if you must play one particular game, chances are it's not there.
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But if your goal is entertainment, chances are, there's more than enough there.
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The important thing for gamers is: does Linux offer the games that they want to play? The important thing for game developers is: are they going to generate enough revenue to justify the expense of porting and supporting the game under Linux?
Both fronts have improved remarkably over the past few years. Gamers have more choice and better quality games under Linux. It's not going to reflect everyone's interests, but there is a very good chance that you will find a collection of games that you want to play
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Even if Steam+Linux gains some support they will still have to COMPETE against Microsoft.
Linux User myself (Score:1)
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We dont need many games, we need a few good ones, AAA titles.
Actually, I've had a huge amount of fun with some very obscure indie games. With Humble Bundle you can try out a huge stack of them for "pay what you want".
Linux Gamer (Score:4, Interesting)
I am happy with my game collection (177 of 210 games in my library play natively on Linux) and with quality ports coming from companies like Feral on an increasingly regular basis and newer engines like Unreal 4 (and I assume Source 2) supporting Linux natively things can only get better.
I have more than enough quality games still to play I'm currently playing XCom2 and when I want to take a break from that I'm part way through Alien Isolation, SpecOps: The Line and Metro Last Light. When I finish them I'll have Saints Row 4, ARK: Survival Evolved and I may replay Bioshock Infinite since I've got a better graphics card for XCom. I'm sure by the time I've worked my way through those there will be more games available.
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You're what we call a "settler". You'll settle for what you can get on Linux. Or you'll settle for carob instead of chocolate.
Yea I'm sure there's plenty of content, if "anything" is good enough for you.
Re:Linux Gamer (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't buy terrible games just because they get a Linux Release.. Of the games I listed and their metascore
XCom2 (88)
Alien Isolation (81)
Spec Ops (76)
Metro Last Light (82)
Bioshock Infinite (94)
Saints Row 4 (84)
I haven't really played SR4 yet but I'm not sure how you can say I am "settling" and "anything" is good enough for me. Of the "Indie" games I have ( and have enjoyed enormously ) they include
Faster Than Light (FTL) (84)
Don't Starve (79)
Thomas was Alone (77)
There can be some snobbishness about Triple A games. Though looking at my Steam history my top 5 games for actual hours played include 2 "indie" roguelikes. Sometimes I just want to play games that are fun and have some replayability.
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You're what we call a "settler". You'll settle for what you can get on Linux. Or you'll settle for carob instead of chocolate
By "we", I presume you mean the snooty people the GP was complaining about who like to make arbitrary distinctions about what somehow "counts".
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Exactly this!
There always were game that were only available on some platform. I'd love to play Splatoon, but I am not buying a wii-u just for that game.
The question for me is, do I find enough to be entertained in the few hours a feww I have to dedicate to playing video games. I spent christmass playing shadowrun:dragonfall and I picked up the previous iteration of the game. I played rogue legacy, dust and bastion last year.
Yesterday I was playing an other game of civ5, which probably will keep me busy ano
Don't forget steam streaming (Score:2)
This is the other big win for linux gaming, even though it's not direct. You can have a windows box somewhere else in the house and use the steam streaming to access your windows only games. It works extremely well and has allowed me to turn my laptop into a linux only machine that I can run games off my desktop rig sitting in the corner. Also means the laptop doesn't cook itself.
Too late. (Score:1, Redundant)
...by at least a decade.
That's more than the number of linux users... (Score:2)
wine & steam (Score:1)
Civ 5 on Steam on Zorin Linux (Score:2)
Already there... (Score:1)
I've actually cut over already, and Windows 10 is to blame. It wasn't just the terrible UI, but also how Cortana seemed to break constantly. When it did it forced a reboot that could require several more reboots to get running again. I was sick of buying a computer for Microsoft to use as they see fit, and instead opted to have a personal computer again. What was funny is that I managed to get all the games I play, short of Skyrim, to run under Linux. If the game can't be played on my Linux box or one of ou
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many developers either aren't convinced yet, or need more help, or something.
For many of them, the reality of Vulkan is all the help they needed.