Linux Gaming

[AntonThaGreat]

Does anyone spend any of their time gaming on their Linux setup?

I've completely gave up on Windows recently and have been traversing the terminal-wonderland that is Linux. (I pretty much hate Win8, so I'm trying to get used to Linux.) Also, another thing I love is that Ubuntu is bringing back that old sense of wonder I've had when I was younger and spent hours upon hours just tinkering with something just to see how it worked and what I could do with it.

So far, I've spent the most time playing Heroes of Newerth because it's freakin' crack and I've never played other MOBA's before or realized just how much I like the whole concept. I've always loved Tower Defense games, and this is basically Tower Defense, but you're the tower.

Also, I finally have my Wine installation setup to a satisfactory degree, so I've played and beat The Walking Dead episode 2, which worked flawlessly and was awesome. I'm still having issues getting Unreal Engine 3 games to run properly. The biggest pain so far, has definitely been .Net, anything that uses those libraries always gives me trouble.

By the way, all of those Lego games work perfectly. Lego Batman 1 & 2 work flawlessly.

Crusader Kings 2 worked flawlessly until the most recent patch, where some bug has been introduced; but I'm sure that that will be fixed shortly by some enterprising Linux wizard. I've also gotten pretty decent at diagnosing why a particular game won't start, and figuring out how to get it to run.

Also, Super excited about Steam coming to Linux. I have a good feeling that this is really going to "legitimize" gaming on Linux. Give a kick to a lot of developers to start looking at Linux more seriously and also get the hardware manufacturers to support their hardware better on the OS.

So, any of you game of Linux? Any interesting stories or anecdotes? Advice for a linux noob? What distribution do you call home?

[TheKeck]

I have never used Linux for personal use of any kind.

[Panthera]

A lot of roguelikes have linux ports. Dwarf Fortress for instance.

[linuxgameconsortium]

Well first off, I use linux at home 99% of the time and don't log into Windows unless I absolutely have too. I have my PC setup in dual-boot of course, Windows 7 & Ubuntu Linux. And within my Linux install I run Windows XP in Virtualbox, just in case I need something on the fly.

Everything I need is in Linux, 50,000 free apps and counting. I can see why anyone would give up Windows.

Anyhow, for games. I have been reporting on games for a while at Linux Game News.
Now I know everyone here can probably list a ton of Linux titles that run on WINE. But there are restrictions, Diablo 3 users have been banned by Blizzard and the same thing happened with World of Warcraft back in 2006.
But otherwise, native linux games are really where it's at.

If you want to indulge, I would highly recommend the Humble Bundle and/or supporting Kickstarter campaigns. Anything we as a community can do to ensure Linux is kept in the mix.

I would keen to see what games you might suggest for Linux Game Consortium?
I mean more recent titles that you've happened to come across. And/or cross-platform title that include Linux.

The same goes for any site suggestions/recommendations as well.

Cheers,

Todd B.
Linux Game news &
Linux Game Consortium

[LordDon]

There are too many games I enjoy that don't run on Linux, as much as I'd like to use it more.

[Gwinny]

I have put the parents on Ubuntu, and have a laptop that runs it as well. But gaming is one of those things that keeps me with Windows. The Wine community puts a lot of work in, but I am lazy.

[kyrieee]

Impressive bot, found the thread quite quickly

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by TheKeck

I have never used Linux for personal use of any kind.

I've never used it, period. At least not that I can recall. I've thought about trying it out, but I've stuck with Windows because that's where most of the games are and it's what I'm used to.

[Stmfuller]

I dual boot into Linux when my college courses require me to have it, but I never use Linux as a gaming tool

[AntonThaGreat]

This makes me moist:

Valve's Newell: Windows 8 "catastrophe" driving Valve to embrace Linux

Valve head—and one-time Microsoft employee—Gabe Newell has branded Windows 8 "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space" at videogame conference Casual Connect in Seattle. The Valve boss continued, saying that in the fallout from Windows 8, "we'll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people."

Read More

I also think Win8 is a catastrophe.

[muddi900]

He also spoke of closed system in general. Apple has cut off whole API's for Mountain Lion for non- App Store apps, and I expect Microsoft to do the same moving forward

[LordDon]

If that's the general direction of things then I'm all about Linux at that point. Fucking closed systems.

[MagGnome]

I'll move to Linux as well if MS follows in the control-freak footsteps of Apple. Gross.

Several of my friends were gushing about Mountain Lion on Twitter and Facebook yesterday. It took a lot of willpower for me not to make sarcastic comments like "A notification bar, wow!"

[muddi900]

A notification bar that side-loaded apps cannot use.

[TheKeck]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

I've never used it, period. At least not that I can recall. I've thought about trying it out, but I've stuck with Windows because that's where most of the games are and it's what I'm used to.

I am in the software field so I have used it in school and professionally. I'm sure I never would have otherwise.

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by muddi900

A notification bar that side-loaded apps cannot use.

The fact that Mac's now have "side-loaded" apps is in and of itself kind of screwed up. Of course the fans are eating it up.

[TheKeck]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

The fact that Mac's now have "side-loaded" apps is in and of itself kind of screwed up.

Seriously. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

[digitalErich]

I have to think that if MS really does try to lock down the OS app install pathway and take the kind of cuts Apple takes, it will explode in their face, regardless the of quality of the OS.

[MagGnome]

I can't see MS getting away with it in the way that Apple has. Hackers would be all over that sort of thing on the PC.

[AntonThaGreat]

Due warning, I'm going to rant, right here right now, about Apple's horrific software.

Originally Posted by MagGnome

The fact that Mac's now have "side-loaded" apps is in and of itself kind of screwed up. Of course the fans are eating it up.

Yeah, i honestly find it difficult to use my friends un-jailbroken iPads because I'm so used to having my iPad being so customized with so many tweaks that are sorely missing and Apple either ignores or are holding on to the updates so they can have a major presentation and spoon feed these small tweaks as "massive breakthroughs in how you see and use your new Apple iPad®".

I had the pleasure of using the brand new Mac Book Pro. along with an iPad 3.

• As far as the new iPad goes

  You literally cannot notice that the display has a resolution that is 4 times larger. When you squint hard, try to pay more attention and probably make the font-size as small as possible, then maybe, just maybe you will notice the smoother fonts.
  
  If you're a fan of reading ebooks using iBooks at the smallest possible font size, possibly using an eyeglass, then this would be the device for you. I love the iPad when it's jailbroken, but without it? The device is an in-bed Reddit (Alien Blue - Go get it immediately if you don't have it yet.) or HBO viewing machine, as I can get their whole library watch it on demand, which is amaze-balls.

• As far as the Macbook Pro goes:
  

  Holy hell did I want to throw the damn thing against the wall or better yet out the window. Doing anything besides using the provided official Apple apps? Well, FUCK YOU THEN, Apple seems to scream at you through their User Interface of Pain.
  
  It's akin to that beautiful "arty" girl that you see occasionally in the hallways of school or in some, unrelated to her skill, class that you both happen to take. You strike up a conversation with her and wonder at her beauty until you realize she's the most awkward girl you've ever met and she's pretty shallow to boot.
  
  What I hate probably more than the aforementioned, though, is the application eco system that Apple has carefully cultivated. You wan tto do something that is not natively supported by OS X? "HAHAHA WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO THAT FOR ANYWAY? GO MAKE AN IMOVIE WHILE LISTENING TO ITUNES!" Apple screams.
  
  Go ahead, try to use your Apple iDevice as a flash drive to transfer some data for whatever reason. Want that ability? Either pay $19.95 for Phone Disk, which will still not work properly as you won't get root privelages and won't be able to view user folders and be relegated to 1GB of system folders.. or go screw yourself. As the iExplorer demo doesn't work properly either, and if you want to find out if maybe the full version works better that'll cost you $39.95.
  
  This is simple fucking funcionality that is natively supported by Windows and works on Ubuntu by simply going to the Software Center and searching for Apple, downloading the first application and using your Apple Device with ease.
  
  This is one example out of many many many experiences that I have had whilst giving OS X a fair shake over the course of a few weeks. I learned how to use Linux pretty effectively within a few days, and maybe quite possibly I am a major moron, but maybe, just maybe there's something terribly wrong at Apple.
  
  I believe this is by design, as if to keep that 10% of all Computer users locked into Apple's operating system and usability methods over their range of devices. I believe that if you used Apple's OS primarily most, if not all, of the time, you would have real difficulty using any other OS, especially something like Windows which is built around a completely different usability logic.

Okay, I'm out of steam, I'm proud of you, whoever you are, that you got this far.