Acquisitions felt kinda cool when Microsoft was dishing them out like nobody’s business prior to the pandemic.
No, it did not. Consolidation usually is bad for employees and customers, and anyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the last 150 years has had plenty of opportunities to observe this.
Yes and No.
In the short term the answer is a clear "yes", as it allows players to play nearly all Windows games on Linux without modifications, and game developers to ship their games on Linux without any extra costs.
In the long term it might have a bad effect on the market, as it further helps to cement Microsoft's control over multimedia APIs, since game developers now have little incentive now to target anything other than DirectX...
In this case it's a bit weird though, as the game lists Linux as supported platform, but obviously just ships the Windows build with Proton instead of having a native Linux build that uses open cross-platform APIs.
Even before Proton Valve was heavily invested in Linux gaming.
SteamOS has been around way longer than Proton, and the Steam Client had a native Linux version for such a long time, I don't even remember when it was published. Also, the Steam Linux Runtime is something worth mentioning - it is a common base that game developers can target instead of the various different distributions.
Cool! It even has an unintentionally belly-operated off-button!
(Sorry, but this design looks like a UX nightmare. The Sticks feel barely reachable, the buttons on the bottom will be touched unintentionally, the shoulder pads aren't clearly separated, the ABXY buttons are way too small, the speaker seems to be mono,... The list of shortcomings could go on forever...)
I'd strongly recommend to stick to a mainstream distribution like Fedora, Debian, Mint,...
With bigger distributions you have more people working on them (-> more packages well maintained), you get a bigger community, and therefore it's easier to get help if anything breaks.
I'm not sure which distribution to recommend though, as they all have advantages and disadvantages when it comes to gaming. Ten years ago I have switched to Gentoo (which is definitely not a distribution for new Linux users) when I got fed up with Ubuntu's Enshittification, and have stayed there ever since, so I lost a bit track which distributions are good for gaming now and which aren't.
A geh, is doch iagendwie liab, oda?
Übahaupt, jetzt wo si Hochdeutsch imma mea duachsetzt, und vü junge Leit übahaupt nimma richtig östareichisch^1^ redn leanan, missn ma doch schaun, dass unsa Sproch net oafoch ausstiabt, oda?
Mia hom a a longe Tradition, wonns um Mundoatdichtung geht. Da Dichta von da obaöstareichischn Hymne zum Beispü, da Stelzhamer Franz, hot gonz vü in Mundoat gschribn.
Und weis ma grod eifoit: Es gibt a a eigene Wikipedia in unsam Dialekt: https://bar.wikipedia.org/ Oba do dua i ma söm schwah, dass i des vasteh. De is scho in da äagstn von de oagn Mundoatn gschribm.
(So, jetzt woas i net, wöcha Sproch i im Dropdown do untn auswöhn soid... Wei wirklich Deitsch is des jo net...)
[^1^] I am fully aware that the dialect I'm writing in is not called "Austrian". The two big dialects spoken in Austria are "Alemannic" and "Bavarian", and the one I'm writing is the Bavarian dialect. I'm only using the word "östareichisch" here, because that's what I expect most people to use in spoken conversation.
First things first: This hasn't happened to me in ages. I even stopped looking at ProtonDB. Stuff just runs.
However, if a game I buy really wouldn't run on Linux, I would just refund it (if possible) and play something else. I have a pile of shame that could fill a hundred lifetimes, I really don't need to play this one particular game.
Some games, like the Pathfinder games by Owlcat, use that initial input to determine if you are playing with mouse/keyboard or a gamepad. Depending on that, you get presented with a different UI in the main menu.
Another reason for such a screen could also be Xbox support. Nowadays it's no longer necessary, because user-handling has been vastly improved with the GDK, but before the GDK was released a splash screen was the most user-friendly way to do user-handling in a single-player or online-multiplayer game on Xbox.
I'd also suggest a Steam Deck, but for a different reason. My experiences with switchable graphics (both, nVidia and AMD) have been extremely disappointing. It's quite frustrating to spend €1500 on a gaming laptop, and then constantly facing driver issues, tearing,...
If I were to buy a laptop, I'd therefore also go with an AMD integrated graphics unit, and no switchable graphics. Performance would be comparably bad, but at least an integrated (non-switchable) card works... And now we are at the point of having a dedicated gaming device like the Deck, which lets you have both: A performant enough gaming device, and a laptop that isn't burdened by the price and issues of switchable graphics.
From the official rules:
Once you provide the required information and submit the form you will receive one (1) entry into the Sweepstakes. After you submit the form you will have the opportunity to earn up to three (3) additional entries. [snip]
a) Create a Steam account. [snip]
Okay, that's doable, I guess most people have one already
b) Click the ‘follow’ button to follow @summergamefest on X. [snip]
Suuuuure. Who in their right mind would willingly go on X?
c) Click the ‘follow’ button to follow @thegameawards on X. [snip]
Again X? How much did Elon pay them?
Familiarity.
If an alternative isn't 100% identical to a tool one is used to, one automatically has reservations, and the slightest inconvenience immediately turns into a blocking issue. On the other hand, one is typically inclined to ignore problems with tools one is used to.
There isn't much one can do about this, other than trying to keep an open mind, and being aware of that bias.
As a gamedev: Early Access was useful for devs, back when it was real Early Access. Think: Kerbal Space Program (the first, not the second).
Nowadays it's mostly a marketing tool, that allows to generate the hype for launch twice... Publishers and players expect "Early Access" games to be feature complete and polished before the "Early Access" launch...
Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1356/
Especially after adding the game to the Steam Library and launching it either through Proton (if it's a Windows game) or enabling the Steam Runtime (if it's an ancient Linux game).
DOSBox-staging has fluidsynth built-in. So, unlike vanilla DOSBox, there's no need to install a separate MIDI synthesizer.
(I was so positively surprised by this, I even wrote a very lengthy blog post about Dosbox with MIDI on the Steam Deck.)
To give a bit more detail here: In Desktop Mode, you can access the normal PC interface of Steam. There's a Menu Entry in the "Games" Menu that's titled "Add Non-Steam Game to Library".
This is what you need. It opens a list of applications that are in the menu (to be precise: for which a desktop file exists in the appropriate folder), but you can just click the "Browse" button. After clicking that button, change the file type filter to list all files, and find the game's executable. If it's a Windows game (or a really old Linux game) you'll need to go to the game's properties in Steam and force a specific compatibility tool. For Windows games usually a recent version of Proton, for really old Linux games the "Steam Linux Runtime".
That's it.
In order to copy the games' files to the Steam Deck, I usually install the game on the desktop first, and then just copy the installed files over via sftp. I've written a long and boring explanation on how to enable sftp on the Steam Deck here.
There's another thing that might be relevant: The Game Mode UI on the Steam Deck doesn't support creation of ad-hoc wireless networks (afaik). I think (but never tried it) that it's possible in Desktop Mode though.
Anything 2D... Or emulators for old (2D) consoles, or DosBOX...
And up to now we have zero indication that the current approach isn't a dead end. Bill Gates, for instance, thinks that GPT-4 is a development plateau: https://heise.de/-9337989
Yep. The Series S gives games even less RAM than the One X did.
and adding it to Game Mode
Wait, waaaaaat? Lutris can do that? Okay, time to download it on my Steam Deck, like, right now. (Okay, not actually right now, I am at work, but today in the evening.)
I'm not sure what problem you are encountering exactly, but switching to another virtual terminal might still work. By default, the virtual terminals are linked to the F1-F8 keys, and the combo to switch from a graphical session usually is CTRL+ALT+Fx.
On that other virtual terminal, you might be able to kill KWin.
I have to second the mentions of OpenTTD, Battle for Wesnoth, Ur-Quan Masters and Nethack.
I'd also like to add:
Then there are also some open-source re-implementations of commercial games (that need the original game files) that haven't been mentioned yet:
anti-trust authorities
The same anti-trust authorities who have been ignoring completely?
I already asked over at the GoL forums, but I think it's worth repeating: Does anyone know where one might find a legal download of this game? https://www.mobygames.com/game/3132/rally-championship-international-off-road-racing/
It seems GoG does not have it, and I would really like to play it again - for nostalgia reasons.
Apart from Subnautica, which only is tedious regarding food/drink in the very beginning, I enjoyed Unreal World a lot. It is turn based, so there isn't any real-time time constraint imposed by in-game hunger/thirst. It also tries to feel realistic in a lot of aspects, including the amount of food/water your character needs. While at game start you of course need to focus on immediate survival (though, that depends a bit on the scenario you play), that focus shifts rather quickly to preparing for the winter, as in stocking up supplies (think: smoking/curing meat/fish, gathering fire wood,...), and building a shelter that you can heat, so you don't freeze when it gets cold outside. Since the game is set in fantasy iron age Finland, you probably also want to build a sauna 😉.
Fourth? The last real Settlers was Settlers 2.
What I do is usually:
My recommendation list is going to be a wild mix of different styles. Basically aynthing in my Games Library that I find visually appealing...
There are some amazing fan projects though:
I've been playing it quite a bit on the Deck, and it's running fine. I left the settings on default, except for upscaling, where I enabled XeSS, which makes some things much more beautiful, for instance fur.
With XeSS enabled, I had to set display refresh rate to 40 Hz though.
While gaming performance with the nVidia drivers is often better (I'm talking about FPS alone, not taking into account the card price), the interaction with the desktop environments is way better for AMD, because their drivers are fully maintained as part of open source projects. What I mean are the tools to configure display resolution, and if you are using multiple monitors, their relative positioning. Everything just works. This alone is reason enough for me to strongly recommend AMD over nVidia.
Just to add this: Star Control 2 is not only free (as in free beer), it is free (as in free speech). The open source project is hosted on SourceForge (yes, that still exists), and has a website that is worth checking out: https://sc2.sf.net/
Also, the tutorial has suffered bitrot quite a lot. The game has seen many significant changes since release, but the tuturial was only partially updated to reflect them.
Yes, the list of countries that are allowed to participate is on the website.
Australia is not on the list, for instance, but most of Europe is.
Yep, that's probably the most helpful thing for devs. This sadly often conflicts with publishers' announcement schedules. There are, however, companies that do NDA-protected play-tests, where you get the same kind of information, without publicly announcing the game.
That solely depends on the question what you consider "Casual". I'll go with the definition "a game that doesn't need a significant time investment per play-session".
Yes. It's in the Xbox Requirements, as in, the checklist of stuff you need to fulfill if you want to release a game on Xbox. To be precise, it's test case 130-04: Featured Game Modes.
Not really that big of a deal, but Baldur's Gate 3 can be launched with the
--skip-launchercommand line parameter to, well, skip the launcher.