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GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

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191–200 of 421 posts

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#191
I have been playing Fallout: New Vegas on my ThinkPad T570 running Bazzite Linux for the last few weeks.

It's been... amazing. A good game, running at workable framerates, no more crashes than usual (it's a Bethesda game, after all), and the software was free as opposed to building out a new PC with Windows 11.

It's like rediscovering PC gaming after years of it becoming bloated and a cash grab.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like it or not, a lot of people love a virtualization of their library. So the option is nice. I like GOG's launcher because 1) it's open source and 2) it can show other gamijg libraries thanks to fan maintained plugins. Those aspects give me a sense that the goal here (outside of to lower the friction into GOG's store) is indeed to serve the user And if that changes, it's easy to take my ball and go home. GOG trying…

Going to a website's hardly massive friction is it ? I've got tens of games through GoG and it's always my first port of call if I want a game. Because it keeps out of the way. If it's got value to people, fair enough, it's got value to people. That's just my opinion. All I want you to do is sell me games. But we all know about enshittification and MBAs trying to round the wagons.

It is if you have games from multiple stores and don't remember which game is from where. I don't have all the games I own installed and installed.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#194
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't care about it as an abstract idea, but they do notice that Windows 11 is worse than Windows 10 was worse than Windows 8 was worse than Windows 7. I'm not saying there have been zero useful improvements in later Windows releases, but 7 looked good and did what you told it to. "Openness" is a very abstract idea but "Only does what you tell it to" is a selling point for Linux. You know it's not going to uploa…

Yes, but when they go out creating that aquarium PC tower with rainbow lights, they will install W11 Pro as usual.

Maybe the people who go hardcore like that, with the obnoxious PC cases, but there are lots of casual-to-less-casual gamers out there who will be happy enough with Bazzite.

There’s a whole spectrum of PC gamers, and I think Linux+Proton can appeal to most of them. Let the people spending $10,000 on a glowing case make their own bad decisions.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most gamers don't give a shit about openness I don't think this is a given. I think most gamers so far haven't cared about openness because pragmatically, it didn't matter for them. Now they're seeing the long-term effect of not caring about that though, which is why we're suddenly seeing a movement of gamers moving to Linux, and trying to get others to move with them, because they realize the importance now, as th…

> I don't think this is a given This is a given. They love Discord and shit like that.

They don’t care about FOSS, but they care about “computer lets me do what I want”.

Discord is obviously proprietary but it’s actually a very modular platform that gives a lot of nice controls. It’s easy to make your own “server”, it’s easy to add whatever bots you want, it’s easy to moderate. From a consumer perspective, it’s “open”.

Also, I know that this wasn’t your point, but I do feel compelled to point out that Discord works fine on Linux.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#196
post #173
post #14

I'm very hopeful that Linux gaming will save the open PC desktop despite big tech is coming to destroy it. Or at least keep PCs alive for another decade. Gamers are still a huge factor as hardware customers. GOG creating a Linux launcher and Steam Box with SteamOS coming out soon should benefit PC users in general not just gamers since Microslop sees Windows like a social experiment where they can test AI on unsuspec…

There is nothing to save as long as it relies on game studios using Windows workstations, coding in Visual Studio and targeting DirectX. The goal has to be to make native Linux attractive, so that they actually bother to create native executables, using Vulkan and co. Until then it is no different from playing arcade games with MAME on Linux.

The most stable Linux API is Wine/Win32.

There are many older games I can't install on Linux anymore, because they used an older SDL1 or some particular X11 version or some GPU driver that's no longer available for the current kernel.

The exact same game, Windows version, can be installed and runs flawlessly on both Linux and Windows.

So, native Vulkan executables? Sure, if they can continue to run in 20 years.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#197
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gamers generally game on PC because they like building their system. Otherwise they would use a PS5 Pro or whatever. The PC is an “open” platform in that you can buy and choose your own hardware. Intel vs AMD vs Nvidia, Seagate vs Western Digital, etc…. Using open software isn’t really more than a few steps from that. Being able to pick how your system works and customizing it to your liking is basically the software…

> Gamers generally game on PC because they like building their system. Otherwise they would use a PS5 Pro or whatever. You're making a huge assumption here. I think that's a really small percentage. Most people game on PC because certain games they like to play are only on PC, or are much better suited to PC, or because their friends are on PC, or because they want to play on the go (Steam Deck is very recent and sti…

I got into PC gaming in ~2009 primarily because it is so much cheaper than console. Steam sales and Humble Bundle allowed me to buy so many more games for less money.

The initial cost upfront was higher than a console but if you want a lot of games it ends up being worth it.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most gamers don't give a shit about openness I don't think this is a given. I think most gamers so far haven't cared about openness because pragmatically, it didn't matter for them. Now they're seeing the long-term effect of not caring about that though, which is why we're suddenly seeing a movement of gamers moving to Linux, and trying to get others to move with them, because they realize the importance now, as th…

> I don't think this is a given This is a given. They love Discord and shit like that.

Yes if gamers truly cared about openness and absence of corporate control, they would move to self-hosted Matrix channels.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#199
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a hunch that the currently sole owner just wants to do this until retirement. GoG is financially stable so there's no pressure to increase revenue. I see no simpler explanation why someone would buy out a subsidiary like that. All in all, GoG thrives on people being sentimental and it's totally in character for the owner to be sentimental as well.

Not wanting to buy DRMed games now is counting as sentimental? I beg to differ. There are a lot of reasons for buying games free of DRM.

Younger generations grew up with DRM already present.

Same with anti-cheat really. The most common reason I hear people don't make the switch to Linux is that certain games work only on Windows due to the type of anti-cheat they use.

Re: GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

#200
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It'll mean GOG has to do less work [citation needed] GOG's launcher team is presumably already familiar with their codebase, already has a checkout, already has a codebase that's missing 0 features, has a user interface that already matches their customer's muscle memory, and presumably already has semi-decent platform abstraction layer, considering they have binaries for both Windows and OS X. Unless they've utter…

Phase Alternating Line? What's "PAL" here?

Given the context probably Platform Abstraction Layer.
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