Please dota 2 next!
Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
71–80 of 159 posts
Re: Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
>the Unity/Gnome 3/Mint/etc mess What mess? Unity is getting to be quite tolerable. Gnome is forging ahead with their vision and Mint provides a nice alternative to Ubuntu with several different UIs. I don't understand the argument that this is "bad". People have been saying that since the dawn of Linux and it's boring and an non-point. If you accept that "PC" has peaked, Valve/Steam is screwed anyway. If consumers k…
> Unity is getting to be quite tolerable. Never have I heard such glowing praise.
Fine, I'll admit it -- I used Unity again last week and I liked it. And if compiz weren't so buggy, it's a really good environment all around and I'd probably have stuck with it. HUD is absolutely brilliant. I literally can't say enough good things about how much I used it in that week. It makes development so much faster, especially if you're using an IDE.
Unity allows me to utilize more screenspace, very effectively. The latest version is pleasant to look at. I'm still not a huge fan of the default lens, but that will get better with time or as someone creates a replacement for the default lens.
Beside, that's a pretty pithy lame reply to your original remarks. Disappointing.
Elementary is great, although currently only working well with 12.04. Cinnamon is great, my mother figured it out intuitively immediately based on Windows XP (much faster than with Windows 8 or OS X). Gnome-Shell is "OK", I find it's a taste thing and most people what more out of it.
Re: Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
I made ns_shiva for the original, so that should speak to how much I liked it. :) I am completely in love with the sequel. It is fantastic. Here are the main differences: * Commanding is much less stressful. Giving the marines their own resources and the ability to buy their own weapons means you can focus more of your attention on just coordinating attacks and getting upgrades. * Stalemates are much less common. In…
Because you can only build comm chairs at tech points, you can't have insane creativity in relocations. I hate this SO MUCH. God, it was so awesome when you'd find some new insane place to tuck a commchair. Letting marines spend their own resources dilutes the game. Weaksauce. Maybe I'm getting old, but I find the maps incomprehensible. This last is the real reason I'm not logging any time on NS2.
>Because you can only build comm chairs at tech points, you can't have insane creativity in relocations.
True, but this also means that the maps are possible to balance. You don't have to worry about things like red room or cold turn that break otherwise promising maps.
>Letting marines spend their own resources dilutes the game.
Way too many pub games of ns1 ended early because no one wanted to take on the stress of being commander. I've never seen that happen in ns2.
>Maybe I'm getting old, but I find the maps incomprehensible. This last is the real reason I'm not logging any time on NS2.
I think you are getting old. :) No seriously, I think it's just a busier art style that comes with more polygons and higher res textures. I had the same initial reaction being so used to older games with simpler graphics, but once you are accustomed to it most of the maps end up being pretty easy to learn. Tram and mineshaft are particularly hard, but veil is ported perfectly from the original, and summit and docking are both pretty straightforward.
Re: Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah the PC has peaked... sure... 355 millions of PCs sold in 2011, versus 346 millions in 2010 worldwide. What peak are you talking about exactly ? Even with all the Smartphone BS out there, the PC market is still immensely bigger than all of of the smartphone/tablets combined. Why do you think people still make games and applications for PCs ?
I'm talking about that peak right there in 2011. I can't find whole-year data for 2012 yet, but 3Q shipments were down over 2011 ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/11/horror_idc_pc_sales_... ), and Q4 was not expected to make up for it ( http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/10/technology/pc-shipments-decl... ). Also, smartphones had already surpassed PCs in unit sales in 2011.
Yeah, and guess how much time are people spending on their Smartphones vs time spent on average on a PC ? That should be fairly obvious that the number of minutes of usage per device is greatly in favor of computers vs smartphones. Smartphones are a fashion trend: people like to change them all the time when new models come out because there is a great technological advance currently on their specs. The same is not true on PC anymore, yet they are still selling by truckloads. Utility wins.
Re: Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am pretty sure that the Quake 3 demo was released for Linux first and my memory is that this was an intentional move by Carmack to promote Linux [1]. 1. Wikipedia lists the release dates for the full game, which were in Dec 1999 for both Windows and Linux (windows a few weeks earlier). I don't recall exactly when the demo came out, but I think it was sometime in the winter of 1999.
Wow, I'm old. I would never have guessed that Q3 was released in 1999. I was more thinking 2005...
Quake 4 came out ~2005/6, IIRC.
Re: Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
>the Unity/Gnome 3/Mint/etc mess What mess? Unity is getting to be quite tolerable. Gnome is forging ahead with their vision and Mint provides a nice alternative to Ubuntu with several different UIs. I don't understand the argument that this is "bad". People have been saying that since the dawn of Linux and it's boring and an non-point. If you accept that "PC" has peaked, Valve/Steam is screwed anyway. If consumers k…
Valve has Dota 2, which at this point is pretty much a license to print money. Steam is going to be around for a _very_ long time.
Speaking of Dota 2, with this enthusiasm for the linux platform, let's hope they start pushing for a Linux client, and maybe they'll finally release their OS X client along the way ><
Re: Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, Valve owns Steam, their publishing arm/store/DRM. And like EA now sells their games with their online store/DRM "Origin", Valve does the same with theirs, Steam! Yeah, they get more by shoehorning people into Steam than they would lose from not selling DRM-free versions. There may have been a point to stop this from growing into what it's become early on... But it's too far gone to be broken free of save a majo…
CD Projekt Red who own GOG naturally distribute their own games through GOG, but note that they as well distribute them through Steam. I see no clear reasons for Valve to restrict the distribution of their games to Steam only. Yes, historically it came with this not very invasive DRM, but there is still no reason to keep it forever, since DRM has no good reasons to be used altogether. I understand that Valve can be a…
I don't think Valve is convinced that Steam DRM is a net negative. They are, to use your terminology, a backwards thinker.
Re: Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Valve is not "engrossed in DRM". They have the most lenient DRM that still qualifies as DRM, and the only objectionable aspect of it is the theoretical inability to install a game without access to the Steam servers. Valve's "DRM" scheme has imposes fewer restrictions on the user than most EULAs, and pretty much never gets in the way of legitimate usage. The fact that they don't want to sell their games without Steam…
I know that it's not as draconian as others, but I don't like it nevertheless and prefer to support distributors with clear DRM free stance.
What don't you like about Steam's DRM system? Does it in any way inconvenience you or restrict you from doing something reasonable with your purchases? Or are you against it for the mere reason that it's been called DRM? Based on your comments, it sounds like you might be trying to make a principled stand without being fully informed, or else there's some nuance to your principles that isn't yet clear to me.
Re: Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Serious question: was Linux able to play any kind of game in 1998? Linux releases are a little more fluid so there aren't as many big moments, but I'd imagine it was a hell of a lot less capable in '98.
There was a fair amount of AAA gaming support around that timeframe (say 1996-2000). Almost a golden age. Games based on the Quake engine were the most obvious example. Besides them, Loki ported maybe 20 games over to Linux. The ones I still have CDs around for somewhere are Railroad Tycoon 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and Myth 2.
A friend bought a Quake III for Linux tin box from the discount bin because they had put a sticker on it saying it also worked for Windows.
Inside was a instruction sheet informing Linux users how they could use CVS to pull and compile 3D support, depending on their distribution. I thought it was rather funny that someone felt they could market a game to people who were compiling their own operating system. I guess that's why it was in the discount bin.