Tag Archives: PC

Gaming on Linux is Far Overdue

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Somewhere along your computer career you have probably been introduced to a distribution of Linux. You probably tried a LiveCD, or even dual booted. The problem was that every time you wanted to play your favorite game, you had to reboot back into Windows. Eventually, you ended up just sticking with your Windows partition and leaving Linux behind.

The big question is: Why?

Why haven’t popular mainstream games like World of Warcraft, Battlefield 3, and Half-Life 2 been developed for Linux? What’s holding developers back from porting their games over to the Linux OS?

Many developers say the problem is that digital rights management does not play well with Linux. Digital rights management (DRM) is what developers include in their software to keep people from pirating it. There are many recent articles, including here and here, about how DRM is not the right direction we should be moving towards. People are going to pirate games anyway. They want to see their money go right to the programs, rather than big corporations (see: Humble Bundle).

Another reason going around for why games are not ported over is that there are so many different Linux distros that it would be too much to port to each distro. Well, this is true, but not every distro needs to be accounted for. Three of the top five used Linux distros are based on Debian.

It’s about time that mainstream games made their way onto the Linux OS. It will increase the user base of Linux greatly. For most people using Linux, the only thing keeping their Windows partition intact are the games.

For this reason, porting games to Linux could lower the Windows user base by a lot. Microsoft will be forced to provide a real benefit to justify paying for their operating system. And it’s not just the end-customer, OEM’s will start to think, “Hey, Linux is free, has a familiar look and feel, can run alternative open source applications, and can run games now. Oh, and now I can distribute computers way cheaper than I could with Windows.” Microsoft will be in trouble, especially when people stop paying for their precious Office suite and move over to LibreOffice or OpenOffice.org.

A company that has recently been talking seriously about working with Linux is Valve. Valve is known for developing games such as Portal, Counter-Strike, and the Half-Life series. Valve also created a client for buying and downloading games on your computer called Steam. Steam is one of the major distributors of PC games and also hosts a very large community for PC gamers.

Many games are released through Steam, so just moving Steam and the 2,500 games available could be a driving force to make gaming on Linux more mainstream. Valve did it for Mac, and it worked with great success. They ported over the Half-Life 2 engine games, and that was enough to get a decent user base.

The Steam for Linux closed beta has just started. The reason for the Steam for Linux beta could be attributed to Gabe Newell, the founder of Valve, calling Windows 8 “a catastrophe”, and stating that he is jumping ship to Linux.

“The big problem that is holding back Linux is games. People don’t realize how critical games are in driving consumer purchasing behavior. We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It’s a hedging strategy. I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think 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. If that’s true, then it will be good to have alternatives to hedge against that eventuality.” – Gabe Newell (founder of Valve)

If Steam were to move to Linux, the first thing I would do is format my Windows hard drive to make room for more episodes of The Walking Dead. Now if only Netflix would switch over to Linux…

Note: There are ways to run some games on Linux, but their compatibility is limited. Wine does a decent job, and PlayOnLinux tweaks Wine a little better. Running games inside of a virtual machine is kind of moot. But we shouldn’t have to rig games to work in our operating system.

Posted in Gaming, Technology | Tagged Battlefield 3, Counter-Strike, Debian, digital rights management, dual boot, Gabe Newell, gaming, Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Humble Bundle, LibreOffice, , LiveCD, , , OEM, OpenOffice.org, operating systems, partition, , PlayOnLinux, Portal, Steam, Steam for Linux beta, The Walking Dead, Valve, , virtual machine, , Windows 8, Wine, World of Warcraft | 1 Reply

Faster Than Light

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FTL: Faster Than LightFTL: Faster Than Light is a spaceflight simulator game by Subset Games that has consumed my life for the past few days.

The object of the game is to control a space craft that you must navigate safely across eight sectors of space before the Rebel fleet can hunt you down. Traveling through outer space, you will come across asteroid fields, space pirates, trading outposts, slave traders, alien species, dangerous planets, and more. Along the way you can upgrade your space craft and get new parts to make it more formidable. You can raid other ships, help distressed civilians, or just kill everything that comes across your path.

At first glance Faster Than Light looks like a Star Trek video game straight out of the 90′s. The chill music and pixelated graphics of FTL reminded me of VVVVVV, another old school style indie game found in the Humble Indie Bundle. Underneath the simplistic graphics though is a complex and detailed game.

FTL: Faster Than Light screenshot

Faster Than Light combines tactical, turn-based space combat with the role-playing elements of decision making, character management, and item management. Each of FTL’s different unlockable space crafts that you start with lends itself to different playstyles. For example, The Kestler, the default ship, is a weapons heavy, nimble space craft that is piloted by Humans, while the Torus is an Engi ship that makes heavy use of lasers and offensive drones.

Faster Than Light is a hardcore game. Death is permanent, choices have consequences, and the universe is hostile. Very hostile. You can’t even save your game to go back in time before you made a bad decision. The grueling difficulty of the game on normal mode will scare off casual gamers in favor of those who can stay up all night tediously micromanaging all aspects of their space craft. As of this writing I’ve played the game around forty times on normal and have gotten to the last sector around five times, yet I haven’t beaten the game once yet.

Faster Than Light is a great game, but it requires a specific type of gamer to enjoy it. Those who grew up playing roguelikes and other old school games may have a special appreciation for FTL. It is unforgiving, cold, and cruel – like outer space – but the multitude of play styles, unlockable space crafts, and tough difficulty will satisfy hardcore gamers. The overall length of the game is not long, but it is hard to complete, especially with achievements, which will keep any completionist going.

Pros

  • Hard difficulty and tons of micromanagement will keep hardcore gamers busy
  • Tons of weapons and accessories to customize your space craft
  • Combines the best parts of tactical turn-based role-playing games and space combat sims
  • Achievements and unlockables that keep the game fresh
  • Graphics and music are good and give the game a unique look and feel

Cons

  • Limited amount of unique encounters means you will see the same dialogue often across different playthroughs
  • Short length, especially on easy mode

If you have ten dollars, a free weekend, and want to play a tough scifi, role-playing game with an old school nostalgia feel, then Faster Than Light is the game for you!