Interview With Icculus on GNU/Linux Gaming

Via Phoronix comes a link to an interview with prolific GNU/Linux game porter Icculus about the state of gaming on GNU/Linux. Topics include Steam, Windows 8, his experiences trying to push FatELF vs full screen games, and the general state of the game industry. From the article (on the general state of games on GNU/Linux): "It's making progress. We're turning out to have a pretty big year, with Unity3D coming to the platform, and Valve preparing to release Steam. These are just good foundations to an awesome 2013."

Re:What's the point?

[Microlith]

If you bring closed, proprietary, DRM-infested software onto it, you're just turning it into another Windows; you might as well just go back to it.

Nonsense. Bringing in Steam and closed source games doesn't turn a GNU/Linux platform into a closed source OS. The closed bits have to behave and accept that I control the system.

you might as well just go back to it.

I'm trying to get away from it. Games moving to Linux gives me more reason to leave.

what we need to get these people to do is to give us the code to their engines (even if under a mostly proprietary license).

Some do, eventually.

that way we will be able to continue enjoying what makes GNU/Linux attractive and play games as well.

How about we move games, and users, to Linux first? Silly absolutist stances accomplish nothing.

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey honey. Wake up, go to the street, get some fresh air. Phone a friend, a girl if you know any. Drink a tea or a beer with her. Go to bed, feel happy playing with your "google".

Now that you are a healthy humane person, repeat with me: If you computer does have a free operating system running propietary software from time to time, that is much better than having a propietary operating system running free software from time to time.

If you can't understand that, then just buy a Mac and stop whinning.

Re:What's the point?

[fa2k]

W.T.F. How did that patronising, sarcastic comment get +4? The parent isn't even a troll, it just raises a quite extreme viewpoint

Re:And the Linux naming experts strike again

[ninetyninebottles]

Seriously, fat elf? ELF was fine, it's another TLA that you might pronounce as E-L-F, but there's only one way people would say FatELF. "Just turn the GIMP into a FatELF and it'll run on all platforms.", seriously RMS should add another one to the list, free as in beer, free as in speech and free as in puns.

Funny. Seriously though application formats are not user facing so you can name them "BinaryBlumpers" for all I care. I just wish Linux as a desktop were not quite so castrated by Linux as a server design choices and mentality. Icculus's experiences mirrored my own when trying to discuss ways Linux could borrow from other OS's to make it a better desktop. It's all fine and dandy unless you want to add something fundamental and then a million angry server monkeys appear and throw poo. Unless the culture changes Linux will forever be relegated to server and appliance roles.

Re:What's the point?

[Bieeanda]

What's with the assumption that with Steam coming to Linux, games will automatically follow? It certainly hasn't worked that way for their Mac library.

Re:What's the point?

[Internetuser1248]

The truth is, most Linux users don't care about games.

There is a causal element there: Most people who care about games don't use linux. If games come to linux that could change.

Re:What's the point?

[EvilIdler]

Everything already existing hasn't been ported, but I've definitely noticed a rise in games with Windows/OS X simultaneous launch on Steam. Every game doesn't get a port, but the ones which do at least get them sooner. But OS X probably has ~15x as many desktop users as the various Linux distros, so it might not be that awesome for Linux. We can be certain the indies won't have any reservations now, though. Unity3D is huge among them, and the Linux client export is a first-class feature, like the OS X and Windows players.

Re:What's the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, for many in the Linux community, if Linux were to become popular, it would be magically destroyed. For many, Linux is not just an operating system, it is an exclusive club. Like all exclusive clubs, the appeal is the exclusivity...i.e. "I'm better than you because I'm in club X." If the platform were to become popular, it would destroy the exclusivity, and then the nerds would have to find something else to make themselves feel superior.

Then, there are the purists. "All closed-source software is evil." As stated above, this is silly absolutist thinking. Here is the fact: A software vendors has the right to do WHATEVER THEY WANT with THEIR OWN CODE. If they want to release the code, then good...but if the vendor wants to keep the code closed, then GOOD! Neither side is "right" or "wrong"--its merely a cost/benefit analysis. Some software makes absolutely no sense being open source, while other things make perfect sense. Purists exist ONLY out of their own selfish desire to control other people.

Frankly, I say: bring steam, games, and all manner of closed-source software. Let it even stay closed, because that is Valve's decision, not mine. My decision is whether or not I install/use/purchase Valve's products.