Microsoft Closes Xbox.com PC Marketplace 158
SmartAboutThings writes "Microsoft is definitely changing things in its gaming department: it has now announced in a support note on the Xbox site that it will be shutting down the Xbox.com PC Marketplace on August 22nd. This comes shortly after news that Microsoft hired former Steam boss Jason Holtman, whose mission at Redmond is to 'make Windows great for gaming.' The Microsoft Points system will be retired on August 22nd as well. The Games for Windows Live client software will not be affected, at least initially, letting you play previously purchased games."
"letting you play previously purchased games." (Score:5, Funny)
Re:"letting you play previously purchased games." (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"letting you play previously purchased games." (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"letting you play previously purchased games." (Score:4, Insightful)
The two are not the same.
Netflix you are renting X files for the next 30 days. You know this. No expectations that you can stop playing the £Y and movies will still magic onto your tellybox.
"Buy" a game from Steam/Xbox/Origin/what evs and you pay just the once and expect it to continue working.
One you are getting a service, the other you are getting a product.
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I bought a Nokia N95 and bought some games for it several years ago (about 6 years ago). The phone was still working fine when they closed nGage store and after having to reboot my phone to factory setting I could not play those games, that I had bought, ever again. I will never be that stupid again. I want to make sure that I own what I buy. I am happy to buy a .iso on line and download it but I want that installer. I do not buy from iTunes or Android stores.
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No I'm not! I already said, I have a collection, including many of Chris Carter's TV shows!
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GOG is the only e-tailor where you really BUY games.
That's not strictly true. Desura itself is DRM-agnostic (they don't impose their own DRM, although game makers are free to sell their games with it). Humble Indie Bundle sells games DRM-free (although they don't have regular availability of specific titles). Indie Royale works similarly to HIB. ShinyLoot sells DRM-free games (although they allow one-time key authentication).
That being said, GOG is an incredible site, and they most assuredly have my business!
Re:"letting you play previously purchased games." (Score:5, Insightful)
Until GoG closes and you have to reformat and can't actually download the game from them again.
There's thing thing called 'backups', dude. You see, Gog actually give you an installer file that installs the game, you don't have to download it from them every time you want to install it.
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Re:"letting you play previously purchased games." (Score:4, Informative)
You can backup and install steam games off line as well.
But you can't run the games if Steam has gone away. I've also seen a few people say that they used the Steam backup software and the file it generated wouldn't reinstall.
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That very likely depends on the game. Some Steam games have no DRM, some have Steam DRM, some have ridiculous root kits (likely on top of Steam DRM, just for maximum abuse).
If Steam ever shuts down a patch for Steam DRM will be available, one way or another.
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Not to mention, it's debatable whether Valve has the authority to release patches for games they don't actually publish. Sure, they can do what they want as regards the DRM in Half Life 2 or Left 4 Dead, but I'd be highly suspicious as to any claim that they have the right to remove DRM from games developed by other publishers.
And despite fans trotting out the "Valve promised" line everytime the discussion comes out, I've never seen a citation to where Valve has clearly stated this intent; the closest I've
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Not being a dick here, but if you plan your purchases on company promises you don't get to whine when they aren't kept.
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You CAN run the games if Steam goes away. They have promised to release patches to remove DRM if they ever go out of business.
Please inform yourself of the facts before you spread your gut feeling as the truth.
Let me run a thought experiment. Valve files for chapter 7 or 11 bankruptcy. The trustee will do which of the following?
A. Release the patch so all customers can play their games for free.
B. See control of the DRM as an asset to be sold to pay off creditors.
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Because the game publishers would send you replacement software after they've gone out of business if you had just bought it on CD instead of downloading it?
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As opposed to buying a physical disc, where you can just email the developer and they will happily send you a replacement if you lose that disc, right?
Actually, the EULA will state that you didn't purchase the game, you purchased a license to run it. So it should then follow that you're permitted to run it even if you happen to lose the media.
Maybe phone calls about this will get popular instead of "do you have Battletoads?"
The EULA can say what the hell it likes. (Score:1)
The GoG'd EULA cannot enforce the decision of "you cannot install" without a court to enforce it.
Meanwhile the EULA of Steam CAN enforce the EULA, EVEN IF IT IS ILLEGAL TO DO SO.
ANY phone-home-to-install software can ignore the courts and become judge, jury and executioner. The only reason why EULA bullshit is accepted is because clicking "I Agree" to them used to mean fuck all: they had to pursue you through the court to enforce it.
Now, not so much: if your account has been banned because they DECIDED you
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Wrong. It still has an EULA that states you are getting a license to play the game and you do not own it.
However, you are PURCHASING the license. The license once purchased, does in point of fact, belong to you.
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Coffee beans don't turn rancid for a long while, it's more that the volatile oils will evaporate, losing flavor. Keeping them in the fridge is actually terrible because of the moisture. Use the freezer if you must or, preferably, grind small amounts and use it quickly.
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Assuming that precedent actually exists, you're paying for the service provided to yo
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Think yourself lucky that they let you do so. I almost lost GTA4 when I discovered I'd forgotten the GFWL login after not playing it for a couple of years. Others on the Steam forums have said they lost their GFWL account completely after not logging in for a long time.
Not that it would have been a big loss given how bad GTA4 is, but the experience was bad enough that I've never bought another GFWL game since.
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You wouldn't have lost access to GTA 4, just your save games. All of which can be avoided if you make a LOCAL PROFILE on GFWL.
You can't play GTA4 without logging into GFWL.
Well, you can, but it runs in some kind of demo mode that won't let you save.
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local mode has you logged in... in the no save gfwl mode you're not logged in as local, if you are logged in then the saves do work in gfwl.
it's sort of tricky to get it to that mode, some.. ehm.. unauthorized games copied from the net need you to run through some hoops to install older gfwl client. but it works and then you can make local saves.
that's to say that it's a pretty shitty drm in the end.
one of the problems of ms is that they keep changing this shit around every fucking 12 months. but why have a
Re:"letting you play previously purchased games." (Score:5, Insightful)
And this is the kind of crap people love having to deal with when they just want to play a game that's installed on their PC, on their PC.
GFWL is the DRM scheme that makes other DRM schemes look good.
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First step in all Fallout 3 installation and tweak guides is to download the Games For Windows Live disabler. This essentially pretends to be GFWL so that the game is unaware that it's missing. And absolutely nothing of any value is lost by not having GFWL in the game, you just don't see achievements which are a joke anyway.
Games for Windows (Score:1)
Now, please shut down GFWL and we can all celebrate.
Hopefully the ex-Steam guy can do an Elop on Microsoft, to make them Valve's biatch.
Re: Games for Windows (Score:3)
That was my first thought as well.
The problem with Games on Windows is that Microsoft keeps redeciding that Windows gaming is "second class" to Xbox gaming. The only keep it alive because certain PC games just don't work in a console setup yet. Steam does everything better and isn't "demon spawn incarnate". The founders are all ex-microsofties and the company on the beginning was run just like a "baby Microsoft".
If this guy had business sense at all he'd just close down Microsoft's pitiful attempt and move
Xbox One. Steam box when? (Score:2)
The only keep it alive because certain PC games just don't work in a console setup yet. Steam does everything better
On the other hand, certain console games just don't work in a PC setup yet. For a fighting game or a cooperative platformer, sure you can plug four Xbox 360 controllers or HID joysticks into a USB hub, but it's hard to gather four people around one desktop or laptop monitor. Steam's Big Picture Mode is a step toward that, but Valve doesn't yet have an affordable, attractive, pre-made box designed to sit next to a TV. Come December, it'll be Xbox One, Steam box zero.
Future of Microsoft?!? (Score:3, Insightful)
"and let's see if we can whip of a decent clone of Space Invaders."
Really, to make Windows more game friendly kick all that cruft out of it which pre-loads into memory just in case I want to fire up Excel, which I don't have installed and foolishness like that. To be game friendly it needs to be lean, not bloated.
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I've just never had that problem on my gaming rig - and it even runs the consumer OS (currently Win7) and not Server (which I prefer for real work). If you install Office, and don't turn off the "quick start" thingy that's a pig, but why would you do that? I have the "Excel reader" on my gaming box, since there's sometimes interesting stuff about a game that someone has put in a spreadsheet, but other than that I don't have Office or anything else really on my gaming rig other than games.
People still comp
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http://thepiratebay.sx/torrent/4206516/TinyXP_Rev09_-_eXPerience [thepiratebay.sx]
Or roll your own...
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As far as your games are concerned, that memory is empty; Windows lets apps that need memory simply march right over the cache as though it wasn't there. Same in every other OS worth a damn.
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...
There is not much Microsoft can do but change it's business models to believe in the customer and quit treating them similar to criminals.
They're following the business models of Hollywood and the Music industry - customers are all potential criminals, stupid and must be told what they want and what is good entertainment, would be completely lost without us and must be utterly crushed it we even suspect they are violating anything we view as being with our rights (or just for the heck of it to scare everyone else and keep them in line.)
Even dear old George Lucas took his sweet time releasing Star Wars on DVD until he figured his point, whate
"letting us play" (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm thankful I'm being permitted to play the game I bought. Fortunately I only bought one game with that "windows live" abomination strapped onto it.
Joys of DRM.
Re:"letting us play" (Score:5, Informative)
Re:"letting us play" (Score:4, Interesting)
That only rewards their wacky DRM schemes. Pirate it and play it, or don't play it at all. Just don't pay for DRM. Ever.
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I do exactly that with DRMed games, except I skip the buy part.
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Some of them make it a bit harder than that. Ie, you need GFWL just to install the game in the first place. Or if GFWL is disabled there are stability issues. Ie, Bioshock 2 apparently has save game corruption problems without GFWL.
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Re:"letting us play" (Score:5, Funny)
I'm thankful I'm being permitted to play the game I bought. Fortunately I only bought one game with that "windows live" abomination strapped onto it.
I heard they're going to rename it 'GamesForSure'.
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The submitter / slashdot editors intentionally worded the summary that way to get a rise out of you. Don't rise to the troll bait.
The article itself is worded differently and implies that you of course have access to your previously purchased content which was obviously never in question. The summary here however is worded inflammatorily as "at least for now" and "letting you".
Don't make it so easy for people to treat you as a monkey.
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The summary here however is worded inflammatorily as "at least for now" and "letting you".
You really think that Microsoft -- a company with a proven history of pushing DRM schemes and then turning them off -- are going to keep GFWL running forever when it's so universally reviled that few, if any, new games are using it?
I dont think they ever really wanted to until Win8 (Score:5, Insightful)
See, The Xbox PC marketplace, the once or twice I used it, was never really a desirable means of doing anything. Every time I tried something, it would only be available on Xbox...because apparently hiding things that can't be used on a PC was an insurmountable task. It didn't seem to do cool things like let you play PC versions of Xbox games you own or save my game of Batman Arkham Asylum that was a GFWL title such that I could pick up where I left off after a format...
It surprises me that Microsoft has traditionally done such a piss poor job of integrating ANYTHING involving gaming or software purchasing into the OS. Maybe now with Win8 they'll take it a bit more seriously, but I'm still shocked they didn't partner with EA years ago and make a windows-integrated service that precluded the necessity of Origin in the first place.
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Microsoft's various divisions were pitched against each other as internal competitors; all of the gaming talent was in the Xbox console division, but internal politics likely meant that the Windows team could never, ever ask them for help.
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Which is essential really.
If MS did integrate a gaming marketplace into Windows that took noticable marketshare from Steam, Origin, etc. they would get sued, just like for IE, WMP, Messenger...
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Which is essential really.
If MS did integrate a gaming marketplace into Windows that took noticable marketshare from Steam, Origin, etc. they would get sued, just like for IE, WMP, Messenger...
I'm not completely convinced of that, depending on how they actually went about it. If they did some sort of exclusivity situation where Xbox Marketplace games couldn't be released on Steam as well, THEN that would be an issue. If Microsoft prohibited Steam from being installed, or using DirectX APIs, THEN there would be solid ground for a lawsuit.
Microsoft simply having a competing product isn't grounds for a lawsuit, even if it's integrated - so far, no lawsuits for Windows Defender or Zip Folders, despit
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I don't think so. Integrating is fine, as long as it's optional and non-default.
The IE bundling thing was a big deal because every Windows user had it installed prominently by default, and there was no way of removing it without breaking core functionality. If Microsoft had released a digital marketplace (like Steam), but made it not installed by default, not a dependency for any core Windows functionality, and not a requirement for playing games on an XBox, I don't think they would have had any trouble.
Whe
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I don't just mean they operated independently, I mean they actively undermined each other's work. There's no legal impediment to the Windows and Office divisions having the same relationship as Libreoffice and Linux, but they had the kind of relationship Holmes and Moriarty had instead.
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Microsoft partnering with EA would be like Bubba partnering with Ray Ray to chase you down in the woods.
Exactly why I'm surprised it never happened.
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It surprises me that Microsoft has traditionally done such a piss poor job of integrating ANYTHING involving gaming or software purchasing into the OS. Maybe now with Win8 they'll take it a bit more seriously, but I'm still shocked they didn't partner with EA years ago and make a windows-integrated service that precluded the necessity of Origin in the first place.
Why does that surprise you? Their history is full of examples of how products that are not traditional Windows or Office are poorly done. For example, Windows Mobile came out years before the iPhone. I was issued one for work, and it was buggy as hell. All the employees just had to deal with the daily and random resets. Some employees purchased their own phones (mostly Blackberries until the iPhone came out) just so they could do email.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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That was me when I found out TF2 was free to play for Linux. It takes a lot to pull me away from more important things like baking bread and playing guitar to go play a game, but as an old TFC player, I couldn't pass up the chance to try out a game that had interested me since I first heard about it (though not enough to deal with Microsoft).
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I mostly haven't been playing lately because I'm almost exclusively on a laptop at home, which means everything gets really chunky as soon as the map gets even remotely crowded.
Don't worry... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure they won't do this to the Windows 8 Marketplace.
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I'm sure they won't do this to the Windows 8 Marketplace.
That's like telling a cat to stay away from the curtains and expecting it to listen.
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I'm sure they won't do this to the Windows 8 Marketplace.
Wow. Good point.
Lessee... The first thing that would go would be the RT marketplace. Followed a year later by abandonment of the metro api.
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You had me for a minute there.
Microsoft does this ever couple of years (Score:2, Informative)
Microsoft has ZERO internal commitment to gaming on the PC (which obviously doesn't impact third-party games sales), but every few years some optimistic loser manages to persuade the higher management to allow him/her to 'push' PC gaming from an official Microsoft position once again. This frequently coincides with the new console launch, when the PC may get one or two titles that Microsoft is also publishing on said console.
Of course, third party game companies that make PC games are FAR FAR FAR better of
I hope that if MS trys to go metro only with win 9 (Score:2)
They get sued by EA, Valve, GOG, Apogee and others for app store lock in.
No market power (Score:2)
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As for Live in its existing PC game activation form, please stop the FUD- that's going nowhere.
As for PlaysForSure in its existing form, please stop the FUD - that's going nowhere.
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> PC gamers became fully clued in as to Microsoft's true agenda. Microsoft itself has formally PROMISED to prevent its own AAA Xbox One games from appearing as PC versions,
This doesn't make (financial) sense. Why wouldn't Microsoft want to sell to _more_ customers?
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This doesn't make (financial) sense. Why wouldn't Microsoft want to sell to _more_ customers?
It makes perfect financial sense to the Xbox division.
You're assuming that anyone is checking whether the decisions make financial sense to the company as a whole. If they worried about little things like that, they'd never have released a console when gaming is one of the few remaining reasons to buy a Windows PC.
Always complainers (Score:2, Insightful)
The way I see it, MS could write everybody on /. a $10 000 cheque and slashdotters would turn around and say it wasn't done right. Just cause it's MS.
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Re:Always complainers (Score:5, Informative)
The way I see it, MS could write everybody on /. a $10 000 cheque and slashdotters would turn around and say it wasn't done right. Just cause it's MS.
You must be new, oh yes, I can see by your 2.6 Million UID that you are. Let me give you a clue. MS has been making products and dropping support for those products for quite awhile. See, MS had ADHD. They can't pay attention, so they miss the trends until they are already happening. Then they try to play catch up, but since they can't focus worth shit, they lose interest again.
You know how many times they have had a PC Gaming Initiative? About every 5 years. How long do they last? One set of games being released, if that. And even that is to promote something else. Halo & Shadowrun? Remember those? Had to have Vista to run them because they required Direct X 10? MS was pushing Vista & Direct X 10, telling peeps they were there for PC gaming. And yet those 2 games, with a small hack, could run just fine on XP because they didn't use DX 10, they used DX 9.
I'm not even going to into the features that MS always promises for new OS's that never make it. Or how they will focus to take over a market, then let it sit (Web Browsers is a good example of this. They fought tooth and nail to beat Netscape, then once they did, sat on IE6 for years without updates.
No, I don't like MS. They have a history of being twats and most of us know it.
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Agree agree agree. But I'd still take the check.
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The way I see it, MS could write everybody on /. a $10 000 cheque and slashdotters would turn around and say it wasn't done right. Just cause it's MS.
I dunno, $10K would be just about right.
Current GfWL Steam (Score:1)
Actually, nearly anything beats Steam, that would include uPlay and Origin. Seriously, all 3 clients are superior. Steam is the only one not playing ball by not letting you integrate all your friends lists (though MS is partially at fault for this, PSN friends should be available too).
Unless you really think achievements are the one and only consideration resulting in "good" (and MS is still beating Steam's implementation of those) Steam has the absolute worst client on the market.
Steam doesn't even have
Microsoft always abandons everything (Score:2)
I always thought games relying on Games for Windows Live was stupid, because it is unavoidable that Microsoft will abandon that like all products and services that they create, and then what will happen with all the games that use that? They will no longer work.
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I always thought games relying on Games for Windows Live was stupid, because it is unavoidable that Microsoft will abandon that like all products and services that they create, and then what will happen with all the games that use that? They will no longer work.
Then thank your god(s) for the pirate scene, preserving games for the long haul.
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They don't care because only irrelevant people like slashdotters would ever want to play a game that is more than a month old.
Is this the game portal used by Windows 8? (Score:2)
If this is the game portal used by Windows 8, then MicroSquishy really hasn't got a clue. That was the one feature of WIndows 8 that my folks liked.
Windows is already great (Score:1)
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Windows 8 (OEM) is $89...FUD.
Which as you well know is historically a very unusual price point for a Windows operating system. Windows 7 Pro is still $265 (Amazon) after Win8 has been out for some time.
I think the unusually low price (for Microsoft) of Windows 8 is an indication that they knew it would be a hard sell. I bought one. Installed it. Tried to use it. I agree, it's really a hard sell.
stupid microsoft (Score:1)
Microsoft Games (Score:2)
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Dude, that made as much sense as saying, "How to make a car fly: Exit the car and enter a plane". :D
And I would say that's fantastic advice... I wonder if a car is check-in or cabin baggage...
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"How to make a car fly: Exit the car and enter a plane". :D
Let me get this straight. You are suggesting that people use the thing that does what they want it to do the best?
That is excellent advice!
When you lack the money for both (Score:2)
You are suggesting that people use the thing that does what they want it to do the best?
That is excellent advice!
I agree, if money is no object. But a lot of people can afford either a gaming PC or a console. So they have to choose either the thing that does "console" things best or the thing that does "PC gaming" things best, not both.
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Sounds like you've never played Just Cause 2.
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1) Remove Windows
2) Install Ubuntu
3) Install Steam
You do know you can use those old Windows install CDs/DVDs to play with like a Frisbee or ring toss and such.
even the old 3.1 discs can be stacked like Jenga!
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Valve need an alternative to Windows now Microsoft are trying to kill their business model with their own 'app store'. So they're convincing more and more game developers to start releasing Linux versions of their games.
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That's just not happening on PC. If you think supporting games on Windows is a nightmare, can't wait to see the whore story that is games on Linux.
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That's just not happening on PC. If you think supporting games on Windows is a nightmare, can't wait to see the whore story that is games on Linux.
Steam, I believe, only supports the Ubuntu LTS release, so there's only one version to worry about. Though games may break when the next LTS comes out.
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Hey wine runs Diablo 3 flawlessly!!
...
well, it had to be said
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I think you have a poor understanding of the difference between [various components of the X11/Linux stack]
Then let me translate #44584359:
Sorry, but the X11/Linux stack seen in Linux distributions still sucks for gaming, no other way to put it. Not only do most of the new games still ONLY come out on Windows, but you would have to flush most of your existing collection down the crapper, as Wine still only runs about 2 out of 5 games. I own a few hundred PC games; most of them are non-functional in Wine and the few that work are very quirky and behave oddly.
The only thing i like about X11/Linux is the Xfce de
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Epic lulz burns #wrecked LMAOing hard IRL reblogtweetfacelike this!
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Typical Microsoft.
Closing something down at little or no notice.
The next incarnation will cost everyone $$$$ just to join.
Thank you sir, may I have another?!?
It's all about the re-org, consolidation, maintaining a revenue stream and keeping shareholders.
When have Microsoft ever told you that you are Number 1 in their book?
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Second: Like other posters above have noted - install Ubuntu, install Steam, and game to your hearts content...
...But not really.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that Linux (or at least Ubuntu) is gaining (har har) steam in the gaming arena, but they still have miles and miles to go before they even rank as mildly competitive with Windows. Looking through the games available from Steam on Linux, not a single game in my library is represented, and there aren't any that I really want to play. Of the games I'm currently playing, only one is available (might be available, will be available?) on Linux, Shadowrun Returns.