Editors • About the Site • Comes vs. Microsoft • Using This Web Site • Site Archives • Credibility Index • OOXML • OpenDocument • Patents • Novell • News Digest • Site News • RSS

09.25.13

GNU/Linux Rapidly Becoming a Gaming Platform of Choice, Offering Better Performance

Posted in GNU/Linux at 3:37 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Chess

Summary: Not just cost but technical edge too seemingly help drive GNU/Linux as a choice for gamers and game makers

Gabe Newell from Valve believes that GNU/Linux is the future of gaming. He helped promote GNU/Linux as a platform for games in the very recent LinuxCon [1-4], almost stealing the thunder from the “Cloud Computing” hype [5] (surveillance computing).

What’s really noteworthy is that over the past week there have been quite a few announcements about games that are coming to GNU/Linux, not just via Valve (“SteamOS” is in the headlines right now [6,7], along with more Steam titles [8] that make headlines [9-13]). Performance under Ubuntu 13.04 is said to be much better than under Vista 8 [14]. The same goes for OpenGL versus DirectX [15].

Some GNU/Linux are not really news [16-18], but those that newly arrive at the platform [19-24] are, ‘big’ titles like Doom 3 [25] matter, and various other games [26-35] help show how GNU/Linux was transformed into more of a gaming platform, with even more devices being build around it [36]. Perhaps Newell was right and GNU/Linux is the future of gaming [37]. It took a whole to see this dream materialising. A new version of Wine has come [38,39] with further improvements [40], bridging the gap for some games whose developers have not used cross-platform APIs [41], so through Wine too — despite performance penalties — games continue to land on GNU/Linux even if they were never build for it. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. Linux Is the Future… For Learning And Gaming?

    Thanks to the Raspberry Pi and gamers, Linux is all set to come out on top, says Sean Michael Kerner

  2. The State of Linux: Game On at LinuxCon
  3. Video: LinuxCon – Linux and Gaming
  4. Steam’s Gabe Newell: Linux is the future of gaming; SteamBox may be announced next week

    “Linux is the future of Gaming” are the words loud and clear during the keynote by Gabe Newell, the CEO of Valve Software, at Linux Foundation’s 2013 North American LinuxCon event.

  5. FOSS and Linux Fuel the Future of Gaming, Cloud Computing and the Rest of Tech

    Technology has entered a new era in which software is no longer a differentiator, but the foundation that the “big winners” are building their services on, Jim Zemlin said today in his annual State of Linux speech at LinuxCon and CloudOpen North America in New Olreans.

  6. Valve announces Linux-based “SteamOS” as basis for living room gaming

    The Linux-based living room gaming announcements Valve co-founder Gabe Newell promised last week began today with the unveiling of SteamOS, a new Linux-based operating system focused on living room gaming.

  7. Valve Has Announced The SteamOS Built On Linux
  8. New Batch Of Titles Greenlit On Steam 18th September
  9. Valve promises three announcements this week – SteamBox and more?
  10. Calm Down, Internet — Valve Isn’t Building Their Own Steam Box
  11. Valve To Reveal Linux-Powered ‘Steambox’ News Next Week

    Valve – the company behind gaming distribution behemoth Steam – are to reveal more details on their up-coming ‘Steambox’ gaming console next week.

  12. Postal 2 DLC Details Revealed

    Running With Scissors has revealed some but not all of the details of what will come with the Postal 2 (Steam, Desura) DLC!

  13. Fortix 2 is Hitting Linux

    Fortix 2 is finally hitting the Linux platform! As of September 17, 2013, Fortix 2 will be available on Steam. Now all three platforms can enjoy the classic arcade gameplay of Fortix 2. It has been a long time coming for this event, and we would like to thank the Linux community for the patience on the matter.

  14. How Does Left 4 Dead 2 Perform On Ubuntu 13.04 Compared To Windows 8?
  15. Valve: OpenGL is faster than DirectX — even on Windows

    In a scary twist that reinforces Valve’s distaste for Windows 8, it turns out that the Source engine — the 3D engine that powers Half Life 2, Left 4 Dead, and Dota 2 — runs faster on Ubuntu 12.04 and OpenGL than Windows 7 and DirectX/Direct3D.

  16. Free Turn-Based Strategy Game `Freeciv` 2.4.0 Released
  17. SUPERHOT FPS Where Time Only Moves When You Do
  18. The Fall A Dark, Story Driven Exploration In An Alien World UPDATED
  19. PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate coming to Mac and Linux on September 30th!
  20. iRacing Adds Linux to Existing MAC and PC Platforms
  21. Mac and Linux Versions of ‘Rogue Legacy’ Coming Soon, Says Dev
  22. Neverending Nightmares to hit PC, Mac, Linux, Ouya at same time
  23. Based on a true story

    Developed by Polypusher Studios for PC, Mac and Linux, Montague’s Mount is a first person psychological rollercoaster ride through isolation, desolation and one man’s tortured mind all set against the bleakness of an isolated Irish island. The player regains consciousness on a windswept beach, with no memory of the past.

  24. The Fall, Story Driven Exploration Game, Could Arrive on Linux in 2014

    The Fall is a dark, action platformer based on the unison of atmosphere, adventure and exploration.

  25. Doom 3 BFG Edition Linux Port Is Still Being Developed
  26. Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut Dated in North America
  27. Humble Indie Bundle 9 Adds New Games, Two Brand New To Linux
  28. What I’m Playing: More like, Lame Theft Auto
  29. Legend of Dungeon Released
  30. We Review Indie Game Fez on Linux – Is It Worth The Hype?

    Playing as an unidentifiable creature named Gomez, your goal is to find the missing pieces of a Hexahedron scattered across the world before it’s too late. Though the world looks 2D, FEZ has a trick up its sleeve that makes it far more unique than the platformer lets on at the start.

  31. Democracy 3 Pre-Order’s Are Up With Beta Access

    Have you ever wanted to be president? or prime-minister? Convinced you could do a better job of running the country? Let’s face it, you could hardly do a worse job than our current political leaders.

  32. Fields Of War Online Mech Combat Game New Release
  33. BlastEm – The Fast And Accurate Genesis Emulator

    BlastEm has the goal of being an extremely accurate Genesis emulator while still running on relatively modest hardware by using advanced techniques. Currently, there’s a lot of work left to do on the accuracy front and there are a lot of optimizations I want to do, but BlastEm is still quite usable for certain purposes. Many commercial and homebrew 3 run well and the performance seems to be good on my relatively modest AMD E-350 powered laptop and Intel Atom based HTPC.

  34. ‘Legend of Dungeon’ Impressions and Gameplay Video
  35. Alien Arena: Combat Edition v7.66 Is Available Now

    Alien Arena is a is a free first-person shooter computer game similar to the Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament series. You can play Alien Arena online with other players or if you don’t feel skilled enough you can choose single-player matches and play against bots. The game’s content is proprietary, but its engine is open source (CRX engine). An internal server browser helps you to find other players online and there is also an IRC client for chat between players. Alien Arena is available Microsoft Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and OS X.

  36. OpenPandora – Gaming and more

    Hopefully, you remember my escapade with Pandora, which was given to me by the company’s CEO for evaluation. In the first installment, we discussed mostly the look & feel and the amazing hardware of the test unit. In the second, we focused on the Xfce build and the modded Android port. So far so good, with some points for improvement.

  37. Valve CEO: Why Linux is the future of gaming

    Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve declared that proprietary software and closed platforms are gaming’s past, its future is open and on Linux.

  38. Wine 1.7.2 Brings A Couple Of Changes

    The latest bi-weekly Wine development release, Wine 1.7.2, is now available.

  39. Wine 1.7.2 released

    The Wine development release 1.7.2 is now available.

  40. Wine Testing: Does The D3D Patch Boost Performance?
  41. Iracing Online Racing Game Comes To Linux In Alpha Via Wine

    An online car racing game that PC Gamer voted “Best racing game of all time” has hit Linux in the form of an alpha version that uses Wine.

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Reddit
  • co.mments
  • DZone
  • email
  • Google Bookmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • NewsVine
  • Print
  • Technorati
  • TwitThis
  • Facebook

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

  1. Today's EPO is Not Compatible With the Law and It's Grossly Incompatible With Truth and Justice

    Today, once again, the EPO openly advocates software patents while media promotes loopholes (notably hype waves)

  2. Quick Mention: As Expected, the US Supreme Court Cements PTAB's Role With Trump-Appointed Gorsuch Dissenting

    Oil States has been decided and it's very good news for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB); even Conservatives-leaning Justices support PTAB

  3. Links 24/4/2018: Preview of Crostini, Introducing Heptio Gimbal, OPNsense 18.1.6

    Links for the day

  4. Patent Maximalists Step Things Up With Director Andrei Iancu and It's Time for Scientists to Fight Back

    Science and technology don't seem to matter as much as the whims of the patent (litigation) 'industry', at least judging by recent actions taken by Andrei Iancu (following a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee)

  5. Mythology About Patents in the East

    Misconceptions (or deliberate propaganda) about patent policy in the east poison the debate and derail a serious, facts-based discussion about it

  6. Patent Trolls Watch: Red River Innovations, Bradium Technologies/General Patent, and Wordlogic

    A quick look at some patent trolls that made the news this Monday; we are still seeing a powerful response to such trolls, whose momentum is slipping owing to the good work of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)

  7. Holding Benoît Battistelli Accountable After the EPO

    The many abuses and offenses committed by Mr. Battistelli whilst he enjoyed diplomatic immunity can and should be brought up as that immunity expires in two months; a good start would be contacting his colleagues, who might not be aware of the full spectrum of his abuses

  8. Links 23/4/2018: Second RC of Linux 4.17 and First RC of Mesa 18.1

    Links for the day

  9. The Good Work of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and the Latest Attempts to Undermine It

    A week's roundup of news about PTAB, which is eliminating many bad (wrongly-granted) patents and is therefore becoming "enemy number one" to those who got accustomed to blackmailing real (productive) firms with their questionable patents

  10. District Courts' Patent Cases, Including the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX/TXED), in a Nutshell

    A roundup of patent cases in 'low courts' of the United States, where patents are being reasoned about or objected to while patent law firms make a lot of money

  11. The Federal Circuit's (CAFC) Decisions Are Being Twisted by Patent Propaganda Sites Which Merely Cherry-Pick Cases With Outcomes That Suit Them

    The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) continues to reject the vast majority of software patents, citing Section 101 in many such cases, but the likes of Managing IP, Patently-O, IAM and Watchtroll only selectively cover such cases (instead they’re ‘pulling a Berkheimer’ or some similar name-dropping)

  12. Patents Roundup: Metaswitch, GENBAND, Susman, Cisco, Konami, High 5 Games, HTC, and Nintendo

    A look at existing legal actions, the application of 35 U.S.C. § 101, and questionable patents that are being pursued on software (algorithms or "software infrastructure")

  13. In Maxon v Funai the High 'Patent Court' (CAFC) Reaffirms Disdain for Software Patents, Which Are Nowadays Harder to Get and Then Defend

    With the wealth of decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) wherein software patents get discarded (Funai being the latest example), the public needs to ask itself whether patent law firms are honest when they make claims about resurgence of software patents by 'pulling a Berkheimer' or coming up with terms like “Berkheimer Effect”

  14. Today's European Patent Office Works for Patent Extremists and for Team UPC Rather Than for Europe or for Innovation

    The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI) and other patent maximalists who have nothing to do with Europe, helped by a malicious and rather clueless politician called Benoît Battistelli, are turning the EPO into a patent-printing machine rather than an examination office as envisioned by the EPC (founders) and member states

  15. The EPO is Dying and Those Who Have Killed It Are Becoming Very Rich in the Process

    Following the footsteps of Ron Hovsepian at Novell, Battistelli at the EPO (along with Team Battistelli) may mean the end of the EPO as we know it (or the end altogether); one manager and a cabal of confidants make themselves obscenely rich by basically sacrificing the very organisation they were entrusted to serve

  16. Short: Just Keep Repeating the Lie (“Quality”) Until People Might Believe It

    Battistelli’s patent-printing bureau (EPO without quality control) keeps lying about the quality of patents by repeating the word “quality” a lot of times, including no less than twice in the summary alone

  17. Shelston IP Keeps Pressuring IP Australia to Allow Software Patents and Harm Software Development

    Shelston IP wants exactly the opposite of what's good for Australia; it just wants what's good for itself, yet it habitually pretends to speak for a productive industry (nothing could be further from the truth)

  18. Is Andy Ramer's Departure the End of Cantor Fitzgerald's Patent Trolls-Feeding Operations and Ambitions?

    The managing director of the 'IP' group at Cantor Fitzgerald is leaving, but it does not yet mean that patent trolls will be starved/deprived access to patents

  19. EPO Hoards Billions of Euros (Taken From the Public), Decreases Quality to Get More Money, Reduces Payments to Staff

    The EPO continues to collect money from everyone, distributes bogus/dubious patents that usher patent trolls into Europe (to cost European businesses billions in the long run), and staff of the EPO faces more cuts while EPO management swims in cash and perks

  20. Short: Calling Battistelli's Town (Where He Works) “Force for Innovation” to Justify the Funneling of EPO Funds to It

    How the EPO‘s management ‘explained’ (or sought to rationalise) to staff its opaque decision to send a multi-million, one-day ceremony to Battistelli’s own theatre only weeks before he leaves

  21. Short: EPO Bribes the Media and Then Brags About the Paid-for Outcome to Staff

    The EPO‘s systematic corruption of the media at the expense of EPO stakeholders — not to mention hiring of lawyers to bully media which exposes EPO corruption — in the EPO’s own words (amended by us)

  22. Short: EPO's “Working Party for Quality” is to Quality What the “Democratic People's Republic of Korea” is to Democracy

    To maintain the perception (illusion) that the EPO still cares about patent quality — and in order to disseminate this lie to EPO staff — a puff piece with the above heading/photograph was distributed to thousands of examiners in glossy paper form

  23. Short: This Spring's Message From the EPO's President (Corrected)

    A corrected preface from the Liar in Chief, the EPO's notoriously crooked and dishonest President

  24. Short: Highly Misleading and Unscientific Graphics From the EPO for an Illusion of Growth

    A look at the brainwash that EPO management is distributing to staff and what's wrong with it

  25. Short: EPO Explains to Examiners Why They Should and Apparently Can Grant Software Patents (in Spite of EPC)

    Whether it calls it "CII" or "ICT" or "Industry 4.0" or "4IR", the EPO's management continues to grant software patents and attempts to justify this to itself (and to staff)

  26. Links 21/4/2018: Linux 4.9.95, FFmpeg 4.0, OpenBSD Foundation 2018 Fundraising Campaign

    Links for the day

  27. As USPTO Director, Andrei Iancu Gives Three Months for Public Comments on 35 U.S.C. § 101 (Software Patenting Impacted)

    Weeks after starting his job as head of the US patent office, to our regret but not to our surprise, Iancu asks whether to limit examiners' ability to reject abstract patent applications citing 35 U.S.C. § 101 (relates to Alice and Mayo)

  28. In Keith Raniere v Microsoft Both Sides Are Evil But for Different Reasons

    Billing for patent lawyers reveals an abusive strategy from Microsoft, which responded to abusive patent litigation (something which Microsoft too has done for well over a decade)

  29. Links 20/4/2018: Atom 1.26, MySQL 8.0

    Links for the day

  30. Links 19/4/2018: Mesa 17.3.9 and 18.0.1, Trisquel 8.0 LTS Flidas, Elections for openSUSE Board

    Links for the day

CoPilotCo

RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

CoPilotCo

Recent Posts