Counter Strike is a GO on Linux

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

From a layman in comparison to other Linux users, I would still say that even if Linux seems to be breaking down barriers to entry for gaming, it's still just a pipe dream. With every barrier that comes down, there are more that go up. The frustration I've last had over Wine is reason enough to stay away for another 5 years. It's that immature and I fear it will never develop on par with Windows.

Well, of course it won't. Microsoft have hundreds of developers working full time on Windows, and WINE (for all intents and purposes) is a community project that tries to get windows EXE's working on Linux. They're always going to be playing catch up, and they're very much outnumbered.

That said, I think they've done a very good job so far. There's plenty of bugs to be found, but we've come on leaps and bounds from the WINE of a couple of years ago.

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I'm greatly interested in seeing CS:GO on Linux. I play it on Windows, but mucho bonus if I can stay in Linux to play it!

[Bryan R.]

Well, of course it won't. Microsoft have hundreds of developers working full time on Windows, and WINE (for all intents and purposes) is a community project that tries to get windows EXE's working on Linux. They're always going to be playing catch up, and they're very much outnumbered.

That said, I think they've done a very good job so far. There's plenty of bugs to be found, but we've come on leaps and bounds from the WINE of a couple of years ago.

To me it's quite obvious as well that Linux will always be playing catch up. With that statement inverted, this means Linux won't be the future of gaming which is the notion that I was simply disagreeing with.

Let me ask you this: Is Wine's progress at all involved with the progress in gaming on Linux? For example, sound issues that are currently present in Wine - are they also barriers to entry for coding games to work in Linux natively?

[threetonesun]

Remember guys, once upon a time iD and other developers did release games for Linux. This has been done before. I wouldn't be surprised if, with Steam leading the way, a few more developers made the move, but I can definitely think of some (Ubisoft and EA come to mind), which will probably never leave Windows.

I could be wrong though. OSX gets "decent" support these days, and the hardware and drivers over there are pretty atrocious.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

To me it's quite obvious as well that Linux will always be playing catch up. With that statement inverted, this means Linux won't be the future of gaming which is the notion that I was simply disagreeing with.

Let me ask you this: Is Wine's progress at all involved with the progress in gaming on Linux? For example, sound issues that are currently present in Wine - are they also barriers to entry for coding games to work in Linux natively?

It depends. WINE as a platform is very stable, the bugs are mainly in the Windows stuff they've had to reverse-engineer and re-implement. So Linux itself isn't a hindrance, unless of course those games are ported via WINE (which is a pretty bad idea). Valve are using an abstraction layer for their games, which allows the same code to be recompiled for OpenGL or DirectX with minimal effort, depending on the target. So they're being built entirely native without the use of WINE. To that end, the progress of WINE is completely unrelated to the progress of Linux gaming.

[Bryan R.]

It depends. WINE as a platform is very stable, the bugs are mainly in the Windows stuff they've had to reverse-engineer and re-implement. So Linux itself isn't a hindrance, unless of course those games are ported via WINE (which is a pretty bad idea). Valve are using an abstraction layer for their games, which allows the same code to be recompiled for OpenGL or DirectX with minimal effort, depending on the target. So they're being built entirely native without the use of WINE. To that end, the progress of WINE is completely unrelated to the progress of Linux gaming.

Well that's all great news and nothing bad can come of a healthy Linux gaming market. I guess my experience in the current state of gaming on Linux (through WINE) is tarnished to the point of no return at least for a couple of years.

There is more to the success of gaming on Linux than just coding games natively. There are the extras like using Office (specifically Outlook) and multi-monitor configurations that people have high expectations for that Linux, in some cases, falls flat. In those situations, people like me are going to fall back to Windows since it "just works".

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Well that's all great news and nothing bad can come of a healthy Linux gaming market. I guess my experience in the current state of gaming on Linux (through WINE) is tarnished to the point of no return at least for a couple of years.

There is more to the success of gaming on Linux than just coding games natively. There are the extras like using Office (specifically Outlook) and multi-monitor configurations that people have high expectations for that Linux, in some cases, falls flat. In those situations, people like me are going to fall back to Windows since it "just works".

I do agree that gaming on WINE is a bit of a coin flip on whether or not you'll actually get anything usable. Certainly newer games are no good as they target newer versions of DirectX and the like that WINE hasn't ported yet. Older games are mostly okay though. That said, even natively, my experience with games has been less than stellar. Most games I've played on Linux are buggy, and controller support is fairly pants.

My biggest hope is that this mini revolution in Linux gaming will spur companies (particularly AMD) into making some half decent Linux drivers. My ATI drivers are garbage.

[Bryan R.]

I do agree that gaming on WINE is a bit of a coin flip on whether or not you'll actually get anything usable. Certainly newer games are no good as they target newer versions of DirectX and the like that WINE hasn't ported yet. Older games are mostly okay though. That said, even natively, my experience with games has been less than stellar. Most games I've played on Linux are buggy, and controller support is fairly pants.

My biggest hope is that this mini revolution in Linux gaming will spur companies (particularly AMD) into making some half decent Linux drivers. My ATI drivers are garbage.

Absolutely agree on AMD. For me, I tried getting my older 4890 working on a Linux box but with AMD ditching it as legacy, it was all downhill from there. I understand it's the manufacturer's responsibility here but it affects the feasibility of the Linux market.

[Growled Member]

Linux is the next gaming OS, IMO.

It seems that way. I hope so because competition is a good thing.

[Kyang]

It seems that way. I hope so because competition is a good thing.

I normally agree, but I also see the potential for more "Exclusive this" and "Exclusive that". I'm sick of it already between PC's and consoles, let alone another split between Macs, PC's and Linux. The earlier post on this thread about Half Life 3 being some Linux exclusive isn't something I'd be looking forward to.

If more platforms can be included into gaming, then great, but no to exclusives.

[Growled Member]

I normally agree, but I also see the potential for more "Exclusive this" and "Exclusive that". I'm sick of it already between PC's and consoles, let alone another split between Macs, PC's and Linux. The earlier post on this thread about Half Life 3 being some Linux exclusive isn't something I'd be looking forward to.

If more platforms can be included into gaming, then great, but no to exclusives.

I don't see anything being an exclusive to Linux because Linux doesn't have the market share for anything like that yet. And I do agree with you overall on exclusives. They suck.