The Steam Controller is getting a kernel driver! Humble brings the Classics, Tale of Toast enters Early Access, and ScummVM wants your children. Then Conarium faces the CHAIRQASITION! All this plus your hate mail.
Special thanks: Items from our Wishzone
RTheren (Pedro/Jordan impaler)
Morning zoo radio thinly disguised as a Linux gaming podcast. Whether you're a seasoned Linux gamer or just starting out, we have something for everyone. So join us on our journey into the world of Linux gaming!
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Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro
Steam News:
Tree Fiddy
http://steam250.com/
http://steam250.com/linux250
- “We provide a collection of video game rankings based on a wide selection of nuanced criteria to match what gamers are looking for. Steam 250 aims to provide all the tools necessary to be the one-stop shop for finding good games on Steam.”
- Besides the top 250 Linux games, you can filter out all other platforms in whichever list.
- The Hidden Gems bit is comprised of games with few players but with high Steam review scores.
- In other words, those games developers convince their friends to leave a good review on Steam.
- Kudos to Bilge from Scripfusion for the heads up!
Dev kits in the wild
https://www.roadtovr.com/developers-now-receiving-htc-vive-pro/
- As a devel do you target the new Vive?
- Probably not. Most people are going to default to the cheaper option
- The other take on it is target it and have a reduced performance profile for vive classic
Steamy kernels
http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1802.2/02868.html?utm_source=anz
- This is a wicked-good thing.
- Having to set a udev rule is not exactly user friendly.
- Stuff like this is what linux should focus on to make it a better gaming platform. Good out of the box experience.
- Like how AMD drivers are going to be in 50 years
- For the most part, the udev rule was invisible until the moment Valve changed something.
Ignore
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-users-can-now-choose-to-ignore-curators-they-dont-like/
- Steam’ll let you mute individual curators from recommendations
- Apparently if you do it enough, you can just embrace the algorithm
- Steam thinks people use their Curator system.
- Why would you bother ignoring specific curators?
- Is it just to remove that bit from the front page?
- Who the hell still looks at the front page?
Steam: Game Updates
Wormholes
http://store.steampowered.com/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/2361446846766038767
- Still have to launch it in borderless window mode and its unable to resize properly.
- New stuff is great but first you have to have a game that works properly.
RIOT
http://steamcommunity.com/games/342310/announcements/detail/2914263157627611082
- “LINUX: fixed the missing executable bug”
- Incompetence is not a bug.
Steam: New Games
Bones of Britannia
https://store.feralinteractive.com/en/mac-linux-games/thronesofbritanniatw/
- Called it!
- This seems to be the first in a more narrative focused total war subseries.
- Imma probably give this’un a skip though.
- I rather dislike all things Total and War but will give it a shot.
- It would be nice if it didn’t look like something from 1999.
- Is there a big enough market of Linux people who buy everything Total War?
- Or is it just that since it’s all the same engine, it’s so cheap to port them all even the smallest return on investment is enough to cover the cost?
Ze Station
http://store.steampowered.com/app/565120/The_Station/
- Another puzzley walking simulator
- The description reminds me a bit of encounter at farpoint. Which makes me want a game with Q in it
Ignoreance
http://store.steampowered.com/app/633060/Orwell_Ignorance_is_Strength
- A story game where you get to play as a gaslighting government agent
- They highly recommend you buy all the episodes now and pray they will actually deliver.
- Though, currently the “Complete Season” is only £1 more expensive than the Ignorance is Strength episode.
Almonds
http://store.steampowered.com/app/640150/Tale_of_Toast/
- Might have to give it the Pepsi challenge.
- Can’t login on launch day.
News:
- Again, why would they?
- I’ve seen tonnes of speculation the last few weeks from people saying it’s everything from a crypto card to their next gaming GPU architecture.
- Motherfu*kers, NVIDIA has the market on LOCK.
- Don’t expect them to randomly fart out products because you want them to.
- As much as people expect a new generation will drive down the prices of older ones, the crypto-mining craze will still keep them up.
- Means i’m still stuck waiting another year for new video cards
You will OBEY
https://www.feralinteractive.com/en/about/videos/
https://twitter.com/feralgames/status/965976224081367045
- “supported computers only” could use some clarification.
- Aaaand they gave some, good Feral.
- Pretty sure “supported” also only means Ubuntu users get the promotion.
- I understand why (trying to eliminate random herk and jank from other distros” but a lot of their players are on non-ubuntu OSes. PLus I’d like to see some more promotion for alternative linuxen for gaming.
- Except maybe Arch.
- So if I streamed Dirt Rally from my laptop on KDE Neon I wouldn’t get a Feral retweet?
Humble Classics
https://www.humblebundle.com/games/classics-return-bundle?partner=linuxgamecast
- Yeah, ok…
- Tides of Numenera and Dreamfall Chapters for $15 is pretty good!
- Didn’t see anything that I wanted / already have.
- That said, still a good bundle.
- Ya’ll should totally get the 15 dollar bundle through our affiliate link
ScummVM and ResidualVM are looking for Google Summer of Code participants
http://www.scummvm.org/news/20180214/
- ScummVM is an awesome project that’s fairly widely used in the preservation space
- CHILDREN! Go help them out. Get a cool thing to put on your resume
Open Poke
https://github.com/cyrioncentori/OpMon
- I’ll have to give this a look, but i’m 96% sure it’s just full of a bunch of people’s crappy fakemons
- Yup It’s a build your own pokemon game. I’ll give it a pass
- Will it be enough to dodge the Nintendo lawyers should it get really famous?
- Well, it builds.
AVP Movies
https://github.com/neuromancer/avp
- Unofficial SDL2 re-write for AVP Gold.
- I guess since Mr. Alert Slowed down SDLCL, this kinda stuff will need to be done,
- Clarification: What he calls “retro gaming industry” is actually the market of emulator boxes.
- Misleading article title aside, sure.
- As long there are people fueling the murky legal waters of emulation and making a profit of it, big companies will not see a reason to support game preservation.
- Less so for the legal reasons but because of the wide availability and low cost of those emulators and boxes.
- I’m all for a bit of law which legitimizes game preservation but that’s not likely to happen when there’s such a big market for knockoff consoles which can run those old games, original or pirated.
- As long as IP law is as borked as it is, nobody will ever give a shit about media preservation, as all companies do care about are profitable IP
- I think the article is a wee full of crap though. Compatible hardware and virtual consoles are all well and good, but it’s still easier to get your hands on ROMs for lesser known, harder to get games.
- Additionally, relying on whatever amount of cartridges survive over the years isn’t useful for actual preservation.
Blaze it
http://www.trailblazersgame.com/
- Looks neat and would be a welcome addition to my library.
- That looks really good, actually!
CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope
– Not sure if want
– Check it out
– Shutupandtakemymonie
Game: Conarium
Webzone: Conarium
Devel: Zoetrope Interactive
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Price: £14.99 / US$19.99 / CA$21.99
Wazzat: Conarium is a chilling Lovecraftian game, which follows a gripping story involving four scientists and their endeavor to challenge what we normally consider to be the ‘absolute’ limits of nature. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s novella “At the Mountains of Madness”, but largely set after the original story.
Mandatory Disclosure: Devs sent us keys
Makes with the working
Venn-
- Looks like I’m playing this in 1080p windowed.
- That said @ 1080p this critter runs well on high.
- No UE4 texture popin.
- Unable to take screenshots.
- Yep, another not tested properly UE4 checklist.
Jordan-
- Like the man says, runs fine in windowed mode
Pedro-
- Some games start on the wrong monitor, but that’s usually a keyboard combo away from a workaround.
- This game starts on the wrong audio device and you can’t change it.
Total-
Shiny / Sounds
Venn-
- That dudes voice “”acting”” is next level bad.
- Is it just me or is everything just a little too shiny in UE4?
- It looks good (albeit a bit plasticy) and the environment sounds get the job done.
Jordan-
- The sound design is pretty good. Sufficiently creepy
- There is a lot of reading
- The indoors do look a little stock UE4 demoy
- The hazy fog of war is a bit annoying
Pedro-
- The voice acting is really bad.
- Everyone sounds so stilted.
- Which is a bit of a mood killer since the rest of the sounds actually create a good atmosphere.
- The outside bits look really nice.
- The insides look… generic. There is very little in way of visual storytelling.
- In fact, most of the storytelling is conveyed through walls of text, but more on that later.
Total-
Control
Venn-
- Nothing to complain about.
Jordan-
- WASD, although space for inventory and right click for journal are really strange
Pedro-
- Sprinting is about as fast as a moderately brisk walk.
- At 7am when I’m sleepy and have to leave the house to catch the bus to work, I walk faster than the main character sprints.
Total-
FUN
Venn-
- Don’t try to Frictional if you aint gonna go full Frictional.
- Interact will all the things or none of the things not this half-arsed depends shite.
- We’ve all played this game before and we’ll play it again.
- Conarium brings nothing new to the table and it’s wicked-buggy to boot.
- It’s not lazley done but the wake up alone and figure shite out genere is played the hell out.
- For $20 you could do better.
Jordan-
- Yeah, it’s another generic oopy spoopy walking simulator
- There are a few “puzzles”, but a lot of them are just find the key or process of elimination
- I like the subject matter, but there’s really not enough game to keep it going
Pedro-
- I expected Penumbra, or at least SOMA.
- I got Layers of Fear, instead.
- I do not like the sequence of locked doors with random interspersing of visual noise to indicate when you should be scared.
- And you’re not really in any danger, either.
- Since the developers had to account for the character being two snails short of standing still when he moves, the “monsters” in the latter parts of the game are all just as slow.
- The puzzles all come down to “find key for door”
- The atmosphere is good until someone talks.
- There’s always so much text to read if you’re hoping to get any kind of story, you have to wonder: Why didn’t the developers write their HP Lovecraft fanfic in an ebook and sold that instead?
- It’s another mediocre puzzle game with a “horror” theme.
Total-
Final –
Hate Mail:
Rant
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?XDwXD1G
Rockets
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?81vqfyP
https://ornim.github.io/LGC-Rocket-League-tournament-Bracket
- No Orn, no they did not.
