Linux Game Cast 459: Atari Speaker Hat

The Atari VCS gets a release date! Nvidia brings DLSS to Linux via Proton, OBS 27 adds support for Wayland, and vulkan powered ray tracing for older AMD hardware.

Special thanks to:
DirtyDean (increased patron pledge)


Listen:


Download:


Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
05:37 Valve Steam controller patent infringement verdict
08:37 AMD Breaks 30% CPU Market Share
12:47 Proton gets support for Nvidia DLSS
15:52 Sunblaze
17:42 Tears of the earth
19:37 Mighty Goose
21:47 Reto Arch PCSX2 progress
24:32 Shing! multiplayer beta
28:47 Griftlands goes gold
36:17 Intel Xe-HPG board leaks
44:07 Atari VCS release date
46:32 Raytracing with older hardware
50:02 OBS 27
54:17 Wine 6.10
57:12 Enemy Territory single player
59:22 How hard is gaming on Linux?
01:04:07 Review: Neon Wings
01:16:52 Hate mail


Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

Steam: News

Justice nipples

  • Well, the courts have spoken. Valve infringed on their patent for the rear-controller buttons
  • Shame that steam controller went nowhere
  • Valve started work on the Steam controller and didn’t know about the patent.
  • They found out about the patent after a lot of work had been done and went full YOLO.
  • At 4mil Valve probably broke even.
  • Will the steampal have a third shoulder/trigger button?


AMD Breaks 30% CPU Market Share

  • This is what happens when your competitor goes a few years without releasing anything interesting / affordable.
  • Nothing else seems to have shifted all that much.
  • The 1060 is still #1 overall, and the video card description is borked for the Linux only list.
  • Though if the VRAM is anything to go by, the RX 480/470/580/570/590 are probably still leading the pack.
  • I got a steam survey this week on my TV box, so I probably count towards the 580 crowd in the future
  • AMD’s been over 30% on linux for a while


Proton DLSS

  • In another “huh” move from Nvidia.
  • By all means NVidia, keep it up!
  • There’s a few more things in the Windows driver the Linux peeps would be happy with.
  • Though I’d probably keep the need for telemetry down to a minimum.
  • It’s not like AMD will ever bring their new thingamabob to Linux.
    • Yeah, Joshie has some words about that
  • Apparently Wolfenstein youngblood uses it, so maybe that would help with some of the hiccups. Although most of those problems probably came from the multiplayer
  • It’s definitely a ‘nice to have’. Must be nice for those tenser-core havers

Steam: New Games

Blaze it

  • Totes not Celeste.
    • It’s a brand new genre. Meateste
  • Big kudos to Bonus Stage for sending us keys!


Tears of the Earth

  • Rocking a NES colour palette.
  • It certainly looks the part. Clocks in at 600MB tho
  • So the final boss is Mega Shovel Man?


Metal Goose

  • Getting some strong Metal Slug vibes from this one.

Steam: Game Updates

Retro updates

  • Yeeees, PCSX2 core is making progress!
    • Still no RasPi support, which makes me le sad.
  • You can use the PSL1ght driver with RetroArch again if you have games that support it.
  • Finally, doom 2 runs on PS2

Shing online

  • More games should be doing this
  • Even getting some busted testing multiplayer is better than just couch.
  • Hopefully huntdown gets their shit together.
  • I would like to think savvy developers have realized Remote Play is not a replacement.


Griftlands Gold

  • That was quick.
  • Last minute proofreading for the win
  • I really hope they get back to us.
  • This game looks really cool

News:

Xee Wee

  • Intel is confident they can crush other media encoders with Xe DG2.
  • And by crush do they mean it’s better than nvenc at chomping x.264?
  • Double so after seeing the upcoming prices.
  • That’s MSRP.
  • A Q1 2022 release is hinted at and good quantities are expected at launch.
  • If team Blue can deliver something that trades blows with a 3070 they will have 30% of the market by Q4 2022.
  • Seriously, at this point I might buy one out of spite.
  • Whatever the price/performance will end up being, you won’t be able to buy any unless they suck tremendously.


Atari VCS Release Date

  • $299.99 without controllers is reasonable.
  • Atari Speakerhat!
  • At that price I’m half tempted to get one just to fuck around with it
  • Assuming there’s stock, which there won’t be, I too would like one.
  • Though I doubt it’ll stay at that price.


Computer, tea, Earl Grey, ray-traced.

  • Does it work? Yes. Does it perform well? ¯\_()_/¯
  • Joshie throwing some shade on AMD though.
    • Deservedly so.
  • As someone who had to constantly patch FGLRX for it to build on current kernels, AMDs software was and seemingly still is very subpar.
  • But stuff like this makes those GPUs a more interesting proposition on Linux, now that the community has taken over driver development.


OBS 27

  • Added support for Wayland on Linux.
  • Added service integration and browser dock support.
  • Fixed VST paths on Linux.


Wine 6.10

  • Fixed performance regression in TrackMania Nations Forever.
  • WinePulse is now a portable executable.
  • WineMono has been updated to 6.2.0
  • And you can now play GTA 4 in BSD again.
  • I look forward to the upcoming proton-ge release so I can enjoy all these lovely bug fixes


Single player RTCW

  • Apparently Enemy Territory’s single player got scrapped, but some of the game logic for it still existed
  • So I guess this is more of a fan reconstruction.
  • They’re looking for voice talent for some of the recruitable npcs in the campaign

Rate the “linux gaming” article

  • Homeboy made the mistake of using ntfs on linux.
  • Consider this a PSA, ntfs-3g is there to help you get data off your windows drives and to occasionally unfuck a system, not day to day use
    • Speaking of, we REALLY do need a better cross platform filesystem
  • Not a terrible Linux gaming article, considering PlayOnLinux OS existed.

CHAIRQUISITION:
– Nooope

– Not sure if want

– Check it out

– Shutupandtakemymonies


Game: Neon Wings: Air Race
Devel: Fubenalvo/SXtheOne
Engine: Unity
Price: £3.99 / $4.99 / $5.49

Wazzat: Want to race without the constraints of the ground? Then Neon Wings is your game! Neon Wings: Air Race is an adrenaline-filled, fast-paced air racing game with a lot of single and multiplayer fun!

Mandatory Disclosure: Devs sent us keys



Venn:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

  • Hey look, a Vulkan title!
  • I can tell because it runs like hammered arse unless you have a compositor enabled.
  • This is a Unity problem so not blaming the developer.
  • Unfortunately even at 1080 this graphical juggernaut swings from 66 to 170 because reasons.
  • And it’s not smooth, like, I fired up mangohud to double check them frametimes.
  • This is with a 2060 + Threadripper combo.
  • No windowed mode so I won’t be streaming it.
  • XcloneS worked out of the box but use a gerbil to navigate the main menu unless you hate yourself.

Fun?

  • D-did the person in charge of controls & physics leave the team?
  • Because the ship is detached from any of that nonsense.
  • It’s like navigating a model ship glued to the end of a stick.
  • I was able to dick around with the sensitivity and breaking and got things in a playbale state but only just.
  • Yes, I tried the assist and the fact that it exists speaks more than I ever could.
  • My next totally legitimate complaint revolves around the topic of consistency.
  • Why can I take a few rockets up the bum and keep on trucking but touching a goddamn thing == insta splode!?
  • The everything is lava approach can DIAF.
  • And I’m reasonably sure I know why you took that approach.
  • There is a multiplayer beta but nobody wants to suffer through this with friends.
  • So yeah, even at $4.99 that’s 85 minutes of my life I’m not getting back.


Jordan:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

  • Launches OOTB
  • No windowed mode
  • Eats poo @UHD. Overlay says 90, but frame delivery is super choppy.
  • Much smoother @ 1080
  • It controls like ASSSSSSSSS
    • Apparently inverted sticks is what you get on the PS4 controller via steam input whether you like it or not
  • Like venn, I too found the magic combination of breaking and mouse sensitivity to make the game semi-playable
  • I couldn’t use a controller, had to default to the mouse, and that causes awful carpal tunnel pain. There was a lot of pausing and wrist massaging

Fun?

  • DId I mention it controls like a butt?
  • I thought Q3 Rally wasn’t great, but at least it wasn’t this
  • But yeah, like Q3 Rally this is just fancy looking mario kart.
  • Also, I think I found a bug. The game just crashes if you try to enter a time trial on the desert level
  • Honestly, when the driving is this bad its hard to talk about the rest of the stuff in the game. There’s a base building thing, different ships you can buy and various upgrades you can earn
  • None of which I care about cuz it requires engaging with the main mechanic and the main mechanic sucks
  • I gotta echo the “let me bounce off a damn thing or two” sentiment when it comes to smacking into some of the random elements on the tracks. There’s like zero margin for error

Pedro:

Launch/Looks/Sounds/Control

  • It launched out of the box.
  • It refuses to hit 144 at 2560×1440
  • The turn sensitivity is either tied to or dependent on the framerate, which means that if there’s a dip, the same amount of movement of the analog stick or the mouse will instantly swerve you in that direction.
  • Locking the framerate to 60 helped but every now and then something will cause the frametime to jump and you’re in the wall again.
  • And you can’t rebind controls.
  • The only option you get for that is if you want to invert the Y axis, that’s it.
  • I can’t honestly say the graphics justify the performance dips.
  • A little bit of culling in the environment when you’re going full speed would have probably helped.

Fun?

  • How hard would it be to make a good airship racing game that doesn’t start with Wipe and ends in Out?
  • Considering the first Wipeout came out in 1995, you’d think people into this genre would have the mechanics, camera, and controls down pat.
  • Clearly, there’s a bit more to it than I would have expected.
  • Neon Wings is not a good air racing game.
  • It reminds me of the race level in Crimson Skies and maybe it’s the nostalgia talking, but I didn’t have as much trouble winning that race as I do controlling the ship in Neon Wings.
  • The control issues wouldn’t even be that bad, if you weren’t expecting to navigate inside a pipe, or a derelict apartment building, or any of the tighter turns.
  • And then there’s the camera.
  • In lazy mode it clips through your ship, in strict mode it feels stilted but at least you always know what to expect from it, and default is pointless.
  • As much as I want to like it, because this is a genre that has been severely unrepresented on Linux, Neon Wings unfortunately isn’t good enough.

Verdict:

Venn:
Jordan:
Pedro:


Hate Mail:

Silent house

Whar

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