Blizzard Entertainment Planning A Linux Game For 2013

[principessa]

From a reliable source at the company, I have been told at least one of their very popular titles will see a release for Ubuntu Linux this calendar year. I was told this in person and was a statement backed up by additional proof. With their first Linux port they will use it to judge the waters of Linux gaming themselves to decide their future course. This port is being done internally by their own developers, which isn't a huge surprise given their past public statements and already existing internal Linux client work.

A public announcement should come out of Blizzard by this summer.

Full article at Pharonix

[Regan]

Too bad their new games have been shit.

[motherface]

Too bad Linux desktop is also shit. And I say this as someone whose primary desktop at work is Ubuntu. I ran 11.10 for about 6 months and it had all kinds of weird problems where when I'd wake unlock the screen, all my windows would have moved to some unreachable workspace/screen - the programs were running but there was no way to get to the windows. Also sometimes one of the screens would just crap out and the only fix was a reboot. So I upgraded to 12.04 - huge mistake. 12.10 had just come out so I did a clean install of 12.10 and had so many problems I was convinced it was a hardware issue. I ended up getting a whole new computer and still have the same issues. The computer is a quad-core Xeon, 16 gigs ram, Samsung 830 128GB SSD with a Quadro 600 and dual monitors. It's fast, but I probably spend 1-2 hours per week fighting with it. At my last job I had Linux desktop problems, switched to a Mac, never had another crazy problem like that.

[samiam]

I gave up on Ubuntu as my primary desktop OS for similar reasons. Just use it as a single purpose app server. Set it up and leave it alone forever.

[Luturb]

I get that people are freaked out about Windows 8 and the app store, but the idea that gaming on Linux is the future is just insanity.

[Regan]

Ubuntu is not the problem, the Unity UI is. Switch the UI to gnome3 or install mint and 90% of the random problems will go away.

[Wiza]

I understand none of this

[Luturb]

This all makes sense now. Steam announced at CES that they will be selling a "console" which is basically a linux box that hooks up to your TV for playing PC games in the living room.

[Terminal]

moface

Use Mint. Seriously. I cannot even voice how much I recommend Mint over Ubuntu. It's a great linux desktop. It's what I use at work.

[motherface]

I might, but I just generally hate Debian. I use Ubuntu because it's the standard dev distro. But here's an example of a problem I have with Ubuntu - not just Unity:

1) Install Ubuntu 12.10 with all defaults.
2) Reboot & log in
3) Open terminal, "apt-get install gnome-shell"
4) Log out
5) log back in with "Gnome Classic"
6) Observe that all windows are lacking the ability to be moved (i.e. are all locked to the top-left corner), cannot alt-tab between windows, and windows cannot be resized (have no draggable borders).

To fix this I have to "apt-get install ccsm" and enable window decorations.

BUT WHY?????????

Maybe I'll try Mint - the above doesn't even have touch on not being able to run a Quadro or GeForce with the default drivers. A guy at work tracked this down to Ubuntu installing the wrong kernel headers for the installed kernel package. I did a clean ubuntu install yesterday on a brand new XPS 8500 with 32 GB ram and when it somehow got to 640x480 resolution on a single screen (when I have dual 1920x1200s) and identified it as "Laptop" instead of HP whatever, I gave up. Will try again tomorrow maybe. The only thing I've really liked about Ubuntu so far is that I was able to "apt-get install virtualbox" rather than having to fuck with VMware Workstation and needing to recompile it (and manually patch the source) every time the kernel was updated.

[Regan]

ubuntu was always shit when it came to handling vid cards and multi-displays, it had been improving even when they tried to fancy it up adding in compiz functions by default. All of that went back to shit when unity was added, and they somehow managed to break things that had previously been fixed in gnome2.

[motherface]

The thing that pisses me off is that our servers run CentOS but the devs run Ubuntu. We're mostly Java so it usually doesn't matter, but once in a while they'll write some shit that requires Python 2.7 when CentOS is only on 2.6 or whatever. Just gay.

[Terminal]

I have CentOS on my workstation (that's also what we use on our servers), Mint on my desktop computer, W7 Enterprise on a loaner machine, and an older generation 27 inch iMac. All hooked up through Synergy. It's nice.

Anyway. Try Mint with Cinnamon. I'm really digging it.

[Lumberg]

Too bad I don't know what Linux is

[Luturb]

Too bad I don't know what Linux is

Same here. I have thought about doing an embedded computer project with something like a raspberry pi but I don't know how big of a pain in the ass it would be to learn linux just to do it. I installed Red Hat dual booting on a computer like 10 years ago and then went "well, that happened" and went back to Windows and never booted into linux again.

[motherface]

Windows costs $200

Linux is totally free

Linux runs on most servers, including all of Facebook and any company with sense.

True nerds run it on their desktop. If you wanted to build a computer for web browsing, Linux would be a good way to do it without stealing windows.

[Regan]

Stealing windows is easier than learning how to manage linux.

Installing and using linux for normal every day things on the other hand is as easy if not easier. 10yrs ago maybe not so much, but today, yes.

[Luturb]

Is stealing windows still easy these days? You just download a cracked version from torrents or what? How do you activate it? I've been buying windows legitimately since like 2004.

Also Windows is only $100.

I'm afraid that to run linux in an embedded scenario you would need to know how to do all the terminal shit.

[Venkmen]

Use Windows Loader.

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/thread ... nformation

It does a code injection before windows even starts to boot and it tricks Win 7 into thinking that it is a legit copy. You can update til your hearts content. I have used this for quite some time. I purchased a legit copy of Win 7, but I finally ran out of times that I could install it so I started using this.

[samiam]

Just go out and buy a base Technet subscription for $200 and you get licenses for a boatload of Windows OSes and apps. Too easy.

[Terminal]

Assuming you do not play games, Linux is certainly the way to go. Distros now, like Ubuntu or Mint are basically easier to manage versions of windows. They auto-detect and install all of your drivers, there's no real maintenance or management required. Everything you can do on a windows desktop you can do with it, with the exception of playing games (but even Valve is working on that).

With a software management package (which every distro has) it becomes even easier to find and install programs that you may have used on windows that don't work on linux. MS Office = Libre Office. ImgBurn = Braseo. All of that. And honestly, most big-name software has a linux version anyway, so you're set (skype, VLC Player, etc.). I still use Windows on my desktop at home, because I play games, but there honestly isn't a single program I run on it that I couldn't also run on Linux or find a suitable alternative to with it.

I always recommend it to people who just use their computers for word processing or internet browsing or whatever normal hum-drum activities you do. It's free. It doesn't require maintenance. It doesn't "crash". And it doesn't get viruses/malware.

Like I said LinuxMint with Cinnamon GUI is awesome.

[motherface]

What venkmen said. You download the Win7 ISO from bittorrent or MS (I usually google for the md5 of the golden master ISO to make sure I'm getting the legit one), run the loader (which installs an OEM cert in your bios) and you're done. It's the easiest pirating I've ever seen.