Marneus68 writes
"Digital DRM-free game distributor GOG.com is finally jumping on the Linux bandwagon.
Following the steps of Desura and Steam, GOG.com plans to offer Linux compatible games starting this year. Along with games already available for Linux, GOG.com will also be selling 'a variety of classics that are, for the first time, officially supported and maintained [by them].'
Most of the DOS titles already provided by GOG.com will probably pose no major technical challenge since GOG has been using DosBox on Windows and Mac OS X since the very beginning however, all the exclusive ports will probably be more difficult to provide."
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GOG.com Announces its Linux Plans
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(Score: 4, Interesting) by evilviper on Tuesday March 18 2014, @07:33PM
You would be astonished at the sheer numbers of people who might enjoy using a Linux desktop well enough when they try it, but hang on to Windows (and the massive expense and problems that come with it) just because of 2 or 3 old games they are addicted to playing.
This move really could get a lot more people using Linux on their home desktops, which could help further push it into businesses, and could incidentally push tablets into actual desktop roles, too.
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(Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Tuesday March 18 2014, @07:41PM
The only way tablets work in that way is if there's a docking station with a mouse and Keyboard with Ubuntu for phones, or equivalent. I know it's coming, but it's still a long way off. Espically in the enterprise space.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 2, Insightful) by evilviper on Tuesday March 18 2014, @07:57PM
You can keep your "docking station". Bluetooth keyboards work fine. No "docking" needed.
No, Android works fine. There's chroot'ed Debian, X11 server, etc. Everything you need, it just needs to be packaged up.
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(Score: 2) by Random2 on Wednesday March 19 2014, @11:53AM
It's a start, but Linux still has a large uphill battle ahead of it.
There's a reason for the phrase 'everything works on Windows', and that is the problem facing the Linux PCs. It's not simply a matter of 'hanging onto old programs', but also that future programs aren't guaranteed to work with the OS. For example, I can pirate some random game from Asia and have 99.99% assurance that it runs in Windows (at most having to switch system locale assuming the game isn't 15 years old). The same can't be said for any *nix distribution. WINE only does so much and it isn't a fix-all.
So it's a start, but until those integration issues are fixed (or until developers can be convinced to build for Linux), you're not going to see widespread adoption.
If only I registered 3 users earlier....
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Wednesday March 19 2014, @06:03PM
It's true that Linux will always be a second-class citizen when it comes to GAMES, but that's all. Most other areas go the opposite way... With Windows, most people end up PAYING for every productivity program, as well as antivirus and more, which gets very expensive, very quickly. Meanwhile, the Linux boxes fly along on low-end hardware, don't randomly break, don't need lots of attention, and all the supporting application you could ever want are FREE, if perhaps not exactly what you're accustomed to.
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github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues/78
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Vanderhoth on Tuesday March 18 2014, @07:36PM
I've aready sent them a rather begrudging thank you telling them to shutup and take my money. I actually have a lot of games on GOG.com most of them work fine under WINE, but this is still great news.
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 3, Interesting) by el_oscuro on Tuesday March 18 2014, @08:45PM
I'm already awash in Steam games and will never need Windows again. Now if only I could get Battlezone [wikipedia.org], it would be awesome!
(Score: 1) by bugamn on Tuesday March 18 2014, @09:58PM
Personally I hope they bring the Linux version of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 19 2014, @05:55AM
Why didn't you buy it when it was first available? I have it on my shelf, with penguin logo and everything.
(Score: 2) by hatta on Wednesday March 19 2014, @10:28AM
Does it still install and run?
(Score: 1) by NezSez on Wednesday March 19 2014, @11:03AM
http://bzflag.org/ [bzflag.org]
Opensource clone of the original SGI game, with improvements.
No it isn't the same as the activision souped up version that came later.
Still fun and interesting though.
No Sig to see here, move along, move along...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by pbnjoe on Tuesday March 18 2014, @10:53PM
if this will garner them more sales than just from only-Linux users.
I've read many times in the comments for a game's release page that the commenter decides to purchase the game from Humble Bundle instead of GOG simply because there was a Linux version there as well (I did the same, although I was only building a library for when I make the total switch). Now that GOG has that too, plus all the "goodies" they give along with every game, they've met and passed HB, at least in my opinion; now I don't see a reason to buy anywhere else.
(If that sounded too sales-like: I'm not affiliated with GOG.com, I just like 'em)
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pbnjoe on Tuesday March 18 2014, @11:00PM
I forgot to add the important "always DRM-free" to that list of reasons. Seems HB has more Steam-only games than they do DRM-free anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 19 2014, @06:39AM
https://libregamewiki.org/ [libregamewiki.org]