Quoting: PyrateAnd I only received that prompt a couple months ago, despite being on Linux since last March.

It's really sporadic how often it pops up, and is not reflective of Real World usage... I've been gaming under Linux-based operating systems for close to 20 years, and I could (quite literally!) count on one hand the amount of times I've seen the survey - what's worse is that most of the times I have seen the survey has been on a "fresh" system or after installing Steam for the first time!

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Quoting: ToddLwithout worrying about some weird proprietary connector like the Switch

The Switch has a USB Typc-C connection... Nothing proprietary.

Quoting: PoliticsOfStarvingWe have strong consumer protections here, and Valve doesn’t always see eye to eye with how our laws work. That’s been the prevailing theory.

Sometimes - for example, the Government is notoriously weak when it comes to companies banding together and fixing prices... Just look at what's happening with the supermarkets.

Also, every couple of years, the Government has a big whinge about major companies, such as Adobe and Microsoft, charging significantly more than overseas without justification, then after a big song and dance about how they're going to do something to stop this practice, they do absolutely nothing. Wait a few years, rinse and repeat with a different company.

In addition, we've had a number of multinational companies over the years that have been threatened with legal action when they've refused to comply with Consumer Legislation, only for the company to simply work around the legal action through a loophole or the Government to back down completely.

In short, they're tough on Consumer Legislation until somebody waves a big wad of cash in front of their face or simply stares them down.

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Quoting: CaldathrasAnother point I want to make is the often overlooked flaw in the whole Native thing. Linux evolves and changes all the time. As a relative newcomer to Linux gaming, I have already encountered numerous old native games that simply will not run on modern Linux configurations -- the libraries and technologies they depend on are no longer there.

How is this any different to <insert operating system>?

There are loads of "native" titles for Google Android operating systems that simply won't run if your handset manufacturer hasn't upgraded the firmware of your cell phone... Whilst both Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems have "broken" countless games over the years; many games won't even run under "modern" Windows operating systems without tweaks and work-arounds.

But your argument, nobody should make a "native" title of anything, ever.

Quoting: CaldathrasThen there are the commercial native software that their developers no longer support -- they suffer from the same problem.

Again, not exclusive to Linux-based operating systems... I have an entire iPhone full of games and applications which are no longer supported by developers and before I left Google Android back in 2017-ish, the list of "unsupported" games and applications I had installed on my cellphone was MASSIVE.

I also have a small number of programs under macOS which are no longer supported, and there are quite a few programs I bought pre-2012 (when I abandoned Windows operating systems for good) that are no longer supported on the rare occasion I use our only Windows-powered PC, my daughter's laptop.

Once again, your argument against "native" titles is just silly.

Quoting: CaldathrasSo, how is running natively any better than utilizing Proton/WINE?

Performance.

When developers actually take the time to optimize their games for Linux-based operating systems, the performance is always going to be better... And the same could be said in reverse - any game written natively for macOS or Windows is going to perform better when written natively, if a developer has taken the time to optimize it.

Quoting: elmapulfor an company, porting to linux means wasting 10% or more of the income of the game into porting to an platform that would generate 1% more money, wich means they wasted more money than earned, it was possible to make a profit when linux had no games, because the developers had no competiton, but that is not sustainable when we do have competition.
if we relied on native ports without finding any way to expand the market we would be doomed to fail just like we failed in the past, where we did had some AAA games in the doom era, but not much more than that.

Well if Valve Software actually released the Steam Deck to the world instead of just "select regions", they'd have FAR more than 1% of potential customers.

In saying this, I'm not so naive to deny that it is the old "chicken and egg" scenario, which Proton helps to mitigate, though not completely resolve... But Valve Software isn't helping by ignoring some HUGE gaming markets, like Australia, purely because they're too lazy to be bothered / put the idea into the "too hard" basket.

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Quoting: _MarsMaybe as a mid-gen release for the SteamDeck 2 similar to the OLED to keep interest up?

A global release of the Steam Deck would help with that, too... 🙄

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Quoting: emphyNative linux is better

Only when it's optimized correctly... Otherwise, it's just like saying a broken-down Ferrari is as good as one bought new.

If developers put in the effort to optimize their games - and that's a big "if" in the Linux world - they have the potential to be far better than Proton could ever hope to be, even under "perfect" conditions.

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Just make it compulsory for games to support working online functionality under Linux-based operating systems, if such functionality is supported under other operating systems...

"Oh, but you can't do that, because developers would leave Steam!"

And yet, Steam controls what? 70% of the PC gaming market? Sure, you'd initially lost some developers; but they'd come crawling back when they realize that they won't have the same number of customers / potential customers elsewhere (as has occurred many times in the past).

From a technical point of view, there is no reason on Earth online functionality should be disabled under Linux-based operating systems - the only reason it is is because some of the biggest developers in the industry are anti-Linux; it's high-time Valve Software went on the offense and started pushing back against this ridiculous, discriminative stance.

Quoting: cameronboschThen again, EA is a garbage company and has been for some time.

Telling it like it is... I don't buy EA games where ever possible, and haven't for many years.

They're horrible to the gaming community, they're horrible ethically and put profits over everything else, gamers and staff alike.

Quoting: cameronboschAs for other companies, somebody is obviously bribing other companies to not enable BattleEye or Easy Anti Cheat on Proton. Whether or not it's Microsoft or somebody else remains to be seen.

Absolutely.

As I note above, there is no technical reason why the anti-cheat systems can't be enabled under Linux-based operating systems and again, as I've said before elsewhere, I think it's VERY likely that somebody - most likely Microsoft or another big name like that - are either outright bribing or using "clever" manipulation (e.g. "We'll make your developer fees cheaper if...") to encourage developers to disable online functionality under Linux-based operating systems...

We know the anti-cheat systems work under Linux-based operating systems and we know that there's quite literally no technical reason why they can't be enabled; so the only real question is who has something to gain from these anti-cheat systems being disabled?

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Quoting: PenglingI'm sure you know capsule-toys, though - from there, it's not a big step to the "Capsule Monsters" concept-art that was the earliest known part of Pokemon's development.

Oh, of course... I'm an early 80s baby, so I (now) remember those!

And now that you mention it, I think it would be pretty hard to argue that Nintendo came up with the whole Poké Ball concept...

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Quoting: doragasuWeird they go for patent infringement and not for copyright infringement

They appear to be using Poké Ball-like items in the trailer for Palworld on Steam... Maybe it's something to do with this?

Quoting: ShadowXeldronAlso, the new Pokemon games are crap. I need to say this every single time whenever someone brings the series up, but the Switch games are pretty dire (except maybe Legends Arceus... which is really just average)

I beg to differ - I think Pokémon Legends: Arceus is amazing... The "main" Pokémon games, whilst not bad, have been pretty "meh" for a long time now though; same s*%t with slightly-tweaked Pokémon.

Quoting: PenglingOn the other hand, it's being speculated that Nintendo is going after Palworld on patent grounds due to holding patents on the concept of catching monsters in a ball

Quoting: GuestI'm guessing one of the issues is about Patent Publication No. 20240278129(the mechanic of throwing the Poke-ball in third person, in Legends Arceus)

Ah-ha! Exactly as I thought...

Quoting: Penglingsomething that was inspired by real-world gachapon toys that existed before the Pokemon games did.

Well this is interesting... I didn't know this!

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Quoting: slaapliedjeYup, even if you have physical media, if it has DRM on it, there's potential for an OS update that'll ban that DRM (safedisc anyone?) so all those physical disks are now useless (well, unless you know where NoCD cracks are).

Yeah, but it's super-easy to make "backup" copies of physical media - heck, I just got my hands on the very last title in the MCU today, and I'm "ripping" the entire collection to my home theater as I type this; or, if you want to keep it on-point, it's relatively easy to extra a game from a disc and / or find a so-called "no CD crack".

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Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: Cyba.CowboyThis is the most obvious downside to going all-digital, and a big part of the reason console manufactures are pushing this for the future... All-digital means you don't "own" anything and can have your purchase taken away at any time.

Wrong. It's the most obvious downside of using DRM. All digital DRM-free allows you to make your own backups, and no one can take it away at any time then any more than physical media you store it on. So if anything, GOG is the example of why DRM-free is important to prevent that.

Technically you're correct - but GOG.com is a rare exception to the rule; in saying that, there have been occasional instances over the years where GOG.com has still wrapped games in DRM, as I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong).

Sadly, the overwhelming majority of GOG.com's catalog is either old and / or indie titles, or so-called "shovelware"; "AAA titles" are few and far between in the overall catalog.

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