By Jim Rossignol on February 28th, 2011 at 8:31 pm.
That was the message from philanthropic pay-what-you-want Humble Indie Bundle post-mortemers Jeffrey Rosen and John Graham, who were speaking at the IGF earlier today. The pair revealed that Mac and Linux accounted for fifty percent of revenue from the bundles, with Linux users being the most generous overall. Was this just because the game-starved Linuxers were so grateful to be included? Maybe, but it’s still an interesting lesson for the indie circuit that these kinds of deals work so well with non-Windows platforms: “We recommend developers support Mac and Linux,” said Rosen, after revealing that the two bundles had, in total, raised $3m, with $1m of that going to charities Child’s Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. (We previously analysed some of the breakdown of this cash-haul here.)
So, Mac and Linux users, do you also read RPS?
28/02/2011 at 20:33 Linus Sjögren says:
Why yes I do, thanks for asking.
28/02/2011 at 21:09 nofing says:
Same here! Glad it’s finally made public, that Mac-users (and I guess Linux-users as well) like to play games, too. I just hope there will be more developers making games for us, so I can finally get rid of my Bootcamp partition.
28/02/2011 at 21:16 bob_d says:
@ nofing: Since most of my gaming is done through (and 90% of my games reside in) my Bootcamp partition, I don’t expect I’ll be getting rid of it any time soon.
28/02/2011 at 21:40 ShawnClapper says:
Sorry, I have to say though, I’ve never understood the reason for buying an Mac and using bootcamp.
Is it just that you prefer the aesthetics of the Mac computer?
28/02/2011 at 21:48 sincarne says:
In my case, I’m a developer, and there are better tools available on the Mac. But the gaming is better on the PC. I was playing WoW and Minecraft for a bit on under both OS X and Windows, and I was getting much better frame rates and draw distances under Win7.
28/02/2011 at 23:00 CilindroX says:
Same here, developer (Ubuntu Linux) / Win 7 for all things Steam
28/02/2011 at 23:12 Pathock says:
I’m a musician and I can only afford one computer right now. I primarily use it for mac music software, but bootcamp is great for windows gaming. Best of both worlds for the price of one.
28/02/2011 at 23:28 Thants says:
I use OS X for everything but games, because it’s better than Windows.
01/03/2011 at 00:03 Tom Camfield says:
@ShawnClapper
Mac + Bootcamp for me because the Mac is simple, I am happy to pay money to make all the chores (no need for anti-virus, no need to defragment) go away. Perhaps Win7 has this all now, but I haven’t needed a new PC for years…
01/03/2011 at 00:16 Duke Nasty VI says:
Using a Macbook Pro here. I’m a developer/informatics student. Can’t stand developing on Windows because of the lack of a CLI. There are some quite nice development tools exclusive to Max OS X as well. Mainly used Linux for development until I got my Mac, so I’m used to dual booting for games.
01/03/2011 at 00:33 bluebomberman says:
It’s a tradeoff. Using a Mac means a stabler OS, almost no malware, less annoying interface, ease of use, superior hardware design, better creative software. The only minus is a limited game library, but I can’t justify the added expense and physical space requirements of a gaming Windows rig.
I know many of us take PC gaming seriously here, but in the end, there are more important things to be done with our compys. Gaming is an added bonus, not a dealbreaker for me. (When I switched from Windows to Mac years ago, I had to abandon my sizable collection of games. But in the long run it was worth it.)
01/03/2011 at 01:04 THEiNTERNETS says:
Add me to this list.
I used to be a much more hardcore PC gamer but now I’m kind of turned off by that kind of time/money investment and more interested in design/creation/artistry so I really only play indie games these days.
I was so happy to see Braid on the App Store. Snatched it up immediately and finally got to see what all the hubbub was about.
01/03/2011 at 08:02 The Crane says:
Windows at work, Mac at home…
01/03/2011 at 10:58 alantwelve says:
I know this is going to sound like a troll, but here goes anyway…
I find it interesting that in 2011, so many Mac users still explain their Mac using by comparing OS X to Windows XP circa 2003 (the ‘creative software’ argument, for example). The world has moved on and OS X has been rather left behind by Windows 7. It would be nice if Apple were to shake things up with a brand spanking new OS 11, but I think it’s far more likely that we’ll be seeing iOS on the Mac within a couple of years, which will be a great pity.
Anyway, I’m primarily a Linux user. I wish there were many more decent games available for the platform, and the Humble Indie Bundles have been a godsend.
01/03/2011 at 11:07 Afro says:
Yup. Macbook Air at work(student) and 6-core beast PC at home. I was delighted to see that my Civ4 purchase on steam worked for my mac as well as my pc! Apparantly all steam games you got for your pc that supports it you get for you mac as well!
01/03/2011 at 16:12 ibloat says:
same here, programming on linux is just so effortless and it just stays out of your face for browsing/whatever.. (gnome do/kupfer/quicksilver ftw, also terminals)
for gaming or architectural work it’s still windows sadly.
01/03/2011 at 17:32 ADinVA says:
Because you asked:
Add another Mac user/Bootcamp player (when necessary) to the list.
Reading the RPS lists of important games of the last decade or two, I was happy to see a bunch that had made it to the Mac, most of which I played in their day. Fallout, Close Combat, Combat Mission all saw a lot of use.
01/03/2011 at 23:35 Rikard Peterson says:
Yes! Another Mac user here. (I do have a Windows box too, but I use my MacBook a lot more.)
28/02/2011 at 20:33 tanith says:
Linux user here! Reading RPS and loving it!
28/02/2011 at 23:08 TechRogue says:
Linux user here…I do occasionally boot into Windows for gaming, but I haven’t bought* a Windows game** in almost a year. I do however buy pretty much any game I hear of that has Linux support, and RPS has made me aware of several of my recent acquisitions; SpaceChem and Atom Zombie Smasher are the two that pop to mind.
A word to any devs out there: as soon as RPS mentions a game I hadn’t heard about, I go immediately to its website. If there’s a Linux version I buy it EXACTLY THEN.
*or pirated. I know that’s what you thought. ;)
**except for games like UT2K4 and Doom 3, both of which have Linux installers that use the same data.
28/02/2011 at 23:28 TechRogue says:
My last post seems to have been eaten, so I’ll just say it again:
I use Linux pretty much exclusively, and I don’t buy* Windows games** anymore. However, when I hear about a new game that supports Linux I go and buy it immediately. SpaceChem and Atom Zombie Smasher are two of my recent acquisitions that I only discovered because of RPS. I spent $60 for my HB2.
Back when I heard Steam was coming to Linux I tallied up the cost of all my Steam games that either had Linux versions or were made by Valve and came up with something like $250 (factoring in non-sale prices). If Steam came to Linux tomorrow*** I would create a new account and re-buy every single one.
tl;dr : I’m a Linux user and I frequently spend money on native Linux games.
*I also don’t pirate them, just so ya know. ;)
**I bought Doom 3 the other day, but I used the Linux installer, so that doesn’t count.
***Yeah, I know that was never for real. My heart broke that day. :(
28/02/2011 at 20:35 Kaira- says:
I used to dual-boot, but nowdays I just use Windows and run Linux on VirtualBox. But yes, I’d love to see more games for Linux. And I bought both humble bundles twice just because they had Linux support.
28/02/2011 at 20:37 pepper says:
Linux user here. Servers and desktops. Although windows is on dual boot for certain software anyway.
28/02/2011 at 20:40 Archonsod says:
Unix user, with Windows installed for fun times.
28/02/2011 at 23:08 SkUrRiEr says:
Ditto.
Linux for doing everyday stuff like browsing the internet and work, and Windows installed for those few^H^H^Hmany times when I need to go shoot zombies …. or whatever.
01/03/2011 at 01:36 Devan says:
Me too. I’ve got Ubuntu and Win 7 dual-booted on my laptop. Linux for schoolwork and whatever else, Windows for gaming (which I do quite a lot of).
28/02/2011 at 20:41 limbclock says:
Mac User here.
Yeah, i bought both of the bundles when they were released. I was also really happy to note that both HIBs became redeemable on steam, with majority of the games getting a SteamPlay release, so that mac users were able to enjoy them too.
28/02/2011 at 20:42 lokdlok says:
I use Linux for everything but gaming, except in the case of Amnesia and the few things I can get running in wine, like fallout + deus ex.
28/02/2011 at 20:42 Mike McQuaid says:
I’ve got a Windows 7 desktop for gaming but also do quite a lot on my Macbook Pro and used to on Linux.
Yes, these things help your sales and (speaking as someone who does cross-platform software development and porting for a living) it’s really not that hard to write cross-platform games if you decide to do so from the outset. What is harder (and produces a sucky result) is to port them when they are already shipped Windows products.
This is why until recently Plants vs Zombies (was PvZ, hence confused reply) didn’t work with Windows and Mac sharing Steam Cloud and why Civilisation 5 and Torchlight have (for no good reason) incompatible savegames between Windows and Mac.
28/02/2011 at 20:57 simonh says:
What? So all other matchups work, it’s just Protoss vs Zerg that doesn’t work? That’s a mighty strange bug.
28/02/2011 at 21:08 fallingmagpie says:
Ha!
28/02/2011 at 20:43 darthmajor says:
Ubuntu user here on 2 PCs but i just CBA with wine and trying to make games run properly on linux, they are buggy enough already on windows. And native linux support is slim to none…so i use Win 7 for gaming.
Supporting linux is definitely a good advice for indies, cause the ‘average’ linux user is already an indie developer’s friend in mentality.
28/02/2011 at 20:43 colinmarc says:
I’m a long-time linux user (software developer) and I cherish games like Spacechem that work perfectly on linux, but I keep windows installed for everything else.
28/02/2011 at 20:45 Vinraith says:
I usually play games on Windows and work in Linux. I’m always grateful when a game supports Linux, as it means I can play it without rebooting if I need a quick break. Things that work seemlessly under Wine are almost as valuable, and the fact that Wine runs AI War as well if not better than actual Windows has kept me entertained on many a long, cold night of observing.
28/02/2011 at 20:45 Persus-9 says:
I use Linux and Windows but one of those Mac Bundles was me, I bought it to try and educate a friend of mine who is a Mac and console gamer.
28/02/2011 at 20:45 Lewie Procter says:
I toyed around with Ubuntu for a bit in my Uni days, but I’m back on windows now.
Edit: Remember buying a few linux games too. id games and World of Goo.
28/02/2011 at 20:46 c-Row says:
Long-time Mac user and (not-so-long-time in comparison) RPS reader. I still fire up the old grey box every now and then, though, but with Steam and Civ V being available on the Mac, it’s my platform of choice these days.
28/02/2011 at 20:46 adamhepton says:
I’m in Linux all day at work: if I’m at home doing anything other than gaming or a bit of surfing while I’m getting ready to game, it’s Linux, too. Windows 7 is for the games, only.
28/02/2011 at 22:54 kikito says:
Exactly my case. I prefer linux versions if they are available.
01/03/2011 at 05:23 jamesgecko says:
Sounds about right. Ubuntu Linux for development work/websurfing, Windows7 for gaming/websurfing.
Ah, websurfing. The medium that wipes OS differences and brings us all together.
28/02/2011 at 20:52 DavidK says:
Linux user here. And I die a little bit every time I hear people say ‘PC game’ when they really mean ‘Game that only runs on Windows’.
28/02/2011 at 21:04 darthmajor says:
I guess that means you die a little bit a damn lot since pretty much everyone does that, all the time :P
28/02/2011 at 21:24 adonf says:
Remember the “PC-CDROM” logo (and its later incarnation “PC-DVD”) ? The first time I heard game publishers say “Our game is coming out on the Playstation and on PC-CDROM” I had to react. But… but no, guys, “PC-CDROM” doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t say what OS the game runs on and yes it’s important to say what disk type it comes on but it’s part of the hardware requirement, why single out the medium… Then I realized that marketing types where all clueless and that they were working in video games because they couldn’t get hired by detergent companies so I stopped caring.
(Sorry this had to come out, it still hurts 10 years later)
01/03/2011 at 07:47 Phasma Felis says:
This is one of those “eh, language changes” things, I guess.
The phrase “personal computer” drew a useful distinction back when computers small and cheap enough to put on your desk were a new and exciting thing. Now that the large majority of computers produced are “personal”, the term is almost redundant. But along the way, “PC” has instead come to mean “descended from the IBM PC.” Everyone knows what it means, so it’s not confusing. I don’t really have a problem with it.
28/02/2011 at 20:55 Mo says:
I do all my dev work, graphics and internet surfing on a MacBook Air, but I have a Windows box for PC games.
28/02/2011 at 20:56 Emperor_Jimmu says:
I got them for my Mac. I mostly work on my Mac and play games on my Windows laptop. It is nice to have a few low investment games that I can play when I can’t be bothered booting up a second machine.
28/02/2011 at 20:57 DrGruu says:
Certainly do. Half (that’s a none scientific half) of your stuff is about web games anyway!
28/02/2011 at 20:58 rashan says:
registered just to get counted
linux/winxp dual boot – the windows is around for the games that don’t run on linux
also picked up the humble indy bundle. Some really fun games, and I appreciate the linux support!
28/02/2011 at 21:03 Jesper says:
Hecks yes! Although, while I’m mostly a Mac user, I do my gaming on a Boot Camp’d Windows 7 partition. I find that games that run on both Mac OS and Windows, tend to run a lot better on the latter (looking at you, Starcraft 2). Also, it helps to have a reboot barrier between work and play. ;)
28/02/2011 at 21:05 porc says:
Ubuntu user, I play games on Linux if there’s a native version (e.g. Humble bundle) but have to do most of my gaming in vista as wine in my experience is awful and most of the games I play are windows only.
28/02/2011 at 21:05 the blood of a thousand orphans says:
Mac since I was born. I’ve tampered with some PC stuff, but always found Mac games more attractive. Except not really cause lots of them were/are shovelware.
28/02/2011 at 21:08 Glen Moyes says:
Part-time Ubuntu user. Nowadays I’m doing mostly graphic design work so I’m tied to Windows thanks to Adobe. (Seriously, if Adobe would port it’s stuff to Linux our studio would be extremely happy.) But even now when I do 3D rendering I’ll switch over to Ubuntu because it’s faster than rendering in Windows 7.
Back in college when I wasn’t working as much I would game half of the time in Linux since Warcraft 3 worked really well using Cedega, and use Linux for every day use. I’d much rather use Linux as my OS but again Adobe is locking me into Windows.
28/02/2011 at 23:07 kikito says:
What do you use for rendering in linux?
28/02/2011 at 23:34 Starky says:
Probably Blender.
01/03/2011 at 05:21 jamesgecko says:
Or Povray.
01/03/2011 at 15:53 ibloat says:
ah povray, memories
there’s quite a few commercial renderers out there for linux, studios don’t want to pay for windows licences for their render nodes and why should they
28/02/2011 at 21:09 RCGT says:
Mac user checking in. I’m certainly not going to buy a new computer just to play games.
28/02/2011 at 22:13 P3RF3CT D3ATH says:
I see no logic in your statement. You bought a three thousand dollar computer (sorry if I’m stereotyping, let’s say two thousand) to do nothing on it.
28/02/2011 at 23:23 bastronaut says:
^^^^ Troll? Take it elsewhere.
28/02/2011 at 23:33 Thants says:
Because computers can’t do anything other than play games?
01/03/2011 at 00:54 DrGonzo says:
Computers can’t do anything BETTER than games, and Windows does games the best. end troll
28/02/2011 at 21:12 JNewt says:
Linux user, though I do dual boot Windows 7 for Steam. Also, I read RPS every single day.
28/02/2011 at 21:12 Chief Grizzly says:
Mac user standing by, newly registered for this article! I think the Steamplay function is what really made me start to consider the Mac as a gaming platform, but seeing as I’m using a lowly macbook I only really use it for old SCUMM games anyway.
28/02/2011 at 21:14 winterwolves says:
I’ve always made my games for mac, and since I switched to Renpy I’m happy because now they run also on Linux. I have quite some customers on Mac and Linux, so for small indies they matter a lot :)
28/02/2011 at 21:23 Evil Otto says:
I’m a happy Mac user.
28/02/2011 at 21:24 chrism says:
Another long-time lurker newly registered just for this!
I use Linux almost exclusively – especially with all the native indie games RPS points out. Even non-natives work pretty well these days with wine – except if they’re drm’ed (yet another reason to hate the stuff!)
28/02/2011 at 21:29 quintesse says:
Yup, Fedora user here, dual booting mainly for the games. In fact if they would ever port Counter Strike to Linux I would probably hardly ever see Windows :)
28/02/2011 at 21:30 juandemarco says:
I’ve been missing PC gaming since I made the switch to the Mac 4 years ago with a Macbook (64MB of shared VRAM isn’t exactly made for gaming). Now I’ve bought an i7 iMac and even if I have something on OSX, the big stuff runs on the Windows 7 system in dual boot. Just got back on OSX after two hours of Bulletstorm and yes, they should definitely consider working more on the other platforms, and they are actually doing so, even if in small steps: Steam for Mac first and the Mac App Store now have both given me hope that one day I won’t have to waste 200gb for a gaming-only Windows partition.
28/02/2011 at 21:32 Slothees says:
Another mac user here. Would be great by the way to have PRS Bargain Bucket for platforms other than windows.
28/02/2011 at 21:33 Westmark says:
IGF = GDC? :P
28/02/2011 at 21:34 Gotem says:
count me on the linux users,
except for playing some games that don’t work nicely with wine (quite a lot of them actually)
28/02/2011 at 21:35 Clean3d says:
Yes. I read RPS and use Linux. That’s really all I wanted to say…
28/02/2011 at 21:36 Scandalon says:
Mac-when-I-can here. I’m curious, what do your web-logs say?
01/03/2011 at 15:57 ibloat says:
would be very interesting indeed. linux/osx user here, checking rps multiple times a day
28/02/2011 at 21:44 Derpentine says:
BSD brosef here, sometimes I play IF games remotely in bed; But mostly I just swap keyboards and play on my windows box. Gimme some good scifi IF that’s tty based and I’ll have no qualms with parting my vast irl gold for it.
28/02/2011 at 21:50 enderwiggum says:
Linux User and RPS reader. I play games native to Linux when I can, and fall back to ‘wine’ when possible. Everything else I play from my Windows partition. Some games (like Borderlands) are worth it.
Not so long ago, I played top-tier games on Linux. Doom III, yes the one from id Software, came out on Linux.
Today, nobody even tries. In our modern world of “managed” multiplayer (Infinity Ward’s IWNet), corporate “dedicated” servers (EA’s Bad Company 2), and “Games for Windows LIVE”, I don’t see a bright future. I wouldn’t mind drinking the kool-aid, if the above technologies didn’t SUCK.
Let the game companies be complacent. They should know better without us yelling at them. Let them learn the hard way, by destroying their own market. Linux, Mac, and PC gamers were just the beginning. Just wait, and you’ll see EA and Activision continue to produce buggy, bloated games riddled with DRM. Sooner or later they’ll croak, and then we’ll get to play a decent game again.
Until then, I’ll be playing Quake II, on my personal dedicated server, running on Linux, with a fucking mouse!
01/03/2011 at 01:37 crustspatula says:
Your bias is showing.
01/03/2011 at 13:05 kikito says:
MS Games for Windows sucks independently of the amount of bias.
01/03/2011 at 15:19 DrGonzo says:
Nope, that just shows your complete lack of understanding of what bias is.
28/02/2011 at 21:57 noom says:
I am also aboard the dual-booting-XP-and-Ubuntu train (well, Kubuntu in my case, but whatev). If I didn’t game on the PC, I definitely wouldn’t have Windows installed.
28/02/2011 at 22:08 Sarlix says:
Snap!
28/02/2011 at 22:00 Jambe says:
I use Linux for my NAS and Windows on my home PC’s. Work a bit with Linux but not much at home. I’ve read RPS from all three operating systems (and a few more besides).
28/02/2011 at 22:01 Bassism says:
I use all three platforms. Mac for work and general use, Windows for gaming where necessary, and Linux to keep up with what’s going on in the open source world in the hopes that I can go back some day. (Not to say that there isn’t a lot of incredible stuff going on there, but for me and my workflow, Apple’s professional apps are second to none).
I also game on all three platforms. I’ve been known to buy games specifically for being multiplatform, particularly when they support all three. One thing I really, really like about HIB 2 is that it inspired the development of brand new ports for a few of the games.
Even I was surprised by the sales numbers. It’s been so ingrained into our minds that no gamer actually uses anything other than windows that it came as quite a shock. Granted, there are probably a lot of people who bought it out of principle, but that doesn’t explain how the perceived 10% became 50%, and ultimately doesn’t matter, because we still bought those games, thus the market exists.
Hopefully devs will start looking more seriously at cross-platform development. Granted, it takes more work to write for multiple platforms, but compare DX with Windows/xbox to OGL which runs on Win/Mac/Linux/Smartphones/PS3/everything with a display. To my mind, it’s an obvious choice to spend x% more dev time if it means you can expand your target market by up to 50%, even before you get to consoles and handhelds.
In short, as Vinraith alludes to, it’s just that much sweeter when you don’t have to reboot into another operating system in order to take a 20 minute game break. The indies seem to have learned some time ago that we’re a market worth catering too, and I hope that bigger studios start thinking this way too, especially since we live in a world where most big games are already ported to three very different platforms as a matter of course.
28/02/2011 at 22:13 JP says:
Deep breaths.
Of course we do. A good chunk of the games you cover exist on these OS in one form or another.
I really, really don’t see what we gain by defining the “PC gaming” in the site’s banner as “Windows Gaming”, guys. As many have pointed out, the glorious thing about the PC platform is that it is not narrow, and that nobody controls it. So it baffles me that for some the dividing line is usage of a specific OS – the OS made by a company that, without getting political, has had a rocky history of stewardship no less. In these days of dual-booting and emulators and virtual machines, the OS boundary is only a bit less arbitrary than whether you use ATI or Nvidia cards.
In fact I’m only reminded of it when you specifically say things that other-ize Mac and Linux people. So please, just don’t do it anymore. Let PC gaming be PC gaming, not Windows gaming.
28/02/2011 at 22:28 JP says:
Put another way:
What if a really fresh, interesting game came out that was Mac or Linux-exclusive? Would RPS honestly not cover it? That seems crazy.
(In practice of course most devs would never be willing to limit their audience like that, but it’s gonna happen at some point.)
28/02/2011 at 23:38 Thants says:
It would be great if there wasn’t that dividing line of games being locked into Windows but there is. It seems reasonable for a PC gaming blog to focus on Windows because that’s what the vast majority of games are made for.
01/03/2011 at 13:51 Urael says:
But considering this isn’t the first time Linux of Mac have been mentioned by RPS – far from it, actually – I think the Hivemind agree with you that limiting the definition to Windows Only is perhaps too restrictive, although a natural consequence of gaming development being very heavily slanted towards that OS. Hell, they’ve even been known to argue that by strict definition Consoles are ‘Personal Computers’ as well…although I reckon it’ll be a frosty day in Pandemonium before the readership accepts that one. :)
01/03/2011 at 15:21 DrGonzo says:
I think it’s interesting that games are somehow OS biased. That there are specifically less games on mac and linux. When actually there is just a lot less software in general on mac and linux, so there are naturally less games.
28/02/2011 at 22:13 AimHere says:
LInux user. I don’t have a windows partition or a windows box. If it isn’t native, or if it doesn’t run via wine or some other emulator, I don’t run it.
28/02/2011 at 22:15 Teddy Leach says:
I’ve always wondered, what actually attracts people to using Linux? I’m asking partly because I’m planning on writing a piece on my blog about the Linux system and gaming on a Linux system. Could any kind souls oblige me?
28/02/2011 at 22:33 thowland says:
It’s solid- doesn’t crash out for no reason.
I’m a developer, and the tools are far superior to those on other platforms.
I can tune it up and down and have it do exactly what I want- I don’t get stuck with a million “servicehost” processes running and no clue what they do.
The profound lack of malware is pretty great too.
It’s harder to get started with Linux, but it’s way better for expert users.
28/02/2011 at 22:44 Vinraith says:
In addition to what thowland just said, for me the primary advantage is that Linux has a number of tools which, to my knowledge, simply have no equivalent in Windows. Xfig and xmgrace are key to my work, and I’ve never found a suitable replacement that runs under Windows. LaTeX writing is also easier in Linux thanks to easier command line support and handy free editors like nedit. In fact, anything that requires command line control is best run in Linux, since fighting with Windows gimped “DOS” windows is a real pain.
28/02/2011 at 23:03 JNewt says:
Depending on the distro, the UI can easily beat both Windows and Mac. I’m a developer who routinely tests code on all three platforms and I can honestly say that in terms of eye candy and easy to manipulate workspaces, Mac and Windows 7 are pretty clunky next to a good Ubuntu distro. Plus, package management!
28/02/2011 at 23:04 Frye2k11 says:
I am on Linux almost permanently. Gentoo, a DIY distibution, all optimized to run just on my hardware. I have Windows 7 running in a window all the time using VMware Workstation 7 in case I need some tool (modelling software and Visual C++ mostly). In fact one of my 4 desktops is a Windows desktop so I am running Linux and Windows 7 at the same time. Virtual machines are very close to gaming capability, surely that will happen this or next year. Some of you might want to install VMware or Virtualbox for windows and install Linux on that, so you don’t have to repartition and not only have a go at Linux but also find out what that virtualisation hype is all about. There is a free version that can do nearly everything the full version can. It really is good fun if you’re into that sort of thing.
Quite a few games run flawless in Linux using Wine (playing Dead Space 2 and Fallout Vegas at the moment). Since I don’t play all that much anymore I barely touch my Windows 7 partition these days.
28/02/2011 at 23:05 kikito says:
To me the selling point was apt-get. I saw it for the first time years ago, and was mind-blown. That, and the fact that you don’t *have to* know the ins and outs I’d the system to use it comfortably. Now, hacking is encouraged, but not mandatory.
28/02/2011 at 23:07 DrazharLn says:
I use linux because the command line tools are massively powerful and well developed, because it encourages users to be smart (partly through the use of shells, partly through all that customizability and partly due to the superb software development platform it represents), because I can get or build pretty much any tool I need for free.
Two biggest points:
1) Linux is completely free and works better than Windows or Mac.
2) Software development on linux is much better (a lot of this is due to bash (ubiquitious unix command line) being so damned good)
01/03/2011 at 01:00 DrGonzo says:
Linux does go wrong quite a lot. Or I have found it does, the idea that its far more stable than Windows amuses me. Yes, it has loads of advantages, but it does still crash and fuck up.
01/03/2011 at 01:05 Faxmachinen says:
It’s free. Since I enjoy building my own PCs, I’d rather put those 500$ towards better parts. Also, turning any old box into a webserver.
01/03/2011 at 13:56 Urael says:
I spent three and a half years trying to get into Linux, across various distros (Ubuntu -> Kunbuntu -> Sabayon -> Mandriva). In the end Windows 7 cured me of it, meaning I’m probably not the expert-level user who benefits most from Linux. I just found Windows far easier to get to grips with and maintain, if nowhere near as flashy as Linux can be (God I miss Compiz and KDE 4).
28/02/2011 at 22:19 P3RF3CT D3ATH says:
Ubuntu user here. I dual boot Windows Vista and am anxiously awaiting Ubuntu 11.04.
28/02/2011 at 22:28 Kaira- says:
I actually got rid of Ubuntu some time ago because I just hated the Unity system. Sure it looks pretty, but I felt that it made using that OS for anything more than just music and web like a work, because everything was hidden so deep.
A question of taste it is, of course. I liked Mint a lot more, but due to limited use I chose to use it in VirtualBox only. A shame, because I really like the virtual desktops, but for some reason when I install them on Windows it just doesn’t feel the same. If game’s were made as often for Linux as they are made for Windows (or hell, let’s be reasonable, if they were made even half as often!) I’d switch to Linux and wouldn’t look back.
28/02/2011 at 22:27 tempest says:
Yet another Linux user here! I have Ubuntu on my laptop and work desktop, two Android phones (one with the operating system built from customized code by yours truly) and an Openmoko NeoFreerunner running SHR with a custom kernel.
I still keep a Windows XP partition on my laptop for the games that either don’t come in Linux flavor or don’t work properly in Wine. Unfortunately, lately I haven’t been using it much for lack of time… Last things I played were Mass Effect 2 and Alpha Protocol, the former being a year ago…
And, of course, I bought both humble bundles as a Linux user… that goes without saying.
28/02/2011 at 22:30 Emil.BB says:
The same as above. Dualboot with W7 though, and the *only* thing I use it for is gaming. It’s kinda inconvient, I guess there is a kind of mental barrier, when you have to reboot your PC to play, it keeps you from playing “just 5 minutes” – it’s either a full session or not :/
28/02/2011 at 22:31 thowland says:
Linux User
RPS Reader
playing lots of minecraft, since it works fine on my machine.
Also happy purchaser of the humble bundle.
28/02/2011 at 22:33 Deston says:
I used to be into Linux in a huge way. It was an excellent learning experience and I loved it when I had the time and motivation to tinker around. Especially with distros like Gentoo.
These days I have an infrequently used Debian server in colo, and an Ubuntu VM image on my main box, but otherwise I spend all my time in Win 7. It really just boils down to convenience, which is something I’ve personally valued more as I’ve gotten older and found other things in life.
28/02/2011 at 22:36 HunterZ says:
I mostly use Windows for gaming, but my laptop tri-boots Vista, XP and Ubuntu because some really old stuff runs better under Wine. Also have played my purchased HIB #1 & #2 games only on Linux.
I also converted my old XP desktop to a headless Ubuntu workstation, but it doesn’t get used for games (unless you count that time a week or two ago when I was mucking around with partitions on my laptop via a linux-based live CD and ssh’d into my Ubuntu workstation to play some roguelikes).
28/02/2011 at 22:43 zino says:
Why yes, we do read RPS. – Unix/Linux-user
28/02/2011 at 22:50 Cymbals says:
Windows 7 for games and Ubuntu for everything else. I buy most Linux native games that are released regardless if I actually play them. And I agree with a previous commentator, PC gaming should mean everyone… Windows, Linux and Mac.
It’s all about choice, not fanboyism.
28/02/2011 at 22:50 Josh Brandt says:
I think my allegiances have been explored in many previous flamewars… Heh heh.
28/02/2011 at 22:53 Phillip Culliton says:
Yes. Sometimes Mac users are even interviewed for RPS. :-)
I do keep several Windows machines for testing and – yes – gaming, but Mac has been my primary platform for a while, mostly for development work. Bootcamp is fine but I rarely have the spare time to reboot just to game – native Mac games are a godsend. I hope with the rise of cross-platform engines like Unity we may be seeing more native Mac titles as time goes on.
Our game Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy will be coming out for Mac as well as Windows, actually. It’ll be interesting to see how well the Mac version does.
28/02/2011 at 22:57 esoltys says:
Ubuntu to read RPS and generally get things done, but I reboot into Windows for my Steam games. Happy owner of Indie Bundle 1 and 2 and attributed the purchase to Linux. I’m not a Mac user, but I’m glad Steam supports them with SteamPlay.
28/02/2011 at 23:01 Knef says:
I have been a Linux user for two years now and, quite atypically, during this time I have been rediscovering gaming. I have bought both HIB and they have been awesome (still trying to find the courage to play Penumbra, actually, but I’m getting there). I also use Wine a lot; for example, I bought Half Life 2 on Steam and exclusively played it in Ubuntu. My latest obsession is Minecraft, and I loathe RPS for introducing it to me. Loathe.
28/02/2011 at 23:16 bastronaut says:
I’m a Mac user and a Mac/PC gamer. I read this site because your writing has chops. And the comments are constantly awesome (not mine).
28/02/2011 at 23:21 Interstella84 says:
Used to be a big PC guy back in the day, but moved over to Macs because they’re better (in my opinion, anyway) for working with music. Have just rebuilt my brother’s old PC (top of the range a few years ago) and am happily rediscovering my old games collection – many hours have been lost so far in BG2, Dawn of War (and it’s various expansions) and Homeworld 2.
I’ve read RPS since 2008, and loved it, having been a big PCG fan from the end of the 90s onwards. All can say is – more from RPS, please!
28/02/2011 at 23:27 tremulant says:
Old PC Gamer reader(floppy edition), RPS browser and Linux user here, preferring native games and highly unlikely to pay for a product unless its developers support the market i’m interested in, why on earth would i pay for windows game only to run it in wine, what message is that sending to the publishers? I do dual boot for the occasional game but i’m not about to buy into steam(somehow it feels like drm-lite) and find copy protection and drm on retail games rather off-putting, to say the least.
If a game really appeals to me and there’s no hope of a native release, i’ll wait for a decent cracked version to appear, i’m sure i’m a terrible person, but hey, it’s a far more enjoyable experience once the game’s been unbroken by some obliging pirate, why pay for the intentionally broken release?
28/02/2011 at 23:42 liquid_rat says:
I’m a Mac and Linux user (dual-booting Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro). I don’t have a lot of time to spend on games but I’m just finishing up a playthrough of Deus Ex in Wine after reading all the retrospective articles on it here a while back. Haven’t messed with Boot Camp or installing a Windows partition because having a limited selection probably helps to keep gaming from encroaching on my social life and other hobbies, but I enjoy the writing here even if a lot of the games are outside of those limits.
28/02/2011 at 23:42 GoldenNugget says:
I am a linux user but I’m mostly on windows because all the games I do play are windows only and crap out when trying to run with wine (like ArmA2 etc…).
28/02/2011 at 23:43 prettyvanilla says:
Another Linux user here (Arch Linux to be specific). After many years of Windows-gaming-narrow-mindedness I opened up to open source in general and am now very happy to be in full control of my PC again.
Luckily gaming on Linux is becoming more and more a very possible endeavor. What isn’t available natively mostly is reasonably easy to get to work with wine and the very helpful appdb. Though I do have a Windows 7 partition for those cases that turn out to be too stubborn.
I’m very much looking forward to a possible Linux release of Desura as well, if it will really ever happen. So, in short, bring on the Linux coverage (which you mostly already do anyway, yay)!
28/02/2011 at 23:51 seamoss says:
Another Linux (Debian) user and RPM reader here! I do all my gaming on Linux so I’m grateful when a company (esp. an indie one) supports Linux directly. If not, I have hundreds of Windows games that I run on Linux using Wine. It’s sometimes a hassle but I am continually amazed by how many Windows games actually work on Wine – these days I’m surprised if game does NOT work in Wine! It’s an amazing achievement, but always check the Wine AppDB for help on specific games (preferably before you buy them), always have the most recent version of Wine installed (I have two: latest stable & latest unstable), and always use a separate Wine “bottle” for each game (or you can use some front-end like Crossover or PlayOnLinux for more user-friendliness). Finally, there’s also Dosbox & Scummvm on Linux for even older games.
01/03/2011 at 00:17 tremulant says:
Old PCGamer(floppy edition) reader, and thesedays an RPS reader running linux, it’s a similar situation, reading, with great interest, about an awful lot of games that you just can’t play, only back then it was a hardware limitation, now i run Linux out of choice on modern hardware that’s more than capable of gaming.
As far as buying games goes, i’ve purchased both of the humble bundles and am certainly interested in supporting game developers who make the effort to support linux.
I’ve absolutely zero interest, on the other hand, in paying money for windows games and then faffing around with wine in order to run the things, i’ll probably need a crack anyway(even if i dual boot to run the game i may well end up wanting to crack it for convenience). Linux users paying to run windows games under wine seems to be somewhat counterproductive, all the publishers see is ever so slightly increased windows game sales, this does nothing to demonstrate the existence of a linux games market to them. So, yeah, i go in for the evil piracy route if i’m interested in a game with no hope of a linux port, by the time the crackers have got their hands on it the game’s a lot closer to a convenient and user-friendly consumer product than the intentionally broken rubbish sitting on shop shelves.
I’m somewhat surprised to see the popularity of steam, to the extent that some people appear to prefer buying games through the service to getting them direct from the developers, even linux users seem quite content to buy games through steam running under wine, i can’t say that the prospect of buying games that are arbitrarily tied to an online authentication service over which i have no control appeals to me, particularly.
01/03/2011 at 00:32 Hmm-Hmm. says:
Why, no, I don’t read RPS..
Really! Honest! *ahem*
Now can you bring me Magicka for MacOS.. please? Or Audiosurf? Anything but diner-dash games.. >.>
01/03/2011 at 00:48 cr0atian says:
Yes I am a Mac user and willing to pay for games and paywhat you want packs. I also love Linux, just don’t want to remove OSX and don’t have enough space to dual boot.
Payed for Minecraft…
01/03/2011 at 01:43 Christian Dannie Storgaard says:
Oh yes, we do! Full time Linux user ( / developer) with not a Windows installation in sight.
Everything I want either exists natively or runs in Wine, and if it doesn’t, I don’t want it anyway.
And yes, I do have a tendency to just throw money in the general direction of game developers that support Linux, even if I often never get around to actually playing what I bought (see developers? Your games don’t even have to be good to sell, they just have to run in Linux!).
01/03/2011 at 15:25 DrGonzo says:
That post was just hilarious. And pretty much sums up why I find Linux users (sometimes) to be so ridiculous.
09/03/2011 at 09:04 Christian Dannie Storgaard says:
DrGonzo, I’m also the type of person who will pay to watch a film in the cinema if the effects are good, even though I know I probably won’t like the film. So, often I’m not paying to support the actual full product, but part of it or its ideology/methods/ideas – same with games that run in Linux.
I realise that the “if it doesn’t run in Linux, I don’t want it anyway” sounds quite closed minded, but it happens to fit in very nicely with the way I’ve always played games.
You see, generally I don’t play many new games, since I wait for the reviews to settle, so compatibility with Linux (and Wine) is practically never an issue. Also, often when a (Windows) game doesn’t run in Linux, it’s because of shoddy programming, DRM or root kits – none of which I want on machine anyway.
Now it all doesn’t sound all that ridiculous any more, does it?
01/03/2011 at 01:48 SackManDoo says:
As a college student in IS/IT, and a lifetime Windows user who has only dabbled with Linux, I am genuienly curious to know why so many of you are stating that Mac OS or Linux is a better environment to code in. Is this true for any coding project, or just certain languages? And why? What’s the low down? I ask here because readers of this site seem to be a little better informed than the rabble I might find somewhere else…
01/03/2011 at 01:59 delcake says:
My take on it is that a Linux or Mac OS command line is much more usable than the one that Windows offers by default. I’m aware that Microsoft has started trying to push PowerShell, but I haven’t tried it at all so I can’t really comment on that front.
A lot of coders swear by VI(m)/emacs (and heaven forbid you fall on the wrong side of *that* argument) as they are fully capable CLI-based text editors. Both offer a lot of advanced functionality including code compilation, but have a learning curve to match. Although, I believe Windows versions have been created as well.
So to finish up: I don’t have any solid reasoning. I just find it more comfy as that is what I am used to, and I expect that to be the real reason behind most people’s positions.
01/03/2011 at 04:06 SackManDoo says:
Thanks for replying. In the majority of situations, then, it really does just come down to “different, not better?”
01/03/2011 at 06:25 bluebomberman says:
Part of it has to do with what you want to code and in what language. For example, if you’re looking to make apps for iOS (iPhone, etc.), you almost certainly have to get a Mac and fire up Xcode.
01/03/2011 at 11:26 Christian Dannie Storgaard says:
For me, the joy of programming on Linux are:
The ecosystem of developer tools – everything is available, thoroughly tested and free.
Tthe transparency of the system – there’s very little chance you’ll get lost following API documentation that you later find out is actually an unofficial hack that won’t work on newer versions of Windows – even though you got the documentation off Microsofts website.
The plethora of working examples – sure, there’s tons of information available online for every system, but since most software for Linux is open source you get access to working, tested source code for pretty much anything you can imagine.
Plus, it fits my working habits.
01/03/2011 at 01:49 delcake says:
I use Linux daily to handle all of my productivity, such as mail and calendar. This is almost expressly for the purpose that I can SSH into that box from anywhere and have easy access to everything I need to know, plus a few IRC sessions to boot.
Since I love all the hard work that Linux users put in to getting a distribution running smoothly, and have a man-crush on open-source projects in general, I make sure to support Linux options for games whenever I can. Of course, I was more interested in supporting the developers versus the charities for the Humble Indie Bundles if only to encourage more Linux development in the future.
But yes, I am a gamer, so my desktop runs Windows 7. My HTPC, netbooks, and servers all run Arch Linux though.
What can I say? I love tweaking my systems.
01/03/2011 at 02:19 Hodge says:
Continuing the trend, I use Linux for pretty much everything except Windows-only games, for which I boot into a Win7 partition. I still do a fair chunk of gaming in Linux, though – a lot of older Windows games run fine on Linux through Wine (like Blade Runner, which I was compelled to replay upon seeing that screenshot in the Very Important List. What a game).
AGS runs flawlessly too, so I’ve played through things like Ben There, Dan That and all the Wadget Eye stuff in Linux. I also regularly fire up MAME and UAE (hardly cutting edge, but still gaming).
I know the Steam on Linux thing was a wind-up, but I think if it were to happen it would be a win for all involved.
01/03/2011 at 03:49 bill says:
Dual booted with ubuntu for a while.
it was nice, but i found that having things split over 2 OSes was annoying. It was guaranteed that whatever software i wanted would be on THE OTHER OS at any given time.
Vista is great and removes 95% of windows hassles, but i’d happily use ubuntu full time if it had games (and the 5% of other software i need that is win only)
I’d love a mac for some of the mac-only dev software .. but dual/triple booting is just too much hassle.
01/03/2011 at 03:50 bill says:
Then again, other than games, i rarely buy any pc software either. 90% is open source or freeware these days. Paid stuff for work only.
01/03/2011 at 03:52 reticulate says:
OSX user here, and definitely a reader.
01/03/2011 at 03:57 evilhayama says:
I’ve been using Macbook Pros for ages now, I use bootcamp for big things but more often VMWare for playing Indies (and the GOMTV streaming app for SC2 matches damnit). I bought the first indie bundle but the reboot barrier is very annoying so I rarely buy big PC games nowadays. Preordered DOW retribution though!
01/03/2011 at 05:00 Crumpled Stiltskin says:
Hell, I dont even have a computer and I read this stupid blog.
01/03/2011 at 09:43 adonf says:
You, sir/madam, are a true hero of our times.
01/03/2011 at 06:00 TaroYamada says:
I switched to OS X to avoid Vista, but came back to Windows once Windows 7 came around. I prefer Windows. Not sure what language these developers are using, but C++ dev is definitely best in Visual Studio (Windows) in my book. Otherwise, from my experience dev on OS X Vs. Windows was pretty equal in other languages, though outside of C++ I really only wrote Python, Javascript and Lua and for Python I used IDLE which is fine on both platforms.
01/03/2011 at 15:30 DrGonzo says:
I find that shocking. I have Vista on one of my pcs and Windows 7 on my other. I actually have a spare licence of W7 that I never bothered using, I still for the life of me don’t see what’s wrong with Vista, and what’s so right about W7.
W7 is great and all, but other than a less attractive UI( I don’t like the chunky buttons or the new taskbar) there doesn’t seem to be any difference between it and Vista, at least not for me. So for the time being I’m sticking with Vista thank you very much – I’m still on the same install from when Vista was launched, never done anything in particular to maintain it and it’s still going strong.
02/03/2011 at 09:42 TaroYamada says:
@DrGonzo:
Honestly, I heard so many complaints from close friends of mine who were also coders that I didn’t even give it a fair shake. I also hated the nasty look of the OS. None the less, I also thought it was time I gave OS X it’s fair shake, I did, and I liked the OS, but overall I definitely prefer Windows 7 over it.
About the only thing I miss is the gorgeous aluminum MBP vs. my Plastic Acer; Not too mention the far superior battery life. In regards to OS though, I prefer Win 7.
01/03/2011 at 06:58 thesundaybest says:
Mac user, RPS reader (bootcamp user though…)
01/03/2011 at 08:01 apa says:
At the moment I use PC laptop but my next one is going to be a Mac. I guess I have to put bootcamp there because I want to play the stuff I have bought before. However, I do my serious gaming in the living room on a PS3 and I’m reading RPS also to get news about the games that will be released for it too.
01/03/2011 at 08:10 skinlo says:
Nope. Only Windows 7 here. The illusion that Mac and Linux are more stable is a myth nowadays, especially with Windows 7.
01/03/2011 at 15:34 DrGonzo says:
Keep it to yourself. From my experience it’s best to avoid them.
01/03/2011 at 08:38 kit89 says:
My main desktop runs Linux( Kubuntu ) for all of my development purposes. I also have a triple-booting Mac Book Pro running Linux, Mac and Windows 7 for cross-platform testing.
Give me Kate and the command-line and I am happy. :)
01/03/2011 at 08:58 crainey92 says:
I secretly boot a Linux build from a flash drive on my laptop in school so I can bypass the walled garden, woops.
01/03/2011 at 09:07 Novotny says:
I had always though Mac users were too busy wanking over their desktop furniture to actually do anything else.
01/03/2011 at 09:36 ueberOne says:
I just run FreeDos :-D
Linuz,Windoose & MacOzeX just suckz :-P
01/03/2011 at 11:00 dr_demento says:
I use a MacBook Pro and an Xbox 360 – ‘serious’ games tend to be on the 360, but I’ve bought Minecraft and World of Goo for the Mac and enjoyed them. Covering Mac games (or at least mentioning when games are also available on OS X) would be very nice of you.
I still think RPS should rephrase the mission statement as ‘PC-oriented’ rather than ‘PC-only’ – there are some very interesting games which would be amazing to read about on RPS and see your opinions on, but which aren’t available on the PC (Limbo springs to mind, as does Braid back when it was only on XBLA). Is this site about good, interesting, novel games in general, particularly on PC, or is it about PC games and only PC games?
01/03/2011 at 11:23 apa says:
“Me too”. I’d like to read these guys opinions on some console-only titles. I haven’t found yet a comparable platform-agnostic site. The alternatives have only news releases without any proper reviews or feature pieces, or worse, they are just hype/advertisement trash.
A games site which has balls to trash a game in hands-on preview before launch is a good one.
01/03/2011 at 12:54 skinlo says:
I disagree totally. Keep it PC based, there are thousands of places for console reviews/previews/features etc.
01/03/2011 at 13:20 apa says:
But they aren’t as good as RPS :)
01/03/2011 at 15:35 DrGonzo says:
I know I for one would stop reading RPS if it started covering console games.
01/03/2011 at 11:04 synthaxx says:
Long time reader, longer time linux user.
Out of six machine, half of one runs windows (dual boot) and that’s only because of steam and the hat simulator.
If Valve were to release a native linux client and TF2, i’d ditch that last 0.5 and go all linux.
01/03/2011 at 12:38 dtgreen says:
Moved to OS X about 4 years ago, kept Win XP on my MBP at the time for playing a couple of games and the odd MMO. Completely eradicated Windows from my iMac last year, especially when Valve launched Steam and began porting Mac games.
Although Valve games and FM2011 are the only ones I have installed (Deus Ex as well, but that is via a Wine wrapper), I’m dying for game developers to embrace OS X as a platform. When I saw Rome: TW on the Mac app store, I couldn’t believe it. The more they port, the better.
I’m a beta tester for Crossover Games, previously put a fair bit of time into getting Medieval: TW2 working. As soon as Deus Ex: HR is released, I’m going to be having a look at that!
In fact, DXHR is the game that makes me want to cry like a small child right now. I don’t want to pollute my iMac HDD with Windows, so I’m faced with having to buy DXHR for the XBOX. In my mind, the Deus Ex experience should be confined to the desktop, and I’m worried that by being inherently shit when it comes to any form of console FPS, I won’t enjoy the DXHR experience as much as I should.
And finally, yes, massive fan of RPS. Read every lunch at work and have a list of browser/indie games I’m playing as a result of your coverage that is longer than my arm.
01/03/2011 at 12:57 skinlo says:
Or you could stop being such a fanboy and accept that Windows 7 is perfectly stable modern operating system, and play it on PC, the way its meant to be. If you don’t want to have to buy the OS, fair enough, but to be frank saying Windows would ‘pollute’ your system is a bit pathetic.
01/03/2011 at 13:44 tremulant says:
The only definite fanboy i’ve seen around here appears to be quite fond of windows7.
01/03/2011 at 15:40 DrGonzo says:
I thought it was a reasonable response to a completely un-backed-up statement.
The whole, “Windows sucks and Mac OS is great, I only have Windows for games” argument is fucking hilarious. Once you’ve stated you have to emulate Windows or have bootcamp installed you have already lost your own argument.
My pc does everything I want, I don’t have to emulate anything on it, or have any other OSs installed to make up for features that mine lacks.
This isn’t aimed against mac users by the way, or the op. Just those who are aggressively against windows and pro mac os, yet have to have Windows installed to make up for the problems with their own.
Also, before you get annoyed at Windows fanboys, you really have to look at the average mac user. Mostly they are the kind of shallow person you want to punch in the face long before you ever found out they were Mac users. I think a lot of the fanboys rage is aimed at those people, who probably don’t represent mac users on the whole, but most certainly do represent those that I have encountered.
01/03/2011 at 16:08 tremulant says:
I’ve no love for windows or mac os, or their respective devotees, fanboys on either side are unhelpful(and linux fanboys are some of the most confused of the lot)
as for:
This is the kind of windows fanboy attitude that bothers me, i take it that feature is marketshare? Yes, you use the most popular and therefore most commercially targeted operating system, good for you… My PC(a piece of hardware) does everything that i want, the necessity to reboot or emulate win32 apis for gaming isn’t a fault of the OS i use.
01/03/2011 at 15:28 kregg says:
Ubuntu 10.10 user here. Since my Windows partition died a couple of months, I couldn’t be bothered to try and find a serial key for Windows 7 at 3am in the morning, so I installed Ubuntu. Never looked back.
I use Crossover Linux to run my Windows programs, that includes Crossover Games for Linux. I bought the Professional version since I wanted to give my money to devs who also contribute to the wine source codebase, and thus help improve it.
As of now, I’ve got Steam installed, as well as all the games from every Humble Indie Bundle installed. I have installed:
- Hitman series (from the steam deal)
- VVVVVV
- Super Meat Boy
- Deus Ex 1&2
I also have Beneath a Steel Sky (comes in the Ubuntu repo). Brilliant game. I should also mention I have a master system emulator installed with a collection of master system games.
tl;dr I use Ubuntu and I play games, regardless of platform. If Linux supports it (unofficially or officially), I’ll support it
EDIT: Oh silly me, I’m such a poopy head. Yes, I love RPS. It’s like my common sense gaming hit I need every so often after I browse Kotaku.
01/03/2011 at 16:53 Sup says:
Yep I do ;)
(Mac (mostly), Windows whenever needed and Linux sometimes)
01/03/2011 at 17:06 wererogue says:
I am a PC/Linux user – wherever possible I run my games on my Ubuntu-based tv box, which is connected to the big screen in the living room. Otherwise I use my actual gaming rig, which runs Windows XP.
01/03/2011 at 18:04 dogsolitude_uk says:
I have Ubuntu Linux dualbooted with Win7 on my laptop, and use it for everyday use (surfing mainly) because it’s quick and I like brown/purple.
I may change it to Linux Mint soon though
I use the Win7 partition on my Laptop for Expression Studio, Photoshop, Flash, Visual Studio and Blend.
My desktop is XP SP3, used for games, music creation and video editing.
Thing is, I really love Linux. It has a penguin for a mascot, it’s free, and I’ve been using it more and more of late, so please do cover Linuxy stuff on RPS!
01/03/2011 at 20:57 Licaon_Kter says:
+1 Linux user here
RPS reader
Steam runner through WINE
game buyer ( Humble Bundles, Penumbras, Amnesia, Windows games that run through WINE: as in ‘i’ll buy more games on lauch if you support my OS and not wait 1-2-4-12 months until i can play it with errors on WINE’ )
01/03/2011 at 21:05 Negativeland says:
Yet another Linux user signing in. And I bought both of the Humble Bundles. Aaand I’ve bought the Linux versions of Defcon, Quake 4 and Postal 2, among other games. (Probably been mentioned, but Minecraft also runs nicely on Linux.) I used to play Windows games, but I’ve gravitated more and more towards Linux, both for work, and as a hobby.
I still had Windows installed on one machine when I first found this site, and despite leaving the OS behind, I’ve kept reading this site for the writing, and the occasional cross-platform game.
01/03/2011 at 23:45 WhiteDawn says:
I wot to say that I be on Linux right now. Howdy!
02/03/2011 at 00:32 thomasballinger says:
Minecraft working smashingly on Linux is what’s kept me from booting up my Windows XP partition for several months now, along with spending less and less time playing games as life picks up.
I’d like to see PC games covered on RPS – pretty much exactly what’s always been on here. Games played on a personal computer – with a mention in the article of what OS’s they run on, so I don’t have to run over to the publisher’s website to find out. (typically running on Linux is significantly novel that the excellent reporting done on RPS mentions it)
02/03/2011 at 01:00 somedude says:
My primary computer is a Mac, and I dual-boot OSX and Windows 7, as well as (occasionally) run Kubuntu in VirtualBox. I use the Mac side for development and audio production work, and the PC side mainly for gaming and modding. Generally, I prefer somewhat lighter-weight games on the Mac side that I can play for a break between work projects, and reboot to Windows if I want to devote a whole session to gaming.
I definitely like the idea of steamplay and cross-platform games, though. If I can pay once to play the game on any computing platform I own, I’m generally going to be much more interested.
02/03/2011 at 01:03 namuol says:
Full-time Linux user here.
I read RPS on a near-daily basis. I purchased both humble bundles, which I actually knew about because I follow the Wolfire blog, which I discovered thanks to Lugaru’s availability for Linux…
I also have a Windows installation for the few
PCWindows games that catch my fancy. And since the Crysis 2 demo is out, it looks like I’m about to boot into Windows for the first time in a while.03/03/2011 at 14:54 Mr Ak says:
Heck, I do half my gaming on console and the other half on Mac and I still read RPS. I expect I would still read RPS if hands and feet fell off tomorrow. It’s a pleasure.
03/03/2011 at 15:51 jnfbatista says:
Plus one for linux! But do most of my gaming on Windows…
04/03/2011 at 13:07 Malibu Stacey says:
I have a MacBook from the office which I have Steam installed on. My old gaming machine now boots Linux (mostly to run servers on when required). However I have a proper PC which I do my gaming (and most of my computing in general) on.
I only log in to Steam on the MacBook so people can hassle me through Steam Friends when I’m required for TF2 matches or other multiplayer shenanigans when I’m not at my gaming PC (as in playing games on PS3 or watching TV etc). I occasionally look at the nice long list of SteamPlay enabled games I have on my account which show up in the Mac Steam library & I have tried launching TF2 a couple of times but the performance, even with all graphical settings turned down, is so bad it’s not worth the grief (plus mousepad & 1 button not fun for gaming in my experience).