SpecOps: The Line For Linux Is Official, Being Ported By Virtual Programming

Quoting: camocelticMy thought process: "Oh, cool! Spec Ops: The Line is coming to Linux! I've heard a lot of cool things about it. Oh, wait. A VP port? Nope, gonna pass on that."

The state of Witcher 2 when it was first released on Linux makes me really second-guess any port they've had their hands on. The game itself might be worth it, but the crap I had to put up with to play it when it dropped seriously killed my hype for it. VP may have, and probably have, gotten better, but that first impression was not at all good.

On the one hand, I agree that VP ports should be taken with a grain of salt. The Witcher 2 was pretty damn terrible on release, and I still haven't been able to play BioShock Infinite because of d_type bugs. Not to mention that libraries and emulation layers designed to trick Windows games into working on linux are ... well, let's just say I'm glad the games that have been ported by VP are all previously-released games.

However, I'd argue that you should treat *all* games with that sort of skepticism *and* that you shouldn't outright pass on a game just because the people doing the port have done a bad port in the past. We have experienced quite a few bad ports (32-bit games that won't run on partitions over 2TB full; many Unity3D games; Dying Light; Dead Island) - it comes with the fact that our platform is *very* new to a large number of game developers. We should reward those developers who learn from their mistakes.

I'm not saying you should buy it *now* (or on release), but I still think it's a bit foolish to just ignore it entirely. Check the port report, ask others with similar hardware and filesystems how it's going for them; if reports are good but you still don't trust VP, buy it on a sale. Spec Ops: The Line is just too unique to completely ignore over something as insignificant as a first impression.

The Infinite port was great for me on nvidia, and Witcher 2 is much better now, so it seems unfair to dismiss them out of hand. While I agree, I'd prefer a native port for new games, eON is a good way to get older games on Linux.

Also, native games aren't always that great like others have said, like Dying Light, which still has lots of performance issues, due to the game, not the OS. And some Unity games still have pretty bad performance, another reason I'm looking forward to seeing more devs use UE4 (so far performance is pretty good on Linux)

Quoting: valczir

Quoting: tuubiI don't mind more VP ports of relatively old games that wouldn't otherwise get ported at all. I might have to skip this one though. War games rarely float my boat.

Do *not* skip this game. It's not like any other military shooter you've played. It's very story-based, and its story is hard-hitting and beautifully depressing. It's one of those games that makes you really question the "good" guys ... and it really doesn't have much positive to say about anyone in the conflict. There's a point that really makes you feel awful for something you did, and everything after that just makes you less trusting of everything in the game.

Let me get this straight. I should play this game because the story is really depressing and it'll make me feel awful? Would definitely be the first time I ever paid to feel depressed. Normally it's enough to check my bank statement or the news. Or try to trawl for morsels of information amidst all the trolling and flaming on P****nix.

All joking aside, I've seen the Yahtzee review and I'm still not convinced. I know it's anti-war (just like pretty much any good war movie or novel) and that it's all about the story, but I'm not convinced the story is really up my alley. Maybe if there's a great discount at some point. I'm not exactly starved for games at the moment anyway.

Quoting: fishxz

Quoting: Xpandergreat news.

witcher 2 and bioshock infinite are perfect for me without issues and superb framerate. (probably lot lower than windows versions, but got enough hardware to overcome that).

your are lucky. bioshock runs bad for me. windows version runs atleast 2 times better, if not more. feels a bit like playing on wine...

That's because you are. They both aren't native ports.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: fishxzyour are lucky. bioshock runs bad for me. windows version runs atleast 2 times better, if not more. feels a bit like playing on wine...

Or you are unlucky - the BI works absolutely perfect on my slightly underpowered notebook. One of the best Linux ports I've ever played. But one small thing: the CPU governor has to be set up in the performance mode. Otherwise, you'll see shuttering.

Not necessarily. You can tweek the on demand governor to be much more gaming friendly.

The Demo version of this game should be ported too, so people can try the game, as I did in my windows XP era.

I've both The Witcher 2 and Bioshock Infinite, no crashes at all and good framerates on my old GTX550ti, maybe is something really specific? But the port I'm really enjoying is Shadow Warrior!!! :)

This is great news! Although I've already played the game. Maybe I will play it again. :P

Oh Spec Ops! VP? No thx.

kind of wished Aspyr or Feral Interactive would get more of these ports, those guys seem to really know what they are doing. Things will be so much better for Linux once Vulkan is the standard. We won't have to worry with these odd wrapped ports, this includes the OSX ports as well. Some games work good with the mono wrapped experience as long as it's not too graphically intensive, but with Lords of Xulima and VoidExpanse I get random crashes or hang-ups at random times due to some bugs in mono even with higher end hardware. This is why I've remained on the fence about getting Bioshock and will remain that way with this game. IF or When I see a compatible Vulkan native port when Vulkan is standard then I'll give it a shot.