The monthly roundup - November 2020

Here is a look back some of the most popular articles on GamingOnLinux for November 2020, an easy way to for you to keep up to date on what has happened in the past month for Linux gaming, open source and other general Linux news that we cover!

If you wish to keep track of these overview posts you can with our Overview RSS.

Here's what was popular with our readers:

• Direct3D 12 to Vulkan layer vkd3d-proton has a 2.0 release
  • Supporting newer and more advanced Windows games like Control and Death Stranding, the Direct3D 12 to Vulkan layer vkd3d-proton has a 2.0 release.
• OpenRazer 2.9.0 is out, adding plenty of new Razer device support on Linux
  • Enjoy your fancy Razer hardware on Linux? You should probably check out OpenRazer, which is a nice big collection of drivers for Linux.
• Vulkan Ray Tracing becomes official with Vulkan 1.2.162
  • The day has arrived, along with the release of Vulkan 1.2.162 being tagged in the Vulkan-Docs repository on GitHub the Vulkan Ray Tracing extensions are now officially released.
• GOverlay app adds support for the Linux instant-replay tool ReplaySorcery
  • GOverlay is the super useful user interface for managing overlays like MangoHud and the vulkan post processing layer vkBasalt. Now though, it's been extended to be even more useful.
• First-person shooter Prodeus entered Early Access, Linux comes later
  • Prodeus is the seriously slick looking retro-shooter re-imagined blending modern and retro designs together. It enters Early Access today but we have a wait ahead for official support.
• Valve dev clarifies what some of their upcoming and recent Linux work is actually for
  • Valve are committed to Linux and Linux gaming with Steam, that much is currently clear. They're working with so many contractors on various things, and it seems not everything is as people think.
• Beyond All Reason aims to revive the RTS style of Total Annihilation
  • Total Annihilation is still to this day, one of the best RTS games ever made. I'll engage in fisticuffs with anyone who disagrees and Beyond All Reason is pursuing the ideal of Cavedog's classic.
• It's hard to believe but Counter-Strike has turned 20 and it's still going strong
  • 20 years officially today, Counter-Strike 1.0 was officially released and it went on to change the way many of us played games online.
• The upcoming metroidvania RPG 'Heart Forth, Alicia' is looking gorgeous
  • Here's a game I haven't heard of for a few years. Heart Forth, Alicia is an upcoming modern Metroidvania RPG, filled with devious monsters, lethal dungeons, creative puzzles, lively towns & many uncharted wonders.
• Gabe Newell of Valve is launching Gnome Chompski into space (yes really)
  • As if 2020 couldn't get any weirder, today a press mail from Valve Software entered our inbox because Gabe Newell, president of Valve, is getting a garden gnome sent into space. No this is not Kerbal Space Program.
• Testing integer scaling with Valve's gamescope micro-compositor for Linux
  • Gamescope from Valve developer Pierre-Loup A. Griffais is described as a micro-compositor that can spoof a virtual screen with a desired resolution and refresh rate and control/resize the output as needed. Here's a few early scaling tests taken.
• Streets of Rage 4 is now officially available for Linux, along with Vulkan support in FNA
  • Lizardcube and Dotemu announced today that Streets of Rage 4 is now officially supported on Linux (and macOS), with a port done by Ethan Lee creator of FNA.
• Steam Play Proton 5.13-2 compatibility layer is out now with improved Direct3D 12 support
  • The Proton compatibility layer used with Steam Play on Linux has a brand new release out with Proton 5.13-2.
• AMD Radeon RX 6800 and the RX 6800 XT are out today
  • Today, AMD are bringing out the big guns with the formal release of their next generation desktop GPUs with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 and the RX 6800 XT.
• Facebook are now funding the open source 3D creation suite Blender
  • In a move that's sure to raise a few eyebrows, the Blender Foundation has announced that Facebook has joined the Blender Development Fund.
• Eight years ago, Steam for Linux went into Beta
  • Steam has now been available on Linux, at least in Beta, for eight years now and it's come a long way.
• OpenGL on top of Vulkan with 'Zink' continues maturing with 'near-native performance'
  • On the Collabora blog, developer Mike Blumenkrantz has given an exciting update to Zink, an open source Mesa Gallium driver for Linux that provides OpenGL on top of Vulkan.
• OpenMW, the open source game engine for Morrowind sees great progress
  • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a true classic for many reasons, and it continues living on with the OpenMW free and open source game engine.
• War Thunder gets a huge upgrade along with Vulkan by default on Linux
  • War Thunder, the huge free to play online battle game across land, sea and air just had a huge game engine upgrade with the latest release.
• Valve expand Steam Input to support more of the PS5 DualSense Controller
  • Valve sent over a press announcement to highlight that the Steam Input API has expanded its support of the brand new PS5 DualSense Controller.
• Say hello to PLATYPUS, the latest CPU security problem
  • This kind of PLATYPUS is not a sweet and unusual mammal, this is a security problem recently announced that affect Intel across server, desktop and laptop CPUs.
• Wine compatibility layer development release 5.22 is up, video fixes and 3DES support
  • Wine project leader Alexandre Julliard announced that the Wine 5.22 development release is now officially available.
• A Monster's Expedition, one of 2020's best puzzle games is now on Linux
  • After an initial release in early September, Draknek & Friends have now put up a Linux build of their absolutely gorgeous puzzle game A Monster's Expedition.
• Unity Technologies committed to supporting the Linux Editor for the Unity game engine
  • While Unity itself has long supported producing Linux builds of games and applications built with it, the actual Editor for Linux is still not fully supported - but that will change.
• Want a great virtual tabletop for RPGs? Check out Foundry VTT
  • After we pointed out Fantasy Grounds Unity adding Linux support a while ago, some readers pointed out another virtual tabletop experience for fans of making and playing tabletop RPGs with Foundry VTT.
• Collabora put up their patches for Linux Kernel work to help Windows games on Linux
  • Collabora, one of the companies working under contract for Valve to help improve Windows game emulation on Linux with the likes of Wine have now sent in some patches to the Linux Kernel mailing list for discussion.
• KDE teams up with PinePhone for the PinePhone - KDE Community edition
  • Your daily dose of not-linux-gaming news, with an announcement for fans of Linux gadgets and tech as KDE has teamed up with Pine64 to bring out a PinePhone - KDE Community edition.
• RetroArch will soon get the PlayStation 2 emulator PCSX2
  • Feel the need to run some classic PlayStation 2 games? It's set to get a lot easier, as the RetroArch team have reported on their work with PCSX2.

We published a total of 189 articles last month! You can see who contributed articles on this page.

Thanks again to all of our supporters! They enable us to do this entirely free of adverts and full time. See how you can help support us on this dedicated page.

What was your favourite Linux and / or Gaming news over November 2020?