Another month down, here's a round-up of what was big through September 2021

September 2021 is officially over and with it a whole lot of news came in. Here's our monthly overview round-up of what was big in case you missed it.

If you wish to keep track of these overview posts you can with our Overview RSS. Since it's a fresh month our user statistics have also been updated so be sure to take a look.

Here's what was popular with our readers:

• Epic Games announce full Easy Anti-Cheat support for Linux including Wine & Proton
  • Today, Easy Anti-Cheat from Epic Games / Epic Online Services has officially announced a full expansion for Linux including native builds and Wine + Proton. This is big for Linux Gaming and the Steam Deck.
• Take-Two filed a lawsuit against the reverse-engineered GTA III and Vice City developers
  • Well this is a shame but in many ways to be expected. Take-Two Interactive Software, the parent company of Rockstar Games, has filed a lawsuit against the developers of the reverse-engineered GTA III and Vice City code.
• Linux continues to remain above 1% on the Steam Hardware Survey
  • We don't usually comment directly on the Steam Hardware Survey every month, not unless it's something real interesting and this is the second month where it is because we're still officially above 1%!
• Looks like Valve sent out quite a lot of Steam Deck developer kits
  • You probably heard recently that Valve was readying up Steam Deck developer kits and now we can see that quite a lot of developers have received one.
• BattlEye confirms Linux support for Steam Deck, will be opt-in like Easy Anti-Cheat
  • Just recently we had Epic Games announce that Easy Anti-Cheat now offers proper native Linux support and in addition support for Wine and Steam Play Proton - now we have BattlEye also confirming the same readying up for the Steam Deck.
• Clearing up what games will and won't run on the Steam Deck
  • There seems to be some confusion brewing on what games will actually run on the Steam Deck, so let this serve as a reminder on keeping expectations in check. Here's a quick refresher of how things are right now.
• Valve answer questions about the Steam Deck in a new FAQ, anti-cheat for all Linux systems
  • After gathering questions from pretty much everyone, Valve has put up a new official FAQ page for the Steam Deck that answers some pretty important questions and it's good news.
• RetroArch 1.9.9 is out with AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) support
  • Emulation just got even more interesting as the RetroArch team have released another major update. This release adds in AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) support.
• Take down a resurrected Maggie Thatcher in this upcoming Doom II campaign
  • Yes that's right, Maggie Thatcher has somehow escaped from Hell in Thatcher's Techbase, a new Doom II campaign that has been announced that will be free to grab on September 24.
• PS4 emulator Spine gets a new demo release
  • Spine is an upcoming PlayStation 4 emulator that's currently closed-source while it's under heavy development. It's also currently only available for Linux.
• Linux on the Framework DIY Laptop has been very popular
  • Framework is the high-performance, thin and light notebook that's "designed to last" with modular components along with a commitment to make it easy to repair and upgrade.
• Proton Experimental gets DEATHLOOP working on Linux with AMD GPUs (update: NVIDIA too)
  • Valve and CodeWeavers have updated Proton Experimental again, the special testing version of Proton that brings in some of the latest fixes for the Windows-game compatibility layer. UPDATED.
• Wine 6.18 is out now with HID joystick enabled by default
  • The latest development release of the Windows compatibility layer Wine for running Windows games and applications on Linux is out now with Wine 6.18.
• Q1K3 is a homage to Quake made with 13 kb of JavaScript
  • Games seem to be getting bigger all the time taking up vast amounts of drive space but what can be done with very little resources? Quite a lot actually as the Quake homage Q1K3 has shown.
• AMD shows off their new CPU frequency control mechanism for Linux
  • Currently limited to Zen 3, AMD has revealed their work on a brand new CPU frequency control mechanism "amd-pstate".
• Steam has turned 18 years old and PC gaming has never been the same since
  • It's truly hard to imagine just how much Valve managed to change what PC gaming is thanks to Steam. On September 12, the Steam client celebrated 18 years.
• Steam Deck dev-kits are on the move Valve say, as some already have it
  • Valve has given a short update on the dev-kits for the upcoming Linux powered handheld Steam Deck, with more developers being able to get their hands on it soon.
• Warhammer: Vermintide 2 developer responds on Easy Anti-Cheat for Linux with Proton
  • One developer that has actually properly released a statement on updating Easy Anti-Cheat to support Linux and Proton for the Steam Deck is Fatshark for Warhammer: Vermintide 2.
• Valve rolls out big Steam client update with new Downloads Page & Storage Management
  • After being in Beta since the end of July, Valve has now released a big update to the stable version of the Steam client for everyone which has the new Downloads Page & Storage Management.
• Lutris game manager gets a second Beta for version 0.5.9 with Epic Store support
  • Building upon a bunch of big new features in the first Lutris 0.5.9 Beta, a second Beta is out now with a focus on polishing up the experience that needs more testing.
• New patent from Valve appears for "instant play" of games and more
  • Published today is a new patent from Valve that (amongst other things) might allow for an "instant play" feature for games being downloaded from Steam.
• Ray Tracing on Linux with AMD GPUs gets closer with multiple games working
  • While Ray Tracing has worked on Linux for a long time with NVIDIA, the situation with Mesa+AMD is still being worked out but the good news is that it's all finally coming together.
• Couch gaming Linux distribution ChimeraOS has a new release
  • ChimeraOS (originally GamerOS) is a big-screen Linux gaming experience designed for couch gaming (think like SteamOS) and there's a brand new release available.
• Stellaris to get the free 3.1 'Lem' update on September 14
  • Paradox Interactive announced today that the free 3.1 Lem update for Stellaris is going to release on September 14.
• RetroArch gets a Steam release bringing emulation to even more gamers
  • While it might not be the first application to provide emulation on Steam it's probably one of the biggest projects as RetroArch is not a single emulator. Instead, it provides a tidy user interface to get lots of different emulators, as well as play media and all sorts.
• GNOME 41 released with performance enhanced, new power modes, store improvements
  • Another 6 months of development later and GNOME 41 is out with plenty of enhancements for GNOME desktop fans.
• Dota 2 to drop OpenGL and 32bit, Vulkan default on Linux and TI 21 tickets on September 22
  • With The International 2021 tournament fast approaching Valve has given an update on the future of Dota 2 with some major underlying tech changes planned to come in.
• The new work on futex2 from Collabora to improve Linux gaming and Proton has third attempt
  • It seems the ongoing saga of getting the futex2 work into the Linux Kernel, which is supposed to help Linux gaming and Steam Play Proton, has another attempt up.
• Surviving Mars: Below and Beyond DLC out with a free update
  • Surviving Mars: Below and Beyond is the brand new expansion with Paradox Interactive reviving the game under a new developer with Abstraction and there's a free update too.

We published a total of 159 articles last month! You can see who contributed articles on this page.

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What was your favourite Linux and Gaming news through September 2021?