The Latest Feral Interactive Newsletter Was Rather Interesting

I disagree with their last point. There are over 1000 games on Linux and that's only Steam. I mean, I do enjoy gaming but I don't have the time to play all of those, nor am I interested.

I know it wasn't meant seriously, but still. I was kind of shocked when I saw that there are 1153 titles on sale on steam and these are just the ones available on Linux. (Which I find nice btw. Friend of mine was surfing on Windows and there it were ~6000 games or so. Sure, many smaller indie games, but still plenty! :))

What has been your favorite game from Feral on Linux?

As I remember there was only two games from feral on Linux. I own bought but only played X-Com so for now X-Com :D

Awesome! Also the last "serendipity" point is very true. There's so many games in my library (the vast majority actually) which I just wouldn't have bought if I wasn't a Linux user and so many of them have turned out to be amazingly good :).

Nice!

Hopefully they'll make a port of Hitman: Absolution (or the upcoming Hitman, if it's not native from the beginning.. I doubt that though). Also considering they ported Empire: Total War, which is so cool, it would be even more cool if Rome 2: Total War was ported soon. Remember a year ago, when rumors said that Rome 2: Total War was in development for Linux. I still hope it wasn't a false rumor...

I disagree with their last point. There are over 1000 games on Linux and that's only Steam. I mean, I do enjoy gaming but I don't have the time to play all of those, nor am I interested.

Well, I quite agree with them, in fact. A restrictive catalogue won't mean you will have enough time to try every interesting game released on the platform, it means that your criteria for buying a game or not will be loosened.

I disagree with their last point. There are over 1000 games on Linux and that's only Steam. I mean, I do enjoy gaming but I don't have the time to play all of those, nor am I interested.

I know it wasn't meant seriously, but still. I was kind of shocked when I saw that there are 1153 titles on sale on steam and these are just the ones available on Linux. (Which I find nice btw. Friend of mine was surfing on Windows and there it were ~6000 games or so. Sure, many smaller indie games, but still plenty! :))

That's including things like software, DLC and soundtracks though. If you filter by just games, you have 857 Linux games on Steam at the moment. That's of a total of 4,290 games, which is almost exactly one fifth of the games on Steam. I remember commenting on the ratio earlier this year when it was 1:6, so it has improved dramatically over the last few months either way.

Feral's current offerings on Linux unfortunately don't interest me much. I got Empire: Total War as a "thank you" for supporting Linux when they brought that over though, and they've been teasing LEGO games a whole lot, which is a franchise I'd buy pretty much anything from, given the chance.

So far I like none of their Linux ported games. Yes, they are great titles and worth porting but personally my patience with Feral is wearing thin.
I bought both games although I know I will probably never play them, just as a sign of support for their work.
But if the third game will be also a strategy game, that would be too much for me, and I'll pass paying for that one too.
Give me Borderlands, Bioshock or something similar for a change.

I have both of the Feral Linux ports that have appeared so far, Total War is the one I'll play for days at a time, but I like the X-com games as well.

I don't know who is porting it but I just purchased Bioshock Infinite on Steam and it showed up in my Linux games library. I haven't tried to install it yet though.

I'm pretty sure Bioshock is a Feral port, it downloads the data but the executable is missing, expected to be released next month ish. Sorry my brain fell out earlier, Aspyr worked on the Mac port of Bioshock Infinite so it might be them doing it not Feral.

I've not tried Total War yet, only bought it.
But Xcom was easily one of my best gaming moments of 2014, the best single player game this year imo (with Borderland 2 on a strong #2, closely followed by Last Light).

Give me Borderlands, Bioshock or something similar for a change.

Uh, Bioshock Infinite and Borderlands 2 have been released (by Aspyr, but still), and, yes, it would be nice to play the originals of both games, but I am not complaining one bit.

Yes, there have been so many games, it's sick. I have grown...picky about which games I buy. There is even now such an embarrassment of riches for Linux gamers, I'm able to say, "Naw, naw, naw...Oooh!" I certainly have enough shooters. I have a raft of indie games I wouldn't have bought had they not been available for Linux. I have several AAA games, and love having them to play natively. I can remember when the only commercial game (that I wanted to play) was Neverwinter Nights. Now, I have a couple of dozen games I can't resist loading up and having fun.

Life is good!

And Merry Christmas to all!

Give me Borderlands, Bioshock or something similar for a change.

Uh, Bioshock Infinite and Borderlands 2 have been released (by Aspyr, but still), and, yes, it would be nice to play the originals of both games, but I am not complaining one bit.

I'm strictly talking about Feral here and my hope to see the initial Borderlands and Bioshock titles ported to Linux as well (like they did for Mac.)

.......and they've been teasing LEGO games a whole lot, which is a franchise I'd buy pretty much anything from, given the chance.

I'm an avid LEGO fan (the bricks too, not just the games!), and if they released even one of them I'd buy it in a heartbeat. :D
So please Feral. LEGO FTW!!!

This post reminds me of an idea I've been mulling at.
I think so far it's quite plausible that Linux ports of games are on average not moneymakers, not directly at least. And yet it's happening, and seems to be happening faster and faster. I see two basic reasons. First is Valve, which gave a major impetus and made the whole notion seem sane and acceptable. But the reason it's kept on so far even though there's still no signs of a Steam Machine to create large scale Linux sales, the reason it seems if anything to be accelerating, is cultural.

Basically, desktop Linux here is clearly piggybacking on Everywhere Else Linux. The desktop at this point is about the only significant computing space where Linux is not prominent or even dominant. Linux rules supercomputers, dominates webservers, reigns over the cloud, takes names in embedded, enhances the enterprise, pervades hobbyist computing. So anyone involved much in programming probably is involved in Linux culture some way. It runs their clever raspberry pi device, or they cut their teeth on the LAMP stack, or whatever. Even if they're not directly involved, there's an awareness that Linux is deeply intertwined with programmer/nerd culture in a way that Mac OS is not even though it has a bigger desktop share. You can see in this post, that general enthusiasm for Linux as an idea and a hacker thing rather than as a vehicle for gaining sales. So give game developers, collectively, a respectable reason why it's not insane to port to Linux, and lots of them really want to do that. All they needed was an excuse and an atmosphere where they're not reflexively mocked for the very idea. Valve provided that, and now it's feeding on itself--every game released for Linux just reinforces that it's a normal thing to do.
How long it can last if actual market share doesn't shift (eg. Steam Machines are not released or tank on arrival) remains anybody's guess.

I agree that SteamOS is going to be the big push for Linux gaming. Right now I have a USB thumb drive with SteamOS ready to install on a second system once I get all of the new parts for my new system to complete. I am really curious if it will handle low end hardware any better than a basic install of Ubuntu itself or if it will be the same or even worse, slower. It is probably within the realm of possibility that Valve isn't really taking their time so much as they are making sure that it is stable and performs well. Of course, we know that this all depends on Valve getting the Steam Controller to work extremely fluidly with all of the games under SteamOS as well. Without that, their idea of a Steam Box isn't going to work. Its all about the ease of use for the average end user and not the hard core user. To play something like Civilization V from my couch without a keyboard is a really mind blowing thought.

Nice name-check at the end.
Liam, take your rightful place amongst Linux royalty (you have to build the crown yourself but it fits better than any hand-me-down).

Seriously, you make a good point. I have played a lot of great indie games that I wouldn't have played if I had perhaps had more choice. Now that choice is getting much greater, I need to try and remember those fantastic developers that have been with us for a long while.